Why did Japan want to go to war against the West prior to WWII?

The short version: Japan’s actions from 1852 to 1945 were motivated by a deep desire to avoid the fate of 19th-century China and to become a great power. However, before this, there had been years of border clashes between the Japanese and the Chinese, having started with the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

How did America view Japan in ww2?

Americans believe that Japan has atoned for its actions during WWII. But more than half of Americans, especially those 65 years of age and older, still believe, as they have since 1945, that the U.S. use of nuclear weapons to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki was justified.

Why was Japan getting so involved in ww2?

Faced with severe shortages of oil and other natural resources and driven by the ambition to displace the United States as the dominant Pacific power, Japan decided to attack the United States and British forces in Asia and seize the resources of Southeast Asia. In response, the United States declared war on Japan.

Why did Japan invade Malaya?

Japan badly needed to capture Malaya because it had half of the world’s tin and a third of its natural rubber! Initially, the decision to attack was made based on intelligence gathered by Japanese officers who had been secretly despatched to Thailand and Malaya, disguised as commercial travellers.

What would happen if Japan didn’t bomb Pearl Harbor?

At the most extreme, no attack on Pearl Harbor could have meant no US entering the war, no ships of soldiers pouring over the Atlantic, and no D-Day, all putting ‘victory in Europe’ in doubt. On the other side of the world, it could have meant no Pacific Theatre and no use of the atomic bomb.

Why did US help rebuild Japan?

Goals for reconstruction were democratic self-government, economic stability, and peaceful Japanese co-existence with the community of nations. The United States allowed Japan to keep its emperor — Hirohito — after the war. However, Hirohito had to renounce his divinity and publicly support Japan’s new constitution.

What caused the diplomatic collapse of the Russo-Japanese War?

That diplomatic collapse is the story of how the foreign policies of the two nations forced each other into war. U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry opened American trade relations with Japan in 1854. President Theodore Roosevelt brokered a 1905 peace treaty in the Russo-Japanese War that was favorable to Japan.

What happened to Japan’s Quest for equality with the west?

Japan had remade itself to the point that it was able to negotiate an end to the unequal treaties: Westerners in Japan came under Japanese law by the end of the century, and Japan finally regained tariff autonomy in 1913, over half a century after the limitations were imposed. But this did not end the Japanese quest for equality with the West.

Why did Japan open up trade with the west?

In the 100 years before Commodore Matthew Perry’s incursion in 1853, an earthshaking revolution had occurred in Britain, and then in continental Europe and North America—the industrial revolution. The West returned to Asia with new steamships, improved weapons, and a new attitude—an attitude that demanded Japan open itself to trade.

Why did the policy of containment work against Japan?

It worked because the public did not know that the administration had expected Japan to respond with war to anti-Japanese measures it had taken in July 1941. . . . Expecting to lose a war with the United States—and lose it disastrously—Japan’s leaders had tried with growing desperation to negotiate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojY32Tmc4d4