دانلود کتاب The Rising Sun - The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945

This Pulitzer Prize–winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, “a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened—muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox.”

In weaving together the historical facts and human drama leading up to and culminating in the war in the Pacific, Toland crafts a riveting and unbiased narrative history. In his Foreword, Toland says that if we are to draw any conclusion from The Rising Sun, it is “that there are no simple lessons in history, that it is human nature that repeats itself, not history.”


=======
REVIEW:

This is an impressive work that really makes an attempt to analyze the causes of Japan's conflict with the United States during the Second World War, and the events during the war that culminate with Japan's defeat. I have read no other work that goes into comparable depth as regards the complexities of 1940s Japanese politics. This work impressively manages to at least try to explain why the Japanese side decided to go to war with the United States, a country that many of its leaders understood to be more powerful than Japan in almost every measurable category of war-making capability.

Author Toland does manage to inject a certain amount of pro-Japanese bias into the causes of the War. Essentially, Japan wanted for itself more or less what the British had in their own Empire: a group of states that were economically and militarily subservient to Japan. The Japanese "Co-Prosperity Sphere" was plainly modelled on the British and other European colonial empires. Toland spends less time dealing with the fact that the countries that Japan had decided should be part of this new Empire did not wish to be Japanese colonial subjects. Further, he touches upon the fact (but deemphasizes its importance) that this Japanese ambition involved savage mistreatment of civilians that both the American government and US public opinion could not possibly have condoned.

Further, Japanese politics in the 1930s and 1940s was dominated by militarists to a greater extent than any Western power. Even Nazi Germany was a civilian government to which the military was clearly subservient. (Of course its civilian government was more radical and fanatical than the German military, creating a different host of problems.) In Japan, the military faction was not above assassinating or physically intimidating its political rivals, and this resulted in a thorough domination of Japanese politics by the the military. This control of politics by Japanese militarists is the true cause of Japan's aggression against China, and later the US and its allies, and indeed of the Pacific War. Some have criticized this work by Toland for somewhat brushing aside the aggressive and indeed savage actions of Japan against its neighbors and I concur with this criticism. Certainly the US was within its rights, and held the moral high ground, when it refused to supply Japan with oil and other raw materials (the actions which directly precipitated the attack on Peal Harbor) at a time when Japan was actively involved in warring upon other countries (i.e. China) that were friendly to the US. The fact that some of these lands were under European domination (i.e. Southeast Asia) in no way excuses Japan's own aggression against these peoples. Toland's work to some extent attempts to create a moral equivalence by comparing Japan's imperial and territorial aspirations to European empires of the time (the British, Dutch, and French). In fact, to some extent Toland seems to question the refusal of Secretary of State Hull and the Roosevelt Administration to accept, and even aid and abet, Japan's wars against China and Southeast Asia. On the other hand, Toland deserves kudos for at least developing a thorough understanding of the issues as the Japanese politicians perceived them, and this book is a very insightful and very readable analysis of Japanese prewar and wartime politics.

Toland's analysis of Japanese wartime politics and military strategy, and her reluctance to sue for peace, is somewhat more detached than his analysis of Japan's prewar politics. Further, this portion of the book is very well-written to such an extent that I almost could not put it down. The one conclusion that I derived from the book is that Japan was thoroughly under the control of the military and the military did not contemplate either the possibility of defeat or the possiblility that Japan might achieve security and prosperity for her people by means other than conquest. This conclusion is most stark when one reviews Japan's refusal to surrender or sue for peace after the war was plainly lost. In late 1944 and 1945 Japan had no Navy, its Army was cut off by the American Navy, and the US was bombing Japan almost at will, causing unspeakable hardships to the entire Japanese populace. And yet the Japanese military, still firmly in control of the country, still refused to allow its government seek surrender. This section of the book, and this chapter in history, is a study in dysfunctional government. Toland brilliantly analyzes and explains how it took essentially two extraordinary events to bring about Japan's surrender. Firstly, the use by the United States of atomic weapons. Secondly, the unprecedented decision by the Emperor himself to insist upon Japan's acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration. Toland's analysis of the Emperor's role in the wartime Japanese government is fascinating and insightful. I had never before appreciated the unprecedented nature of Hirohito's intervention into actual decision making, and here Toland is convincing.

While I do not agree with all of Toland's conclusions in this book, that in no way changes the fact that this is a highly impressive work that every student of World War Two would do well to read. Toland's analysis and mastery of detail is impressive, and so is his ability to weave this detail into a readable and coherent work. One surprising shortcoming of this work in my opinion is that it is not footnoted in the usual fashion. This makes it more difficult for other scholars to contest the validity of some of Toland's conclusions. On the other hand, most readers will not notice or care about this.

This is an impressive work that sets the standard for analyzing Japan's role in the Second World War, and her decision to go to war against the United States. Recommended.