THE LEADERS: Hirohito
Was Hirohito really as passive as history has painted him?
Was Hirohito really as passive as history has painted him? Emperor Hirohito stood at the head of Japan’s war machine, yet after 1945, both the Japanese and the Americans painted him as a powerless observer.
But is passivity just as bad as collusion? In this episode, Dan is joined by Christopher Harding, lecturer in Asian History at the University of Edinburgh and strategy expert Professor Phillips O'Brien at the University of St Andrews to examine Japan's catastrophic wartime strategy, its army's brutality and debate how much of the responsibility for that lies with Hirohito.
Content Warning: This episode contains references to suicide warfare.
Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore
