AHC/WI: More Prominent Navy Role in Interwar Japanese Politics

Delta Force

Banned
The IJN seems to have been the moderate branch of the Imperial Japanese military. Many prominent members were opposed to the wars in China and against the West, while the IJA took the lead in escalating wars and attempting to assassinate anyone dovish enough to suggest simply not launching further unauthorized campaigns. These aggressive actions killed many prominent civilians and military officers, led to the overextension of the Japanese military in China, and led to deteriorating relations with the West and eventually World War II. They also consumed money that could have gone to other programs, colonial improvements in existing territories, lower taxes, and of course for the Imperial Japanese Navy. The last point is important because of the intense interservice rivalry between the Navy and Army, and also because as an island nation Japan required a strong Navy.

Could the IJN have worked together with moderate politicians to sideline the Army and avoid World War II? Alternatively, could they simply have sidelined the Army and created a more centralized military heading into World War II? I don't necessarily mean a more logical one, just that there wouldn't be an Army naval force and two competing air forces.
 

Delta Force

Banned
The Imperial Japanese Navy was opposed to the war in China because it was preparing for a war with the United States according to this thread. However, one of the reasons that Imperial Japan attacked the United States was because of its embargoes, especially on petroleum. Those embargoes were enacted because of Japanese actions in China.

The Imperial Japanese Navy had quite a few people with knowledge of the United Kingdom and United States, and the Navy itself knew that things would have to go spectacularly just to defeat the United States Navy. Without the war in China, might Imperial Japan prepare for a naval war with the United States that it will never actually fight?
 
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