Today is Monday and luckily we have a short week because of conferences and career fair and no school on Friday. We are desperately trying to finish our presentations and my group has yet to go. Euchner and Stessman covered Japan.
Japan was a constitutional monarchy. They had an Emperor who acted like more of a god to the Japanese people than anything. The Emperor had some authority, but was mostly a ceremonial icon. Japan faired very well at the end of World War 1. It was one of the few countries in the world that did not suffer from the Treaty.
Here is an excerpt from my Pearl Harbor blog.
In July of 1941, the world was engulfed in turmoil that differed greatly with the calm that the mid-summer days would suggest. World War 2 was well into its wide campaign. The Japanese government, in particular was not fairing to well. Officials in the Japanese government were trying to decide how to handle the situation with China and the United States of America.
Japan had invaded China for expansion purposes. Japan’s trade was suffering due to embargos and high tariffs that the US had enacted on imported goods. The US had also ceased trade with Japan because the small country had invaded their much larger neighbors to the west, China. Japan wanted to expand, gain resources, and establish their power in the world. Japan invaded China not through sheer numbers and military size, but through highly trained troops and unrivaled tactical enforcement.
The small island of Japan relied heavily on the trade of their goods. The vast number of people and lack of space make the country a poor agricultural and resource dependent country. In order to survive, Japan needed to be able to trade goods to be able to receive food and other goods. One of Japan’s biggest trading partners was the US, until the US ceased trade with Japan.
Japan tried to make negotiations with the US, but could gain no leverage unless they pulled out of China. This was something that Japan would not submit to. The US cut off nearly all of Japan’s oil supplies and many other supplied goods necessary for war.
Japan felt that the only option left would be to go on the offensive in terms of dealing with America. This was an underestimation of power that Japan has never repeated since. On November 29, 1941, the Japanese government sent the green light to go to war.
Japan wanted to control the natural resources in Malaysia and the East Indies. These territories were Dutch and British colonies, but Japan had no fear of the larger countries because they were already occupied by the war in Europe. This area was also occupied by the Philippines which were an American commonwealth. The Japanese military planned to attack the Philippines so that the Americans could not possibly try to attack from those islands.
Another American site was also chosen for initial attack. Japan new that America’s Naval Fleet was strong, but they also believed the Army was weak. Japan needed to choose a target that would cripple the naval fleet so that the US would have no hope for retaliation. When the attack was accomplished, Japan could take the territory that they wanted and would defend the area with their Navy.
The commanders of the Japanese military believed that the United States of America was weak and would beg for peace when they saw what Japan did. The only other incident that I can think of that completely underestimated the heart and fighting spirit of Americans to this extent would be the attack of 911. Japan chose to attack Pearl Harbor, a strategic naval base in Hawaii. Wrong choice.
Japan could have prevented any conflict by pulling out of China, or just never invading China in the first place. They just wanted resources and to show how tough they thought they were and how weak the US was. Thousands of lives were destroyed in one day, and the ensuing conflict took the lives of millions. I just cannot see the justification in such a thing. We are all humans. We really need to learn how to get along or we are going to destroy everything. We need to eliminate those who seek to ruin and crush freedom, and replace them with people who truly seek the greater good for all.
Pearl Harbor must be remembered. We cannot allow another huge mistake like that to occur. If we do, as we did with 911 (although that is a different case) we may not ever have the chance to prevent it again.
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