The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916-1931

by Adam Tooze

In early 1919 General Ugaki Kazushige, a subordinate of Tanaka, commented: ‘Britain and America seek, through the League of Nations, to tie down the military power of other nations whilst nibbling away at them through the use of their long suit, capitalism. There doesn’t seem to be much difference between military conquest and capitalist nibbling.’36 Japan must hone its sword to respond in its own way. In October 1921 three young Japanese military attachés met in Baden-Baden, Germany, to discuss the example provided by the European states for Japan. For these future leaders of right-wing Japanese militarism, Ludendorff’s concept of a new era of Total War waged between huge global power blocs was one of the most inspiring concepts produced by World War I.