Overview

World War II was the largest and most costly conflict in history, the first true global war. Fought on land, on sea, and in the air, it involved numerous countries and killed, maimed, or displaced millions of people, both civilian and military, around the world. In spite of the alliances that bound many of the same participants, the war was essentially two separate but simultaneous conflicts: one involved Japan as the major antagonist and took place mostly in Asia and the Pacific; and the other, initiated by Germany and Italy, was contested mainly in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic. This book focuses on the lesser known war, the war with Japan. It begins with Japan’s seizure of Manchuria from China in 1931 and covers Japan’s ambitious attacks on Pearl Harbor and other territories ten years later, the use of atomic bombs on Japan’s cities, and the end of the Allied occupation of Japan in 1952. Although Japan renounced war in its 1947 constitution, conflict continued across Asia, as former colonies fought for independence and civil war engulfed other areas. Historical Dictionary of World War II: The War Against Japan, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has more than 500 cross-referenced entries the military, diplomatic, political, social, economic, and scientific aspects of the war, in addition to the lives of the people who participated in and directed the war. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the war against Japan during World War II.

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There are so many significant events of WWII that Wells covers it in two volumes (see also Historical Dictionary of World War II: The War against Germany and Italy, 2013). This one focuses on the Pacific theatre, specifically the Japanese-American war. As this is a dictionary, each entry is relatively short (rarely more than a page); entries are cross-referenced. Before the individual entries is an introductory essay that focuses on the conflict between Japan and the United States. The chronology of events starts with the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in 1931, and effectively ends with the cessation of hostilities between Japan and the USSR in 1956. The time line focuses exclusively on the Pacific theatre. An updated and extensive, thematically arranged bibliography follows the list of entries. Unlike the chronology of events, the bibliography covers the entire war. This dictionary provides an overview of how the subjects covered by the entries fit into the overall scheme of the Pacific theater and can answer most general questions, making it an excellent reference for those looking for an introduction to the Pacific War. -- ""Booklist""

Author Information

Anne Sharp Wells has been associate editor of the Journal of Military History, assistant editor of The Papers of George Catlett Marshall (volumes 6–7), and a Fellow of the Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library. Among her other publications is Historical Dictionary of World War II: The War Against Germany and Italy.

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