Japanese Expansion and Pearl Harbor

This assignment examines Japan's motives for attacking Pearl Harbor, focusing on their need for resources and desire to establish dominance in the Pacific. It analyzes the devastating consequences of the attack and the immediate US response, highlighting how this event marked a turning point in World War II.

Running head: JAPANESE HISTORY
Japanese History
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Introduction
The assignment helps in understanding the causes of the Pacific War and the role of
Japan and the Japanese individuals in the war. The role of the Japanese has to be properly
analyzed as this will help in analyzing the causes of the Pacific war and to analyze the
relation of the Japan with the West.
The main aim and purpose of the assignment is to analyze the causes of the Pacific
war and the role of Japanese in the Pacific war as well. The main purpose is to understand the
relation of the Japanese with the West as this helped in understanding the long term causes of
the WWI Pacific war.
The structure of the essay includes the background of Japan and Japanese individuals
in the Pacific war and understanding the impact of the Pacific wars on Japan and to the
strength of Japanese army as well.
Pacific War
Japan has huge responsibility in the Pacific war as they were considered as the
traditional imperial power that has European style. Japan has stumbled into the war by taking
different kinds of risks and it was a liberating power in the form of Western domination
(King, Rupesinghe & Vorkunova, 2016).
Japan was considered as the world power by the West and the second victory of Japan
was over Russia. The fighting between the Japanese as well as China resumed on a huge
scale in the year 1937 in the month of July. After seizing entirely the capital of Nanking, the
Japanese individuals brutally sacked the entire city in the year 1938 (Iriye, 2014).
The immediate cause of the World War II in the Pacific was the attack of the Japanese
individuals on the United States at the naval base that was situated in Hawaii. The cause of

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the war was the opposition of the United States on the expansion of the Japanese in Pacific as
well as in the Southeast Asia. In particular, the United States of America demanded that
Japan needs to withdraw from Indonesia in summer in the year 1941 wherein it had recently
occupied. However, when there was a refusal from Japan, the administration of Roosevelt
declared embargo against Japan that is there was an official ban on different kinds of trade
and services or the other commercial activities within countries (John, 2014).
The administration of Roosevelt had deprived Japan on number of goods and services
especially on oil and it was the product that was desperately required by Japan in order to
prosecute the long kind of war that it was fighting in China. The military government of
Japan calculated that the war that was continuing with the United States was inevitable in
nature. The war was inevitable in nature as due to the interests that were competing in nature
in the South Pacific. It was seen that since the United States was starting naval buildup that
was massive in nature, it was seen that the war could be won by them only with a massive
surprise blow that will help them in crippling the navy in the Pacific. This will help them in
allowing the Japanese in order to expand as well as consolidate the different possessions.

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While the operations were still ongoing in China, Japan was the country that became
embroiled in the border war with the Soviet Union in the year 1938. There were different
kinds of reactions on the second Sino-Japanese war. Prior of the outbreak of the Second
World War, China was the country that was properly supported by Germany as well as Soviet
Union. The latter helped in providing aircrafts as well as different supplies that was related to
military as they have seen China as buffer against Japanese individuals in Japan (Kurashige
& Yang, 2015).
There were different individuals who felt Japan had already prepared for Second
World War in the year 1930 itself as the peace that was maintained with the enemy was kept
as to keep their enemies off guard. The main aim of Japan was to conquer Asia.
Timeline of the events that has occurred prior to the Pacific War from 1853-1941
 In the year 1941, in the month of March, Japan had signed a treaty that was non
aggressive in nature with the USSR.
 In the month of June, Hitler attacked the USSR
 In July, Japan occupies the entire Southern Indochina and United States of America
freezed the assets of Japan.
 In the month of December, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and Asia/Pacific region.
Relation of Japan with the West

