WWII: Military History

Japan, & the U.S.A.

The Rise of Japan

• Late 19th Cent.: Japan modernizes• 1895: Wins Sino-Japanese War– Conquers Korea

• 1905: Wins Russo-Japanese War• WWI: Japan joins Allies• 1931: Generals seize Manchuria w/out govt.

permission• 1939: Japanese occupy ¼ of China– 9/39 Nazis and Soviets invade Poland

• Dec. 1941: Japanese attack Pearl Harbor

The Militarization of Japan• “Keep Up or Fall Behind”– Late 19th Cent. Japan realized it had to modernize or be

dominated by Western powers– Japan lacked natural resources

• Post WWI– 1920s-30s saw Japan become increasingly militaristic– Moderate govt. became ruled by military– Emperor as “divine” figurehead

Key Figures

• Emperor Hirohito – Emperor of Japan during WWII

• Hideki Tojo – Prime Minister who pushed for war vs. the west

• Isoroku Yamamoto – Admiral who planned attack on Pearl Harbor

• Hajime Sugiyama – Army Chief of Staff

The Japanese Military in WWII

• Start of War: 1,700,000 men strong– Well motivated and supplied– Endured extreme hardship during war• Allied blockades effective

– Conscript army• Militarized society prepared people for war• Encouraged blind loyalty “BUSHIDO”• Hand-to-hand considered the highest form of combat

Chinese Civil War (1927-1949)– Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek– Communists, led by Mao Zedong – Stopped fighting and focused on Japanese in 1937– Communists win after WWII, Nationalists fled to

Taiwan

2nd Sino-Japanese War• Japanese army fights Chinese Nationalists and

communists– US supports Nationalist army w/advisors and war

material• Chinese theater occupied large amounts of Japanese resources• Considered key theater of war for Japan• Japanese atrocities were rampant– Still sore point today

Japanese Advances in WWII• Causes of Japanese Successes from 1941-42– Allied unpreparedness– Technology• Japanese Zero

– Well-trained military• Navy

Japanese Brutality

• Japan justified conquests with claims of “liberating” Asia from Western exploitation

• Reality: Japanese govt. indoctrinated its citizens with belief that Japanese were racially superior to other Asians– Koreans, Chinese regarded as “sub human”– Execution of prisoners/civilians, human

experiments, rape, common throughout territory occupied by Japanese

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere(Japanese Propaganda Poster)

“With the help of Japan, China, and Manchukuo, the world can be in peace."

Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere(REALITY)