Effects of WW2 in Asia and the Pacific

Question 1

Effects of WW2 in Asia

Answer 1

• Political impacts
• Geopolitical impacts
• Socioeconomic impacts on Japan
• Socioeconomic impacts on other countries
• Imact on women
• War criminals

Question 2

What were the different political impacts of the war in Asia?

Answer 2

• Occupied Japan
• China
• The Cold War

Question 3

US- Japan relations directly after the end of WW2

Question 3

US- Japan relations directly after the end of WW2

Answer 3

• On 2 September 1945, US troops started to land in Japan to oversee the peace process.
• The USA wrote a new constitution for Japan in 1946, which was to be put into effect in 1947 by a new US-approved Japanese government.
• Most accounts comment that the majority of Japanese citizens were happy with the constitution, and it is followed to this day.

Question 4

What provisions did the new Japanese constitution specify?

Answer 4

• A parliamentary system of government
• Democratic elections with the franchise extended to men and women
• Freedom of religion, speech, press and political association
• Discrimination on the basis of gender, race, social status or family origin outlawed
• The emperor was to be head of state, but with no practical power

Question 5

When was the first general election under the new constitution in Japan?

Answer 5

• April 1946
• It was peaceful
• It was a victory for the Liberal party

Question 6

When did the US occupation of Japan?

Answer 6

In 1952 (as Japan was stable)

Question 7

What was the political effect of WW2 in Asia on China?

Answer 7

• There was a power vacuum in China when Japan was defeated, which the Nationalists and the CCP quickly worked to fill.
• Both sides tried to gain control of as much territory as possible, and the Chinese Civil War resumed.
• WW2 in Asia and the Pacific did not give a decisive advantage to either side and the fate of China was to be decided from 1945 to 1949.
• Yet, there were several notable effects of the Second World War on the subsequent civil war, which gave advantages to the CCP, the side that went on to win the civil war.

Question 8

What were the notable effects of WW2 on the subsequent civil war in China, which gave advantages to the CCP, the side that went on to win the civil war? (need more examples?)

Answer 8

• The Soviet Union had taken over Manchuria, and gave the CCP access to Japanese arms depots, such as one at Shenyang which contained over 100,000 guns and artillery pieces.
• The Nationalists’ initial reluctance to fight the Japanese was highlighted by CCP propaganda, and led to a loss of popular support for the Nationalists.
• The CCP derived its strength from rural areas, which the Japanese were not concerned with occupying. The Communists maintained their loyal rural support throughout the war with the Japanese.

Question 9

How did WW2 lead to the Cold War in Asia?

Answer 9

• The defeat of Japan left a power vacuum in much of Asia.
• The two superpowers – the USA and the Soviet Union – competed for influence and tried to promote their political and economic systems in Asia to fill this power vacuum.
• A clear example of this was Korea, which was annexed by Japan in 1910, but nominally became independent in 1945.

Question 10

How did the Cold War Crisis develop (necessary?)

Answer 10

• The United Nations (UN) divided the peninsula along the 38th Parallel into northern and southern zones. The north was to be administered by the Soviet Union, and the south by the USA.
• The Soviets set up a communist government in the north, while the US oversaw the implementation of democratic institutions and capitalism in the south. Both governments claimed to be the legitimate ruler of the whole Korean peninsula.
• In 1950, after several border disputes, the north invaded the south, sparking a bitter civil war. China was involved, heavily supporting the northern war effort, and the UN supported the south, although it was effectively a US-led operation.
• The fighting ended in a stalemate in 1953 with millions of Koreans dead and the peninsula divided almost exactly as it had been before the conflict, with a demilitarized zone separating the two sides. The north was still communist and the south a democratic, capitalist state.

Question 11

What was the geopolitical impact of WW2 on Asia and the Pacific?

Answer 11

Decolonization

Question 12

Explain how decolonization was a geopolitical impact of WW2

Answer 12

• The Atlantic Charter was signed by the USA, Britain and their Allies during the Second World War.
• Japan had lost a vast empire, and the charter stated that all people now had the right to self-determination.
• It was quoted by people in Asia who wanted to see their nations free from colonial rule now that Japan had been defeated.

