During the August and September 1941 deliberations, the prime minister presents Hirohito with the assessment that pursuing peace would provoke civil war. In that assessment, foreign war becomes the politically manageable course despite the emperor's authority on paper. Armed groups competing for power made Japan difficult to govern throughout the preceding years. Politicians who maintained stability did so through extensive compromise, while the loss of publicly acknowledged elder statesmen weakened another means of restraining the factions.
Notable Point · 9:00-10:38
Why peace could threaten civil war inside Japan
The threat of armed domestic opposition made a peace policy difficult to enforce even with imperial support.