Table of Contents

Part I: Age of Chaos: 1868-1878 2. Jewel in the Palace: The New Political Order, 1868-1873 3. "By Not Stopping": Military Insubordination and the Taiwan Expedition, 1874 4. Fatal Optimism: Rebels and Assassins in the 1870s Part II: Age of Military Independence: 1878-1913 5. Gold-Eating Monsters: Military Independence and the Prerogative of Supreme Command 6. Three Puffs on a Cigarette: Miura Goro and the Assassination of Queen Min 7. Coup D'etat in Three Acts: The Taisho Political Crisis, 1912-1913 Part III: Into the Dark Valley, 1928-1936 8. The King of Manchuria: Komoto Daisaku and the Assassination of Zhang Zuolin, 1928 9. Cherry Blossom: From Resistance to Rebellion, 1931 10. Pure as Water: The Incident of February 1936 and the Limits of Military Insubordination Conclusion: The Dreadful and the Trivial

About the Author

Danny Orbach is Senior Lecturer in the Departments of Asian Studies and General History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is the author of The Plots against Hitler.

Reviews

"The original and compelling Curse on This Country makes a significant contribution to both military history and the history of Japan. Danny Orbach offers a new interpretation of the relationship between the Japanese army and government that goes a long way to explaining how Japan ended up fighting World War II. Orbach has delved deeply into the archives that reveal how politicians, army officers, and ruffians felt about each other as individuals. He makes a convincing case for a culture of military insubordination in Japan that derived from historical precedent, structure flaws, and individual initiatives. By idealizing men who had been persecuted, if not executed, for crimes against the state, the Meiji government inadvertently promoted the culture of individual action that later officials found impossible to control."-Anne Walthall, University of California, Irvine, author of Japan: A Cultural, Social, and Political History "Featuring a long-term perspective and analyzing Japan's development over several decades from the 1870s to the 1930s, Curse on This Country is accessible and highly useful for experts in different fields. It is an indispensable addition to the body of literature on modern Japanese politics, addressing a broad audience within and outside the field of Japanese studies."-Sven Saaler, Sophia University "Curse on This Country fills an important gap in our understanding of Japan's military history leading up to the Pacific War. A particular strength of this book is Danny Orbach's extensive use of hitherto unexamined primary sources in five different languages."-Yoichi Funabashi, Rebuild Japan Initiative Foundation