Mitsumasa Yonai and the Fading Prospects for Peace
In early 1940, moderate Navy Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai was selected by Emperor Hirohito in a final effort to head off military conflict with the Anglo-American powers. However, Nazi Germany’s rapid defeat of France soon undermined Yonai’s authority by convincing Japanese militarists that the nation was losing a historic opportunity for changing the international order.
