Japanese Expansion

Reasons for Japanese expansionism (nationalism/militarism) [6]

1. determination to transform Japan into a Western-Style power
2. Japan’s belief in its destiny as a leader of Asia
3. need to obtain raw materials
4. need for strategic security
5. actions of western powers (leading in advancements)
6. growing population support for militarism and expansionism within Japan

Treaty of Kanagawa

Cause [2]

• Matthew Perry arrived with several US steamships to get Japan to open up to US demands for trade (1853)
• the ruling Shogun Tokugawa Yoshinakou’s fear of “Black Ships” and the situation forced him to sign a series of humiliating Treaties

Effects [4]

• political power returned to the empire (“Meji”)
• Empire’s government began to modernize Japan
  • dismantled the feudal system
  • established a limited form of democracy
• major reforms in industry, educations, fashion and military
• the government promoted national unity and patriotism

Military reforms [3+2]

It included:

• modernizing the army
• adapting German military tactics
• new navy with the help of UK

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It led to:

• victory in Sino-Japanese of 1894-95
• Treaty of Shinonseki
  • gave Japan Pescadore Islands, Formasa, Liedayng Peninsula
  • recognized Korean independence
  • obligated China to pay large induntiy, open additional ports & discuss commercial tegy

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Washington Treaty System

Four Power Treaty [3]

• USA, Britain, France, Japan
• end Anglo-Japanese Alliance of 1902
• agreed to confer if the rights of possessions of any 4 countries would be threatened in the Pacific

Five Power Naval Treaty [3]

• USA, Britain, France, Japan, Italy
• restricted competition in battleships & aircraft by setting a ratio: 5 : 5 : 1.75 : 3 : 1.75
• required Japan’s Imperial Navy to abandon its plans for a massive expansion & was opposed by Navy General Staff

Nine Power Treaty [3]

• USA, Britain, France, Japan, Italy, China, Portugal, Belgium, Netherlands
• respect Chinese independence & integrity + abide “open door” principles
• Japan agreed to return the German seized during IWW

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Why was Manchuria so important for Japan? [5]

1. Manchuria’s wealth resources: coal, iron, timber
2. new markets for manufactured goods
3. this would help withstand the impact of global depression
4. could act as a buffer against threat from Russia
5. 4 times larger than Japan = living space for rapidly growing Japanese population (over-populated)

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Steps that led to invasion on Manchuria [12]

1. Because of political instability in China, the Northern Expedition & the fact that Japanese had backed up the warlord in Manchuria Zhang Zuolin, he had become powerful and attempted to expand Northern China, which made him a target for Jiang
2. this could interfere in Japan’s plans in Manchuria
3. Japanese government planned to use Kwantung Army to disarm Zhang and force him to retreat back before being defeated by Jiang
4. Some Kwantung Army leaders thought it was too lenient, stopped Zhang expedition and assassinated Zhang
5. their aim of destabilizing the situation and allowing Japan to seize control was not achieved (Zhang was succeeded by his son Zhang Xueling)
6. Japanese government wanted to follow peaceful principles to maintain Japan’s position in North-East China
7. Kwantung Army officers were concerned that taking over Manchuria would become difficult to achieve
8. they made a plot to seize Manchuria
9. it was against the policies of their own government
   10. Prime Minister was informed, and he informed the Emperor, who told Minister of War - General Minami, to restrain Kwantung Army
   11. He wrote a letter, but it was intentionally held back
   12. Kwantung Army officers executed their plan and attacked Manchuria

Mukden Incident [9]

1. explosion on Japanese - owned South Manchurian Railway (near Mukden)
2. Kwantung Army officers claimed that the railway had been blowed up by the Chinese (in reality it was Kwantung Army members who did it
3. Kwantung Army had an excuse to attack Manchuria
4. within hours the Japanese had forced the Chinese to retreat from Mukden
5. Kwantung Army entered Changchun to the north on the following day
6. The army ignored orders coming from Tokyo. Government wanted the army to fall back & declared policy of “non-expansion of hostilities”
7. Kwantung Army began to seize more territories
8. On 24th September the government declared that the army would fall back to the railway zone, but Kwantung Army ignored it.
9. Kwantung Army pushed further into Manchurian countryside

