Japan History - World War II

Under the pretense of the Manchurian Incident, Lieutenant Colonel Kanji Ishiwara invaded Inner (Chinese) Manchuria in 1931, an action the Japanese government mandated with the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo under the last Manchu emperor, Pu Yi. As a result of international condemnation of the incident, Japan resigned from the League of Nations in 1933.

After several more similar incidents fueled by an expansionist military, the second Sino-Japanese War began in 1937 after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. Japan allied with Germany and Italy, and formed the Axis Pact of September 27, 1940. Many Japanese, including Kanji, believed war with the West to be inevitable due to inherent cultural differences and the oppression of Western imperialism (Japanese imperialism, often just as brutal, was justified as "preparing" Asia for the upcoming confrontation).

However, while Kanji took his action in the belief that his nation should focus on subduing Soviet Russia, tensions were mounting with the U.S. As a result of public outcry over Japanese aggression and reports of atrocities in China, such as the infamous Nanjing Massacre, the U.S. began an embargo on such goods as petroleum products and scrap iron in 1940. On July 25, 1941, all Japanese assets in the US were frozen.

Because Japan's military might, especially the Navy, was dependent on their dwindling oil reserves, this action had the contrary effect of increasing Japan's dependence on and hunger for new acquisitions. Many civil leaders of Japan, including Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro, believed a war with America would end in defeat, but felt the concessions demanded by the U.S. would almost certainly relegate Japan from the ranks of the World Powers, leaving it prey to Western collusion. They also believed that such a war would be brought to a close quickly, settled with negotiations.

While they vied for a diplomatic peaceful solution, offering two compromises that were brazenly rejected by Secretary of State Cordell Hull, the military leaders vied for a quick military action. However, there were dissenters in the ranks about the wisdom of that option, most notably Admiral Yamamoto Isoroku. He pointedly warned that at the beginning of hositilities with the US, he would have the advantage for six months, after which Japan's defeat in a prolonged war would be almost certain.

The Americans were expecting an attack in the Philippines (and stationed troops appropriate to this conjecture), but on Yamamoto Isoroku's advice, Japan made the decision to attack Pearl Harbor where it would make the most damage in the least amount of time. The US believed that Japan would never be so bold as to attack their home base, and they were taken completely by surprise. The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred December 7, 1941 (December 8 in Japan).

At the same time, the Japanese army attacked colonial Hong Kong and occupied it for nearly four years. Unfortunately, the attack proved a long term strategic disaster that actually did relatively little lasting damage to the US and provoked the nation to retaliate with full commitment against Japan and its allies.

While Nazi Germany was in the middle of its Blitzkrieg through Europe, Japan was in the middle of a Blitzkrieg in Asia. In addition to already having colonized Taiwan and Manchuria, the Japanese Army captured most of coastal Chinese cities like Shanghai, and had conquered French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), Thailand, British Malaya (Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore) as well as the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). They had also conquered British Burma (Myanmar) and reached the borders of India and Australia, conducting air raids on the port of Darwin, Australia.

Japan had soon established a massive empire, stretching over much of the Pacific. After almost 4 years of war, resulting in the loss of 3 million Japanese lives and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as daily air raids on Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Yokohama, and the destruction of all other major cities (except Kyoto, Nara, and Kamakura, for their historical importance), Japan signed an instrument of surrender on the USS Missouri in Tokyo Harbor on September 2, 1945.

Symbolically, the deck of the Missouri was furnished bare except for two American flags. One had flown over the White House on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked. The other had flown the mast of Commodore Perry's ship when he had sailed into that same harbor nearly a century before to urge the opening of Japan's ports to foreign trade.

As a result of World War II, Japan lost all of its overseas possessions and retained only the home islands. Manchukuo was dissolved, and Inner Manchuria was returned to the Republic of China; Japan renounced all claims to Formosa; Korea was taken under the control of the UN; southern Sakhalin and the Kuriles were occupied by the U.S.S.R.; and the United States became the sole administering authority of the Ryukyu, Bonin, and Volcano Islands.

International Military Tribunal for the Far East, an international war crimes tribunal sentenced seven Japanese military and government officials to death on November 12, 1948, including General Hideki Tojo, for their roles in World War II.

The 1972 reversion of Okinawa completed the United States' return of control of these islands to Japan. Japan continues to protest for the corresponding return of the Kuril Islands (Northern territory or 'Hoppou Ryoudo') from Russia.

Defeat came for a number of reasons. The most important is probably Japan's underestimation of the industro-military capabilities of the U.S. The U.S. recovered from its initial setback at Pearl Harbor much quicker than the Japanese expected, and their sudden counterattack came as a blow to Japanese morale. U.S. output of military products also skyrocketed past Japanese counterparts over the course of the war. Another reason was factional in-fighting between the Army and Navy, which led to poor intelligence and cooperation. This was compounded as the Japanese forces found they had overextended themselves, leaving Japan itself vulnerable to attack.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Wikipedia article "History of Japan".

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