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In the mid 19th century Japan underwent a major change. After being forced to open trading ports, Japan slowly began to westernize. Year after year, especially under the Meiji restoration, Japan made its way through industrialization, westernization, and imperialism to become and world wide super power. Along with this change came militarism. Militarism became a big part in Japanese life, and mixed with imperialism, big ambitions, and high hopes Japan reached its goal of becoming a super nation. When World War Two arrived, the Japanese wanted a win, in fact many wins. Because they wanted the reputation of defeating a powerful nation, and because of their desire to have control in the pacific, on December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed an american army base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. They killed thousands of soldiers and some civilians. Very shortly after, the U.S. declared war on Japan. In the years following Japan and the U.S., along with help from Australia, fought many battles in the Pacific Ocean. At first, Japan was hitting hard, and winning. But when the Battle of Midway hit, the tide turned. Ultimately, the U.S. dropped the first ever atomic bombs to be used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August of 1945. Afterwards, the attack was so horrific, that the Japanese surrendered.
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1. The Battle of Midway By Andrew Lambert. The Japanese had vicious ambitions for the pacific and the future of the western countries. With their successful devastation of Pearl Harbor, the Japanese had much confidence in their new and improved military and their imperial attitude. However after many winds, the Battle of Midway turned the tides for the Japanese.“In the event, the submarine reconnaissance was thwarted by an American warship, and the submarine ambush arrived too late to ambush the American fleet. The Alaskan diversion proved to be a waste of resources, as the Americans failed to respond to it. Furthermore the Japanese plans were laid in the belief the Americans had no more than two carriers, confident they had sunk the USS Yorktown at the Coral Sea. Instead the damaged ship was repaired in just two days at Pearl Harbor.”
2. The Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. In 1941, Japan planned their first attack on the U.S. and their first action in the war. The bombing of Pearl Harbor, an army base in Hawaii, by Imperial Japan, was a very important event during World War II. This action began the Pacific war, mostly between Japan and the U.S. and eventually led to the first use of atomic bombs. Pearl Harbor was the beginning of a powerful imperial expedition by Japan. "The road to war between Japan and the United States began in the 1930s when differences over China drove the two nations apart. In 1931 Japan conquered Manchuria, which until then had been part of China. In 1937 Japan began a long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to conquer the rest of China. In 1940, the Japanese government allied their country with Nazi Germany in the Axis Alliance, and, in the following year, occupied all of Indochina.The United States, which had important political and economic interests in East Asia, was alarmed by these Japanese moves. The U.S. increased military and financial aid to China, embarked on a program of strengthening its military power in the Pacific, and cut off the shipment of oil and other raw materials to Japan."
3. WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC. The Japanese dedicated a lot of time to expanding their military in order to ultimately expand their empire. Japan was fast, extremely tough, and well equip. It did not take long for them to begin the pacific war with a winning streak. "After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan achieved a long series of military successes. In December 1941, Guam and Wake Island fell to the Japanese, followed in the first half of 1942 by the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, and Burma. Thailand remained officially neutral. Only in mid-1942 were Australian and New Zealander forces in New Guinea and British forces in India able to halt the Japanese advance."
4.THE PACIFIC WAR. Japan was very confident in their new military system. They, like Hitler, believed this would not be a long or brutal fight. They believed they could push around the other countries and easily expand their empire in the pacific. "Over the following days a meticulously planned campaign unfolded as Japanese forces launched themselves against key American, Dutch and British Commonwealth units in the Philippines, Siam, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and China, the ultimate goal of which was Japanese control of eastern Asia and the western Pacific. The Japanese government believed that once these regions were firmly under their control, the Allies – and especially the United States – would sue for peace rather than fight a bloody war in distant lands. The Japanese however, did not anticipate the angry backlash which came as a result of their use of force at Pearl Harbor."
5. Japanese Policy, 1939–4. Although much of their military was still fighting in China, Japan still decided to get involved in the war and advance in the Pacific. With the belief that the allies in the pacific were much to weak to fight or even win in a fight, Japan proceeded to attack."The German victories over the Netherlands and France in the summer of 1940 further encouraged the Japanese premier, Prince Konoe, to look southward at those defeated powers’ colonies and also, of course, at the British and U.S. positions in the Far East. The island archipelago of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) along with French Indochina and British-held Malaya contained raw materials (tin, rubber, petroleum) that were essential to Japan’s industrial economy, and if Japan could seize these regions and incorporate them into the empire, it could make itself virtually self-sufficient economically and thus become the dominant power in the Pacific Ocean."
