Japan
Dictatorship also came to Japan
-not through a political party but the military
History
-rich military tradition
-feudal clans fought each other for dominance in Japan. One would take over.
-The Emperor presided over the Japanese government
-came from divine origin
-descendent of the Sun Goddess
-played minor role in the government
-he was above politics
-shogun had the political power
-ruled in the name of the Emperor
-U.S. said they could keep their emperor if they admitted that he wasn't a god.
Japanese society
- 1. Landowning clans dominated
-protected by the samurai
- 2. Wealthy merchant class
1.3. Peasants
-most of the people of Japan
Japan was very isolated until 1853 when US Commodore Matthew Perry sailed in to Japan and forced them to open their ports
In the late 1800’s many Japanese were tired of being controlled by foreign countries.
-adopted western ways in hopes to keep Western Powers out of their country
- 1. heavy industry
- 2. modern army
- 3. strong navy
Showed off new power in several wars
- 1. Sino-Japanese War -1894-95
-Japan won
-Between Japan and China
- 2. Russo-Japanese War
-1904-05
-Japan shocked the world by beating Russia
-gained partial control of Manchuria
-Between Russia and Japan.
- 3. World War I
-allied with the US
-gained German Islands in the Pacific after the war
1920’s
-gave all men the right to vote
-signed the 4, 5 and 9 Power Pacts
-joined the League of Nations
-signed the Kellog-Briand Pact
1930’s
-Great Depression changed everything
-people blamed the government for tough times
-military leaders stepped in and took control
-said Japan had to expand in to Asia to help economy
-assassinated political leaders that opposed them
-took away people’s rights
Japanese Military Honor
1. fight to the death
2. commit suicide rather than surrender
3. gekokujo
-open defiance of superior officers by junior officers
-seen as a positive thing
-shows the spirit of the soldier
Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
- The League of Nations could not enforce its authority.
-A major power could get away with using force
-Great Britain and France wanted to avoid war at all cost
-Other powers would see this as a sign that they too could get away with the use of force.
-The League also lost it most powerful member in the far east-Japan
Franklin Roosevelt vs. Herbert Hoover
-Roosevelt won big. Hoover didn't even win Iowa
Good Neighbor Polocy
-Roosevelt realized it was time to become good neighbors with Latin America.
-They saw the U.S. as a big bully that could do whatever they wanted.
-Wanted a good relationship for trade and protection.
Ethiopia invaded by Mussolini 1936
-Italy lost its Ethiopia colony in Africa at the 1896 Battle of Adua
-one of the worst colonial disasters of modern history.
-Feb. 23, 1935, Italy sends large forces into Ethiopia.
Oct 7, 1935, League declared Italy the aggressor.
Italy/Ethiopia Invasion
- Nov. 18, 1935, Leagues sanctions begin
- arms embargo, financial embargo, non-importation of Italian goods
- Feb. 1936-League could not agree on critical oil sanctions mainly because FDR refused-U.S. controlled 50% world oil trade.
- Feb. 29, 1936, FDR signed the 1936 Neutrality Act
- mandatory arms embargo with warring nations
- mandatory ban on loans to warring nations.
- May 5, Italy occupied Addis Ababa- Annexed all Ethiopia may 9.
- General Francisco Franco and the Spanish civil war 1936-1939
- He would win the civil war and found this area as a practice ground.
-neutral country in WW2. not a very big power in WW2
- FDR vs Alf Landon in 1936. FDR won so easy it was a blow out.
- Rome-Berlin Axis-1936
- It was an Allie between Germany and Italy.
- 1937-Japanese invaded china to try and take it over.
- china was the Japan as Russia was Germany. They bit off more then they could chew
- Rape of nanking-1937- Major city in China, what Japan did to the city was nightmarish, city was burned down, at least 20,000 women and children were raped, gang raped, killed, and stabbed. Killed hundreds of civilians. Japan has never apologized to China. This is what caused bad blood in WW2
- Quarantine Speech-1937- he thinks that Germany, Japan, and Italy need to be quarantined by the allies like U.S., G.B., ect.
Appeasement Policy:
-"A diplomatic policy aimed at avoiding war by making concessions to an aggressor"
-Great Britain and France used this policy throughout the 1930's
-helped give Japan, Italy, and Germany confidence that they would face no consequences for their actions.
-Considered to be a huge mistake by historians.
-giving people what they want to avoid war.
Panay incident-1937
-American gun boat was attacked and sunk by Japan
-Japan apologized saying they thought was a Chinese Boat
Anschluss with Austria-1937
-Uniting Austria and Germany as one.
-Some people didn't want it but it was to late. They already took it over.
