Western Allied Strategy: the Boxer and the Karateka

Abstract

Strategy is fundamentally the concern of the senior leadership in war-time for both political and military leaders. This was the land of those with an obsessional focus on long-distant goals, and the first strategic decision the Western Allied leaders had to make was whether to concentrate on Germany or Japan. Despite the greater fear and animosity amongst the American population for the threat from Japan, it was apparent to most — though not all — the political and military leadership that Germany posed the greater threat. Moreover, the USA was the only significant Allied power in the Pacific, especially after Britain’s ignominious expulsion from Singapore, and therefore the USA assumed that the post-war situation in the Pacific would be relatively simple to control. In effect, political leadership for all the Allies was as much concerned with the postwar settlement as it was with finding a way to win the war.