World War II
Until July, 1937, political and economic penetration into China proceeded against little resistance when the Second Sino-Japaneese war began at the Marco Polo bridge near Peking. By 1940 Japan controlled eastern China and had established a puppet court in Nanking and allied with the axis powers of Italy and Germany which were already at war in Europe. A complete trade embargo was imposed upon Japan by the United States and Great Britain when Japanese troops move into southern Indochina in July of 1941. War seemed inevitable however the Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro attempted to negotiate with the US to avoid a war. When Konoe was replaced in October of 1941 by the militant General TojoHideki the decision to wage war against the United States was reached.
On December 7, 1941, “a day that will remain in infamy,” Japan launched simultaneous attacks on Pearl Harbor, the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Malaya. The United States of America immediately declared war on Japan and World War II entered it’s global stage.
Japanese forces were met with success a first, however the tide of the war was turned in June of 1942 when the US Navy defeated a Japanese fleet at the battle of Midway Island. With the dropping of the atom bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August sixth and ninth and the Soviet declaration of war on August 8, 1945, Emperor Hirohito ordered the army to surrender unconditionally thus ending the war.
Matthew Perry
Meiji Restoration
World War I and inter war years
Introduction
Allied Occupation
60s and 70s
80s and varied treaties
Currently and US trade deficit