Sudetenland/Munich Conference-1938
-Hitler wanted the Sudetenland because it had Germans in it. He demands it.
- The Munich Conference was held to see what they were going to do wiht Sudetenland
Neville chamberlain-Great Britain
Adolf Hitler-Germany
Benito Mussolini-Italy
Edouard Daladier-France
These were four people that were at the Munich Conference
-Germany was given the Sudentenland of Czechoslovakia
-Czechoslovakia had the option to accept pact or deal with Germany themselves
-Czechoslovakia lost it''s defensible borders and fortifications but it went to Germany. They didn't have defense anymore.
-Czechoslovakia also lost 70% of its iron/steel, 70% of its electrical power and 3.5 million citizens to Germany as a result of the settlement.
-Hitler promised he would stop taking over land.
Chamberlain goes back to Great Britain as a big hero and thought he prevented war.
-This only gave Hitler another year to build up his military.
March 1939
-Hitler takes the rest of Czechoslovakia over.
-The first time Hitler shows his grander aspects to take places over
- British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain started taking Nazi Germany and Hitler much more seriously after this.
- Winston Churchill had warned about this happening(Hitler taking the rest of Czechoslovakia)
- Great Britain and France started mobilizing for war
Nazi-Soviet non-aggression Pact-1939
-German ambassador von Ribbentrop and Soviet dictator Stalin laugh as Molotov signs the nazi-Soviet non-Aggression pact August 23 1939.
-This was a pact of convinence not alliance
-Russia gave raw materials to Germany in exchange for money and weapons
-Both agreed to stay neutral if the other entered the war
-Kept away from two way war
-Secretly agreed to invade and split Poland. Germany would get the western half and USSR the eastern half
-Russia would get Finland, Estonia and Latvia and Germany would get Lithuania.
-World was shocked when they signed this pact.
-Poland was in a tough spot.
-Hitler thought it would force Great Britain and France to back out of their promise to help Poland if attacked.
September 1, 1939 Germany invades Poland with a Blitzkrieg war.
-Most has a defense war plan
-Hitler and Germany had a Blitzkrieg war or a lightning war.
-This was a quick attack with airplane bombing. Take out their air defense, factories, communications, and confuse the other country.
-Also you will have your infintry with tanks going in and attacking.
-Mechanized with troops are going to go into Poland and flank them and trap them on both sides.
-Main force links up with other units encircling and cutting off the enemy.
-Goal was to achieve victory as quickly as possible and the people surrender or be killed.
-Worked great for Germany.
Sitzkrieg- In the United States we thought the war was over
-But truly they were sitting and waiting out the winter months
-France and Great Britain are getting their military ready for war.
Tripartite Pact is signed-Axis Pwoer
-Axis Powers is officially formed
-Main powers-Germany, Italy, and Japan
-other Powers- Albania, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania, Thailand.
Allied Pwers
-main powers- Great Britain, Soviet Union, United States, China, France, Canada, and Australia
-Latin America- Argentina, Bolivia, Mexico, Paraguay, ect.
-Europe-Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Greece, Narway, Netherlands
Africa-Egypt, Ethopia, Liberia, South Africa
-We won the war because we had so many allies and we had so much help.
German Invasion of Denmark and Norway-April, 1940
-He had to go over water
-The first negative thing to happen to German
-German wasn't able to get control of the North Sea from GB.
-Many of the German battleships were sunk by the British
invasion of France
-The idea was to take over France in a month.
- Maginot line was a defense line that the French line created. It was a concrete fortification, tank obstacles, artillery casemates, machine gun posts, and other defenses.
-France constructed this along its borders wiht GErmany and Italy after what happened to them in WW1
-Built from 1930-1940
-Ultimately failed because planes could get over the border then they would surround it and it would run out of resources and they were done
-The line had strong fortifications along Germany border, but then when it got to Belgium it was a week fortification because they were allies and they didn't want to throw them to the wolves.
-Germany invades France through Belgium.
Miracle of Dunkirk
-Hitler's first mistake.
-The British and other soldiers leave Dunkirk to GB before Germany could attack.
-Hitler didn't want the troops to invade the city until tanks came.
-Saved hundreds of thousands of troops and POW's
Vichy Government
-French people in southern France that Hitler allowed to control Vichy
-led by Marshal Henri Petain
-Did what ever Hitler told them to do.
Free French Underground
-Led by Charles de Gaulle
-this was our allies.
-their goal was to free France.
Hitler turns to Great Britain next.
-He has taken everyone else over in Europe already.
Battle of Britain-started July, 1940
-Hitler bombs Great Britain cities almost everyday from then.
