War 1931-1945 Flashcards
1
Q
1931-1937: Japanese Militarism and East Asia
A
- Founding of “Manchukuo” Puppet State
- Eyes on further Chinese territory
- Increasing brutality in Korea
- Debate in China on Japanese issue intensifies
- Dilemma Chiang Kai-shek: counter Japan or the CCP?
2
Q
1937-1945: Japanese Militarism and East Asia
A
- Full invasion of China
- Leads to further invasions of South-East Asia and the Pacific War
- China: Second United Front of KMT and CCP to fight Japanese
- 1941: China as part of Allied Powers
- Variations in anti-Japanese resistance among Chinese and Koreans will shape postwar history
- Theme: increasing Japanese brutality; inability of Japanese to control conquered
3
Q
Showa Period 1926-1989
A
- Showa Emperor: Hirohito
- Two radically different halves:
– 1926-1945
– 1945-1989
4
Q
18 September 1931: “Mukden Incident”
A
- Militarists want full control in Manchuria
- “Mukden Incident” is staged as excuse to justify Japanese invasion
- Both without approval from civilian government
- 15 May 1932: Prime Minister assassinated. Now militarists in charge.
5
Q
“Manchukuo” Puppet State (February 1932-August 1945)
A
- Appearance: Features of an autonomous nation-state:
– Head of state (Emperor Puyi)
– Own government & army
– Symbols of nationhood (national flag, national anthem, national ideology)
– Conducted its own diplomatic relations, even with Japan - Reality: Japan exercised informal/indirect control over Manchukuo:
– Japanese officials controlled policy- and decision-making
6
Q
Why is Militarism so popular?
A
- Economic instability of Great Depression
- Weariness of labour unrest
- Violent repression
- Nationalist propaganda
- Resonance of militarists’ message:
– Necessity of “Manchurian lifeline”
– Critique of capitalism and communism
– Rejection of racial hierarchy of global order
7
Q
Ensuing Domestic & International Crises
A
Japan’s domestic crisis:
- Liberal-leaning party-led cabinets collapsed after resignation and assassination
- Right-wing groups led wave of terror attacks against those against invasion
Japan’s crisis abroad:
- Isolation after leaving League of Nations in 1933
- Truce signed with China in 1933 but relations remained tense
8
Q
From 1932: Militarists’ Domination
A
- Militarists and pro-militarists appointed to premiership from 1932
- Tactics to eliminate opposition (censorship, arrests, assaults, and assassinations)
- Why stop with Manchuria?
- National security to be achieved only with more natural resources in Northern China
- Tunnel vision of militarists will lead to disaster
9
Q
The Challenges of Chiang Kai-shek
A
- The Communists
– Civil War with CCP 1927-36. This has priority for Chiang. - The Japanese
– From 1931 Japanese encroachment increasingly serious and undermines his rule, prevents him from vanquishing the CCP. - The Warlords
– Chiang nominally in charge, but local warlords still maintain own armies and large areas are hardly under KMT central control. This makes Nanjing government ineffective and financially constrained.
10
Q
Mao Zedong 1893-1976
A
- Born in rural Hunan province in relatively well-off peasant family
- Becomes a Marxist at Peking University in 1910s
- Present at founding CCP in Shanghai 1921
- But, just one of many communist leaders until 1934
- Unlike other communists, will never spend significant time abroad
- Maoism
– Peasantry as forefront of the revolution, not proletariat
– “Mass line”: CCP must not be separate from popular masses, different from Lenin’s “Party as forefront”
– “Continuous Revolution”: class struggle continues during socialism to eliminate remnants of bourgeois thinking
11
Q
“Ten Year Civil War” 1927-1936
A
- KMT governs from Nanjing and controls large cities
- CCP based in several countryside strongholds
- From early 1930s: KMT encirclement campaigns of CCP
- After founding of “Manchukuo”, Chiang establishes truce with Japanese in 1933
- Chiang Kai-shek more interested in fighting communists than tackling Japanese encroachment in Northeast
- This changes in 1936: Second United Front KMT-CCP against the Japanese
12
Q
CCP: The Long March (Oct 1934-Oct 1935)
A
- Reaction to KMT advances on CCP strongholds
- Red Army groups move their separate bases to Shanxi province
- Only 1/10 remains: 100k to 7k
- New base: Yanan
- Long March extremely important in CCP historiography
- 1935: Mao Zedong emerges as CCP leader in the Long March
13
Q
Second United Front 1936-1941
A
- Xian Incident: Chiang kidnapped by Warlords that force him into United Front against Japanese
- “National Revolutionary Army” of CCP and KMT revived
- But largely separate units, CCP focused on Guerilla warfare, KMT on conventional battles
- High point: Battle of Wuhan 1938
- KMT does more fighting against the Japanese
- CCP solidifies base in Yanan and Chinese countryside
- Sino-Japanese War: conventional warfare by KMT in Southwest China; guerilla warfare by CCP in North China
14
Q
Start of the Second Sino-Japanese War (7 July 1937)
A
- 7 July 1937 “Marco Polo Bridge Incident”: Fighting between Chinese and Japanese troops erupted;
- Japanese Army then invade Beijing and Tianjin;
- August 1937: Battle of Shanghai. Fierce fighting for three months
- December 1937: Battle of Nanjing
- The surprise: Chiang Kai-shek does not surrender but moves capital to Wuhan, and then Chongqing
15
Q
Nanjing, December 1937
A
- Chinese government relocates on 1 December 1937 to Wuhan (= no Chinese surrender)
- Remaining troops eventually surrounded
- Many try to blend into civilian population as Japanese enter
