Author: steve

2-9-19

Japan had allied itself with Great Britain in 1902 (to counteract the Russian push into Manchuria). In the early days of WWI, Japan resisted pleas from England for naval help in the Pacific and South China Seas. They offered to help if England agreed that Japan could take possession of German territories in the Pacific.

As the war progressed, Japan did help Great Britain on numerous occasions, including sending a task force of ships to the Mediterranean for convoy escort assistance. (British ships in and around Malta were getting clobbered by German U-boats.) During this time, the rest of the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked and quickly overwhelmed the German occupied Micronesian island nations: the Carolines, the Marshalls, and the Marianas (except for Guam, which the United States won in the Spanish American War of 1894.) (Don’t forget that we also bought the Philippines from Spain – a sore spot for Japan.)

Japan had gained international recognition as a world power for her roles in the War. She joined the League of Nations, which was created by the Allies’ Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty was mostly about punishing Germany and her allies, redrawing political borders, forcing Germany to reduce her military capabilities, and demanding reparations. Japan was awarded by “Mandate” the Pacific Island groups she captured from Germany. All those islands were to become the bloody battlegrounds of the Pacific War just a few decades later.

I’d like to quickly touch upon a complicated (and hot button) issue: Race and Religion played a very touchy role in Japanese and Western (European) relations. Neither the U.S. or Japan is blameless in this on-going, long, slow burn. I could spend a couple of blogs walking us through this, but I think that would be counter-productive. Suffice it to say that the issues of race and religion and immigration helped fan the flames that led up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Next up: we’ll take a peek at the Turbulent 20’s and 30’s and deterioriating relations between America and Japan.

Steve

2-2-19

I am tremendously over-simplifying all this:

Commodore Perry arm-twisted Japan into signing it’s first-ever treaty (trade agreement) with any country in 1854.   The rest of the 19th century was a mad-dash of western expansion into the East.   Everyone wanted a piece of China, Japan, Korea and anyplace else they could buy, grab or conquer.   Japan, in the period known as the Meiji Restoration of that half-century, began a steady rise of industrial, commercial and military power.   The Japanese were also driven by empire-building and by the end of the century staked claims on Korea and Manchuria. In 1894 Japan declared war on China (First Sino-Japanese War). In 1904, Japan declared war on Russia (over who would claim Manchuria).   (Japan was willing to cede Manchuria to Russia in exchange for Russia ceding Korea to Japan.   Russia was not.)

Japan declared war on Russia on Feb. 8, 1904.   But, three hours before Russia knew they were at war, The Japanese Imperial Navy attacked the Russian fleet anchored at the Manchurian fort Port Arthur. (Sound familiar?) Over the next year, both the Russian Navy and Army were vanquished.   It was a complete victory for Japan.   Thoroughly-shocked Russia sued for peace.

President Theodore Roosevelt offered to host a peace conference mediation between the two countries, which resulted in the Treaty of Portsmouth (N.H.) in 1904. Roosevelt       (who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work), sided with Russia on a major sticking point. (He was threading a needle over which “frenemy” would end up with more power in Asia.) Japan won every land and sea battle and sued for reparations from Russia.   Roosevelt took that off the table, and the Treaty was signed with no reparations.   The people of Japan were outraged by this unforseen turn of events.   The day after the treaty was signed,   the people of Japan erupted in anti-American riots in Tokyo, resulting in widespread damage over the next three days.   Martial law was imposed.

More threads in the tapestry.

 

1-27-19

On July 8, 1853, a group of four American warships under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry (brother of the War of 1812 hero Oliver H. Perry), steamed into Edo (Tokyo) Harbor.   Perry had a letter signed by President Millard Fillmore demanding that Japan open up channels of trade (including access to “coaling stations” for our steamships).   Perry spent days at anchor firing cannons and parading hundreds of Marines doing drills on shore. He was finally allowed to the make a presentation to the ruling Shogunate.   He presented the letter and promised he would return shortly for a reply.   Perry returned on February 13, 1854 in a task force of 10 warships and 1600 men.   After weeks of negotiations, Perry and the Japanese Shogunate signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, in which all American demands were agreed-to.   Before leaving Japanese waters, Perry went to the Ryukyu Islands (not yet part of Japan) and got his “compact between the United States and the Ryukyu Kingdom” signed on July 11, 1854.

Eighty eight years before Pearl Harbor.

We’ll continue to look at some of the highlights of U.S. / Japan interactions leading up to the Day that will live on in Infamy.   Fascinating stuff – as the events of just-before WWI, just-after WWI and the years leading up the WWII are all part of the fabric of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

1-19-19

As I have said before, history is a l-o-n-g,   s-l-o-w   b-u-r-n.   I’m quite certain that when news broke out on that Sunday morning in December, most Americans were shocked and stunned.   The news was presented as “a sneak attack,” an “unprovoked act” and the like.   Well, that is certainly one way to look at it.   Like the attacks of 9-11, it was a singularly horrible and shocking event.   But whether we like it or not, as with all “acts of history,” there is context to be reckoned with   –   the great fabric of history is woven from many, many threads.   Some of the threads are short and colorful, most are long strands, covering the back of the whole tapestry.   Bland strings, holding the whole thing together.

The lead-ups to WWII are most of the threads of the WWI tapestry (the Great War to End all Wars), with a few colorful bits thrown in.   In order to “understand” the Second World War, we must look at the 1920’s and 1930’s in America.   Why America?   Because that’s where we live.   America played a part in both Wars, and there is a rich historical tapestry to look at.   The 20’s and 30’s were fascinating!   The Roarin’ 20’s. Prohibition. Isolationism. A decade long drought. The global stock market crash.   Changes in Presidents and policies.   These are just a few of the threads that connect the World Wars.   Over the next several posts, we’ll take a peek at a few of these things.

Having said that, I’m going to immediately ignore it all and start the conversation with an event that happened in 1898 in Cuba.   During the night of February 15, 1898, the brand-new battleship, USS Maine, anchored in the Havana Harbor, suddenly blew up and sank, taking 3/4’s of her crew down to the bottom with her.

Introducing a concept:   “yellow journalism”

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1866-1898/yellow-journalism

1-12-19

After the devastating Typhoon Cobra shredded the Task Force in late December, the ships hunkered down in Ulithi.   On December 30, the ships left Ulithi to dust up Formosa again.   Their immediate path led them to enter the South China Sea north of the Philippines.   The remains of the Japanese Fleet were reported to be at rest near CamRahn Bay.   Halsey, ever-itching for a ship-to-ship battle against the enemy, jumped at the chance.   They had enough time, since the invasion forces for Iwo Jima were en route, but still weeks away from reaching the Bonin Islands.

January 12, 1945:     This morning we are probably on our largest operation so far.   We have been heading north through the China Seas for a raid on a base the Jap fleet uses in French Indo China.   We may bombard Saigon Bay.   We will probably be in sight of land, and get a glimpse of the Asiatic continent, completing the trip across the Pacific.   It is still dark and we may not have been discovered.

At 0900 hours we were within range of eight inch gunfire.   We formed a surface task force of battleships and cruisers, the carriers stayed out of range.   The carriers launched a big strike.   We were disappointed, because the planes reported the Jap fleet was not in CamRahn Bay.   They continued to launch strikes all day.   Later on in the day we left 38.2 and returned to our own task force.   We also have with us two war correspondents, we picked up two days ago. Tomorrow we expect to fuel, one hundred and fifty miles closer than we did the day before.   During the night we had several sub contacts and destroyers were dropping depth charges.     Frank Studenski

steve