History Chapter 6: Outbreak of War in the Asia Pacific

Japan Ambition

Japan Desperation

Japan Aspiration

Weakness of League of Nations

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One reason for the outbreak of war in the Asia Pacific is Japan’s Ambition.

Conflicts in China

Alliance with Britain

Conflict with Russia

Worsening relations with the USA

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One aspect of Japan’s ambition is Japan’s alliance with Britain

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In 1902, Britain signed an alliance with Japan called the Anglo-Japanese’s Alliance.

This was based on mutual recognition of British and Japanese interests in Asia

The treaty was renewed in 1905, where Britain recognised Japan’s right to defend Korea and Japan recognised Britain’s right to defend India.

Both agreed that China was a place of ‘common interest’

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This fed Japan’s ambition as it allowed Japan to enter WW1 on the side of Britain

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Japan posed a threat to Russian interests in the Far East.

Hence, Russia established a sphere of infulence in Manchuria in northeastern China and secured a pernament ice-free port.

Russia attempted to establish a pernament military and naval base in Manchuria, which was seen as a security threat to Japan and its interests and influence in Korea.

Japan initially wanted to reach a diplomatic agreement, and offered to accept Russian influence in Manchuria if Russia accepted Japanese influence in Korea.

Russia refused, believing that it did not need to negotiate with Japan as the East was seen as less powerful and inferior to the West.

In response, the Japanese government declared war on Russia, and the Japanese defeated the Russians in 1905.

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One aspect of Japan’s ambition is Japan’s conflict with China

In 1894, Japan fought a successful war against China, gaining control of the Korean Peninsula.

At the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, China was forced not only to give up control of Korea, but also the island of Taiwan to Japan.

Japan decided to administer Taiwan as its first overseas colony. And embarked on a colonisation process that mirrored European efforts around Asia, including the construction of schools, railways and other morden infrastructure.

They also created economic projects that primarily benefited Japan. For instance, raw materials such as sugar were extracted, processed and sold in Japan.

In Korea, however, the Japanese government tried to rule indirectly through the Korean royal family. However, their efforts were not successful as the Korean king and queen tried to assert their independence.

As such, in 1910, Japan annexed Korea to rule it directly, introducing policies that were unpopular among Koreans.

SUch as education in Japanese as well as forced labour and military service, and went as far as to encourage the settlement of Japanese migrants in Korea and confiscated land from the Koreans for Japanese farmers.

The Western powers became very interested in China from the late 19th century due to its large territory, population, and potential for economic activity.

Gains in Taiwan, Korea, and Manchuria fuelled Japan’s ambition to expand further into China.

Additionally, China was facing political instability at that time as the Qing Dynasty fell, leading to a struggle for power between Sun Yat Sen and Yuan Shi Kai

Japan then delivered the Twenty-One Demands to China as an ultimatum in 1915

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The conflict in China allowed Japan to get money, territory, as well as improve their reputation, feeding into their ambition.

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One reason for Japan’s ambition was the worsening relations with the USA.

American racism against the Japanese

Washington Naval Conference in 1921

Racial segregation and discrimination were common in American society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Laws wer passed to protect American economic interests and to exclude the Chinese, Korean and Japanese immigrants to prevent competition of jobs.

In 1882, the USA passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to suspend Chinese immigration. This was closely followed by the establishment of the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League in 1905

The Japanese and American governments actually did not want conflict, but both faced pressure from their citizens to act against the other.

The Americans feared job competition from the Japanese while the Japanese were offended by the discrimination.

Organised by the US, it called for a reduction in the naval forces of the main powers.

The ratio of naval strength was decided as 5 for the USA, 5 for Britain, and 3 for Japan.

This meant that Japan had to reduce their naval strength more than the USA and Britain

The Japanese felt that the agreement was unfair and biased against them.

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The worsening relationship between Japan and the USA resulted in rising tensions between the USA and Japan, eventually causing war to break out.

