This article recalls the history of the imperial Japan during the first part of the era Shōwa (between 1926 and 1945) and of described the Expansionnisme on the zone of the “Sphère of Co-prosperity of large Eastern Asia”.

Ideological bases

detailed Article: Distinguished imperial, Emperor of Japan

Ulcerated by the treatment granted to their nation by the western powers at the time of the Treated of Versailles, of many politicians and Japanese soldiers like Sadao Araki and Fumimaro Konoe reactualized the doctrines of the hakko ichi' U (eight corners of the world under only one roof) and reflect in place an ideology based on the superiority of the Nipponese race and its right to dominate Asia. This racist ideology presented Japan as the center of the world and took sitted on the imperial institution and the emperor, considered as the descendant of the goddess Amaterasu Omikami. Lampoons taking again these principles, like the Kokutai No hongi (the Base of the national policy), were distributed free in the population and the schools.

Propaganda, present since the beginning of the era Shōwa, reached its paroxysm with the entry in war of Japan against its neighbors. Each soldier deployed on the face carried on him a specimen of pocket of the Senjinkun whose introductory sentence was: “The battle field is the place where the imperial Army, obeying the imperial Command, shows its true nature, conquering when it attacks, gaining the victory when it starts the combat, in order to carry out the imperial Way as far as possible, so that the enemy contemplates with admiration the majestic virtues of His Majesty.”

The foreigner consequently became a kichiku (stupid), a lower being which could only be scorned. This contempt supported violence against the civil populations of the conquered countries and the prisoners, leading in certain cases until the cannibalism.

The Japanese people being considered genetically higher, several eugenists measurements were installation by the successive governments of the mode shōwa with an aim of maintaining this superiority. The government of Fumimaro Konoe promulga thus a national Law on the Eugénisme which ordered the sterilization of the mentally handicapped persons or the " déviants" and the use of the means Contraceptif S. the government of Naruhiko Higashikuni prohibited founded as for him one of last eugenists measurements of the mode. August 19th, 1945, the ministry for the Interior ordered the creation of a service of prostitution so " to dam up the lunatic frenzy of the troops of occupation like preserving and preserving the purity of our race." Clubs of this type were quickly set up by Yoshio Kodama and Ryoichi Sasakawa.

Military structure

detailed Articles: Japanese imperial Army, Japanese imperial Navy, air Service of the Japanese imperial army

As of on October 27th, 1937, the military expansion of Japan was directed by the imperial District-general ( Daihonei ), a structure independent of the Council of Ministers and Diète of Japan.

The commander of this institution was the Empereur Shōwa which, according to article 4 of the constitution adopted under the era Meiji was " … with the head of the Empire, combining in its person the capacities of sovereignty, and exerting those in accordance with the provisions of present Constitution." . Article 11 stipulated in addition that " the Emperor has the supreme command of the Army and Marine."

To assist it in his task, the emperor could count on the Minister for the Army and the Minister for the Navy like on two chiefs of staff. To these officers the general inspector of military training and the general inspector of aviation were added.

The principal officers to have occupied these functions are:

- Minister for the Army

  • Hajime Sugiyama (1937-1938)
  • Seishiro Itagaki (1938-1939)
  • Shunroku Hastened (1939-1940)
  • Hideki Tojo (1940-1944) (Tôjô in parallel occupied the function of Prime Minister of 1941 to 1944)
  • Korechika Anami (1945)

- Minister for the Navy

  • Mitsumasa Yonai (1937-1939, 1945) (Yonai was Prime Minister in 1940)
  • Koshirô Oikawa (1940-1941)
  • Shigetaro Shimada (1941-1944)

- Chief of staff of the Army

  • Kotohito Kan' in (1931-1940)
  • Hajime Sugiyama (1940-1944)
  • Hideki Tojo (1944)
  • Yoshijiro Umezu (1944-1945)

- Chief of staff of the Navy

  • Hiroyasu Fushimi (1932-1941)
  • Osami Nagano (1941-1944)
  • Shigetaro Shimada (1944)
  • Koshirô Oikawa (1944-1945)
  • Soemu Toyoda (1945)

- General inspector of aviation

  • Naruhiko Higashikuni (1937)
  • Hideki Tojo (1938-1940)
  • Kenji Doihara (1941-1943)
  • Korechika Anami (1944-1945)

- General inspector of military training

The imperial District-general also had a division of the information which ensured the control of information and the propaganda of the war, in particular by feeding the written and radio media. Journalists thus frequently accompanied the units by combat to report their feats of arms, as it was the case at the time of the " contest to decapitate hundred chinois" who took place before the Massacre of Nankin.

