WI: February 26 Incident Succeeds

Tough one. War with China a few months earlier? Less apology to the US or European powers when gunboats are sunk and diplomats assaulted? War with the west earlier?
 
There was a timeline on this not long ago, but not sure if its still being updated...

https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=365181

Whilst it was an interesting event it wasn't exactly without precedent in interwar Japan. Coups had tried to overthrow the government in 1931 (October Incident), 1932 (May 15 Incident), and 1934 (November or Military Academy Incident) before the Young Officers launched their attempt to overthrow the government.

Making the incident succeed is not necessarily easy. The Young Officers were counting on support in Army High Command and the Imperial Guard that did not materialize - its not as simple as changing one or two minds or giving them a little more luck or time to plot.

Also, success is itself hard to establish - they weren't exactly clear in their aims. They wanted a "Showa Restoration" to mirror the Meiji one, but weren't agreed even among themselves what form this would take. More than anything, their plot's reasoning rested on the belief that Hirohito would support them come crunch time.

But, to answer the question....

Immediate aims would be probably:
*The elimination of those targets they had already marked for death including PM Okada who escaped the initial violence in the chaos.
*A purging of the government to be replaced by a military and royal cabinet headed by probably either General Kawashima or General Araki (who were their big heroes).
*Pumping money into the military budget.

More long term its hard to say, as I've pointed out, because their ideology was vague. You might see:
*Overturning of the Washington Naval Treaty terms.
*A harder and more engaged line with China.
*More tension with the Soviets - they hated the Communists but were hardly alone in this in 1936 Japan.
*Possibly some sort of state interference in the economy more than usual - they were suspicious of the Zaibatsu and business interests and agitated for their poor rank-and-file soldiers caught in the financial agrarian crisis of interwar Japan. But how far they can/will take this is anyone's guess.
 
Imperial Japan ends up even crazier than OTL. If war breaks out early, we'd definitely see an invasion of the Japanese Home Islands, which could get really ugly.:eek:
 
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