Wartime Japan, 1931-1945
Meiji Restoration
• 1868
• Emperor “restored” to power
• Creation of a modern nation state
Getting to Empire
• Victory in Sino-Japanese War (1895)
Getting to Empire
• Victory in Sino-Japanese War (1895)
– Taiwan
– Pescadores
– Liaotung Peninsula (returned after Triple
Intervention)
Getting to Empire
• Victory in Sino-Japanese War (1895)
– Taiwan
– Pescadores
– Liaotung Peninsula (returned after Triple
Intervention)
• Victory in Russo-Japanese War (1905)
Getting to Empire
• Victory in Sino-Japanese War (1895)
– Taiwan
– Pescadores
– Liaotung Peninsula (returned after Triple
Intervention)
• Victory in Russo-Japanese War (1905)
– Korea becomes a protectorate (annexed 1910)
– Liaotung Peninsula
– Southern half of Sakhalin
Early Stages of the War
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1931 September, Manchurian Incident
1932, Creation of puppet state of Manchuguo
1937 July, China Incident
1937 December, Nanjing Massacre
1939 September, Hitler invades Poland
1941 December, Pearl Harbor Attack
Puppet State of Manchukuo (1932)
US-Japan Relations to Pearl Harbor
• 1885 Mass Japanese emigration to Hawaii
and the mainland
• 1905 California Oriental Exclusion League
established with 78,000 members
• 1908 Gentlemen’s agreement
• 1913 No Japanese “aliens” can purchase land
• Japanese cannot become naturalized US
citizens (until 1952)
Japanese American Internment
• Dec 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor attack
• Dec 7, 13,000 Issei (first generation)
imprisoned
• Dec 8, US declares war
• Feb 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066 issued
Racism in California
Tanforan Relocation Center
Tule Lake Internment Camp
Minidoka camp, Idaho
Moving In
Manzanar, CA
Sources for Teaching
http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object
-groups/japanese-american-internment-eracollection?ogmt_page=behind-barbed-wire
Internment Documents and Sources
• John Okada’s novel, No no Boy
War in the Pacific
1941 12.7 Pearl Harbor
War in the Pacific
1941 12.7 Pearl Harbor
12.13
Guam Falls to Japanese
12.20
Wake Island Falls to Japanese
12.25
Hong Kong (Japan)
1942 1.2 Manila (Japan)
2.15
Singapore (Japan)
War in the Pacific
1941 12.7 Pearl Harbor
12.13
Guam Falls to Japanese
12.20
Wake Island Falls to Japanese
12.25
Hong Kong (Japan)
1942 1.2 Manila (Japan)
2.15
Singapore (Japan)
1942 June Midway: turning the tide
1944 June Saipan
Ending the War
• Germany surrenders, May 1945
• Potsdam Declaration, July 1945
Potsdam Declaration
• Signed by US, Great Britain, China
• July 1945
• Called for unconditional surrender of Japan,
specifically…..
1. (6) removal from government of those
leaders responsible for leading the Japanese
people on a path of military expansionism
2. (7) the occupation of Japan until war making
powers are destroyed, and a new order of
peace, security and justice is established
3. (8) limitation of Japanese sovereignty to Honshu,
Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku, and such minor
islands as decided upon by the three powers
4. (9) complete disarming of the Japanese
military forces
5. (10) the punishment of war criminals,
development of democracy, establishment of
freedom of speech, religion and thought and
respect for fundamental human rights
6. (11) restriction of Japanese industries to
those that would allow for sustaining of
economy and payment of reparations, but
not so much as to allow for re-armament
War in the Pacific
• 1945 March, Tokyo air raids
• 1945 April, Battle of Okinawa
• 1945 July, Potsdam Declaration
War in the Pacific
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1945 March, Tokyo air raids
1945 April, Battle of Okinawa
1945 July, Potsdam Declaration
August 6, atomic bombing of Hiroshima
August 8, USSR enters the war against Japan
August 9, atomic bombing of Nagasaki
August 15, Japan surrenders
Surrender
• August 15, Japan surrenders
Why Was the Atom Bomb Dropped?
• Goal of unconditional surrender
Why Was the Atom Bomb Dropped?
• Goal of unconditional surrender
• Belief that Japanese atrocities justified use of
bomb
Why Was the Atom Bomb Dropped?
• Goal of unconditional surrender
• Belief that Japanese atrocities justified use of
bomb
• Belief that dropping the bomb would save
American lives
Why Was the Atom Bomb Dropped?
• Goal of unconditional surrender
• Belief that Japanese atrocities justified use of
bomb
• Belief that dropping the bomb would save
American lives
• Warning signal to the USSR
What ended the War?
• Atomic bombs?
• Soviet entry?
• Japanese cabinet War and Peace Factions:
– Preserving the kokutai
Atomic Bomb short films