Discuss Time Rider
Notes: As this story
focuses on the attack on Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941, here are
some facts of that historic attack.
According to wikipedia.org, US casualties were heavy and
included 2,403 dead; 1,178 wounded; 5 battleships, 3 destroyers, 3
cruisers, and 188 planes. Japan casualties, by contrast, included 64
dead, 1 captured, 29 planes and 4 submarines.
Japan's economic and military
expansion caused many confrontations with other countries. These
included the First Sino-Japanese War with China in 1894, in which
Japan took control of Taiwan, and the Russo-Japanese War with Russia
in 1904, by which Japan gained territory in and around China and the
Korean peninsula. From about 1910 through the 1930s, Japan became
extensively militarized, building a large and modern navy, third
largest in the world at the time. After World War I, the League of
Nations awarded Japan custody of most of Imperial Germany's
possessions and colonies in East Asia and the Pacific. In 1931,
Japan imposed the puppet state of Manchukuo in eastern Manchuria.
Starting in 1937, Japan ramped up its conflict with mainland China,
killing over 7 million Chinese.
These attacks against China were condemned by the U.S., the UK,
Australia, and the Netherlands, all of which had territorial
interests in Southeast Asia and the Philippines. In response to the
diplomatic pressure, Japan resigned from the League of Nations. In
July 1939, the U.S. terminated the 1911 U.S.-Japan commerce treaty,
an action which showed official disapproval and, more concretely,
allowed the U.S. to impose trade embargoes. Nevertheless, Japan
continued its military campaign in China and later signed with Nazi
Germany the Anti-Comintern Pact, which formally ended World War I
hostilities and declared common interests. In 1940, Japan signed the
Tripartite Pact with Germany and Fascist Italy to form the Axis
Powers.
These actions by Japan led the U.S. to embargo scrap metal and
gasoline and to close the Panama Canal to Japanese shipping. In
1941, Japan moved into northern Indochina. The U.S. responded by
freezing Japan's assets in the U.S. and instituting a complete oil
embargo. Oil was Japan's most crucial resource; her own supplies
were very limited, and 80% of Japan's imports were from the U.S. The
Imperial Navy relied entirely on imported bunker oil stocks.To
replenish its oil, Japan could have forcibly obtained it from the
Dutch East Indies; however, the Navy was certain this would bring
the U.S. into the war. With the Hull note of November 26, 1941,
Japan's leaders felt they had to choose either continued expansion
or compliance with U.S. and U.K. demands of backing down from its
actions in China and surrounding areas. The latter meant losing
international prestige and "losing face". The former meant possible
war with the United States, United Kingdom, and Netherlands.
|
