CHAPTER 1
Soldiers of Japan’s Imperial Army are pictured in Korea during the conflict with Russia. The country’s forces were now a match for any major world power. ✪
The Pacific Theatre W
hile the world’s attention was fixated on events in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s, a fierce and increasingly bitter rivalry was growing between the United States and Japan as each tried to dominate the Pacific region. The European situation was primarily political – the aftermath of the First World War providing ideal conditions for the growth of aggressive extremist views – but the situation in the Pacific had more to do with economics. Conflicting US and Japanese interests centred on their mutually exclusive desire to control and exploit the region’s abundant natural resources rather than ideological differences. When hostilities between the two nations did eventually break out, the ensuing clash would rank among the most catastrophic and brutal in history. It was the outcome of a decades-long deterioration of relations; the resulting devastation a reflection of the extended period during which America and Japan had postured and provoked one another. It is almost impossible to pinpoint an exact date when relations between the two countries began to sour. Certainly there were clear warning signs – such as Japanese aggression in China in the early 1930s – but the rivalry had been established much earlier and was more rooted in what the two nations had in common. They had each undergone a dramatic transformation from insular and awkward to modern, industrialised, nationalistic and militaristic. 8 Pacific War
Before the 1900s, there appeared to be little threat of a breakdown of relations across the Pacific Ocean, but the respective actions of the US and Japan during that time sowed the seeds for the grand battle which was to come…
The foundations for future conflict Both of them could be regarded as ‘new’ countries looking to establish themselves. Neither was lacking in history – America had seen European colonists displacing the pre-existing native population and Japan had traditions stretching back centuries – but neither had really existed as a unified nation strong enough to make its presence felt on the world stage. For both countries, this changed in the early to middle part of the 19th century as technological advances brought about an industrial revolution. The invention of new machines brought about sweeping changes – agriculture required fewer workers and the people who were displaced went to work in city-based factories instead. As the cities grew, the process of sweeping away the old established order began. This economic and societal change was precipitated politically in America by its declaration of independence from Great Britain in 1776 and the subsequent victory of American forces in the revolutionary war, two events that gave birth to a new entity – the United States of America. The situation was mirrored in Japan by the Meiji Restoration; the instigators of this movement fearful of the country’s
vulnerability to aggressive actions by European powers and intent on seeing Japan catch up. It was from the beginning of this period in 1868 that the Empire of Japan arose. The leaders of the two reborn societies put in place governmental systems and social structures that differed dramatically from one another, but essentially each had the same core purpose – to assume complete control of its own destiny and ensure that it would never have to bow to European demands. With the rapid growth of manufacturing industry in the two nations came the need for raw materials and new markets in which to sell the resulting products. Both countries began to lay the groundwork for their own ‘economic empires’. They were initially less concerned with the acquisition of land, than with securing unfettered access to lucrative trade deals that were up for grabs in Asia, Australia and throughout the Pacific. In America, the descendants of the original European settlers spread out across the continent, eventually reaching the Pacific coastline in numbers. The natural barrier of the water would not stop the expansion,