No other war can compare with World War II when it comes to the number of countries involved, combatants and civilians affected, and battles and other engagements fought. Nor can any other war compare in terms of those killed or maimed, taken prisoner, and afflicted by hunger and suffering amid the destruction of whole cities and vast countrysides. World War II was a war that changed the worldwide power structure, marking the relative decline of Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom and the rise to superpower status of the United States and (temporarily) the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It also changed the face of war, with carriers replacing battleships and submarines wreaking havoc for all shipping, aircraft of all sorts gaining an edge over both land and sea forces, and increasingly lethal weapons placed at the disposal of all forces. Yet, out of this hecatomb emerged more positive currents, the move toward independence of colonial peoples, a gradual spread of democracy, and the rise of worldwide organizations such as the United Nations.
Although it was one war, there were substantial differences between the war against Japan and the war against Germany and Italy. In the Pacific, the role of the United States was clearly preponderant, with the other Allies playing relatively lesser parts. Because of its location, war in the Pacific involved naval forces much more than the war against Germany and Italy, and naval strategy played a more critical role. It was also against Japan that the most devastating weapon yet, the atomic bomb, was used and finally terminated the conflict. The postwar sequel bore similarities, with the Iron Curtain descending in Korea, China, and Indochina but not Japan. Indeed, several decades later, Japan would seem to have achieved most of its goals—aside from territorial aggrandizement—through peaceful means by trading with the very same countries it had fought against. This showed the futility of a war it stood little chance of winning.
World War II was also characterized by incredible complexity, the complexities of keeping alliances together, coordinating different branches of the armed forces, and attempting to restore peace and create a new world order. This makes World War II harder to describe than World War I, let alone more traditional wars. That is one of the main challenges, and also one of the main achievements, of this Historical Dictionary of World War II: The War Against Japan, soon to be joined by a second volume on the war against Germany and Italy. It includes entries on most of the countries involved, the major military units, and military commanders of note as well as the civilians in charge on both sides. Other entries present numerous battles and campaigns, new types of ships, aircraft, and weapons, improvements in logistics and medicine, advances in intelligence, basic strategies and tactics, and crucial bodies and conferences. To keep track of the many events, the chronology is most helpful, and the introduction affords a broader view. Because two volumes (or even ten) can hardly do justice to this war, the bibliography should be particularly welcome, with its abundance of further sources of information.
The author of both volumes on World War II is Anne Sharp Wells, who was educated at Mississippi State University and the University of Alabama, among others. She is presently a member of the staff of the George C. Marshall Foundation and serves as assistant editor of the Journal of Military History. From 1988 to 1997, she was on the administrative faculty of the Virginia Military Institute. But she has also been a librarian, archivist, and research assistant in the Douglas MacArthur Biographical Project, all of which were useful for this project. More notably, she has coauthored several books (with D. Clayton James), two of them on the Second World War: A Time for Giants: Politics of the American High Command in World War II and From Pearl Harbor to V-J Day: The American Armed Forces in World War II. This experience has resulted in a historical dictionary characterized by conciseness and precision, precious virtues when writing about such a complex and momentous war.
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor