Chapter 6: Outbreak of war in Asia Pacific Flashcards
Japan’s ambition was to be a world power. She became increasingly aggressive and had conflict with world powers to occupy their territories. To be a world power meant she had to have as many colonies as the rest of the world powers. With these territories, she had increased resources to produce arms for her industrialisation and to produce arms to continue to invade and occupy territories.
List as many examples of these conflicts with great powers from 1894 to 1937.
(EX)
1894-95 - War with China (China was a threat)
1905 - War with Russia (Russia was a threat to Japan’s SOI in Korea and Manchuria)
1910 - annexed Korea
1919 - occupied German colonies in China after WWI
1931 - Manchuria
1937 - War with China
After the war with China in 1895, Japan gained reparation and access to Chinese cities (previously given only to western nations). Access to Chinese cities was important for Japan as China had raw materials and resources that Japan lacked of. Name some of these raw materials and resources.
Bauxite, copper, iron ore, coal, gold, petroleum.
After the war with Russia in 1905, Japan controlled Manchuria’s railroads. Why was this important for Japan?
It allowed Japan to transport resources in Manchuria to Japan and transport its troops to protect its sphere of influence in Manchuria.
Japan went to war with Russia in 1905 because Russia became a threat to Japan. Which 2 areas in Japan’s sphere of influence was Russia a threat (Russia also wanted to have its influence in these areas)
Korea and Manchuria
Japan invaded Manchuria in 1931 because China was a threat. Why was Manchuria important to Japan? (Provide 2 reasons)
(1) To protect their railroad in Manchuria
(2) To protect their interests in Liaodong Peninsula and
(3) Manchuria was a land rich in raw materials.
How was Japan humiliated by USA in 1853?
Forced to open up to USA with terms of treaty being dictated to the Shogun
How was Japan treated as an unequal during the Washington Naval Treaty in 1921?
The Conference limited the size of the Japanese fleet – Japan had to reduce their naval strength more than USA & Britain.
What did Japan feel it needed to do to be treated as an equal by the big powers? This eventually led to war in Asia-Pacific.
To be treated as equal, Japan needed to be a great power.
This meant Japan needed to expand, have more colonies, to be equal just like other world powers. To do so, Japan need to invade territories that belonged to other great powers.
What were the crises faced by Japan in the 1920s and 1930s? List 3 crises.
Economic crises
(1) overpopulation & shortage of land;
(2) Impact of Great Depression (1929)
Political crisis
(3) militarists in the government increasingly had a lot of power and popular
Crisis - Japan is mountainous and get most of its oil from US and rubber from British Malaya. How did the lack of important resources such as oil and rubber affect Japan?
affect industrial production
Crisis - Japan saw rapid population growth from 45 to 64 million from 1900-1930. What was the impact of rapid population growth? List at least 3 impacts.
(1) Increased demand for housing, goods and products
(2) High rent (because of housing shortage) worsened living conditions.
(3) Japan’s farmers did not have enough land to grow crops and earn a profit.
(4) Shortage of rice - because traditional farming methods were labour-intensive and slow
The West (Britain and USA) protected their own economies (Protectionism) after Great Depression (1929). Japan was not able to sell its goods and thus have no income to buy raw materials needed for industrial production. What did Japan do as a result of Protectionism that eventually lead to war in Asia Pacific?
(1) Japan needed to find new markets to sell their goods and cheap sources of raw materials.
(2) Japan became increasingly aggressive towards China as Manchuria had abundance raw materials and a market for Japan’s goods.
What is protectionism, a policy practiced by the West (such as Britain and USA) because of the impact of Great Depression?
Countries PROTECT their own industries from foreign competition - made imported goods more expensive through taxes (so that people will buy locally made goods which were cheaper)
Crisis - the democratic government in Japan was not stable - Government made up of different parties, often changed. They were also corrupted and assassinations of government ministers were common. They also made it difficult for Japan to expand - made treaties which limited the size of Japan’s navy. They also could not solve the economic crisis. This made the militarists popular. What did the militarists in the government promised the people? Suggest a few ways.
(1) Make Japan strong!!
(2) cannot depend on the west (learnt a lesson - depended too much on the west to buy their products and thus suffered from the impact of Great Depression)
(3) Japan must aggressively expand to solve Japan’s economic problems
(4) Japan must militarise & be aggressive to solve their country’s problem (that is why they were called militarists)
Crisis - why were the militarists popular in the government? Suggest a few reasons.
(1) Long tradition of military rule
(2) Had military successes in early 1900s - increased the confidence of the military.
(3) Expansion into Korea and Manchuria allowed Japan to develop economically - proved that expansion is the solution
In 1932, militarist imposed Martial Law in Japan - military controlled the government
