There is so much historically wrong about this, I don't even no where to begin, so instead, I'm going to sit down, pour myself some scotch, and maybe come back to tackle this later.
You have got to be kidding me. Caster, you just argued on another forum how the Japanese were part of the Eight-Nation Alliance and worked together during the Boxer Rebellion in China.Originally Posted by caster51
In addition, Japan was on pretty good terms with the U.S. until it signed on with Nazi Germany. That and, if Japan hadn't been slaughtering it's way across China so aggressively, I honestly don't think much of Europe would have cared that much about the Empire of Japan joining the Neo-Colonial club, except for the fact that Neo-colonialism was dying.
The United States ran Shanghai right up until we left and allowed the Japanese to have it, I might add.
If you seriously think that the Dutch in the East Indies and the Americans in the Philippines were all planning on invading Japan, you need to think again. And don't compare Japan to China. When Commodore Perry showed up, your country decided trade and telegraphs were better than getting carved up into spheres of influence, so Japan picked the high road from the beginning. China closed its doors to the outside world, and it took lots of bullets to force those doors open. Admittedly, it wasn't the kindest, gentlest, and most proper thing to do, but after Nanking, I don't think any Japanese critic of Western interference in China really has a leg to stand on.
Nevertheless, I agree with a lot of the claims in that person's book review you posted. Yeah, it was a war between imperial powers. And I think it is a big sad tragedy that it happened in the first place. I think Japan and the United States would have (and should have) made better friends throughout their histories rather than enemies.
Japan intended to kick every non-Asian imperial power out of East Asia. But this wasn't the altruistic crusade to liberate one's neighbors. Rather, it was a campaign with two aims: 1) to retain or increase the powers of the military that de-facto ruled the country by controlling the government, and 2) to create a vast network of mercantalism that would send resources to Japan and create economic dependencies throughout the Western Pacific in order to empower the Japanese economy.
Japan was just as crafty as the Europeans. Empires are empires. Period.
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