Why the Samurai Lost Japan: A Study in Miscalculation and Folly

Beginning in the late 19th century, Imperial Japan embarked on a program of aggressive military overseas adventures in Asia and the Pacific. From 1904 to 1941, Japan's desire for resource independence had driven them to conquer Korea, Manchuria, large parts of China, and French Indochina, and to occupy large swaths of Pacific islands. These conquests provided tremendous resources, but still, they needed more.

All these conquests were driven by the Samurai: the ancient warriors of Japan, answ...