Japan's Road To War Why did the initiate World War II?

[Adell 0]

When Japan went against the Western powers, specifically America, it was a great shock to those who were watching the world events as they happened. They weren?t expecting Japan to attack this super power, especially when these two were technically ?allies?. How did the West view Japanese ?imperialism?? What were the preparations made by the Japanese to go against the Americans? What were the reasons of Japan?s engagement of war with the West? What was the aftermath of the behavior of Japan as an imperial power?

 

Perhaps, to the Americans, Japanese ?trying? to be an imperial power as a silly joke to them; the Westerners had all the power, whereas Asia was all but a hunting ground for them. They probably viewed Japanese ?imperialism? like they would a child who was throwing a tantrum and taking toys from other children. But, they could have also viewed it as a threat ? Japan was a very patriotic nation and their armies were forces to be reckoned with.

 

Japan, with its long history of war, knew that they would not stand a chance with Western powers during a long term battle, but they had an opening in a short term one. So, while planning the battle out, they were said to take over certain parts of China and Korea, in order to have more resources and territory to give up if ever they lost ? war was a zero sum game of land and money after all, sometimes even more than just those.

 

Nationalism?s focus may be the closest we can get to understanding why the Japanese had fought against these Western powers. The Western were considered great and powerful and if they were to win a war against them, that would make them equal in ranks with these super powers. America, Europe, Russia and other countries had power, prestige and wealth and they saw war as an opportunity to take these ? But they had to gamble some of their own as well, thus the taking of lands from China and Korea (and soon after the Russo-Japanese War, they got control over Russian territories as well). When they would win, it would bring in more opportunities for them, most likely in the economic sector.

 

Japan trying to be an imperial power and taking territories from China, Korea and Russia was a good thing? Going against America and probably initiating World War II was a bad thing. Not only did they lose a lot of their territories, but they are now under American rule and such. They are not allowed to form a military power and do a pre-emptive strike nor can they wield nuclear weapons, like most other current super powers of the world today. Needless to say, the aftermath of Japan?s actions had been a downfall for them.

 

How about you? What do you think was the reason Japan attacked America?

[rpgsearcherz 5]

I think Japan attacked us because as a country we try to impose our morals on everyone else. We think (for some reason) that we are better than absolutely everyone and that anyone who is different from us is a bad person (or in some cases, bad countries).Also, America has in the past always used war to obtain what it needed. We had a war for our independence from Europe, used war to take over America from the Natives and Spanish settlers, used war to help fight communism, etc.I'm not saying any of the wars we've taken part in were necessarily good or bad, as all of them both had significant benefits and negativities, but it can't be argued that we've always used war to get what we want. It's pretty much a mentality that says "do what we say or we'll make you do it."So to me, I think maybe the Japanese saw and understood what was happening and decided since nobody else was really taking a stand that they would. By attacking Pearl Harbor they went directly against our military and used the sneak attack to show us that we're not as invulnerable as we always act like we are.But of course all of this is just my opinion. The only people who know the truth are those that started the attack to begin with.

[Eza 5]

Perspectives

 

A theory about history says that history and historical events are more easy to understand when the different perspectives of the individual participators are taken in consideration. When the topic start speaks about Western powers it might help to understand the events and the motivations looking at them from the perspective of the people who acted and of the people who used motivations to act the way they did. It is possible to divide between the United States of America and some of the European countries.

 

The attack of Japan of Pearl Harbor was probably supported by a lot of people in Japan, including scientists. One of the reasons seems to have been indeed to fight back against the American attempts to influence other cultures of other countries. Those attempts and the influence on the own culture are and were considered to threaten the own culture of some countries. The empirialistic politics of the USA was seen like polluting the Japanese culture. An attack seemed to be the only way to protect the precious Japanese culture.

 

Japan had gained lots of experience with warfare in China. And Japan was doing well, like in Korea.

 

Japan is and was technically a very modern country. The weapons of Japan were more modern and more advanced compared to weapons of other countries. This gave Japan a big advantage in the first part of the war.

 

Japan was and is a country with a strong hierarchy. And the army and soldiers are very much appreciated. And the honour of the emperor and the dignity of the people of Japan are values worth fighting for.

 

This means that from lots of perspectives the decision to attack the United States of America was not a silly activity at all. It is not sure that a full success of the attack on Pearl Harbour would have Japan let win the war at the end. And maybe it is true that Japan overestimated its own force and power and underestimated the force and the scientific skills the United States could employ.

 

From a different perspective Vietnam would have never fought back to the United States when the armed forces of the United States were considered to be superior of the means of Northern Vietnam. The same can be said of North Korea. And Iraq would have surrendered on forehand when the army of the USA were seen like unbeatable and superior. This shows that other reasons than rational reasons are used when decisions to fight are taken.

 

After war prosperity

 

It seems true that Japan has lost the war and a lot of other things. The same seemed true about Germany. But the countries that lost World War II are the countries that were economically among the richest and most prosperious countries and blooming economies. The loss of the war seemed to have had a positive influence on economic growth and welfare since the end of the war till recently.

 

One of the reasons might be that Germany and Japan weren't allowed to have a huge army. The money of the governments can be spent to support the economy. Japan and Germany were since the war almost not involved in other wars till recently. This too means that the money of the governments could be used to support the economy.

 

Like East Germany and West Germany got reunited too. This can mean Japan will get free once again. And Japan will once get freed of the influence and the military presence of the United States of America on the Janpanese soil too.

 

 

Videos about the attack of Pearl Harbour.

 

[media]http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/]

 

[media]http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/]

 

One of the biggest mistakes has probably been the lack of understanding that the United States of America don't understand the way people look to them. This means that the reasons of Japan to start the war are never understood.

 

This is a more common problem. This problem is not only felt by Japan.

 

There is a lot of disrespect for the American way and the American culture. The reasons for attacks are not understood by the American people and their politicians. This means that in spite of attacks to belongings of the USA the attitude of Americans don't change. And maybe attacks to American belongings increase the behaviour of the USA in the opposite way the attackers wanted to change it. This results in bigger problems and bigger gaps between different cultures and religions.

Edited November 21, 2010 by Eza (see edit history)