Japan wins the Pacific theater of World War 2

Joined Jan 2013
44 Posts | 0+
Miami, Florida
What would happen if Japan had been able to take over all of East Asia and Oceania? I think this would have given them the resources they need to keep their economy running, well, like an Asian tiger!:lol:
 
Joined Oct 2010
17,025 Posts | 4,448+
Just look at the production figures of US versus japan. Japan could not win.

Aircraft, Ships, Men, Resources.
 
Joined Mar 2012
2,836 Posts | 16+
New Amsterdam
Grim Economic Realities

Japan had 3.5% of global war-making potential. The United States had 41%.

The Germans (who would have been defeated US entry or not) had better odds than them.
 
Joined Apr 2010
2,258 Posts | 39+
Perth, Western Australia. or....hickville.
The only thing I could imagine happening different is if the IJN won the engagements of Coral Sea (say convincingly, less damaged, achieved strategic goals) and Midway and lets say Guadalcanal as well.

It puts the US on the back foot, sets them back a couple years and severs the supply line to Europe.

The way I see it, the US goes and builds it's Essex class Carriers and fast battle ships and other support vessels. Hawaii is at risk but Japan is still bogged down in China and doesn't have the logistics/resources to take Hawaii.

The US eventually goes back to the west pacific in force and wins anyway in there end. It just takes longer. The Atom bombs would possibly have been in more widespread use/tactically, perhaps more scope for Russia to get involved as well.

It would basically make the war longer and more bloody, but the outcome would be the same in the end.
More or less.
 
Joined Feb 2013
169 Posts | 0+
Maryland, USA
If Japan had won the Pacific War - and by "win", they manage to bring the Allies to the negotiating table, much like Russia in 1905; I can't imagine any scenario where Japan manages to force an unconditional surrender - they'd still probably have to end up making several concessions anyway. So whatever the result, total domination of Southeast Asia and the Pacific just isn't possible.

Since the Pacific War was opened so that Japan could gain access to materials like oil to continue their war in China, if Japan had somehow managed to achieve its aims (either the embargo is lifted, or they remain in possession of the islands that'd give them the necessary material) then the war there would certainly go on longer. Whether or not Japan could have succeeded in China, or whether or not the Soviet Union would have intervened there had the Western Allies backed out, are other questions.
 
Joined Oct 2012
8,545 Posts | 24+
What would happen if Japan had been able to take over all of East Asia and Oceania? I think this would have given them the resources they need to keep their economy running, well, like an Asian tiger!:lol:

Taking over East Asia and Oceania wouldn't do a thing for Japan in the end. They wouldn't reach the level of production the US was capable of and would still be readily defeated, though they may have survived a year longer since the liberation of New Zealand and Australia would probably take precedence over advancing towards the home islands. Though, the other way around, had they been able to somehow defeat the US, that would have given them a great advantage in Oceania and East Asia; though I really don't see how that would have been possible. Best they could have hoped for is to take Hawaii and parts of Alaska; but given the attitude of the US at the time, that would have only made people angrier and would not have made peace negotiations any more likely. In the end, US industry would have won.
 
Joined Apr 2013
61 Posts | 0+
New Zealand
well the japanese may have killed my relatives so i might not have even been born. :zany:

Japan may have invaded India and may have reached Easter Island and American Samoa but by mid 1942 the Americans would counterattck and defeated the Japanese. The empire of Japan would have expanded by alot
 

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