Causes of WWII in the Pacific

1. Causes of WWII in the Pacific Establishment of Japanese militarism and the end of U.S. neutrality

2. Background: 19th Century Changes • Discuss: Who was Matthew Perry? How did he change Japanese foreign policy? • 1600-1853: Feudal state, completely isolated, no political/economic allies • 1853: Open Door Policy • 1867: Power handed back to emperor • Period of modernization, industrialization, militarization, education, trade, etc. • 1895: victory over China (1st war) • West views Japan as first non-European world power • Imperialism and expansionist foreign policy leads to development of a strong military • 1902: Anglo-Japanese Alliance • 1904: Russo-Japanese War (creates tension between countries into WWII) • 1905: victory over Russia (both competing for influence in the region) • Encouraged Japanese nationalism, expansionism, imperialism • Inspired the respect of the West

6. Japan & WWI • Discuss: What did Japan want from the Treaty of Versailles post- WWI? • Japan demanded German colonial possessions • Japan increased their political/economic influence in China • US warned Japan it would not tolerate anything that threatened US interests in the region (start of bad relations between US & Japan) • Lansing-Ishii Agreement: 1917 negotiation between US and Japan that allowed Japan to maintain control of current territories, but no further expansion was allowed. • Does this sound familiar?!?!? • Discuss: How does this agreement compare to appeasement in Europe?

7. Japan obtains control of Mariana, Marshall, Kiribalti Islands

8. Japan post-WWI • Treaty of Versailles allowed Japan to annex German Pacific territories • China angered over these gains; sympathy from US • Economic benefit of WWI: Japan became more self-sufficient, and without competition in the region, their economy boomed • Major concern of US and Britain was Japan’s influence over China (1921 Washington Conference) • Ended the alliance between Britain and Japan • Limit navies (ratio between US:Britain:Japan 5:5:3) • Nine Power Pact – respect China’s sovereignty • Decreased tension between the US and Japan, especially due to the more “peaceful” outlook of the liberal government in Japan…..wouldn’t last for long (shocker!)

10. Japan in the 1920’s: peaceful? Liberal? • Although WWI made Japan the industrial center of the East, they still faced economic problems: • Profits from war were not invested well • A lot of money spent on funding Chinese warlords • Foreign debt remained high • Printed money = inflation • Riots over rice availability • Riches made from war stayed in hands of wealthy • Japan openly embraced Western culture • Government introduced social, economic and military reforms • Joined the League of Nations in 1922

12. Japan in the 1920’s: peaceful? Liberal? • Discuss: Explain the transition from a peaceful/liberal Japan to a right-wing militaristic Japan. • When the economic crisis hit, radical political factions formed • Japanese Communist Party (JCP) • Despite the growing power/popularity of the left, the undercurrent of right-wing nationalism remained • 1921: PM Hara was assassinated • Three ineffective leaders followed • Military began to act without government consent (invasion of Manchuria) • 1926: Emperor Hirohito (remained Emperor through WWII, always pressured by military) • 1931: PM Hamaguchi was assassinated

13. Prime Ministers who were victims of militarist violence: From top left, Hara Takashi, assassinated in office 1921; Hamaguchi Osamu, shot in office 1928, died after a six month struggle;  Inukai Tsuyoshi assassinated in office 1932;  Bottom Row, from left: Takahashi Korekiyo, assassinated while later serving as Finance Minister 1936;  Saito Makoto, assassinated while serving as the Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, the Emperor’s chief advisor; Suzuki Kantaro, shot and left for dead in 1936 while serving as Grand Chamberlain, he would later become Prime Minister in 1945 and oversee Japan’s surrender.

14. Emperor Hirohito

15. Discussion • What impact did the following have on political developments in Japan? • Economic downturns • Fear of communism • Strength of Japanese military

16. Political Transition: from left to right • The more liberal era during the 1920’s was short lived, as the army reasserted itself in the 1930’s. • Japan had a history of strong nationalism, but as the military gained more and more influence, Japan became increasingly aggressive.

17. Deteriorating Relations • Discuss: Why did relations between Japan and the Western democracies deteriorate in the 1930s? • 1931: Manchurian Incident • Rise in Militarism • West was alarmed by the bombing of Shanghai in 1932 • 1933: Japan leaves the League of Nations • 1934: Japan leaves Washington Naval Treaty (unhappy at having to have an inferior navy to the US) • 1937: Quest for more resources caused Japan to invade China again • Discuss: Why didn’t the US, Great Britain or France intervene to stop this aggression? • 1937: War with China led to complete military takeover of Japanese government • 1937: Japanese forces sank the American warship USS Panay • 1938: US becomes more strict and sends aide to China • 1939: US cancelled Commerce and Navigation Treaty with Japan • 1939: Establishment of Greater-East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

21. Japan felt the League of Nations treated it as unequal

22. Deteriorating Relations • Discuss: What was the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere? How was this similar to U.S. goals in South America?

24. Rape of Nanjing • December 1937: six-week period following the Japanese capture of the city of Nanjing, the former capital of the Republic of China. • 250,000 to 300,000 deaths • Widespread rape and looting • Key perpetrators of the atrocities, were later tried and found guilty at the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal, and executed. • Denial of the massacre has become a staple of Japanese nationalism (It was justified in time of war) • As a result of the nationalist efforts to deny or rationalize the war crimes, the controversy surrounding the massacre remains a stumbling block relations with China, South Korea and the Philippines.

