Preview The Globalisation of War Volume 3 – Japan attacks. US enters War. British Empire and Russia hold the Axis.
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With the advent of Japan, a European war became a world war and this European war continued on three fronts. The largest front was in Russia where the Germans had conquered large tracts of land and threatened the great cities of Moscow, Leningrad and Stalingrad. The other two fronts, smaller in the use of manpower but not in territory, were in North Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Japan changed all this and started a world war. Their ambitions were directed at control of the Pacific Ocean and south east Asia. Most of the latter was in the hands of foreign empires and the Japanese struck a chord with the object of taking the Philippines from the US, Malaya from the British and Indonesia from the Netherlands. This they did very quickly. During the winter the Germans were pushed back on the Moscow sector.
They had to make a decision as to whether they wanted to take Moscow or Stalingrad and go into the Caucasus. German weakness was a lack of oil, so for the time being Moscow was safe. The Russians were learning fast how to wage war and they now retreated in good order and only fought the Germans from a position of advantage. In North Africa, the armies moved backwards and forwards until the Germans gained an ascendancy and came close to Cairo on the El Alamein line. However, they were exhausted and lost their mild but important air superiority. German tankers were being sunk in the Med and the Allies had found an able new commander.
A great battle was fought at El Alamein. An Axis army was defeated and they never regained the initiative. The oil and food war was centred on the eastern American seaboard. The Germans had much success as the Americans did not use a convoy system for the Allied tankers. The attacks were only debilitating as the US were concentrating on getting their troops and supplies into North Africa. The great German objective was to starve Britain into submission and to interdict the oil supply lines which would stop the bombing of Germany In the Pacific, the Japanese wanted to form a defensive zone which stretched at its furthest borders from the Aleutians, the Hawaiian Islands, Fiji and onto Australia.
The Japanese thought they could do this by winning a great naval battle which would give them control of the Pacific. The Japanese had a great fleet, superior to the Americans. The Battle of Midway as it became known, revolved around the carriers and their aircraft and pilots. There were four Japanese carriers and three American. The four Japanese carriers were sunk while the Americans lost one. The Japanese air arm was savaged. The battle was truly decisive although the Americans only took control of the western Pacific.
Preview: The Globalisation of War, Vol. 3
Introduction
Japan’s path to war was strewn with miscalculations, the two greatest being that Germany was going to win the war or at least gain an advantageous peace, and that the United States would allow Japan to remain in China and rule it through a puppet. While Germany’s Panzers danced across the Russian steppes, seemingly unstoppable, so the Japanese fear increased of missing out on the fruits of victory won by their great ally. The Germans were also thinking ahead, and in their calculations was the certainty of victory over the Soviet Union, which would lead to the final confrontation with Britain. They did not feel that they would need help from Japan against the Soviet Union. Again, Japan wanted to gain territory from the Soviet Union but this would not greatly alleviate its raw material shortages, and it was south-east Asia that Japan really coveted.
Sanctions
Although sanctions did not work with Italy in 1935, they do work when there is the overall will to implement them and the country is vulnerable. Japan was certainly vulnerable to sanctions, which hit its economy. In July 1940 Roosevelt had restricted exports of scrap metal and high-octane fuel and in 1941 steel output fell in Japan from 5,384,000 tons to 5,121,000 – not a large fall, with most of it being absorbed on the civilian side. However, for a nation in full war production it was a setback. Japan had prepared for war and had stored enough oil for two years; thereafter it was a gamble as to what would be forthcoming.
Likewise, British Malaya and the Dutch East Indies produced 79 per cent of the world’s crude rubber and 65 per cent of its tin. With Britain and the Netherlands backing the United States, Japan could be even more vulnerable. Japan’s great trading partner was the United States, which took 40 per cent of its exports and sent 50 per cent of its imports. Moreover, Japan’s balance of payments was weak, so any American action would severely curtail its trade. Japan’s only advantage was that it could confiscate American and British assets in Japan, which would be a short-term advantage only. In other words, the Japanese empire of Korea, Formosa, Manchuria and parts of China could not compensate for the long-term effects of sanctions.
Sanctions were mild through the first half of 1941 but, at a liaison conference at the end of June, Japan decided to extend its influence to the southern part of Indo-China. Its presence in the north was accepted, if not condoned, as it was intercepting a supply route for the Chinese. However, a move to the south meant only one thing: Japan needed the bases as a starting point for the invasion of south-east Asia. This was ominous, so Roosevelt and the United States reacted. Roosevelt, on the whole, took a desultory interest in this part of the world at this time. Firm in his support of China, which like Britain and the Soviet Union was a recipient of lend-lease, he left the nuts and bolts of tactics in containing Japan to Cordell Hull, his secretary of state.
Roosevelt was more interested in the threat of the European theatre and was moving closer to an active interest in the war when the United States relieved Britain of its responsibilities in Iceland. The Japanese noted this and interpreted it in such a way that they believed it allowed them the freedom to move into southern Indo-China so they could better protect their sphere of influence to the south. The United States, however, interpreted Japan’s move as potentially bellicose and froze all Japanese assets so they no longer had the liquidity to trade. From 1 August just about all significant Japanese trade had to be licensed, which Britain and the Netherlands supported. This was a drastic action, which the Americans meant to lead to a diplomatic solution and was the only real power they had, as they did not feel that their deployable naval power would be effective. There were, however, those in the American administration who argued that the Japanese should not be cornered or they might try to break out.
The complexities of government were similar for Japan. The move to war was inexorable but there were some resisting it and many worried by it. Matsuoka, who had advocated attacking the Soviet Union alongside Germany after having just concluded a neutrality pact with Stalin, left the government in July. Prince Konoye, Japan’s prime minister, wanted a diplomatic solution if possible and offered to meet Roosevelt in Hawaii. This was brave, even though he had his cabinet’s and the emperor’s support, as he could easily have been subject to an assassination attempt. Konoye had intimated that he would abandon the key point in the Tripartite Pact, which would allow the United States to make war against Germany without triggering Japan’s participation. This was one of Hitler’s greatest fears as he wanted the American fleet to be fully engaged in the Pacific and not to filter into the Atlantic. Roosevelt, by temperament, was always a man prepared to talk and negotiate, so Cordell Hull, fearful of negotiations and unsure of the outcome, persuaded him that if he accepted Konoye’s invitation, there was a possibility that he could be let down, his reason being that there was such a wide gulf between Japan’s intentions as revealed by intelligence and what the Americans would call a satisfactory settlement.
The Globalisation of War Volume 3 – Japan attacks. US enters War. British Empire and Russia hold the Axis.
£9.99Japan’s entry led to a global conflict, capturing territories from the US, Britain, and Netherlands. The Axis powers suffered setbacks in North Africa and the Pacific, with decisive defeats at El Alamein and Midway, marking a turning point in the war. With the advent of Japan, a European war became a world war and this European war continued on three fronts.