THE LEADERS: Hirohito

2025-03-24

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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 d...

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 discussion of suicide warfare.

Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal Patmore

Phillips' book that inspired this series is called 'The Strategists' and is available now.

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