Does anyone know exactly how Japan became involved in World War II?

Question

I'm unclear about how World War II developed. I'm particularly curious as to exactly why Japan attacked in Pearl Harbor. How did Japan become involved in the war?

Answer 1

The immediate reason was that the Japanese leaders made a strategic decision to make a preemptive strike against the U.S. Pacific Fleet in the hope that it would buy them enough time to carry out their war aims in Southeast Asia. Coupled with the Pearl Harbor raid was a simultaneous attack against U.S. bases in the Philippines. These attacks were finally approved when Tokyo saw that negotiations with the U.S. in Washington were getting nowhere.

There's a lot of background to this. As you know, Japan was linked with Germany as part of the "Axis" powers, which also included Italy, but this Axis Agreement was really of minor importance because German and Italian interests were primarily in Europe, where Britain and the Soviet Union were fighting, while Japanese interests were in Asia where they were fighting the Chinese.

Many people in the West believe that World War II began on September 1, 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. But another view says it started in 1937 when Japan went to war against China or even earlier, in 1933, when Japan took over Manchuria, setting up a puppet government and renaming it "Manchukuo."

The Japanese had a master plan to take over East Asia, creating the so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere." If the Japanese had their way, they'd rule Asia, probably with Germany ruling Europe and Russia, and with the United States isolated in the Americas.

During this time, the U.S. was technically neutral, but the Roosevelt administration was giving a lot of support, short of war, to the beleaguered British who had their hands full with the Germans. At the same time, the U.S. was an important supplier of raw materials, primarily oil and scrap metal, to Japan.

For the Japanese, this source of supply was very important, because Japan is resource-poor. They have to import everything except rice and seafood.

The United States was allied with the Nationalist (Guomintang) government of China's leader Chiang Kai-shek, and the "China lobby" was influential in Washington. Consequently the U.S. applied diplomatic pressure on Japan to cease its aggression in China. Naturally, Japan resisted this pressure, and as a result, the U.S. cut off all shipments of raw materials to Japan.

This move struck a blow to the Japanese war machine, for they needed the imported oil and steel to prosecute their war against China. Japanese military leaders estimated that without another source of raw materials, they'd run out of supplies within a year.

To remedy that situation, they looked south toward Southeast Asia and the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) where they could get oil and rubber, another critical commodity. Their plan was to invade Indonesia, British Burma, the Malay Peninsula, and French Indochina (which they could just administer, since France had already been defeated by Germany). For protection, Japan would establish a defensive perimeter consisting of most of the islands in the South Pacific.

The main obstacles to this plan, from the Japanese point of view, were the existence of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, based at Pearl Harbor and consisting of several battleships and aircraft carriers; some U.S. bases in the Philippines (then an American possession); and the British base at Singapore.

If Japan could knock out the fleet at Pearl Harbor, invade and defeat the Americans in the Philippines, and take Singapore, then the thrust into Southeast Asia would be successful. Japan could establish its defensive perimeter in the Pacific islands, and America would be unable to penetrate it, largely due to the distances involved.

There was a high-level negotiating team, Nomura and Kurusu, in Washington, trying to get U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull to relent on the supply embargo, but when it became apparent that effort would fail, a four-carrier task force left Japan in secrecy to strike the fleet at Pearl Harbor. Admiral Yamamoto, the head of the Japanese navy, estimated that a successful strike at Pearl Harbor and the Philippines would give Japan six months to accomplish their goals in the Pacific.

The Pearl Harbor raid was a qualified success, but it came at a high cost. The battleships and the airplanes at Hickam Field were knocked out, but the American carriers were (fortunately) at sea during the attack. Also, the Japanese failed to destroy the "tank farms" where U.S. fuel was stored.

On the same day, the Japanese successfully attacked the U.S. bases in the Philippines, destroying many military aircraft. They invaded the Philippines, eventually defeating the Americans at Bataan and Corregidor Island near Manila. They invaded the Malay Peninsula and quickly took Singapore from the land side.

On the other hand, they got the U.S. to enter the war, and American war production eventually became overwhelming. Six months after Pearl Harbor, U.S. carriers won a smashing victory at Midway, sinking the four Japanese carriers there. And about a year after Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Marines stopped the Japanese army for the first time at Guadalcanal.

After Midway and Guadalcanal, the tide in the Pacific turned.

That ought to answer your question.

