World War Two and the Japanese?

Japan has a relatively large population in a relatively small land mass and as a developing country it needed more natural resources such as oil, rubber, ore etc. to feed it's growing industries. To do this they initially invaded Korea and Manchuria but they looked toward the Malay peninsular, Borneo, Indonesia and even India as a source of raw materials. Because of the vast distances and the fact that many of these places were under the Colonial rule of many European powers, War with these countries was inevitable and that war would mainly be a naval one. To this end they began building a large fleet much of which was based on the British Royal Navy (indeed up to the mid 1930's, Commands on the Bridge were given in English)

To pursue this war of conquest required control of the Pacific and to a lesser extent the Indian Ocean. At this time the Indian Ocean was considered a 'British Lake' because of the dominance of the Royal Navy but Britain's involvement in the war against Germany meant her Fleet was stretched thinly and the only other source of naval power in the Pacific was the U.S. Fleet and if war was inevitable this Fleet would have to be neutralised.

At this time America was also looking at the Pacific Rim as a future sphere of influence and trade so the clash with Japan was somewhat inevitable. It would be natural for Japan to join the Axis powers as the U.S. would almost certainly side with the Allies.

At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbour the Imperial Japanese Navy was certainly the equal of the U.S. navy in terms of quality and in some cases such as Aircraft Carriers and Naval Aircraft decidedly superior but the Japanese recognised America's industrial capacity and her ability to build and replace ships would soon overtake them. A pre-emptive strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet and it's destruction would give the Japanese a breathing space to embark on their war of conquest. The operations of the Royal Navy in attacking the Italian Fleet in their harbour at Tarranto using Naval Aircraft and torpedoes dropped from low heights into shallow harbour waters influenced the Japanese planning and resulted in the attack at Pearl Harbour.

In many ways the attack was a failure as it didn't destroy the fleet and the absence of the American carriers on the day of the attack left the Americans still with a potent strike force.

Having the Japanese at war with the Americans suited Hitler as it reduced the amount of American Forces available for the war in Europe and vice versa for the Japanese.

Japan looked as Asia as a source of raw materials, and customers for finished products. The wanted a Monopoly in the area. Trade Monopoly. And a Gripe with Russia over some Islands. That is still going on today. And America as the only country that could stop them. Fear there. It was of great benefit to Germany at that time as Russia kept there most elite army of the coast of siberia to stop the Japs. And if they had waited another week to bring them back to St Petersburg Russia the Germans would have concord Russia. So it tied up Russian troops. If the Japs had waited to Attack Pear. Most likely Russia would have fell. And been able to hold Europe. Freed up troops for its defense. And America would not have been able to mount a strong defense against Japan. As more effort would have been needed in Europe. Thus a much longer and bloodier war there.

Japan was trying to conquer Asia which at the times were part of many European nations, such as Holand, England etc. There are many strategic locations in Asia like Malaka Trait or Singapore, These are occupied territory of aforementioned nations. As for the conflict with USA, Pearl Harbor to be specific, it was merely strategic movement. The location of Pearl Harbor could be use for military purpose and Japan thought it was just a matter of time before USA join the war, so they launched the first strike. Hope this helps, It's been a long since I learn this.

Japan (or rather Tojo and his gang) were interested in about a 150 to 200 mile spans of undesirable desert-ish wasteland in China. Japan wanted it. China said no. Japan said f*ck you, we're taking it anyway. And they did. So, China got pissed and fought back. Japan fought harder and took control of China. It wasn't the first time they had done something like that. Tojo had beaten Czar Nikolaus in the early 1900s, plus they had their eyes on Korea. Japan was sort of connected with Hitler in the fact that their government was a dictatorship and they had their own skewed version of a "master race," but not much else.

And as a side note, the general public hated Tojo. They didn't support his actions at all. The people were starving to death in the streets, but did Tojo give a damn? No. He'd just be willing to send teenagers out on suicide missions. Most Japanese soldiers ended up committing suicide, though not of the Kamikaze kind.

The Japanese tried to take over Asia, just as Germany tried to take over Europe.

The Japs started fighting the Chinese well before the breakout of WWII in 1939. They invaded China in 1937 to start the 2nd Sino-Japanese war, although they'd been skirmishes and loss of life between the two contries way back into the 30's.

The Japanese were attempting to cut off the Australians, hold off the Americans and Russians from trading/supplying in the Pacific, and to take out major ports (such as Singapore) in the Indian ocean.

The Japanese tactics and rule was brutal (see POWs, Nanking Massacre and treatment of Thai and Korean civilians), and this meant they made many enemies in the UK, USA, Russia, Australia and other Asian states.

As far as the Germans were concerned, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, Hitler knew this would bring the USA into WWII, and so his hand was forced. He knew they would side with the Allies, and he knew they were going to help the European campaign, and so he was forced into declaring war on the USA.

The Japs knew the USA was going to interfere with the plan to control the Pacific, and to cut off Australia, so they had to try to take down the US navy, hence the attack on Pearl Harbour.

Yea, this history e book is exceedingly unfavorable. the actual American approach became right into a marketing campaign of island hopping, taking key strategic islands around the pacific to part closer and closer to japan, utilising each and every island as a forward base to circulate to the subsequent. In some experience i assume it may ought to be B, even nonetheless that isn't completely maximum miraculous. they did no longer carry out a pincer maneuver, the jap by no ability captured halfway, and the jap have been on top of issues of the Solomons until the conflict of Guadalcanal, wherein we first touchdown and captured lots of the island, until jap naval forces chase away our fleet and the jap ran a evening convoy via a canal and landed extra troops, yet finally Guadalcanal became into offensive, no longer protecting operations.

Yea, this background e book is particularly destructive. the genuine American approach replaced right into a campaign of island hopping, taking key strategic islands around the pacific to part closer and closer to japan, utilising each island as a forward base to circulate to the subsequent. In some sense i assume it would ought to be B, even however that isn't completely appropriate. they did no longer carry out a pincer maneuver, the jap never captured halfway, and the jap have been on top of issues of the Solomons till the conflict of Guadalcanal, wherein we first landing and captured most of the island, till jap naval forces beat returned our fleet and the jap ran a evening convoy via a canal and landed extra troops, yet finally Guadalcanal replaced into offensive, no longer protective operations.

basically these were new industrial powers fighting over land , resources and benefits to being the only ones..just like above said.