Prelude to War

The purpose of this monograph is to show how a nation's goals may be translated into national strategy and how operational plans are developed based on that strategy. To do so, the monograph will use the example of Japan in World War II. The paper consists of an introduction, a conclusion, and three parts. The first part begins with the events that led to increasing tensions, then hostility between the United States and Japan, and covers Japan's actions from the late 19th century to late 1941. The weeks and days immediately prior to the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor are included in the second part, which deals with the reasons Japan elected to wage war on the United States. The last part of the paper identifies Japan's national objectives and examines the strategy by which she expected to accomplish them. It also shows the operational plans the Japanese military was to employ in the Pacific in support of the national strategy.