Saturday, December 4, 2010
Japanese Expansion :)
Japan was aggressive in their military tactics and were committed to invading China. Even after they won Manchuria back they persisted that they still had a right to invade China. Was it more due to their need for expansion or was it revenge against China for turning to the League of Nations for support in regaining Manchuria? Going back to the failure of the League of Nations, was part of its failure the fact that nations could just withdraw at anytime? Japan easily left and then began attacking China with no issues. Also, why was China's preparation for the attacks of Japan so weak? They had the population and resources to attack, yet for so long the Japanese dominated.
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I think it was Japan's desire for expansion that led them to push on, rather than revenge. The League of Nations was not particularly strong or powerful. I think Japan saw China's seek for support as weak and nothing to be threatened by. It said in the reading they pushed into China more because they could not allow China to modernize and take dominance on the Asia mainland. I don't think the support of the League of Nations was part of it.
ReplyDeleteI think the lack of China's preparation for the Japanese attacks comes straight from Chiang. He had a plan to build up the back bone of the government then the military then finally attack Japan. Which is smart, but not particularly right for this situation; the home-field advantage and rallied support would have greatly helped his weak army. But, Chiang didn't believe it the popular opinion, he didn't listen to anti-Japanese rally. This is what cause China to fall so far behind.
I think that Japan viewed China as weak and wanted to take advantage of the situation and expand while they could. Once they were able to take over Manchuria they just wanted more and more and saw an opportunity and took it. I think any nation in Japans shoes would have done the same thing, Japan was land hungry and took what they could. I dont think that turning to the leage of nations for help made Japan want to attack china but it could have possibly pushed them forward into doing it, i dont think it was a reason or cause but possibly a factor leading them into it.
ReplyDeleteChina wasnt really ready for the attack from Japan, yes they had more people and more resourses but they werent ready to use them yet, given more time to prepare i think that they would have been able to put together a better fight that what they showed.
I agree with Lauren that Japan mainly just wanted more territory. I think they were kind of slow to get going with the whole imperialism thing but now they are gaining power. I think they saw how weak China was at the time and they just saw it as a good oppurtunity to advance themselves. Also, I agree that China did have resources to fight Japan, but I think they just didn't have the time they needed to prepare. They were trying to fix their internal structure and problems and stuff so they were unable to present a unified front to resist Japan.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I feel as though Japan's expansion came less as a result of their "hunger" for land but rather from their hunger for power. The Japanese enacted all means necessary to convert the citizens of Manchuria into "true Japanese", and simultaneously attempted to eliminate all aspects of Chinese culture. Only the Japanese language was to be used in schools, and Japanese history was taught. This attempt at a total takeover tells me that the invasion was less territorial than a rally for greater power.
ReplyDeleteI think Japan was all about expansion. They wanted power, and basically total domination. And I think they had been bunkered down for a while, and they were seeing an opportunity to take victory so why not expand? And I think the reason China wasn't ready was because they were focused on other things, I don't think they were really consered at Japan at the time because they wanted their government succeed.
ReplyDelete(to Kaylans point) I feel that it was a territorial point in that they had Korea at this time too and Korea had not created a unified resistance. If it woulded in Korea why not try the same thing in Manchuria.
ReplyDelete(to Hannah) I think that the LoN did not support China as much was because China is after all only Asian not European.
Well we see directly from the book that Japan was "dependent on importing industrial raw materials from mainland Asia, particularly from China". Another factor was the Japanese ethnocentric viewpoint where some Japanese people believed they were superior to other Asians. I think since Japan had the ability to go elsewhere for resources it was more that Japan was power hungry at this time. The Japanese people wanted to infringe on Chinese growth to keep them from being a potential threat. By 1929 China was already beginning to build railroads and seaports against Japanese will. The Mukden incident only proves that Japan wanted this territory more than they needed it because Japan was willing to give up its railways as a cost for initiating the take-down of Manchuria.
ReplyDeleteOne other thing, if Japan turned towards the League of Nations looking for peace, why then did continue acts of war with the conflict of Manchuria and China?