In spite of their ambitions, manpower of the armed forces remain relatively reduced; so between 1937 and the end of 1941, this one pass of more than 900.000 men to 2,1 million men under the flags; an agriculture and an industry requiring many Labor and an antiquated system of Conscription make that the mobilization concern on the whole between 1937 and 1945 only 7,4 million Japanese for a population of 70 million inhabitants (by excluding the colonies).

Organizations of economic development

detailed Article: Complex Japanese militaro-industrialist

The Impérialisme shôwa in particular aimed at ensuring the Empire the control of the rubber, wood iron, oil-producing countries of Riz and Soja. It was thus about an economic imperialism, but also demographic, the Japanese population was in constant growth since 1854.

In order to ensure the economic development of the Empire, the government Konoe set up it Kôa-in, the Development agency of Eastern Asia, from which the role was to structure the exploitation of the colonies, in particular by the means of a system of labors forced. According to a document found in 2007 by the journalist Reiji Yoshida, it Kôa-in provided funds to the drug traffickers in China for the use of part of the benefit of the sale of the Opium, Héroïne and Morphine with the profit of the governments of occupation of the Manchukuo, Nanjing and Mongolia

Agreements were also concluded with the Zaibatsu, in particular Nissan and Mitsubishi, which took an active part in the effort of war, in particular on the level of the manufacture of military equipment.

As from 1937, the emperor instituted the Lys operation of gold, by entrusting the supervision to his brother Yasuhito Chichibu and to his cousin, Tsuneyoshi Takeda. The purpose of this operation was to gather the richnesses plundered in the conquered territories.

Korea (1910)

See also: History of Korea under Japanese occupation

The Korea was gradually incorporated in the Empire at the beginning of the twentieth century. This annexation was particularly cruel, the Korean language teaching being interdict at the beginning of the era Shōwa and the citizens being constrained to give up their name of origin. Part of the Koreans was off-set towards the Japanese archipelago in order to work in the Japanese factories (see Zainichi), and of Korean were used like “Femmes of comfort” by the Japanese army. The Koreans emigrated in Japan were also victims of repressions, the seism of Kanto, which touched Tokyo in 1923, being in particular the pretext with reprisals and massacres against this population.

Japan gave up Korea in 1945, following its defeat which signed the end of the Second world war.

China

Mandchourie (1931)

detailed Article: Conquest of Mandchourie by Japan

Between 1926 and 1945, the Japan continued its expansionist policy initiated with the annexation of Korea in 1910. Thus in 1931, the army of the Kantogun seized the Chinese Mandchourie . Consequently, this area became a new state under imperial protection, named Manchukuo, officially controlled by the deposed Chinese emperor Pu Yi. The Japanese government established in particular the Unité 731 and set up to with it Kôa-in, which, with the collaboration of the Kempeitai, controls in forced labors several million Chinese civilians.

Continental China

See also: Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)

The invasion of continental China was sanctioned by the Empereur Shōwa in July 1937. As of August, this last authorized the suspension of the provisions of international conventions on the protection of the prisoners of war to which Japan like the Convention had left $the Hague.

The troops of the imperial army went up first of all the Chang Jiang, thus making sure of the control of Shanghai by bombarding the city, then Nanjing where they were delivered to a terrible carnage (Massacre of Nankin) and finally of Wuhan to spring 1939, after having used on several occasions the Chemical weapons there.

The army shōwa was seen consequently imposed a sharp resistance on behalf of the nationalist army of Jiang Jieshi and, to a lesser extent by the communist troops of Mao Zedong. Confronted with a territory too vast and unable to capitalize on its profits, the Japanese army was consequently enlized and, in spite of the use of means often extreme in particular with Wuhan, Guangzhou and Changde (chemical weapons and bacteriological), sudden of important defeats of which those of Taierzhuang and Changsha. It is only with the Ichigô operation, launched in 1944, that the troops of Hirohito could be a relatively durable success.

In March 1940, the two governments collaborationnists set up at Beijing in 1937 and Nanjing into 1938 were amalgamated in Nanjing under the name of Gouvernement of the Republic of China, with at its head the former nationalist Wang Jingwei. This government did not hold any real autonomy in practice and was used primarily with ends as propaganda to show the effectiveness of the Sphère of Co-prosperity of large Eastern Asia. He concludes from the agreements with Japan and the Manchukuo and signed the Pacte anti-Comintern in 1941.

French Indo-China (1941)

The insistence of the District-general imperial, eager to station of the troops in Indo-China with an aim of taking with reverse the Chinese nationalist forces, led the government of Hanoi to adopt a policy of collaboration with the Japanese Empire. The trampling of the talks started as of the month of August 1940 between the French colonial government and the staff involved the brutal occupation of Lang Its and Dong Dang. The engagements continued in spite of an agreement of concluded collaboration on September 22nd, and led to the bombardment of Haiphong. On the whole, more than 800 French soldiers perished during the engagements. September 26th, the imperial District-general put finally term at the conflict, Indo-China consequently becoming integral part of the Sphère of Co-prosperity of large Eastern Asia.

