Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: “Thou Shalt Not Pass”
- 2 Britain, France, and Napoleon's Continental System, 1793–1815
- 3 The United States versus Great Britain, 1776–1815
- 4 The North Blockades the Confederacy, 1861–1865
- 5 International Law and Naval Blockades during World War I: Britain, Germany, and the United States: Traditional Strategies versus the Submarine
- 6 Legal and Economic Aspects of Naval Blockades: The United States, Great Britain, and Germany in World War II
- 7 The American Submarine and Aerial Mine Blockade of the Japanese Home Islands, 1941–1945
- 8 Blockades without War: From Pacific Blockades to Sanctions
- 9 Blockades, War, and International Law: What It All Means
- Conclusion
- Index
7 - The American Submarine and Aerial Mine Blockade of the Japanese Home Islands, 1941–1945
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 18 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: “Thou Shalt Not Pass”
- 2 Britain, France, and Napoleon's Continental System, 1793–1815
- 3 The United States versus Great Britain, 1776–1815
- 4 The North Blockades the Confederacy, 1861–1865
- 5 International Law and Naval Blockades during World War I: Britain, Germany, and the United States: Traditional Strategies versus the Submarine
- 6 Legal and Economic Aspects of Naval Blockades: The United States, Great Britain, and Germany in World War II
- 7 The American Submarine and Aerial Mine Blockade of the Japanese Home Islands, 1941–1945
- 8 Blockades without War: From Pacific Blockades to Sanctions
- 9 Blockades, War, and International Law: What It All Means
- Conclusion
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
As the history of blockades over the years has shown, the success of any economic blockade depends, to a large extent, upon several key factors – factors that vary with the domestic resources and the geographic location of the nation that the blockade is directed against and the military resources at the disposal of the blockading power. First, “the economy of the blockaded power must be vulnerable” – given the resource and industrial base, a naval blockade directed against the United States, for example, would be almost certain to fail. Second, the blockading nation must have sufficient military power to have control of sea and land routes that connect the enemy with other nations; and, thus, enable it “to cut off the supply of goods to its enemy from outside his border.” Third, “the blockading power must be able,” either through military force or diplomatic pressure, “to secure the acquiescence or cooperation of neutral powers” that might be able to supply the blockaded country from overseas. In summary, then, economic warfare, to be successful, depends “on the ability to restrict an enemy's economy to a small and known stock of basic resources.” The blockade of Japan was successful because that country had been “driven back from her imperial outposts to the limited economic base of the Home Islands and Korea.” By the end of 1943, the United States and its allies had sufficient naval and air power to effectively enforce such a blockade.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Naval Blockades in Peace and WarAn Economic History since 1750, pp. 321 - 382Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006