US Naval History Podcast

In this episode I talk with Ian W. Toll, one of if not the best American naval historian, about the road to war decision making by Japanese leaders, the lessons learned and how they were applied by US and Japanese naval leaders during the war, and the strategic calculus of Japanese, American, and Soviet governments in the final year of the war. We discuss how each of these topics may parallel decision making by American and Chinese leaders in the run up to a potential hot war and any decision by the CCP to invade Taiwan, and the lessons we can draw from WWII to any near-future Pacific conflict. We close on a discussion about the applicability of a haunting possibility: that in the event of a Pacific conflict between the US and China, the United States Navy may find itself in the role of the Imperial Japanese Navy during WWII: better trained, well prepared at the outset, but lacking the industrial strength to sustain a war of attrition, and thus doomed to lose the long war. Ian Toll's books (click here)

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