6. Militarism and WW2 (1912 - 1945). "In 1940, Japan occupied French Indochina (Vietnam) upon agreement with the French Vichy government, and joined the Axis powers Germany and Italy. These actions intensified Japan's conflict with the United States and Great Britain which reacted with an oil boycott. The resulting oil shortage and failures to solve the conflict diplomatically made Japan decide to capture the oil rich Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and to start a war with the US and Great Britain. In December 1941, Japan attacked the Allied powers at Pearl Harbour and several other points throughout the Pacific. Japan was able to expand her control over a large territory that expanded to the border of India in the West and New Guinea in the South within the following six months."
7. Major Pacific Battles. "In December 1941 Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i, causing the U.S. to enter World War II. Over two years would pass until the Allies reached their great turning point in the Pacific War: the defeat of the Japanese at Guadalcanal in February 1943. The Japanese were placed on the defensive as the U.S. began taking strategic bases across the central and southwest Pacific. By the summer of 1944, the Americans were nearing Japan. The final year of the war would bring bloodshed and hardship to the U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines who liberated territory closer and closer to Japan's home island, and take a tremendous toll on Japanese soldiers and civilians as well."
8. Imperial Japan. Japan was planning for war for a long time. They were building up their military, building up their nationalism, and building up against the U.S."Although early ultra-nationalists called for a tempering of Japan’s ‘westernisation’, through limits on industrialisation, their focus changed after the First World War. Western politicians criticised Japan’s imperial ambitions and limited Japanese military expansion (in 1922’s Five Power Naval Limitation Agreement). The 1924 Japanese Exclusion Act prohibited Japanese immigration into the US. Ultra-nationalists saw these actions as provocative; they moved towards xenophobic, emperor-centred and Asia-centric positions, portraying the ‘ABCD Powers’ (America-British-Chinese-Dutch) as threatening the Japanese Empire."
9. Pearl Harbor. One of the major starts of the war was the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This created immense tensions not only between the U.S. and Japan. Japan's vicious attack had a big impact on the course of American history. "The causes of the attack on Pearl Harbor stemmed from intensifying Japanese-American rivalry in the Pacific. Japan’s imperial ambitions had been evident from as early as 1931, when she invaded Manchuria. The conquered region’s bountiful resources were then used to supply Japan’s war machine. Leaving the League of Nations in 1933, Japan pursued an aggressive foreign policy aimed at creating the ‘Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere’, a euphemism for a Japanese empire modelled on European ones of the 19th century."
10. Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Perspective. "The League of Nations and the US opposed these moves from the start and increasingly restricted the sale of war materials to the invader from 1938 on. This aroused Japan to attack Pearl Harbor in December 1941 followed by an invasion of resource-rich Southeast Asia. Japan attacked and occupied Malaya, Thailand, Burma, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Borneo, the vast East Indies and New Guinea. The Imperial forces captured Pacific and Indian Ocean islands as a defense screen for its new empire. All states attacked, Asian and Western, became allied with the US. The common goal was to protect their populations by defeating Japan as soon as feasible."
2. The Pearl Harbor Attack, 7 December 1941. In 1941, Japan planned their first attack on the U.S. and their first action in the war. The bombing of Pearl Harbor, an army base in Hawaii, by Imperial Japan, was a very important event during World War II. This action began the Pacific war, mostly between Japan and the U.S. and eventually led to the first use of atomic bombs. Pearl Harbor was the beginning of a powerful imperial expedition by Japan. "The road to war between Japan and the United States began in the 1930s when differences over China drove the two nations apart. In 1931 Japan conquered Manchuria, which until then had been part of China. In 1937 Japan began a long and ultimately unsuccessful campaign to conquer the rest of China. In 1940, the Japanese government allied their country with Nazi Germany in the Axis Alliance, and, in the following year, occupied all of Indochina.The United States, which had important political and economic interests in East Asia, was alarmed by these Japanese moves. The U.S. increased military and financial aid to China, embarked on a program of strengthening its military power in the Pacific, and cut off the shipment of oil and other raw materials to Japan."
3. WORLD WAR II IN THE PACIFIC. The Japanese dedicated a lot of time to expanding their military in order to ultimately expand their empire. Japan was fast, extremely tough, and well equip. It did not take long for them to begin the pacific war with a winning streak. "After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan achieved a long series of military successes. In December 1941, Guam and Wake Island fell to the Japanese, followed in the first half of 1942 by the Philippines, the Dutch East Indies, Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, and Burma. Thailand remained officially neutral. Only in mid-1942 were Australian and New Zealander forces in New Guinea and British forces in India able to halt the Japanese advance."