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Economic Crisis

Overpopulation

Growth of military influence in Japanese politics

Japan’s population grew rapidly from 45 million in 1900 to 64 million by 1930, which affected the avability of land for farming.

This affected the availability of land for farming, causing farmers to have insufficient land to grow their crops and earn a decent profit, resulting in insufficient rice growth.

Additionally, the demand for housing, goods, and products increased.

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Due to Japan’s massive population growth, the farmers had insufficient land to grow their crops and earn a decent profit to support themselves.

The Japanese farmers also practicised traditional farming methods where planting and weeding were carried out by hand, which were slow and labour-intensive

This resulted in a shortage of rice, causing more discontent among the Japanese people and causing them to lose faith in the government and look to other parties to support such as the military.

Additionally, during the Great Depression, the USA and Britain began to practice protectionism to shield their own economies.

This meant that there was growing opposition to free trade and increasing restrictions and taxation on Japanese esports into these countries

This affected the Japanese economy significantly and caused an economic depression in Japan.

This drove Japan’s growing ambitions as occupying more territories meant access to more resources as well as space to relocate its citizens.

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As a result, Japanese support grew in favour of the military, feeding into their ambition for war.

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The rise of Japanese militarism played a large role in Japan’s expansionist ambitions and aggressive attitude towards relations with other countries.

After Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inuktitut was assassinated in May 1932, martial law was declared.

The military effectively controlled the government. Under martial law, a 15-member cabinet made up of ten military figures and only five political party members was formed, with Admiral Makoto Saito as Prime Minister.

The politicians and the emperor granted concessions to the military in the hope of preventing further political violence.

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The growth of military influence in Japanese politics resulted in the military gaining more power and control over the government.

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Japan had limited resources and had to rely on trade with other countries in order to import essential resources such as oil.

Howeverm restrictive trading practices made it even more difficult for Japan to obtain the raw materials it needed from markets it did not control.

Hence, Japan developed an expansionist foregin policy of Japan to get the raw materials

Control of Taiwan gave the Japanese access to sugars Korea provided cotton and wool, and Manchuria provided minerals and wheat, as well as land for the growing population.

Additionally, Japan’s desire for equality and recognition amongst the world powers fuelled its expansionism policy.

Japanese involvement in conflicts with the major world. Powers in the early 1900s and its successes brought an increase in confidence in the military.

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This caused Japan to become more aggressive as it needed to expand its borders in order to obtain natural materials.

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

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Japan wanted to dominate the whole of East Asia and Southeast Asia, by expelling the European colonial powers from these regions and replacing them with satellite states loyal to Japan.

These will be defended by the Japanese military and governed through local elites aided by Japanese advisors.

Japan sought to expand into Southeast Asia due to the availability of raw materials there, which were crucial to its military machine.

Additionally, many people in Southeast Asia were discontented under colonial rule and wanted independence from European rule.

The Japanese promised to liberate Southeast Asia from European colonial rule with popular slogans such as “Asia for the Asians”.

Some people perceived this with optimism, in the hope of achieving independence

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The plan was also extend the Japanese Empire into Southeast Asia for economic gains and to further support Japan’s expansionist efforts.

Mukden incident and the invasion of Manchuria

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Manchuria was a good source of raw materials and resources needed for Japan’s growing industries, as well as providing Japan a market to sell their products.

Additionally, it also provided Japan a strategic location to defend its interests in Korea, as well as placing Japan ina. Strong position for future expansion into China.

On 18 September 1931, a bomb exploded near the Japanese-owned railway near Mukden. The Japanese Army took this opportunity and invaded Manchuria the next day.

China was too preoccupied with its own civil war to resist the attack.

Manchuko was then established as a satellite state under the rule of Pu Yi, the last emperor of China.

Japan signed a treaty with Manchukuo that placed the new country under Japanese military control.

However, China and the other great powers refused to recognise the new state of Manchuko, claiming that it rightfully belonged to China.