Answer 2

Japan was run by a military consortium through the 1920's and 30's, and had dreams about forming a "Greater Asian Co-Prosperity Alliance" or something, and began expanding into China, killing her people and stealing her natural resources.

As Japan got more aggressive, especially in South East Asia, threatening the oil-fields in the Dutch East Indies, the United States took diplomatic action by freezing Japan's assets in the US and placing an embargo on oil and gas -- meaning, halting the sale of these things to Japan.

Japan's military leaders grew frustrated, and it was decided the only chance Japan had to defeat the US was to knock her off balance with a deadly surprise attack, meant to eliminate the US naval presence in the Pacific. This became the Attack on Pearl Harbor, and if not for the lack American aircraft carriers at Pearl that morning, it might have worked.

Answer 3

Japan was taken over by a military government. It was part of the League of Nations, an early version of the United Nations. Japan wanted to have a big empire much like the ones the western countries had. They decided to seize Manchuria. The League of Nations didn't like that so Japan dropped out. Japan joined with Germany and Italy to form the Axis Powers. They agreed to fight Soviet Communism and to help each other expand their empires. Germany and Italy started the war in Europe. Japan saw their opportunity to seize more land in East Asia while the European nations were at war. The only problem was the United States didn't like that too much. They stopped all sale of war materials to Japan. This angered the Japanese, who organized a secret attack on the United States. Thus, Pearl Harbor.

'Nuff for ya? 'Cause I got more!!!

Answer 4

This may be more background than you want.
At the turn of the century, Japan was one of the "western powers" in China at the time of the Boxer Rebellion.
In 1904, Japan decisively defeated Russia in a war that shocked the western world. Teddy Roosevelt earned a Nobel Peace Prize for his part in the negotiations ending the conflict.
In WW I Japan joined the Allies early, and gained many of the German colonies in the Pacific afterwards.
In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria, with the Army doing so under the direction of the Koda-Ha (roughly, Japanese Nazis) without permission of the government. The Liberal government, led by the likes of Prince Konoye, and the Army general staff, were not able to stop the Koda men from using the army as their private machine. The Kodas even assassinated a Prime Minister!
As the Koda men gained in strength, and with the Japanese constitution requiring that the government be handed over to the Army in time of war, the dove of peace became a dead duck. The sinking of the Panay in '37 was designed to start a war with the U.S. but didn't. They even had a plan to kill Charlie Chaplin!
Primarily because of Japanese action in China, the U.S. used escalating economic sanctions as noted in some of the other posts. By the fall of '41, Japan only had a few weeks' oil reserves. It's hard to imagine now that the U.S. was then a major oil EXporter. Japan, having lost its U.S. supply of oil, sought that in the Dutch colonies. By treaty, the U.S., the Royal Navy, and the Imperial Japanese Navy were allowed capital ships in the ratio of 5:5:3, but the U.S. hadn't built its share, the R.N. had all it could handle fighting Germany, who controlled almost all of Europe, it seemed Rommel might capture the Suez soon, and it seemed a good bet to the Koda men, who were primarily Army (the navy were largely Liberals). Yamamoto disagreed with the idea, but being a good Japanese and a good officer, he planned the operation as ordered.

Answer 5

Japan needed oil and raw materials from the east indies. It was no secret that the American Naval forces were assembled at Pearl Harbor to act on ENGLAND's behalf in HONG KONG, Singapore, Sumatra and INDONISIA. and other EUROPEAN COUNTRIES' "COLONIES", If japan continued it's "Asia for Asians" expansionist policy. Japan saw the American fleet as a serious threat to their influence in asia, So Japan joined "The AXIS" powers of GERMANY and ITALY and attacked Pearl Harbor. Japan hoped for America to abandon the European Colonization in Asia and come to an agreement to stay out of Asia. To you, this may be in a history book, to me, I lived it. (I am 77 years old)

Answer 6

Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. It is arguable, however, whether or not either President Roosevelt or the top naval officials knew about the Japanese impending attack in the days before December 7, 1941. At first, the U.S. only declared war on Japan, but due to other alliance, Germany and Italy were forced to declare war on the U.S., which brought the United States into the European theater of the war.

Answer 7

because of all of the foreign crap going on at the time, america stopped foreign trade. the japanese were mad cuz they were one of the countries that needed goods from america.... so... (here it comes, most hilarious thing ever) they decided to bomb america (pearl harbor) so that somehow we would "learn" from stopping trade and trade with them again