4.THE PACIFIC WAR. Japan was very confident in their new military system. They, like Hitler, believed this would not be a long or brutal fight. They believed they could push around the other countries and easily expand their empire in the pacific. "Over the following days a meticulously planned campaign unfolded as Japanese forces launched themselves against key American, Dutch and British Commonwealth units in the Philippines, Siam, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies and China, the ultimate goal of which was Japanese control of eastern Asia and the western Pacific. The Japanese government believed that once these regions were firmly under their control, the Allies – and especially the United States – would sue for peace rather than fight a bloody war in distant lands. The Japanese however, did not anticipate the angry backlash which came as a result of their use of force at Pearl Harbor."
5. Japanese Policy, 1939–4. Although much of their military was still fighting in China, Japan still decided to get involved in the war and advance in the Pacific. With the belief that the allies in the pacific were much to weak to fight or even win in a fight, Japan proceeded to attack."The German victories over the Netherlands and France in the summer of 1940 further encouraged the Japanese premier, Prince Konoe, to look southward at those defeated powers’ colonies and also, of course, at the British and U.S. positions in the Far East. The island archipelago of the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) along with French Indochina and British-held Malaya contained raw materials (tin, rubber, petroleum) that were essential to Japan’s industrial economy, and if Japan could seize these regions and incorporate them into the empire, it could make itself virtually self-sufficient economically and thus become the dominant power in the Pacific Ocean."
6. Militarism and WW2 (1912 - 1945). "In 1940, Japan occupied French Indochina (Vietnam) upon agreement with the French Vichy government, and joined the Axis powers Germany and Italy. These actions intensified Japan's conflict with the United States and Great Britain which reacted with an oil boycott. The resulting oil shortage and failures to solve the conflict diplomatically made Japan decide to capture the oil rich Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and to start a war with the US and Great Britain. In December 1941, Japan attacked the Allied powers at Pearl Harbour and several other points throughout the Pacific. Japan was able to expand her control over a large territory that expanded to the border of India in the West and New Guinea in the South within the following six months."
7. Major Pacific Battles. "In December 1941 Japan attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i, causing the U.S. to enter World War II. Over two years would pass until the Allies reached their great turning point in the Pacific War: the defeat of the Japanese at Guadalcanal in February 1943. The Japanese were placed on the defensive as the U.S. began taking strategic bases across the central and southwest Pacific. By the summer of 1944, the Americans were nearing Japan. The final year of the war would bring bloodshed and hardship to the U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines who liberated territory closer and closer to Japan's home island, and take a tremendous toll on Japanese soldiers and civilians as well."
8. Imperial Japan. Japan was planning for war for a long time. They were building up their military, building up their nationalism, and building up against the U.S."Although early ultra-nationalists called for a tempering of Japan’s ‘westernisation’, through limits on industrialisation, their focus changed after the First World War. Western politicians criticised Japan’s imperial ambitions and limited Japanese military expansion (in 1922’s Five Power Naval Limitation Agreement). The 1924 Japanese Exclusion Act prohibited Japanese immigration into the US. Ultra-nationalists saw these actions as provocative; they moved towards xenophobic, emperor-centred and Asia-centric positions, portraying the ‘ABCD Powers’ (America-British-Chinese-Dutch) as threatening the Japanese Empire."
9. Pearl Harbor. One of the major starts of the war was the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This created immense tensions not only between the U.S. and Japan. Japan's vicious attack had a big impact on the course of American history. "The causes of the attack on Pearl Harbor stemmed from intensifying Japanese-American rivalry in the Pacific. Japan’s imperial ambitions had been evident from as early as 1931, when she invaded Manchuria. The conquered region’s bountiful resources were then used to supply Japan’s war machine. Leaving the League of Nations in 1933, Japan pursued an aggressive foreign policy aimed at creating the ‘Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere’, a euphemism for a Japanese empire modelled on European ones of the 19th century."
10. Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Perspective. "The League of Nations and the US opposed these moves from the start and increasingly restricted the sale of war materials to the invader from 1938 on. This aroused Japan to attack Pearl Harbor in December 1941 followed by an invasion of resource-rich Southeast Asia. Japan attacked and occupied Malaya, Thailand, Burma, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Borneo, the vast East Indies and New Guinea. The Imperial forces captured Pacific and Indian Ocean islands as a defense screen for its new empire. All states attacked, Asian and Western, became allied with the US. The common goal was to protect their populations by defeating Japan as soon as feasible."
Have a watch… Listen to the past
Japan's path to joining the war and their rising empire.
A break down of the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The real thing...
1. MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1941: DECLARATION OF STATE OF WAR WITH JAPAN
2. Franklin Roosevelt, Address over the radio following the declaration of a state of war with the Japanese Empire, December 9, 1941
3. U.S. DECLARES WAR, PACIFIC BATTLE WIDENS
maps
The spread of the Allies attacks in the area control by the Japanese
The spread of the Japanse attacks on Asia