Anxious of advanced forces shôwa in the Far East, the United States, Great Britain and Holland imposed on Japan at the summer 1941 an embargo on the oil products, after having meant official ultimatum asking for the withdrawal of these forces of Indo-China and China (other than the Manchukuo). In reaction to this embargo, Hirohito authorized the bombardment of Pearl Harbor and the release of the war of large Eastern Asia.

Thailand (1941)

detailed Articles: History of Thailand, War free-inhabitant of Thailand

Eager to avenge the affront which had been made with the kingdom Siam in 1893 and 1904 at the time of the territorial treaties imposed by France, the government of the Prime Minister Phibunsongkhram benefitted from the invasion of France by Germany and launched out in 1941 in a series of attacks against French Indo-China, faithful to Vichy. The naval forces of the two states clashed in particular at the time of the battle of Koh Chang. None of the two camps not being able to impose itself, the litigation were finally sliced by Japan, already present in the north of the territory and which had offered its services of mediation. This last, eager to spare an ally in Asia, sliced in favor of Thailand and granted to him territories of Laos and Kampuchea.

Consequently, Thailand rocked in the Japanese camp, which involved commercial reprisals of Great Britain and the United States which imposed in April 1941 an embargo on oil. December 8th, 1941, Phibunsongkhram made it possible the forces shōwa to station on its territory and concludes 21 military alliance which led to the declaration of war against the allies of January 25th, 1942.

The army shōwa established several tens of prison camps in ground inhabitant of Thailand, these men were held to work with the construction of the railway having to establish the link between Bangkok and Rangoon. On the whole approximately 200.000 civilians and 60.000 prisoners of war worked with these building sites. Death rate exceeded by far the average noted in the other Japanese camps, which amounted to 27%. (Tanaka, supra , p.2). Approximately 100.000 civilians and 16.000 prisoners of war found death there. An edulcorated version of their fate was presented in the Bridge of the river Kwaï .

In June 1944, the government collaborationnist was reversed and the regent, Pridi Phanomyong, benefitted from it to approach allied and to encourage the liberation movement Thai Seri from which the new Prime Minister Kuang Abhaiwongse came.

Malaysia (1942)

The invasion of the Malaysia began the same day as the bombardment from Pearl Harbor, on December 8th, 1941 (7 according to the other spindle). The army shôwa faced there a coalition of soldiers Malayan, British, Indian and Australian. The allied forces were overcome in less than two months, undergoing nearly 50.000 losses. Many combatants took refuge with Singapore which was taken in two months. The British capitulating on February 15th, 1942, 80.000 soldiers English, Indian, Canadian and Australian returned the weapons. As reprisals, the army shôwa made the massacre of Sook Ching, killing nearly 20.000 civilians.

Burma

The Burma was invaded in January 1942. The capture of the capital Rangoon was supplemented on March 7th, the allies taking refuge consequently in the north of the country, hoping to make the junction with the Chinese forces. May 10th, the Thailand, allied of Japan crosses the Burmese border with an aim of restoring the old territory of the kingdom of Ayutthaya, capturing Kengtung and driving back the Chinese with the Yunnan.

The point turning occurred in August 1943, with the creation of the Command of the Southeast Asia, gathering the allies under the orders of Louis Mountbatten.

Philippines (1942)

detailed Articles: Battle of the sea of Philippines , Battle of the gulf of Leyte

After a series of air raids launched shortly after the invasion of the Malaysia and the bombardment of Pearl Harbor, the imperial forces unloaded with the Filipino on December 10th, 1941 and started engagements with the Filipino and American allies, involving the battles of Bataan and Corregidor. The allied troops however were quickly overflowed at the point where ordering to them, Douglas MacArthur, chooses to flee in Australia in March.

April 9th, the occupation of the peninsula of Bataan was supplemented with the rendering of 75.000 allied soldiers who were subjected to the walk of died of Bataan. This forced march which lasted from April 9th to May 1st, resulted in the death of more than 20.000 men. The last defendants, encircled with Corregidor, returned finally the weapons on May 8th after a keen battle.

The occupation shōwa supplemented, the forces of resistance launched out in a guerilla who lasted until October 1944, date on which they joined the American and Australian troops unloaded with Leyte.

Oceania

detailed Articles: Campaigns of the Pacific, Battle of Saipan, Battle of Guam, History of Indonesia

See too

Internal bonds

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