Nazi Goals
- Destroy the Royal Air force9before invasion was possible-hopefully by 9-15)
- Attack and destroy the British Navy
- Attack British troops
- After gaining air superiority, the invasion of Great Britain would be begin if Great Britain had not already surrendered
-Germany never succeeded in achieving #1
-Geman bombers did so poorly against the RAF that they started bombing at night only- randomly attacking cities.
-Great Britain was aided heavily by the radar and Ultra.
-Ultra was the code name for intercepting and deciphering enemy codes
Luftwaffe-Name for German air force
Bases for destroyers-September, 1940
-Great Britain gave us 99 year leases on the following bases:
-US gave Great Britain old Destroyers for some bases.
-Antigua
1940 election. first time president ran for a third term
-FDR vs. Wendell Wilkie
-FDR thought why would you want change in middle of war.
-Republicans are start to come back
FDR signs the Lend-Lease Act
-We would lend or lease supplies to people in war that were "allies"
-Started showing we were choosing sides
-idea was that the other countries would give the stuff back after war.
-We helped win the war.
Battle for the Atlantic.
September 1, 1939 to May 1941
-Germany was doing well.
-This battle was about getting supplies into Great Britain
-North Sea was a battle ground, but mainly controlled by Great Britain.
-Starts off with hundreds of ships then goes up to almost 2,000 ships sunk in 1942 then the numbers dropped again
German invasion of USSR-June, 1941
-Final plan for operation Barbarossa
-Largest military operation in history in both manpower and casualities
-Hitler believed if he got these cities he would control USSR Stalingrad, Moscow, and Leningrad
Scorched Earth Policy
-Stalin demanded that USSR was destroyed as they retreated.
-German's supply line is long
-Germans are cold, hungry, and they are not prepared for the winter.
-Russia started pushing Germany back.
-Hitler was never able to take over Leningrad, Moscow, and Stalingrad
-This was the beginning of the end for the Germans.
August 1941
Churchill meets with FDR off the coast of Newthfindland
-Set up war goals of the U.S. and Great Britain
Goals:
-No territorial gain
-No territorial changes without the peoples support form those countries
-Self-determination
-Free trade
-Destruction of the Nazis and then setting up a peaceful government in Germany
-Freedom of the seas
-Abandon the use of force, disarmament and a stronger League of Nation
Pearl Harbor
In July, 1941, Japan invaded French Indochina
In response, the US stops trading with Japan
Due to embargo, Japan felt it had three options:
- 1. abandon ambitions in South East Asia
- 2. compromise with the US
- 3. attack Dutch and British possessions in the Pacific and US bases in the Pacific
Yamamoto felt that if Japan had any chance of winning a war against the US it must destroy the US Pacific fleet in a surprise attack
A surprise attack would give Japan at least six months to dominate SE Asia unopposed
Japan thought that the US then would face a long, bloody struggle and would settle for a negotiated peace that would allow Japan to do as it pleased in Asia
Tojo replaces Konoye as Premier of Japan. Konoye wanted to negotiate with the US. Tojo didn’t and had a low regard of the US
Tojo wanted war but Emperor Hirohito wanted one last peace attempt.
Japan offered this:
1. Open door policy everywhere and Japan would withdraw from
French Indochina
2. US would stop Lend-Lease Aid to China and start trading with Japan again
3. Japan would start peace talks with China
US refused plan on November 29th
US took a hard line stance with Japan now because we had deciphered their diplomatic code(Magic) and knew that they had some type of attack plan.
Magic Information
“November 29th is the deadline”
“things are automatically going to happen”
Japan felt that the key to success in the Pacific was air and sea power
-especially launching airplanes from aircraft carriers and submarines attacking enemy ships
Japan had ten aircraft carriers to our three in the Pacific(based in Pearl Harbor)
Japanese Pearl Harbor Attack Plan
- 1. destroy three aircraft carriers, eight battleships, seven cruisers and other small ships at Pearl Harbor
- 2. attack Wake Island and Guam
- 3. attack Malay and Hong Kong
- 4. attack Philippines, Dutch East Indies and Burma
Japanese attack force consisted of:
- 1. Six aircraft carriers
- 2. 360 airplanes
-Kate High level bombers
-dive and torpedo bombers
-Zero fighters
- 3. two battleships, three cruisers, eight destroyers
Admiral Nagumo commanded the force
To succeed, Japan had to travel 3,500 miles without being detected. That meant absolute radio silence and travelling through a vast, lonely expanse of the Pacific Ocean. This attack had to be a complete surprise.
“Backdoor to War” Conspiracy
belief we took a hard line stance with Japan... Japan would attack us.
-That we forced they.....made it to the point where they had to attack us.. so we could join the war.
Comments