The League conducted an investigation, which found that the Japanese army’s response to the Mukden Incident went far beyond self-defence.

The League then condemned Japan as an aggressor, and refused to recognise Manchukuo.

However, the Japanese delegation walked out of the assembly and the Japanese government formally withdrew from the League of Nations soon after.

The League was thus unable to enforce its decision upon Japan.

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This allowed Japan to keep Manchukuo, giving them valuable resources for its military machine as well as giving Japan a better location to invade China from.

Second Sino-Japanese War

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During the training exercises of the Japanese troops near the Marco Polo Bridge, a few shots were fired, which prompted the Chinese troops to return fire in defence.

Later, the Japanese discovered that one of their soldiers was missing, and thought that the Chinese might have captured him.

The Japanese demanded to search the town, but the Chinese refused. Hence, the Japanese troops tried to force their way into Wanping, but failed.

Both sides increased their military strength in the area, and despite attempts to resolve the issue, resulted in a full-scale invasion of China after this incident.

China pleaded for the League of Nations to intervene, but the League was occupied with developments in Europe as Hitler tried to impose his own expansionist policy.

They only began to provide aid to China when the extent of Japanese violence in the Hanking Massacre was made known internationally.

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The war in China gave Japan access to more land for its citizens, hence causing Japan to become more aggressive.

Japan’s response to world developments in the 1930s.

American foreign policy changes

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Initially, the USA adopted an isolationist policy, not getting involved in foregin conflicts unless it directly involved their own interests.

The Japanese thus expected to have a free hand in their war against China

However, American popular opinion sided with China, and the President followed accordingly by changing his foregin policy

In 1939, Roosevelt cancelled the 1911 commercial treaty with Japan, placing restrictions on Japanese trade with the USA

When Japan occupied Vietnam in the 1940s, Roosevelt imposed a trade embargo on Japan, banning the export of steel, scrap iron, and fuel to Japan.

These resources were essential to support Japan’s war effort in China

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This made the oil-rich countries in Southeast Asia more attractive, resulting in pushing Japan to invade these countries. Additionally, the USA became one of Japan’s enemies, which convinced them to attack Pearl Harbour.

War in Europe

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The outbreak of war in Europe in 1939 meant that British and French defences in the Asia Pacific were critically weakened and depleted.

With the European powers preoccupied by war in Europe, Southeast Asia was left defenceless.

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This gave Japan an opportunity to invade Southeast Asia and take the place of the declining powers in the region, as these colonies were very weak now.

Attack on Pearl Harbour

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Roosevelt hoped that Japan’s reliance on American oil would force it to accept American demands to end the war in China and limit its expansion in the region.

Japan now faced a choice to either give in by withdrawing from China, or to retaliate by attacking the USA.

Japanese politicians by this stage could not afford to back down, and even the emperor feared the anger and power of the military factions and did not want to embarrass himself or endanger Japanese imperial interests in China.

The Japanese navy and army chiefs advised the emperor that their stockpiled oil reserves would run out in two years, and told the prime minister that war against the USA could not be avoided.

Their only hope was a quick knockout blow against the USA, and rapid expansion southwards would convince the Americans to negotiate a peace settlement.

Their target was the USA Pacific Fleet, which was moved to Pearl Harbour in Hawaii to deter Japanese aggression.

This Fleet had the necessary sea and air power to control the Asia-Pacific region and could defend SEA

A Japanese fleet of aircraft carriers, aircraft and submarines spent 11 days travelling in radio silence whilst Japanese diplomats continued the ruse of diplomatic negotiation in Washington

At 7:55 am, 7 December 1941, Japanese planes sunk 5 of the 8 battleships at anchor and bombed its aircraft fields, killing over 2400 Americans, prompting the USA to declare war on Japan the next day.

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This was the formal entry of Japan in WW2, in which Japan would next push forward in Southeast Asia and invade the European colonies.