In “Curse on This Country: The Rebellious Army of Imperial Japan,” multi-lingual Hebrew University senior lecturer Danny Orbach tracks nearly 80 years (1860-1936) of the influence of the Imperial Japanese Army’s officer class on Japan.
Based on Japanese-language primary source research as well as other original documents in four other languages, Orbach details how members of the officer class conducted overthrows of foreign governments, political assassinations and repeated insubordinate actions against Japan’s military and civilian leadership. Orbach argues that the Japanese Army acted contrary to orders and policy on many occasions beginning in the Meiji Era (1869-1912), becoming a cult of disobedience that pushed Japan into the disastrous Pacific War.
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