The 2-26-36 coup attempt was by the Imperial Way Faction of the Army, in OTL it was suppressed and the leaders were privately executed by the military high command and Control Faction of the Army.
The first time I read about these groups, the main distinctions I heard were that the Imperial Way guys were more extreme, more socialist, focused on winning through "spirit" and anti-Soviet, whereas the Control Faction was more politically conventional, had more respect for material needs and limitations of the Army, and ended up leading the fight in China when that escalated in 1937.
So, if the coup succeeds and Imperial Way wins, does a "spirited" but underequipped Japanese throw itself into the buzz saw of the Soviet Army within a year? How badly would the Japanese be beaten and how fast? And how would the crushing of the Japanese Army, at least on the Asian mainland, be processed politically in Japan?
Or does it get even worse, does Japan get distracted and also find itself fighting China or the western countries at the same.
Might the Imperial Way government support radicals in the Navy and lead Japan into a war against everybody before 1939 even dawns? I would think without a raging Europe-wide war, the beatdown of Japan would come fast and hard, it would be sort of like a Boxer Rebellion, with battleships, aircraft carriers, monoplanes and (crappy) tanks. Various powers could get some war practice in even before Hitler can launch any wars in Europe.
Thoughts?
The first time I read about these groups, the main distinctions I heard were that the Imperial Way guys were more extreme, more socialist, focused on winning through "spirit" and anti-Soviet, whereas the Control Faction was more politically conventional, had more respect for material needs and limitations of the Army, and ended up leading the fight in China when that escalated in 1937.
So, if the coup succeeds and Imperial Way wins, does a "spirited" but underequipped Japanese throw itself into the buzz saw of the Soviet Army within a year? How badly would the Japanese be beaten and how fast? And how would the crushing of the Japanese Army, at least on the Asian mainland, be processed politically in Japan?
Or does it get even worse, does Japan get distracted and also find itself fighting China or the western countries at the same.
Might the Imperial Way government support radicals in the Navy and lead Japan into a war against everybody before 1939 even dawns? I would think without a raging Europe-wide war, the beatdown of Japan would come fast and hard, it would be sort of like a Boxer Rebellion, with battleships, aircraft carriers, monoplanes and (crappy) tanks. Various powers could get some war practice in even before Hitler can launch any wars in Europe.
Thoughts?