Before the War
Why They Entered the War
They wanted to avoid the fate of 19th century China and to also become a great power. At the same time that Germany was fighting England and other allied powers, Japan decided they wanted to expand their empire by invading China. Before America could react to the war, Japan decided to launch a preemptive strike with an attack now known as the Pearl Harbour Attack. If they had not attacked Pearl Harbour, America might not have declared war on them.
Their Perspective
The goal for Japan going into the war to create a much larger empire that would expand around the world. During the war, Japan saw themselves as the master race in the world and wanted to kill all of the people that stood in their way. Spreading fear among their enemies was something that the Japanese soldiers and military aimed to do during the war and this was evident in many battles such as the Rape of Nanking where the Japanese soldiers massacred many civilians to show how ruthless they were. They thought of the other countries as vastly inferior and wanted to make them suffer. They started the war with America and they wanted to fight them. Japan had signed the treaty with Italy and Germany but they could have possibly avoided more fighting if they had not attacked pearl harbour and China. Going into the war, Japan was very confident in their ability to win and defeat their enemies but closer to the end, it became apparent that they would not win the war. They were incredibly loyal to their emperor at the time and did whatever he told them to do. If the emperor thought they would win the war, then that is what they thought as well. Overall, they thought the war was something that had to happen for them in order to succeed in their goal of expansion. Without it, they never would have gotten what they wanted and even with the war, they still failed in their goals.
Allies
Japan was part of the axis. Their allies were Germany and Italy. They recognized each other’s domination over different parts of the world and they decided they would be strongest together. They all had a similar goal in mind and wanted to help each other achieve it... All other countries around the world were to be under direct power of the axis nations.
|