Consequences of Manchurian Crisis for:

Japan’s international relations [6]

1. Japan left the League of Nations, which was caused by West’s condemnation for using force
2. deterioration in relations with Britain & the USA
3. Japan’s isolation (seemed to abandon international cooperation and the Washington Treaty System
4. Japan started to see Soviet regime as a threat (ideological & territorial - Manchuria)
5. Japan got interested in Nazi’s Germany policy
6. Japan signed Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany in 11.1936 with Germany (afraid by the relationship between China & Soviet Union)

Manchuria and China [6]

1. creation of new puppet state “Manchukuo” (old Manchuria)
2. by the beginning of 1932 Manchukuo was wholly under control of Japanese forces
3. there was an independent government under puppet rule of Pu Yi (last emperor of China)
4. In January 1932, fighting also had broken out in Shanghai
5. The city was bombarded by the Japanese which caused devastation of Chinese districts & thousands of casualties and refugees
6. After six weeks Chinese forces were forced to withdraw

Nationalist party in China [4]

1. Jiang Jieshi was focused on defeating the Chinese communists and didn’t want to engage in other conflicts, in order to gain more time to organize his defences

2. He saw communists as a bigger threat & considered a viable strategy giving up land to Japan to buy some time

3. Japanese control over Manchuria was accepted in Treaty of Tanguu

4. Jiang agreed to seizure of parts of inner Mongolia and in June 1935 agreed to remove all troops from Hebei province

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Japanese government [5]

1. Japan benefited economically from the occupation however the costs of maintaining a sizeable army on the Chinese mainland overgrew it

   1. that cause increase in taxation in Japan

2. Japan was alone internationally and declared its responsibility for maintaining peace in Asia through limiting European influence in Asia

3. the government position was undermined by public support for the Kwantung Army’s action in China

4. it lost control over the army

5. foreign criticism and condemnation encouraged growing nationalists sentiments

Other [2]

1. Chinese people were furious about Japan’s actions
2. there was a boycott of Japanese products, which impacted Japan because it reduced sales of its goods by 2/3

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Second Sino-Japanese War

Marco Polo Bridge Incident [5]

1. direct cause of war

2. fighting broke out between Japanese and Chinese forces at Marco-Polo Bridge near Beijing

3. there is limited evidence that it was set up by Japanese

   1. however the army had drawn forces into China from Korea without government’s consent

4. the minister of war demanded that more forces were sent from Korea and Manchuria

   1. besides the government disagreement they were sent

5. this led to full-scale war with China

Further actions [4]

1. By the end of July, Japanese forces had taken Beijing
2. the following month there was fighting in Shanghai
3. Japan was engaged both North and in Shanghai - war on 2 fronts
4. it was a brutal attack with more devastating air-raids

Rape of Nanjing [1+5]

1. Nanjing fell to the Japanese in December 1937

2. Chinese soldiers and civilians were subjected to appalling atrocities:

   1. around 30k women were raped, & many died after repeated assaults
   2. 30k fugitive (uciekinierzy) soldiers were killed
   3. 12k civilians were murdered
   4. robery, destruction and arson (podpalenie) left city in ruins

Results of the Sino-Japanese War for Japan [6]

1. once the Marco-Polo Bridge Incident has escalated, Konoe (Japan’s Prime Minister) called for all-out campaign to “annihilate” the nationalist regime

2. The Chinese refused to agree for terms of peace

3. Japan had to fight on and their supplies became overstreched

4. Two resistance forces were created:

   1. under Jiang Jieshi at Changging
   2. under Mao Zedong in North West China

5. In November 1938, Japanese Government declared creation of cultural, political, and economic union between Japan, Manchukuo and China - New Order in East Asia

   1. Jiang rejected the idea of union and continued the war

6. Japan had ongoing issue of ending the war (multiple strategis such as peace terms, decise military victory, setting up a Chinese regime => none worked)

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Tripartite Pact [2+3+2]

1. under Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yosuke
2. signed by Japan, Italy and Germany

Decisions [3]