Question 13

Why did the Allies find it difficult to grant self-determination and end their own imperial ambitions? (decolonization- geopolitical impact of WW2)

Answer 13

• Colonies, such as Singapore, Hong Kong and the Dutch East Indies, were of economic value.
• Loss of empire equated to a loss of prestige and geopolitical influence.
• The Cold War that was developing between the Soviet Union and the USA in order to determine who was the dominant world power, meant that influencing the ideology of Asian states was important.

Question 14

Was the desire of most imperial powers to keep control in Asia after the war ended successful?

Answer 14

• No, as independence movements were too strong in many nations, but some territories captured from Japan are still not independent today.
• These include New Caledonia, Guam and American Samoa.
• Yet most nations did gain independence, often after bitter wars and many years.

Question 15

Give an overview of the socioeconomic impact of the war on Japan

Answer 15

The Japanese people suffered hugely and their infrastructure was left in ruins

Question 16

Socioeconomic impact on Japan- human loss & suffering

Answer 16

• 1 million dead civilians

- 30% of urban populations homeless

Question 17

Socioeconomic impact on Japan-infrastructural damage

Answer 17

-66 major cities had been heavily bombed

Question 18

Socioeconomic impact on Japan-rebuilding of society

Answer 18

The family-orientated culture of Japan had never had to deal with such societal dislocation, so the orphans, homeless, maimed and widows were often stigmatized and neglected by society and the government, sometimes for decades.

Question 19

Socioeconomic impact on Japan- economic recovery and political independence

Answer 19

• Japan suffered mass unemployment, price inflation, and hunger for several years after the war. There were discussions of reparations, but these were dropped due to the need to rebuild Japan
• As a result of demand stimulated by the Korean War, there was a 300% increase in Japanese exports and a 70% increase in production.
• By 1952, Japan was economically and politically stable and it became independent again, as the US occupation ended in April of that year.

Question 20

Socioeconomic impact on China

Answer 20

• Around 1.3 million Chinese died fighting against Japan, and 2 million were wounded.
• Towns and cities, such as Nanjing and Shanghai, were left devastated by the war.

Question 21

Socioeconomic impact on the US

Answer 21

• 100,000 men in the US military were killed, and 250,000 were wounded.
• US infrastructure remained intact, and the USA remained the world’s leading economy.

Question 22

How did women and employment change in Japan?

Answer 22

The role of women in Japan’s war effort changed during the war, as the government was initially reluctant to force women to work. The main developments were as follows:

• In 1941, the Japanese government forced all unmarried women between 16 and 25 into war production industries. One million women began work with the initiative.
• Due to the shortage of labor, women with families were encouraged to work starting in 1943.

Question 23

Sexual exploitation of women in Japan as a result of WW2

Answer 23

• An unfortunate role that women were forced to play by the Japanese was as ‘comfort women’.
• After the Rape of Nanjing in 1937 shocked the world, the Japanese developed the policy of comfort women to address the sexual needs of their soldiers.
• They were military-operated brothels referred to as ‘comfort houses’ or ‘comfort stations’.

Question 24

Overview of the impact of war on the US

Answer 24

• Women participated to a greater extent in the US war effort than in any other country, except the Soviet Union.
• Their main work was in war production, which enabled the USA to produce huge quantities of war goods, but they also joined the military in large numbers.

Question 25

Examples of how there were developments for women in the US as a result of WW2

Answer 25

• In 1941, over 14.5 million women worked outside the home.

- By 1945, this number had increased to over 19 million.

Question 26

Need more info on impact on women in US?

Question 27

Exposing of war crimes as a result of WW2 in Asia

Answer 27

• As part of the social healing and peacekeeping methods after the war, many types of courts formed across the Asia–Pacific region to administer justice.
• The most famous were those carried out by the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as the ‘Tokyo Trials’.
• Various war crimes were exposed, such as mass killings, human experimentations, torture, the use of chemical and biological weapons, as well as cannibalism.

Question 28

Need more info on war criminals?