Why does Japan become involved in World War Two?

Japan’s involvement in World War II was not focused on the conflict in Europe; rather it was focused on its own expansion into surrounding countries and the consequences that arose from this. More specifically Japan entering World War II was caused due to Japan’s attempt to conquer China and its continued march on East and South-east Asian territory. Japan’s expansion and entering World War II is closely linked due to key reasons including: Japan’s need for resources/land, imperialism/expansionism and military control.

Japans need for natural resources in early war years is one of the driving factors in why they became involved in World War Two. Japan is a highly populated island country with little to no resources and also with a rapidly increasing population. This made Japan very trade reliant with other countries mainly consisting of the United States for oil and raw metals. The constant reliance of importation of raw materials to maintain its economy worried Japan. When the depression hit in the late 1920’s “more than forty countries raised tariffs on Japanese goods”. Since Japan was so reliant on trade they were forced to act in the form of securing natural resources for themselves. This meant the expansion into China. In 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria. Japan believed Manchuria offered many natural resources and it boasted nearly 200,000 square kilometres for her growing population. The Mukden Incident was the excuse the army needed for the invasion. “Officers staged an “incident” at Shenyang in Manchuria, faking sabotage of the railroad there by the Chinese.”. The army then “responded” by occupying Manchuria. This was the first of the steps that led to The Pacific War. The United States and most other countries did not recognize Japan’s conquest of Manchuria. In response Japan left the League of Nations causing more isolation from the West. By this time an imperial/expansion way of thinking was taking hold of Japan. Driven by the military and supported by civilians who saw failure in the government drove the conquest of China.

The imperialistic stance of the army and continued expansion into China and beyond was one of the direct causes for the Pacific War. The army’s imperialistic views cause the continued expansion into China and eventually into South/South-east Asia. This in turn makes the United States put an embargo on exports to Japan. Japan takes this as an act of aggression which leads towards the attack on Pearl Harbour. The army’s policy of imperialist expansion of the Japanese Empire was widely popular among the general population. After the ease of the invasion of Manchuria for resources and land, the army continues its invasion of China with a forced landing at Shanghai in 1932. Full scale war finally broke out between China and Japan in 1937 marking the beginning of the second Sino-Japanese War. This is due to real resistance against the Japanese expansionism being fought at Marco Polo Bridge. By December of that year the Capital Nanking had fallen. Often referred to as “The Rape of Nanking”, because of the atrocities the Japanese army committed against the city, this gave Japan an even worse reputation than Nazi Germany for a time, especially in the United States. The League of Nations did condemn Japans actions but no Western power was willing to use force or completely stop trade to Japan. This meant the continuation of expansion of the imperialistic army into China and eventually in 1940, “the Japanese took advantage of the opportunity to extend their control over French Indochina”. In July 1940 the United States showed some real resistance against Japans actions by putting embargos on materials such as aviation fuel and scrap metal. Finally in July 1941 the United States (and other countries follow suit) places a full embargo on Japan because of their continued expansion. Faced with a decision of running out of resources of appeasing the western powers Japan begins to plan war against the west.

Japans failure to control its own military led to the army becoming independent of the government and in some cases controlling the government itself. Once the army had started to occupy Manchuria the League of Nations, at Chinas request, ordered Japan to stand down. Delegates to the League agreed as well as the Japanese Government; however the army ignored the orders and continued with its invasion of Manchuria. After the conquest of Manchuria it was clear that the government had lost control of the army and had taken over leadership of the country. In May 1932 the current Japanese prime minister was assassinated by young Naval Officers. After that the emperor appointed a Navy Admiral as the new PM. The now military dominated Japan acted completely independently from the government’s wishes and continued its march into the heart of China.

In summary Japan becoming involved in World War Two was very closely linked to their attempted creation of what they called the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”. This basically meant Japan invading its neighbours. Doing this offered greater security from the west and direct control of natural resources that it did not have but the ultimate consequence was Japan entering World War Two with the start of the Pacific War. The start of the “Great East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” was due to Japans lack of natural resources causing them to rely heavily on imports from the west which was widely seen as a weakness within Japan, there imperialistic and expansionistic views that were widely popular among the general public and especially within the army and the government’s failure to control its own army that led to the beginning and continuation of the invasion of China and South/South-east Asia.