- Japanese troops start rounding up Chinese soldiers in civilian clothing
16
Q
Nanjing Massacre
A
- Six weeks starting from 13 December 1937
- Background: Aug 1937 Japanese Imperial Army removes the constraints of international law on the treatment of Chinese prisoners of war
- Estimated deaths: 40k-300k (contested)
- Tens of thousands of women raped
- Though unique in scale, it is representative for a lot of Japanese atrocities in China in this period
17
Q
Chiang Kai-shek: Chongqing Government
A
- Dec 1937-1938 ROC government in Wuhan: until Battle of Wuhan
- Then relocation to Chongqing
- Nationalist Army continues to fight Japanese with Southwestern China as base
- Loss of territory also meant loss of industrial capacity
– Hard to fund government and army
– Corruption increases
– Hyperinflation
18
Q
Wang Jingwei Regime 1940-1945
A
- Established in Nanjing as rival ROC government
- Reality: Japan-controlled puppet regime headed by Chinese collaborators
- High-ranking KMT official (rival of Chiang Kai-shek) Wang Jingwei served as President
- Government of Chinese territory under Japanese control
- Diplomatic recognition only by Axis powers
19
Q
Japan in 1938
A
- War in China harder than expected: KMT continues fight from Southwest China, CCP from countryside in North China
- War is becoming increasingly expensive: Japan does not have resources to sustain protracted war
- Industrialisation of North China to aid Japanese war is fast but not fast enough
- Resources still need to be imported, while demand grows globally with start of WW2
- Reliance on imports such as iron and oil
- 1940: 80% oil supply from US
- Debate on getting resources from Southeast Asia
20
Q
Japan’s Mobilisation for Total War (1938-1945)
A
Economic production only for war effort
- National Mobilisation Law: Conscripted undrafted men, women, and children to participate in war production
- Nationalisation of economy, media, labour unions
- Banning of foreign cultural products
- Propaganda focus: “Liberation of Asia”
- Outlawing of political parties in 1940, replaced by IRAA
Imperial Rule Assistance Association:
Group of militarist politicians in charge of politics and economics in Japan and dedicated to establishing totalitarian one-party state and waging all-out war
21
Q
Japan’s ideology referred to as Showa Statism
A
- A syncretism of extremist ideologies: ultranationalist/militarist/totalitarian
- Though retroactively sometimes described as “fascism”, the Japanese do not use this term at this time
22
Q
Tripartite Pact 27 September 1940
A
- Germany, Italy, Japan
- German victories convince Japan that Nazis will win and British/French/Dutch colonies in Asia will be for the taking
- Rooted in 1936 Anti-Comintern Pact between Germany and Japan (later Italy)
- Anti-Comintern Pact aimed at USSR but Tripartite Pact against Western powers
- April 1941: neutrality pact Japan and USSR seems to create stability for Japan internationally
- Ideological justification:
– Anti-communism
– Shared need for territorial expansion
– Against hegemony Western empires
23
Q
Tojo Hideki 1884-1948
A
- Prime Minister (Head of IRAA) 18 Oct 1941-22 July 1944
- Minister of War 22 July 1940-22 July 1944
- Most famous figure in the military leadership
- 8 Dec 1941: Declares war on US, UK, and the Netherlands
- In charge when most important decisions were made, but ruled with military clique, not one-man rule
- Removed from power in July 1944 due to war turning against Japan
- Tried in Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal after the war
- 23 December 1948: executed by hanging
24
Q
Japan’s Road to the “Pacific War”
A
- Japan still does not have access to resources to sustain war in China
- Tripartite Pact angers US, restrictions on Japanese assets
- July 1940 occupation of French Indochina leads to US and UK economic sanctions on Japan, cutting off its oil supply
- Late 1941: oil is running out
- Japan’s choice: move into Southeast Asia while we still can
25
Attack on Pearl Harbor 7 December 1941
26
Japan's Road to the "Pacific War"
- From 8 Dec 1941: all-out push into Southeast Asia by Japanese army and navy
- Dec 1941: Hong Kong
- Jan 1942: Philippines, British Malaya
- February 1942: Singapore
- March 1942: Dutch East Indies
- April 1942: Burma
- June 1942: Plan to deal final blow to US navy at the Battle of Midway
27
Japanese Imperial Ideology: Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
- Pan-Asian freedom and independence from western colonial oppression
- Asian bloc of nations would seek "Co-Prosperity" under Japanese protection
- Reality: feeling of Japanese superiority over other Asians
- Aimed at resource extraction
- Any sympathy Asians may have had for Japanese faded due to extreme brutality of Japanese troops
28
Chiang Kai-shek: Chongqing Government
- From 1941 China becomes one of the "Big Four" Allied Powers and receives military support from US
- Cairo Conference 22-26 Nov 1943 to outline war with Japan and discuss postwar East Asia
-- "Japanese territories in China shall be restored to ROC"
29
The War in China 1942-1945: Three Alls Policy
"Kill all, burn all, loot all"
- Japanese terror unleashed on countryside
- Nationalist and Communist resistance remains strong and the Japanese forces use increasingly brutal retaliation
- Especially CCP uses civilian population for cover
- Possibly around 2.7 million Chinese casualties
30
Unit 731: Biological and Chemical Warfare Research Unit
- Based in Harbin, Northeast China ("Manchukuo")
- Testing on humans: victims unknown (hundreds of thousands?)