25. An article on the "Contest to kill 100 people using a sword" published in a Tokyo newspaper. The headline reads, "'Incredible Record'—Mukai 106 – 105 Noda—Both 2nd Lieutenants Go Into Extra Innings"

27. The Japanese troops often burned/buried people alive

28. “There is no obvious explanation for this grim event, nor can one be found. The Japanese soldiers, who had expected easy victory, instead had been fighting hard for months and had taken infinitely higher casualties than anticipated. They were bored, angry, frustrated, tired. The Chinese women were undefended, their menfolk powerless or absent. The war, still undeclared, had no clear-cut goal or purpose. Perhaps all Chinese, regardless of sex or age, seemed marked out as victims” • Description of event by Chinese historian, Jonathan Spence • A boy killed by a Japanese soldier with the butt of a rifle, because he did not take off his hat

29. Rape of Nanjing • Estimated that 20,000 women were raped, including infants and the elderly • A large portion of these rapes were systematized in a process where soldiers would search door-to-door for young girls, with many women taken captive and gang raped • The women were often killed immediately after being raped, often through explicit mutilationor by stabbing a bayonet, long stick of bamboo, or other objects into the vagina. Young children were not exempt from these atrocities, and were cut open to allow Japanese soldiers to rape them

30. Eyewitness Accounts • Reverend James M. McCallum wrote in his diary (12/19/1937): • “I know not where to end. Never I have heard or read such brutality. Rape! Rape! Rape! We estimate at least 1,000 cases a night, and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like disapproval, there is a bayonet stab or a bullet ... People are hysterical ... Women are being carried off every morning, afternoon and evening. The whole Japanese army seems to be free to go and come as it pleases, and to do whatever it pleases.” • March 7, 1938, Robert O. Wilson, a surgeon at the American-administered University Hospital in the Safety Zone, wrote in his journal: • “The slaughter of civilians is appalling. I could go on for pages telling of cases of rape and brutality almost beyond belief. You hear nothing but rape. If husbands or brothers intervene, they're shot. Let me recount some instances occurring in the last two days. Last night the house of one of the Chinese staff members of the university was broken into and two of the women, his relatives, were raped. Two girls, about 16, were raped to death in one of the refugee camps. In the University Middle School where there are 8,000 people the Japs came in ten times last night, over the wall, stole food, clothing, and raped until they were satisfied. They bayoneted one little boy of eight who have five bayonet wounds including one that penetrated his stomach, a portion of his intestines were outside the abdomen.”

31. BELLWORK • In two sentences or less, explain Japan’s transition from a liberal, peaceful country (1920’s) to a military dictatorship (1930’s)? • What was the goal of the Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere? • Even though the U.S. was officially neutral, why did they send aide to China? • Why did Japan leave the League of Nations? • THINKER: A lot of Japanese nationalists still deny the Rape of Nanking was a war crime. Why do you think they deny it?

32. Immediate Causes of WWII in the Pacific • Discuss: How did the U.S. attempt to punish Japan? How did Japan respond? • By 1940, Western countries were focused on war in Europe, which allowed Japan to continue expansion. • June 1940: closure of Burma Road (vital supply route for the Chinese) • September 1940: US bans export of scrap iron to Japan (heavily dependent on trade w/ US = economic issues) • September 1940: Japan joins alliance with Italy and Germany (Tripartite Pact) • October 1940: US increased loans to China

37. The U.S. - From Isolationism to War • In the 1930’s the U.S. decided to stay away from international affairs and focus more on solving domestic problems and the Great Depression. • 1930: Neutrality Acts - banned the U.S. from providing weapons or loans to nations at war. • 1937: Cash and Carry - allowed trade with fighting nations (nonmilitary goods) as long as the nations paid cash and transported the cargo themselves. • March 1941: Lend-Lease Act - allowed the U.S. to aid any nation whose defense was vital to U.S. security. • By the end of WWII, the U.S. had loaned or given away $49 billion of aid to over 40 nations. • August 1941: Atlantic Charter – Churchill and FDR’s vision for the “post-war world” • Included commitment to uphold freedoms, ban aggression, disarm aggressor states, give sovereignty to liberated states, secure freedom of the seas, and establish the United Nations • September 1941: USS Greer attacked by German U-Boat (actually being followed) and FDR responded by ordering the sinking of U-Boats on sight. Claimed they were acting “defensively”

41. Immediate Causes of WWII in the Pacific • February 1941: General Hideki Tojo comes to power • July 1941: Germany invades USSR, so Japan attacked South and occupied southern Indochina • US, Britain & Netherlands implement total trade embargo • Danger that Japan would run out of oil (80% imported from US) and have to stop occupation of China • December 7, 1941: Pearl Harbor attack (simultaneous attacks on Philippines, Guam, Midway Island & Hong Kong)

42. Pearl Harbor FDR limited what Japan could buy from the U.S., froze Japanese financial assets, ended sales of iron and steel, and cut off oil shipments. Aggression between the two countries grew. On December 7, 1941 Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a naval base in Hawaii. 2,400 Americans were dead, 1,200 were wounded, and 200 warships were destroyed.

45. Most dramatic loss in Pearl Harbor attack. 1,177 dead The wreck was not salvaged and continues to lie on the floor of the harbor. U.S.S. ARIZONA