1. Italy and Germany would dominate in Europe and Japan would dominate in East Asia
2. If Italy/Germany defeat Western democracies in Europe, their colonies in Asia coud be easily seized by Japan
3. agreed to cooperate in aforesaid lines and assists with poltical, economical and military means if attacked by Power not involved at the time in European War and Japan/China confict

Results [2]

• the victories of Nazis helped Japan take over British, French, and Dutch colonies in Asia
• this caused the USA and Britain to freeze all Japanese assets and bring Japan to a half

Attack on Pearl Harbor [5+1+9]

Causes [5]

1. increasing control that military had on the government
2. the economic embargo placed on Japan as a result of its expansion into Indo-China - Japanese could not sustain the war in China if their key supplies were cut off
3. Japan had 2 options to withdraw from Indo-China and agree to terms with the USA and go to war
4. the negotiations continued throughout 1941 - Washington wanted Japan to agree to respect the territorial integrity of its neighbours, pursue policies by peaceful means and continue “open door” policy in the areas under control
5. Japan couldn’t agree, the negotiations continued while Japanese army made alternative plan for war (secret attack on base in Hawaii)

Japanese Bomber Attacked US Ships and installations at Pearl Harbor in an attempt to destroy the US Pacific fleet

Consequences [9]

1. huge losses for the USA - 90% of the mid-Pacific air and sea power either destroyed or badly damaged

2. however Japan had not destroed the US aircraft carrier capability - several carriers were on the sea, and we're not hit

3. The US government was outraged and it was seen as an entirely deceitful and treacherous

4. killed 2403 and injured 1,178 US military personnel and civilians before the war declaration

5. Simultaneously attacked Hong Kong and Singapore

6. On December 8th attacked Dutch East Indies, Philippines, and Malaya

7. By the end of December had control over Guam, Hong Kong and Waka Island

8. Sank 2 important British warships

9. Japan had taken Indo-China, Siam, The Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Singapore and Philippines in the mid-1942

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USA trade with Japan [6]

• USA didn’t respond to actions from 1931-1937, because had trade and investments interests in Japan
• USA continued to export strategic materials to Japan throughout the 30s
• its trade with Japan until 1939 played a key role in supporting Japan’s war effort against China
• The USA bought large quantities of Japanese silk
• USA was Japan’s supplier of oil, scrap iron, and automobile parts
• nearly 40% of Japanese needs for metals, cotton and wood pulp came from US

Historians

Rape of Nanjing

Akira Irye: “it would make it all but impossible for Japan to still be accepted as a respectable member of international community”

Masaki Tanaka: argued the Rape of Nanjing was a fiction

Sino-Japanese War

Pyle: “was not a war that the army General Staff wanted”

Bix: - set a stage for triumph of Communism in China; - would end after Japanese inherent in IIW and its defeat

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War in the Pacific

Saburo Ienaga: - critical of Japan's role in causing the war; - Japanese militarism and imperialism were key causes of the war

Mishiko Hajegawa: - Japan only went to war because of the oil embargo; - starting point December 1941

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Left wing Japanese historians

• the war in the Pacific started in 1931 with the Manchurian Incident

• it was “militarist capitalist clique” responsible for “15 year old war”

• Japanese public have been indoctrinated by the pre-war education

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Right wing Japanese historians

• December 1941 was the starting point for the “Great East Asia War”

• support on the idea that Japanese was freeing Asia from Exploitation of Western colonialism

• Without the Japanese invasion there would be no successful independence movement in the region in the post-war period

• Japanese were forced to the World by the oil embargo

• others called it a “holy war” which was a 100 years struggle with the West, following the arrival of Americans in 1853

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Orthodox American historians

• war began after Marco Polo Bridge incident in 1937

• Pearl Harbor was key evidence of Japan's aggression and violation of the Geneva Convention

• Japan waged the war of aggression and expansion

• Japan was fully responsible for the war

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Revisionist US historians

• Japan’s action up to 1941 were primally aimed to eliminate Western corruption from Asia

• USA did not act to resist Japan in China in 1930s, but encouraged Japanes actions

• Rooselt deliberately provoked Japan into making a attack [Boyle]

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