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 Sino Japanese war from the year 1894 to 1895
 With the modern army and they had full control on the Korean countries
 China was defeated as well as forced to sign the Shimonoseki Treaty in the year 1895
as well (Haslam, 2016)
Results
 China has to properly recognize the Korean countries as independent nation and they
ceded Taiwan as well
 It had led to further collapse of China
 The emergence of Japan was the key Asian power
The World War II provided Japan the different new kind of opportunities in order to
expand their presence in different countries. Japan had even demanded the possession of
Germany in China and when there was a refusal from Germany, Japan has declared war on
Germany as well (Gough, 2017).
Long term causes of WWII in Pacific
 Issued China Twenty One Demands in the year 1915
 These are the demands that would provide Japan with the most influential political as
well as economic position in China as well
 The relationship between United States as well as Japan became sour in nature
 Japan, the victorious power that properly sought out the different issues in order to
increase the gains with proper annexation of the German pacific territories as well as
clause in the racial equality.
 There were lack of competition in the different regions and this affected them in
causing an economical boom in Japanese countries as well

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Short term causes of Pacific war in Japan
 The liberal ear of the year 1920 was short lived and the army reasserted itself in the
year 1930s (Feis, 2015)
 The attack that was caused on Manchuria in the year 1931 resulted in affected army of
the Japan
 There was an unilateral action that was taken by the military that alarmed the West
and it was alarming United States of America the most (Gibney & Cary, 2015)
There was decrease in the Western relations as well as among the Japanese individuals
that was:
 The Western countries were alarmed and there was bombing in Shanghai as well
in the year 1932
 In the year 1933, Japan left League of Nations after the entire council accepted
Lytton Report and this created a crisis in Manchuria as well
 In the year 1934, it was seen that Japan pulled out the Naval Treaty and they even
refused in order to attend the other conferences (Drea, 2016)
The war that had taken place in China led to directly to the Pacific war and Japan
entered without any kind of plan in order to how to get out from such issues. This has
resulted in that United States of America as well as Japan went through different kinds of
competition for different kind of resources (Calvez et al. 2016).
Immediate causes of the Pacific War
The Japanese individuals had closed the Burma Road that was an important route of
supply for China. Furthermore, the American individuals had banned the entire export of the
scrap iron In Japanese countries. On the other hand, Japan had signed off the Tripartite Pact

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or the Three Pact Power with both Italy as well as Germany. Furthermore, the Pact had
agreed in order to establish order for New World and this led in promoting the prosperity for
another few years as well (Cook, 2016).
However, when Germany had invaded Russia in the year 1941, in month of July,
Japan had properly decided to attack south that included Southern Indochina as well. After
the war took place, Japan was out of stock for oil as that was the major resources of Japan. It
was also seen that in the month of December, the troops of Japanese has moved into Burma
as well as Malaya in order to properly form their bases in the French Indochina (Lange,
2017).
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be inferred that the decisions that had been taken was to knock out
the fleet of United States of America that was particularly on the carriers of aircraft that was
based in Perl Harbor. The attack that had taken place on the month of December in the year
1941was devastating in nature and it failed in destroying the carriers as the carriers were out
of the port at that particular point of time. Furthermore, it was seen that United States of
America has responded as well as reacted on the declaration of the war as well as the war that
was destructive in nature in the Pacific.

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References
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Rouzeyrol, M. (2016). Genetic diversity and phylogeny of Aedes aegypti, the main
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Kansas.
Feis, H. (2015). Churchill-Roosevelt-Stalin: The War they waged and the Peace they sought.
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Gibney, F., & Cary, B. (2015). Senso: The Japanese Remember the Pacific War: Letters to
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Iriye, A. (2014). The origins of the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific. Routledge.
Jones, R. T. (2014). The environment. Pacific Histories: Ocean, Land, People, 121.
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Kurashige, L., & Yang, A. (2015). Major Problems in Asian American History. Cengage
Learning.

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Lange, R. T. (2017). Island ministers: indigenous leadership in nineteenth century Pacific
Islands Christianity. Canberra, ACT: Pandanus Books.