Japan 's Superior Mobilization Of Human And Economic Resources

Starting in the early 1930’s, the Japanese began to display their great imperialistic dreams with ambition and aggression. Their goal was to create a "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" where they controlled a vast empire in the western Pacific.1 In September of 1939, Japan signed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis Treaty, allying themselves with Germany and Italy in an effort to safeguard their interests in China from the Soviet Union. Japan’s only major obstacle left lay in the significant size of the United States Pacific Fleet. To rid themselves of this, Japan attacked the United States Pacific Fleet in hopes of crippling it enough to prevent any further hindrance from the

Japan is a small island nation off the coast of Eastern Asia. Despite its size, Japan has proved to be formidable both economically and militarily. Since the expedition of Commodore Matthew Perry in 1853 opened up the past feudalistic and reclusive Japan, this nation has expanded and adopted many imperialistic policies as well as taken a more aggressive military stance. Japan has changed in many ways, but has also continued upholding traditional practices throughout 1853 and 1941.

The retaliation of the Japanese had the world concerned by the oppression of military actions and to reveal power during the modern era (1900’s). The strategy of the Japanese

(Doc. 8) In the 19th century, Japan began to see that the world was moving forward without them in technology and manufacturing. In addition, they also saw that their military was inferior to those of their peers. On the matter, Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo said, "The protection of the nation’s line of sovereignty and the defense of our line of advantage are essential if we wish to maintain our independence and security... it is essential that we begin to make significantly larger appropriations for our navy and our armed forces." To reconcile this, the nation immediately made every effort to pull themselves out of the past and into the present by strengthening their army and diving headfirst into industrialism. (Doc. 8) Much the same as the British, Japan's rapid industrial growth led to expansion and colonization. By the late 1930s, Japan had taken control of both Korea and Manchuria, giving them more power and position than they had ever before come to know. (Doc.

The most effective war termination is developed in conjunction with mutually supporting military and political goals before the onset of war. Identifying the desired end-state allows for an effective overall strategy and assists in the timing of critical decisions. The Japanese answered three critical war termination questions before determining to go to war: How far to go militarily, what to demand politically, and how to maintain peace? Militarily they couldn’t win an unlimited war outright, but believed a draw or situation slightly favorable to the Japanese was possible in a limited war, (Koda, 23). Political demands were made clear in diplomatic negotiations leading up to the war that were refused by the Tsar and other Russian hard-liners. Japan planned to maintain peace through alliances, (British and American), and by recognizing common interests with the Russian Empire in the Far East. These answers outlined the actions required by the Japanese Empire to effectively plan the termination of the war.

By industrializing, Russia was able to extend its influence in eastern Asia and seizing new territories in northern China. Japan reformed after seeing China’s foreign power so they kicked out all foreigners and built its own military. In Japan, an American commodore, Matthew Perry threatened to bomb Japan in 1853, unless Japan allowed access to trade for the Americans which created military superiority of the West. Therefore, Perry won the right to have the Americans to trade which allowed two ports to open with other European countries of Britain, Holland and Russia. In Japan, they had many signs of improvement with the Western influence of new banks to fund trade and private investment capital, railways and steam vessels improved national communication and helped with trade since Japan lacked many resources.

On August 9, Soviet forces entered into the Pacific theatre through a three-pronged invasion into Manchuria. Their entry into the war concerned the Japanese immensely because it further split Japan’s already thin troop numbers and caused fear that communist sympathizers in Japan would cause trouble on the home islands during the critical final act of the war. “The author has long made it a habit, when meeting with former members of the Imperial Army and Navy, to ask which had a greater impact at the time: the atomic bombs or the soviet entry into the war? The responses run about 50- 50, yet all agree that neither blow would have been sufficient: if they had not coincided, (Hata 2007).” The threats of communism were well acknowledged by the Japanese government as they had cracked down on supporters of communism and arrested hundreds of them during the war, (Hata 2007). However the timing of the Soviet entry was even more terrifying to the Japanese government because they believed if the government fell, communism might succeed in planting its roots in Japan before a new government could take its place. After the American occupation began, many Japanese politicians and royalists were quick to shed light on the political atmosphere regarding the Emperor and his political orientation. Baron Hiranuma Kiichiro was quick to

In the late 1890s, tensions between China and Japan were growing. China’s power was growing into the early 1900s as it converted to Nationalism. Japan felt the need to expand and conquer because they had been forced into the modern age by the United States, and they believed it was their destiny to exert government over other nations (Chang 23-24). The Japanese felt the need to do something before China became “too powerful to be conquered” (Chang 28-29). This put Japan on the path to war with China (Chang 25).

Russo-Japanese War. To understand why, this paper considers the elements of the Fabian strategy and compares how those elements were satisfied, or not, by General Washington and the Russian

“When the Japanese Kwantung Army (also known as the Guandong Army) contrived to invade Manchuria on 18 September 1931, it unleashed military and political forces which led ultimately to the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941”(BBC). It can be concluded that Japan’s invasion of Manchuria, and even their attack on Pearl Harbor, were a result of extreme nationalism and militarism. Therefore, in conclusion, Japanese expansion was an integral part of WWII, and thus must be considered when evaluating the effect of the Treaty of Versailles on WWII.

This academic journal by Martha Chaiklin, analyzes the efforts taken by various countries that eventually lead to the ending of Japanese isolationism. She first invalidates the notion that Commodore Perry with his gunboats were solely responsible for the opening of Japan. In contrast, the Dutch and liberal policies were greatly attributed if not solely responsible for the opening of Japan. Even the American led event that is attributed to the opening of Japan was in fact not a unique policy “ The United States was not the first to attempt to open Japan since all Westerners except the Dutch had been expelled in 1639. Both the British and the Russians had made several attempts in the preceding two centuries that had all ended in failure” (Chaiklin

The Russo-Japanese War The Russo Japanese war was a conflict between Russia and Japan in 1904-1905. The cause of the war was because Russia wanted to expand into Asia and ran into Japanese plans for gaining a foothold on Asia main land. In 1898 Russia leased Port Arthur from china, with the intention of making it into a great Asiatic port and the headquarters of Russian naval power in the pacific. Russia already had troops in Manchuria during the boxer rebellion in 1900, but Russia had to face the anglo-japanese alliance of 1902, which promised to leave Chinese territory. The promise was not kept and in June 1903 Japan proposed a mutual agreement recognising japans interest in Korea and

Japan reacted by creating "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" which allowed Japan to depend less on Western war supplies. (Office of the historian) (4)

After the Meiji restoration, the West was taken as a supreme ideal for nearly every aspect of Japanese life. In fact it has become alarmingly difficult to differentiate the original cultural Japanese life and the Westernised Japanese way of life (‘A History of Modern Japan’, p13). The assimilation of Western ideas has largely been a negative transition, through the establishment of unreasonable treaties. However, according to historical events and accounts, it is evident that continued Western influence and interference between 1853-1941, led Japan to become a more aggressive nation.

The growth of Japanese military was proved by their victory in Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War