- Deliberate disease infection (STDs, cholera, smallpox, bubonic plague, etc)
- Vivisection on infected humans
- Experiments aimed at effective use of biological warfare
- Use in China: bubonic plague spread in Ningbo and Changde
- Perpetrators granted immunity by US in exchange for cooperation, but some tried by USSR
31
Korea: Wartime Colonialism 1931-1945
- Profound changes in Korea's colonial experience
- Korea now links Japan to Manchuria and becomes base for further expansion of Empire
- Economy geared towards war industry and agriculture
- Military conscription of Koreans only after 1943
- Vague ideas about unity but very little mutual understanding between Koreans and Japanese
Two most invasive aspects from late 1930s:
- Wartime dislocation
- Forced assimilation ("Japanisation")
32
Korea: Wartime Colonialism 1931-1945
- Forced assimilation ("Japanisation")
-- Especially from late 1930s
-- Crackdown on Korean cultural, social, and political activities
-- Closure of Korean language newspapers
-- Mass organisations to mobilise Koreans for Imperial efforts
-- Forced adoption of Shinto rituals
-- Forced adoption of Japanese language
-- Forced adoption of Japanese names
33
Korea: Wartime Colonialism 1931-1945
- Wartime dislocation
-- Forced and voluntary migration (to Korean cities, Manchuria, Japan) to supply labour needs of Empire
-- Work in factories, on farms, in "comfort stations"
-- 2 million Korean forced and voluntary labourers in Japan
-- 1.5 million Koreans in Manchuria
-- Sexual slavery: "Comfort women"
34
Sexual Slavery: "Comfort Women"
- Enslaved in "comfort stations" near Japanese troops
- Girls from Korea, China, Philippines, etc.
- Exact numbers unknown: 100k-300k?
- Still extremely problematic issue in modern East Asian international relations
35
The End of the Empire
- June 1942: War turns against Japan with crushing naval defeat at Battle of Midway
- Japan unable to replace losses in material and men over next few years
- Oct 1944 Battle of Leyte Gulf: largest naval battle in history
- 1944-45 Bombing raids on major Japanese cities
36
Bombing of Tokyo 9-10 March 1945
37
6 August 1945: US dropped atomic bomb on Hiroshima
9 August 1945: US dropped second atomic bomb on Nagasaki
38
15 August 1945: Emperor Hirohito announced Japan's unconditional surrender
39
Resistance: Different Ideologies
Chinese and Korean nationalists
- Objectives:
-- Independent nation-state
-- Preserving and developing market economy (capitalism)
-- Parliamentary democracy (in theory)
- Conception of nationalism:
-- Traditional values deserved place in modern society
Chinese and Korean communists
- Objectives:
-- Independent nation-state
-- Transition to command economy (socialism)
-- Dictatorship of proletariat
-- Ultimate goal was communism
- Conception of nationalism:
-- Traditional values obstacle to twin goals of national liberation and socialism
40
Resistance: Different Tactics
- Chinese and Korean nationalists
-- Conventional warfare (mainly by Chinese)
-- Depended on Allied powers (US, USSR) for diplomatic, economic, and military support
-- Pre-1945 elite largely remains in place
- Chinese and Korean communists
-- Guerilla warfare
-- Depended on local population for support
-- Socio-economic reforms used to gain local support
41
Japan in 1945: Will there be a radical break with the past, or a sense of continuity?
