Malayan Campaign - the Matador Plan

The tight control of the Japanese Army promoted resistance from the civilians of South East Asia. This occurred in areas of strategic importance for the Japanese. Starvation and brutality towards civilians in territories led to outbreaks of political violence and strong resistance. The civilians of Malaya met the Japanese forces with strong resistance in the form of guerilla warfare and sabotage to capture Japanese outposts and encourage social revolution. As Falk argues the Japanese responded to the networks of resistance by ‘drawing out forces and firing on them unexpectedly’, leading to the death of over 50,000 people in Malaya. It is evident that the increase in political violence led to a considerable amount of occupied death in territories of South East Asia.

The quote informs the citizens of potential rewards and the legacy that would be left behind by them should the war be won. It boosted pride among the British Isles, and morale drastically

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

Not only were the British army dismissive of the idea that the Japanese would launch attacks, when the news broke out, they were convinced that Japanese armies would assault from the sea and accordingly distributed forces to the coasts. This lead to a lack of armies and forces on the the island’s north-east, where the Japanese militaries came from. After the loss of men in the battle at Malaya, there was an insufficient amount of soldiers and due to miscalculations, armies were spread thinly across Singapore, which proved to be ineffective to defend a large mass of Japanese

Clausewitz’s thoughts on war termination effectively summarize the situation for the Japanese and Russian Empires preceding peace negotiations, “Inability to carry on the struggle can, in practice, be

(Document 11). The power of Britain have forced other countries to fight more because they don’t want the British to take over the

Ask yourselves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with these warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be reconciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings resort” (Henry 30;

On the 21st of July 1942 Australians were compelled to repulse a Japanese attack power

The United States along with our allies Britain and Dutch, provoked the Japanese to attack. In 1937 Japan declared war on China which aggravated the US. The US and its Allies formed a plan and cut off the oil supply for the Japanese military. No oil, meant no fuel for the war. By the US making the strategic plan to cut of the oil supply, left the Japanese finding oil elsewhere. So, they planned to invade into the Philippines and the Malaya territories. By moving into these locations with the hopes of finding a steady source of natural resources such as oil and rubber. In order to do so, the Japanese empire had to cripple the US military base that was 5,276 miles way. After months of planning, the Japanese Empire put their attack in motion. After many different red flag scenarios, the Japanese Bombers still managed to get the upper hand on us. With all of the red flags that’s presented hours, days, weeks before the attack why was the Pacific not

“Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind?”

Throughout the work, Fujitani draws evidence from, and references, a plethora of different sources that add validity to his statements and accounts of not only what the Japanese and United States did, but also why they acted the way they did. In a time of war, both countries took different actions that were not readily understood. Japan

Otherwise we shall come into control of an utterly ruined land.” by Winston Churchill, 28 march 1945.

Space Battleship Yamato (1977) and The Silent Services (1988-1996) are both films that ‘rehabilitate’ Japan’s experience of World War II as they re-tell or imagine alternative histories or fictional stories that rehabilitate past trauma (namely their humiliating defeat of WWII and a sense of loss of masculinity to the U.S.-Japan alliance and what came corollary with it). Such narratives can be interpreted as expressing what contemporary Japan desires. The narrative of each film is reflected by the context of the time of its production (cold-war vs. post-cold war) and whilst the narratives of SBY and SS share similarities they differ in their depth of political discussions, conveyed messages and explicitness due to the constraints of post-war democracy, pacifism and U.S. relation. Relevant concepts are militarism, nationalism, anti-war messages, anti-US messages, pacifism, masculinity and patriotism and many of these co-exist in each respective film – the films try to reconcile them by ending with a lasting impression that justifies the aggression for the sake of world peace.

In order to fully understand how Britain’s decision to go to war against Germany is best explained one must engage into the debate revolving around the question of the extent to which Britain and other countries were responsible for causing war. This helps explain the intention Britain had for war which is vital in understanding their decision making process to cause war in the first place. Some schools of thought have come to the conclusion that it was everybody or nobody- the continent “slithered over the brink into the boiling cauldron of war without any trace of apprehension or dismay.”1 That analysis will be considered in this essay as will the widespread thesis that it was Germany’s aggression which not only created the preconditions for war, but also triggered Britain into war with the political imbalance of power being created from the growing naval and colonial expansion of Germany. Other factors that help explain why Britain went to war against Germany

The events of World War Two such as the failed Malaya campaign, the fall of Singapore, the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the stretched resources of Britain, led to Australia developing a more independent foreign policy however, independent of Britain. The changing of alliance between Britain, Australia and the United States of America has led to a substantial impact on shaping Australian society and where Australia are today. The fall of Singapore and the Malaya campaign brought the war extremely close to Australia even reaching Australian soil for the first time and generated new opinions and perspectives on the war for all Australians. Furthermore, with its greatest military defeat of all time, Britain had to recover and Australia had to