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i hate my teacher
i got 60 per cent for the essay below
and i worked my butt off...
any tips ?
thank you
i got 60 per cent for the essay below
and i worked my butt off...
any tips ?
thank you
what effect did the rise of militarism in japan have on the foreign policy between 1914-1937?
The main aims of the Japanese foreign policy from the time of the Meiji Restoration were security and equality. In order to achieve this set of goals outlining how they, as a country, would formally interact with other countries of the world, the Japanese both expanded and modernised their army and navy. The Meiji Restoration was a chain of events which led to vast changes to Japan’s political and social structure. This ‘renewal’, occurring in the late 1800s, acted as a medium of industrialisation in Japan which later led to its rise as a military power in 1905. By this time Japan’s slogan was "Enrich the country, strengthen the military". It was obvious that the beliefs of militarism had slowly risen into imminence and there was a widespread desire of the government (which consisted of many ex-samurai) and the Japanese people to maintain a strong military capability that was able to be readily used, with aggression, so as to protect or endorse the interests of the nation.
Japan’s foreign policy was formed by its need to settle its Asian identity and also its desire to have an equal status with the Western powers. They saw that the West had a strong national defence and they highly prioritised the formation of their own national defence- a step toward a militaristic outlook. There were also internal and external influences that impacted this rise of militarism in Japan. Within Japan there was a small shift in balance between the elites, resulting in the power going to the military sector. This meant that, according to historian Sadako N. Gota, they became “the centre of power” to make decisions regarding the foreign policy. Outside of Japan there were three major influences; the world depression (beginning in 1929), the march north of the Kuomintang and the rise to power of Hitler and Mussolini in Germany and Italy.
On August 23, 1914, Japan declared war on Germany in alliance with Britain. Japan intended to gain a few islands on the in the Pacific that were Germany’s colonies. So, when Germany did not reply to the ultimatum stating that they wished to remove the causes of disturbance in the Far East they declared war. Kato Tataki, as Japan’s foreign minister, used World War I to clarify, once again, Japan’s relationship with China and to also emphasise its domination in the Far East. In early 1915 the 21 Demands of Japan were basically for control of China, to which China had a nationalist reaction toward. This allowed Kato to extend Japan’s control over the Shantung Peninsula and ultimately over the rest of China. This had its benefits- the Japanese economy began to boom during wartime mainly because it misused China’s raw materials and labour. This brought Japan one step closer to becoming a powerful country. In 1921, international forces left Russia but Japan willingly decided to stay longer. This signalled a change in world attitudes; Japan was now considered a threat.
Japan was not exempt from minor economic depressions but it was most affected by the world depression which began in 1929 in the United States and hit them shortly after. Both Germany and Japan were encouraged by the Great Depression to raise extreme self-rule and hostility. Many Japanese people were staring to make objections toward a democratic style of government and, with the undesirable influence of the Fascists in Italy and the Nazis in Germany, the number of people with this view was on the rise. Germany, as the most admired Western state, was moving against democracy and going toward a more dictatorial and militaristic policy influencing the Japanese who were currently using their constitution as a model for their own government system. The Meiji oligarchs wanted the power to gain rights and privileges in other Asian countries, so it believed that the best way to do this was to join Western powers, like Germany. However, they also realised that they needed to modernise and strengthen Japan’s military before attempting to state their demands to the Western powers. Otherwise they would not be taken seriously. Still, they still needed a lot of money for this to occur and there was a lack of resources in the Japanese home islands.
Many Japanese people soon came to blame the parties for the depression and they began to question the legitimacy of the international economic arrangements. Consequently, they had begun to admire the army for their robust response. After all they were impacted greatly; especially farmers and small shop owners. Such difficult circumstances led to many questions regarding the Meiji constitution. For instance, people wondered who would rule in Japan, whether the imperial army was best suited to such a position and whether it was economically viable to continue to depend on the world economy (which would pose further problems). Many argued for Japan to expand militarily abroad as it would result in it becoming an autonomous empire, that is, they wouldn’t have to trade with any other countries. Such a strictly controlled imperial economy would mean that the army served as the guardian of the Japanese people. Nonetheless, the party government acted well enough to offset the depression, making Japan the first nation to recover from the it but it did not provide them with enough money to revitalise their armed forces. As a result, the Japanese looked toward Manchuria’s iron and coal resources, Indochina’s rubber and China’s vast number of resources.
The Mukden incident occurred on September 18, 1931, as a result of Japan’s economic and political interest in Manchuria. Japan believed that making Manchuria one of its colonies would mean the resolution to the problems it was experiencing at home. After the Japanese attack of the South Manchuria Railway, China and Japan reached an agreement which required Japan to withdraw its army. According to Edwin Reischauer “the army continued to advance and the Japanese government was unable to control it” and they had launched a full-scale invasion of Manchuria by the end of 1931. This began the eventual shift in the balance of power; the advantage passing from the parties to the military. Inevitably this contributed to the rise of militarism in Japan.
In 1933, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations as a result of the heavy criticisms it faced for its actions in China, after China made an appeal to the League of Nations. China rightfully claimed that Japan had blown up the railway up, blamed it on them, and used it as an excuse to invade and take control of Manchuria; the first step in Japan’s invasion of their entire country. Historian Akira Iriye believes that “the Mukden Incident was the result of the world powers' inability to develop a comprehensive international policy for East Asian affairs.” In other words, there were lots of errors and inadequacies in Japan’s foreign policy. Iriye also supposes that Japan’s decision to withdraw was a “dual diplomacy” with the civilian officials being unofficially controlled by the military men. This is because the civilian officials thought that if they willingly handed over more control to the army, they would be able to restore some regulation. After all, if the military did not get what they demanded there would be an outbreak of violence, similar to the rebellion of the First Division on February 26, 1936. Yet, the impact was actually the opposite; the military gained increasing power, especially over decisions concerning the foreign-policy. This situation became partly responsible for the war with China in 1937 as the military men were far too narrow-minded to make reasonable foreign policy choices.
The 1930s are well known as a decade of fear in Japan. The Japanese people were trapped in a state of limbo- they did not know which way to go but, according to Reischauer, they became much more nationalistic and loyal towards the army. They saw the army as being more suitable to achieve the country’s desire for imperialism. However, the military had its own problems and began to direct foreign policy with a militaristic outlook, resulting in the badly organised move toward a dictatorial society.
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