Have you ever wondered why did Japan attack the United States of America during World War Two?
The United States had a much stronger economy and Japan did not have many chances of winning.
The answer lies in the Second Sino-Japanese war. It all began ten years ago. China had been in
relative stagnation for a long time, while Japan had started its modernization half a century ago
and had a strong military. This had allowed Japan to make some expansion. Seeing China in a weak
state, the Japanese military decided to continue with enlarging Japan's territory and occupied the
Chinese province of Manchuria. China did not have a strong army and could not offer much resistance.
The Japanese proceeded with expansion and took over Chinese territories bit by bit. In 1937
the Japanese seized some Chinese cities. By that time the Chinese public had become outraged by
Japanese expansion and demanded resistance. The Chinese military was too weak to recapture the
territories. The Chinese decided to capture the weakly defended Japanese possession in Shanghai.
Then they could possibly trade it back to Japan for the return of the territories in the North.
The Chinese attacked in Shanghai. They expected to finish the operation quickly,
but they were unable to overcome the Japanese defenses. Both sides brought reinforcements and
the fighting grew larger. Japan wanted to end the conflict by inflicting a major defeat on China.
It deployed 200 000 men in North China to go on offensive and destroy the Chinese forces.
The Chinese knew of their weakness. They did not allow themselves to be drawn in a decisive battle
and offered major resistance only in the western mountains.
Japan was unable to destroy the Chinese forces. But it still could do so in Shanghai. Japan landed
around 300 000 men in Shanghai and went on a counterattack. The Chinese made a mistake by
holding Shanghai for as long as possible and the Japanese landed another force behind their lines.
The Chinese were unable to properly react to the landings and their forces were thrown into
disarray. Without encountering much resistance the Japanese now headed towards the Chinese capital
at Nanjing. The Japanese captured it and a large part of the city's civilian population perished in
the following weeks during the Nanjing massacre. Japan had inflicted a major defeat on China
and now offered peace on harsh terms. Although the Japanese military had proven to be stronger
than the Chinese, Japan had other weaknesses. It was a much smaller country than China and
had difficulties sustaining a large army. Also Japan was threatened by other powers and if they
would move against Japan, It would find itself in great difficulties. So China expected Japan
to become weaker as time passed and it decided not to make peace with Japan for as long as possible.
Japan could not force China to surrender so it decided to neutralize it by attacking China's
economy. The Chinese war industry and its best agricultural lands were in the central part of the
country. Japan believed that if it occupied them, then the Chinese army would become much weaker.
Then Japan could would not need to sustain a large force in China and could reduce its garrison.
The Japanese first wanted to connect their armies in the North and South of China.
While most of their armies were reorganizing, they launched the attack with weaker forces.
In the South the Chinese brought up reinforcements and stopped the Japanese on a river line.
Then they regrouped their units in the North and deployed a strong force against the Japanese
northern attack, which halted their offensive. This left a lot of Chinese troops situated
between the two Japanese armies and Japan set out to encircle them. The Chinese were ready for that
and withdrew their forces from the encirclement. The Japanese then continued to advance west,
but the Chinese destroyed the dykes on the Yellow river, which flooded the area between the two
armies and the Japanese had to stop their advance. The Japanese now set out to capture the lands
around the Yangtze river and the city of Wuhan. The floods closed the northern route
and the Japanese chose to advance along the Yangtze river. The Chinese had 800 000 men, while
the Japanese attacking force had only 200 000. The Chinese deployed their troops on the path of
the Japanese attack and slowed down their advance. The Japanese then attacked the weak Chinese forces
in the North and outflanked the Chinese defences. This helped the Japanese to overcome the Chinese
on the Yangtze and they now approached Wuhan. The Chinese abandoned the city to the enemy.
The Japanese proceeded with securing their position. They expanded their territory
to the east and west. Then they set out to destroy the Chinese armies. They dispersed
the Chinese forces in the North and returned to their positions. They then launched an
attack against the Chinese in the South. Japan had achieved its goal of occupying
the Chinese war industry. In order to prevent China circumventing the Japanese strategy by
bying war materials from overseas, Japan also occupied China's major ports.
Japan had deployed 850 000 soldiers to carry out the conquest and it could now
start withdrawing them back to Japan to cut down the expense of the occupation. But the Chinese
still had formidable forces. They decided to launch a major counter offensive.
Its goal was to retake Wuhan and to achieve smaller gains in several places.
The offensive was launched in late 1939. But the Japanese strategy had proven to be effective.
Without proper equipment the Chinese were unable to breach the Japanese defences.
Nevertheless they stopped an attack in South China and disrupted the Japanese positions near Wuhan.
The Japanese wanted to restore the security around Wuhan. They dispersed some Chinese units
and then extended their territory to the West. The Japanese were able to recover from the
Chinese offensive, but then the Chinese Communists launched a series of attacks behind the Japanese
lines known as the Hundred Regiments Offensive. The Japanese suppressed the offensive and in 1941
they cleared their occupied areas from most of the Communist forces and improved their
defensive positions in North China. In central China they launched several offensives to weaken
the Chinese forces. By this time the Chinese had adapted themselves to Japanese tactics
and avoided large-scale battles and as a result the Japanese could not completely destroy them.
Japan had another problem. China had established land routes to the ports of the European colonial
powers and was sourcing war materials from abroad. After France had been defeated in World War Two,
Japan occupied the French Indochina and closed one of the routes.
Remember that Japan could become embargoed by the United States?
Well the United States was opposed to Japanese expansion. The move into Indochina was the last
straw and the United States stopped selling oil to Japan unless it withdrew its forces from China
and Indochina. Japan got almost all of its oil from the United States and without a new source,
its military would become inefficient in a couple of years. For Japan, withdrawing from China
was unacceptable. It also realized that, until the United States controlled its oil supply,
it could make Japan do whatever it wanted. So Japan badly needed its own source of oil.
For this, it could capture the oil fields from the European colonial powers. This would mean war with
the United States, a country much more powerful than Japan, but the risk was considered worth it.
To answer the question from the beginning of the video:
Japan went into war with China, but China did not surrender. So Japan had to escalate
the war more and more. Eventually this caused the United States to embargo Japan
and the only acceptable way out of this situation for Japan was attacking the United States.
Would Japan going to war with America finally turn the war in China's favor? Well...
it is a long story. One, which we hope to tell in a separate video.