... into a conflict which in the end became unwinnable. The growth of nationalism is one reason why Japan embarked on her military challenge of the West and also one reason why it failed. Nationalism combined with "insecurity and inflated pride" was what pushed Japan, before the war, to start to believe that it was above other nations, particularly in East Asia and as they started to industrialise successfully they soon wanted to extend their influence to other countries. Calling their ideology "pan-Asianism"1 they assumed superiority over the other nations adjacent to it and tried to impose its policies on these nations economically. When the majority of countries did not voluntarily comply, Japanese frustration, particularly from the army, meant that they were simply taken over by force instead. Nationalism had come from the development of anti-western feelings and a sense that all the modernisation that was happening was a mistake. There ...

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