ReplyDeleteI agree with pretty much everyone else, that Japan wanted expansion and power. They believed that they should have control of mainland Asia; Manchuria was just the first step.
ReplyDeleteMembers of the League of Nations weren't committed fully enough to peace to want to work things out. Yes, at the end of World War I they wanted to not have any conflict that huge ever again, but I think they were looking for the easy solution. The League wasn't nearly strong enough to be effective.
The reason China was so unprepared for Japanese attacks was that it was so divided. The KMT government wasn't willing to negotiate with the CCP until it was too late to accomplish anything against Japan. Like Lauren said, Chiang Kai-Shek didn't listen to popular opinion and this cost him.
I think that Japan, like all of the other Axis powers, wanted to expand- a trend of imperialism that had been occurring for decades (Russo-Japanese War.) I agree with pretty much everyone else- League of Nations or no, Japan would have invaded. China was just not strong enough militarily at that point. China had been subject to external pressures for the past several decades. The country was divided, subject to foreign influence- it wasn't an imperialistic force, it was an imperialistic prize
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else-japan at this time was searching for power and acknowledgment from the worldwide community. They had gone through a period of extremem technological advancement, and I think they wanted to show off a by in a war that their people could rally behind. As for china,I agree with whoever said that they just wernt ready. Given more time they could have been prepared.
ReplyDeleteAs with everyone else here I also agree that Japan wanted to expand. I'm guessing they kinda had a feeling of our country/ethnicity is more superior to yours not to mention the fact that among all the Asian countries at that time Japan was the one who developed the most technologically and economically.
ReplyDeleteI think that Japan was competitive with China due to mostly their shared history. They were both powerful in Asia for hundreds of years. Both believed they were a divine kingdom, had holy emperors and the supreme right to control everyone. Japan may have been much smaller, but they were confident like nobody's business and they had fairly advanced technology for the time. China's size was more of an equalizer than an advantage. Japan felt they had teh right to expand and China was the perfect target: proximity and competition.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I think that the Japanese were just an expansionist nation that wanted to expand. China was an easy target in that it was had resources and was politically scattered. The League of Nations had many weaknesses. The fact that nations could just pull out at any time was a significant problem. Anytime the League did something that one country didn't like, they could just leave and do whatever they wanted. This coupled with the fact that the League did not have the U.S. made it very weak. I believe the biggest problem with China defending itself against Japan was the fact that it was not united. Despite its size, China had significant cracks in its political system that made defence against Japan a difficult endeavor.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kaitlyn. Japan definitely thought they were the best. Period. The only thing stopping them was potentially China, so it was only natural for them to want to take out China. Japan had also been isolated for a very long time, they had yet to really prove themselves to the rest of the world, and in an increasingly competitive world it was necessary for them to flex their muscles.
ReplyDeleteI think Japan definitely just wanted to continue expanding; since Japan and China were so close and competitive, it seems to me that Japan just wanted to be better than China in every way, so taking over China was a great solution. I think they thought it was kind of pathetic of China to ask the League for help; to them it was just a sign of weakness.
ReplyDeleteChina didn't really prepare properly for war with Japan mainly because of Chiang. His strategy was to not go to war with Japan because his army was not prepared, but building up the army wasn't at the top of his list of things to do, so it seemed like protecting the country against Japan wasn't super important to him. He should have listened to the will of the people, because they wanted "active resistance to Japan."
Japan was competing with the US for control of the Pacific and Asia, and China was a great source of resources. The League failed to act partly because it was China and not Europe, partly because it was preoccupied with Hitler, and partly because it was weak. The Japanese did believe in racial superiority as did the Germans, but I think this was (in both cases) the method of justifying expansion, rather than being the actual reason (resources and power). Lastly, Europe and the US valued China primarily (in my opinion)for their resources. To the US especially, Japan invading China was a threat to our dominance of the Pacific, and this was the driving force behind our actions against Japan, rather than an ethical or moral stance regarding their brutal invasion of China. Remember what we did to the Philippines after the Spanish American War? It certainly was not ethical.
ReplyDelete