Friday, February 1, 2008
Japan
In class it was talked about how Japan had always thought it was their right to control the world but before Commodore Perry they did not associate with the rest of the world and they kept to themselves. So by forcing Japan to trade with America did America unleash a monster on the world an also feed that monster by trading with it? What would have been Japan's role in World War II if they were still secluded from the world?
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I dont really think that Perry is to blame for Japan being in the war. That may have fuled some the motivation for Pearl Harber, but thats kind of another issue. It seems to me like the people who were leading the charge into China were those basing their actions on Emperialism.
If they really do feel like they need to bring all people under the umbrella of the Emporers care than they probably would have tried to do that anyway. The fact that they were mad about western influences may have sparked that but I dont think that is what coused the actions.
More interesting yet, is that after contact with Westerners, the Japanese began to adopt many Western-style tactics ..especially militarily. Eliminating the concept of the shogun and the samurai came AFTER the Japanese had contact with Westerners. So, combine the ideology of controlling the 8 corners of the world, with Western military tactics and you get a very interesting recipe!
Japan would have little to no impact on the war had they not been introduced to Western style anything prior to the beginning. However, they were and they acted accordingly. Japan because sort of the Nazi's of the East and in doing that I believe it proves that they only acted as they saw others doing or only as they learned. I do not believe they would of done it on their own.
An interesting idea; the Japanese had been involved in warfare for centuries prior to this. It may have been the Japanese simply saw a more effective way to accomplish what they'd already been doing for years and on a much larger scale.
I am wondering how the U.S. would have entered the war without the attacks on Pearl Harbor? I took Hist 313 last semester and I reviewed several documents that investigated if there was a cover up and if there was any knowledge of the attacks. I just dont understand how the technology would not have been able to pick up a fleet approaching on Pearl Harbor, but that could be to the technology age that we live in and me not being able to really understand what technology was like back then.
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