Lucius Verus
Banned
The challenge: create a situation where the IJN and IJA begin a civil war against one and another.
Background:
Formed with warring States clans with blood feuds, backed by rival family conglomerates with political and economic dominance, given wide leeway in a decentralized system where the emperor is technically in command but in practice military power was decentralized (especially the IJN given the limits of communication) , and the fight over a relatively small budget led to coups, assassinations, indiscriminate drafting of the others civilian technicians, refusal to share Intel, assets, production, and research. The IJA created its own navy while the IJN created it's own army and both pursued separate strategic plans.
The rift between the two services really got going post-Tsushima where the IJN used the lopsided victory to gain prestige and greater funding (despite the contributions of the army on land, but the army only achieved bloody victories vs clear victories like Tsushima). A series of imperial conferenced called only served to widen the rift as a "rule of consensus" developed within the military and decisions could only be made by appeasing extremists while responsibility was shifted from the individual to the collective. At the same time, due to the relative poverty of Japan, the impact of the Great Depression 1929-1939, the Kanto Quake of 1923, and the lack of a free press many came to attribute the misery and lack of social support as the fault of the Americans, Europeans, communists, democracy, and non-Japanese Asians. Since one could pay instead of being conscripted, the middle class was steadily filtering itself out of military power and being replaced with peasants bullied by semi-feudal landlords and a austere state. At the same time, the Japanese officer class was trained for grand strategy, despite the fact that the majority of majors and lieutenants would not need the skills or mindset for decades if at all. The big picture officer mind-set, when combined with the autonomy and customary deference shown to staff officers at the time meant that lower level officers were running amok assassinating politicians and starting wars.
My musing: given the escalation and state of affairs, I'd imagine that peace is more conductive to civil wars than war if only because there's a common enemy to focus on (other than each other). Not that there won't be border battles and such, the thrashing at Khalkhin Gol and the sheer lack of economic resources in 1940s Siberia did wonders to discourage Japanese aggression in the Soviet Far East (if only to build up strength and bid their time). Something like a Dutch treaty; guarenteeing non-aggression in exchange for market access/bribes might give the Japanese enough time together to fight.
Background:
Formed with warring States clans with blood feuds, backed by rival family conglomerates with political and economic dominance, given wide leeway in a decentralized system where the emperor is technically in command but in practice military power was decentralized (especially the IJN given the limits of communication) , and the fight over a relatively small budget led to coups, assassinations, indiscriminate drafting of the others civilian technicians, refusal to share Intel, assets, production, and research. The IJA created its own navy while the IJN created it's own army and both pursued separate strategic plans.
The rift between the two services really got going post-Tsushima where the IJN used the lopsided victory to gain prestige and greater funding (despite the contributions of the army on land, but the army only achieved bloody victories vs clear victories like Tsushima). A series of imperial conferenced called only served to widen the rift as a "rule of consensus" developed within the military and decisions could only be made by appeasing extremists while responsibility was shifted from the individual to the collective. At the same time, due to the relative poverty of Japan, the impact of the Great Depression 1929-1939, the Kanto Quake of 1923, and the lack of a free press many came to attribute the misery and lack of social support as the fault of the Americans, Europeans, communists, democracy, and non-Japanese Asians. Since one could pay instead of being conscripted, the middle class was steadily filtering itself out of military power and being replaced with peasants bullied by semi-feudal landlords and a austere state. At the same time, the Japanese officer class was trained for grand strategy, despite the fact that the majority of majors and lieutenants would not need the skills or mindset for decades if at all. The big picture officer mind-set, when combined with the autonomy and customary deference shown to staff officers at the time meant that lower level officers were running amok assassinating politicians and starting wars.
My musing: given the escalation and state of affairs, I'd imagine that peace is more conductive to civil wars than war if only because there's a common enemy to focus on (other than each other). Not that there won't be border battles and such, the thrashing at Khalkhin Gol and the sheer lack of economic resources in 1940s Siberia did wonders to discourage Japanese aggression in the Soviet Far East (if only to build up strength and bid their time). Something like a Dutch treaty; guarenteeing non-aggression in exchange for market access/bribes might give the Japanese enough time together to fight.