Territorial ambitions of Germany and Japan

Question 1

Germany

Answer 1

• Germany’s territorial ambitions were rooted in Hitlers racial and expansionist ideology and envisioned a “Greater German Reich” that would unite all ethnic germans of Aryan race and provide them with lebensraum.
• ambition driven by: nationalist fervor, racial ideology and autarky
• influenced by superiority of aryan race belief (racial imperialism) which justified the annexation of territories where ethnic Germans lived and conquest of eastern Europe.
• Autarky: Germany needed to expand eastward to secure agricultural land and resources to support its growing population and industrial economy

Key events:
- Anschluss with Austria, invaded 12 March 1938
- Munich Agreement reached 30 September 1938, Germany demanded and gained control of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia due to British-french policy of appeasement to avoid war with Nazi Germany.
- By March 1939, Germany had occupied the rest of Czechoslovakia, violating the terms of the Munich Agreement
- Further led to invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, which sparked WW2 in Europe.

Question 2

Japan

Answer 2

• Japans territorial ambitions were influenced by a mix of factors.
• Japanese military believed in the concept of the ‘Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere’ which aimed to establish a bloc of asian nations led by japan and free of western influence.
• This ideology was particularly rooted in the desire to liberate asian countries from colonial rule but it also served as a guise for Japanese imperialism.
• Japan’s lack of oil, coal, iron ore, aluminium, rubber etc. was a significant cause of its expansionist policies
• Largely the cause of the the invasion of resource-rich Manchuria on 18 September 1931
• followed by second sino-japanese war in 1937 and invasion of french indochina in 1940
• december 7, 1941 pearl harbour attack, to neutralise threat of US Pacific fleet, ended US isolationism and WW2 began in the Pacific

Question 2

Outcome

Answer 2

Both countries’ ambitions culminated in defeat and the division of the German nation post war by the victorious Allied powers while Japan faced significant territorial losses and occupation by Allied forces.