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Why Did Japan Became A World Power Dbq Essay

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Japan emerged from WWI feeling that Europe and the United States created the Treaty of Versailles to promote their own goals and leave Japan as a struggling power. In turn, Japan decided to pursue their own agenda to become stronger country. On September 1st, 1939 Germany when violated the Munich Conference by invading Poland and declaring the second world war, Japan saw potential in Hitler's views and joined Germany’s efforts in order to become a dominating world power. As Japan tried to expand they noticed that the United States would prevent the country's goal; so, on December 7th, 1941 the Japanese sent 408 airplanes to bomb the United States’ Navy in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor because Japan wanted to gain control of …show more content…

Prior to WWII, Japan expanded into other countries like China and Manchuria to gain resources because Japan didn’t want to rely on the United States for resources and nearly eighty percent of their oil (Doc D). The invasion of Manchuria made the United States suspicious of Japan’s intent, but when China was invaded, the United States confirmed their skepticism and stopped trading military equipment with Japan. Two years later, in 1941, Japanese-American oil trades embargoed and banking assets froze. The trade cut off prevented the Japanese’s goal of becoming a world power because they couldn’t fuel their military or their industries. Therefore, the action infuriated the leaders of Japan and such anger was expressed during an Imperial Conference when Hideki Tojo stated to his fellow board members that the United States can’t do as she wants and let other countries suffer (Doc E). This conference helped organize the bombing and influenced the spread of Japanese hate toward America. Just as Europe and the United States did when fabricating the Treaty of Versailles, Japan took action in the interest of their country first and bombed Pearl Harbor in the same year as trade flow stopped. The bombing represented revenge against the trade cutoff and for preventing the completion of their

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