Today I finally get to talk about the IJA, specifically its organization and doctrine. Turns out a conflict with China was a low priority and that came back to bite them!   Bibliography for this episode:    Ness, Leland Rikugun: Guide to Japanese Ground Forces 1937-1945, Volume 1: Tactical Organization of Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Ground Forces Helion & Company 2014 Peattie, Mark, Edward J. Drea, and Hanx van de Ven The Battle for China, Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945 Stanford University Press 2011   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

My deep-dive into the Imperial Japanese Navy concludes with the unexpected heart of the fleet, the carriers!   Bibliography for this episode:    Evans, David C. and Mark R. Peattie Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 Naval Institute Press 1997 Peattie, Mark R Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power, 1909-1941 Naval Institute Press 2013 Stille, Mark E. The Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War Osprey Publishing 2013 Newdick, Thomas Japanese Aircraft of World War II 1937-1945 Amber Books Ltd 2017 Francillon, Rene J. Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War Putnam Aeronautical Books 1970   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

I'm a little under the weather, so all business today. I'm talking about the heavy cruisers, battleships, and submarines of the IJN.   Bibliography for this episode:    Evans, David C. and Mark R. Peattie Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 Naval Institute Press 1997 Stille, Mark E. The Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War Osprey Publishing 2013   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Today I get started talking about Japanese ship designs, specifically the Destroyers and Light Cruisers. Especially with the Destroyers, the smaller size of these vessels belied a powerful punch that the IJN hoped would prove decisive in the war to come.    Bibliography for this episode:    Evans, David C. and Mark R. Peattie Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 Naval Institute Press 1997 Stille, Mark E. The Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War Osprey Publishing 2013   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Technically this is the start of the miniseries covering the first couple years of the Second Sino-Japanese War. But before I properly get going with that, I am going to cover the militaries of the war. And today I am starting with the Imperial Japanese Navy, the IJN. This formidable force wasn't built in a day, so I'm taking an episode to talk about its doctrine and the guiding principles it operated under going into WWII.    Bibliography for this episode:    Evans, David C. and Mark R. Peattie Kaigun: Strategy, Tactics, and Technology in the Imperial Japanese Navy, 1887-1941 Naval Institute Press 1997 Stille, Mark E. The Imperial Japanese Navy in the Pacific War Osprey Publishing 2013   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

It took almost two years of judicial attacks and the confidence inspired by the 1936 electoral landslide for FDR to summon the gumption to go after the Supreme Court. Second term misfortune struck quickly though, and the battle left its mark on the president.    Bibliography for this episode:    Simon, James F. FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal Simon and Schuster 2012 Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999 Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Politics of Upheaval 1935-1936: The Age of Roosevelt Volume III First Mariner Books 2003 Katznelson, Ira Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time W.W. Norton and Company, Inc 2013 Smith, Jason Scott A Concise History of the New Deal Cambridge University Press 2014 Leuchtenburg, William E. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932-1940 Harper-Perennial 1963   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

In 1935 the Roosevelt administration came up against the most effective opposition faced yet, which would setup a showdown between the United States' executive and judiciary. Today I introduce the US Supreme Court and the devastating day that set the stage for that confrontation.    Bibliography for this episode:    Simon, James F. FDR and Chief Justice Hughes: The President, the Supreme Court, and the Epic Battle Over the New Deal Simon and Schuster 2012 Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999 Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Politics of Upheaval 1935-1936: The Age of Roosevelt Volume III First Mariner Books 2003 Katznelson, Ira Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time W.W. Norton and Company, Inc 2013 Smith, Jason Scott A Concise History of the New Deal Cambridge University Press 2014 Leuchtenburg, William E. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932-1940 Harper-Perennial 1963   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

By 1935 the material conditions of the average America were still unacceptably low and millions had no hope of private employment. Help was on the way though, and FDR would spare no expense in making the new Works Progress Administration a success.    Bibliography for this episode:    Taylor, Nick American Made, The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work Bantam Books 2008 Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999 Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Politics of Upheaval 1935-1936: The Age of Roosevelt Volume III First Mariner Books 2003 Katznelson, Ira Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time W.W. Norton and Company, Inc 2013 Smith, Jason Scott A Concise History of the New Deal Cambridge University Press 2014 Leuchtenburg, William E. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932-1940 Harper-Perennial 1963   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

The next round of advancing worker power during the New Deal saw organized labor's allies in Congress successfully secure their right to organize. And a massive split in the labor movement would set the stage for a quick to materialize test of those new rights.    Bibliography for this episode:    Dray, Philip There is Power in Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America Anchor Books 2010 Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999 Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Coming of the New Deal 1933-1935: The Age of Roosevelt Volume II First Mariner Books 2003 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Politics of Upheaval 1935-1936: The Age of Roosevelt Volume III First Mariner Books 2003 Katznelson, Ira Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time W.W. Norton and Company, Inc 2013 Smith, Jason Scott A Concise History of the New Deal Cambridge University Press 2014 Leuchtenburg, William E. Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal 1932-1940 Harper-Perennial 1963   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

FDR didn't call it the cornerstone for nothing.    Bibliography for this episode:    Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999 Hiltzik, Michael The New Deal: A Modern History Simon and Schuster 2011 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Coming of the New Deal 1933-1935: The Age of Roosevelt Volume II First Mariner Books 2003 Schlesinger Jr, Arthur M. The Politics of Upheaval 1935-1936: The Age of Roosevelt Volume III First Mariner Books 2003 Katznelson, Ira Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time W.W. Norton and Company, Inc 2013 Smith, Jason Scott A Concise History of the New Deal Cambridge University Press 2014   Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]