3. Case Study of Militarist Japan

Militarist Japan Important Dates ☆ ★ 1600 - 1868: Japan was under Tokugawa Shogunate’s rule -military government led by the Shogun ★ 1853: US opened Japan to trade with USA ★ 1868: Shogun lost power and Emperor Meiji took control of the government ★ 1868: Japan embarked on modernisation and rapid industrialisation ★ 1868 - 1912: Meiji Period CC ☆ RISE: ➢ Able to gain support from: ○ Peasants/Farmers ○ Workers ○ Small biz owners ○ Army ➢ Able to weaken/discredit political opponents ➢ Increase in power/influence of the military CONSOLIDATION: ➢ Impact of military rule: ○ Beneficial (+ve outcomes for the country/people) ○ Disaster (-ve outcomes for the country/people) ➢ Success / Failure of military’s policies: ○ Success - achieved aims of policy, +ve outcomes for country/people ○ Failure - did not achieve aims of policy, -ve outcomes for country/people MAIN AIM OF MILITARY’S POLICIES WAS TO HAVE TOTALITARIAN RULE OR TOTAL CONTROL OVER JAPAN AND ITS PEOPLE

Rise of Militarist Japan Political Challenges in Japan Political challenges in Japan Examples to illustrate political challenges of Japan How did it lead to the rise of militarist Japan? D Ex A Discontment of the military ● Many young military officers subscribed to the belief that the civilian govt. was corrupt and favoured the zaibatsus over the well-being of the masses ● Many of these officers were young and came from families of the poorer rural farming communities and new urban middle classes ● Both classes had been badly affected by the economic conditions in the 1920s → reinforced their perception of the civilian govt. as corrupt ● The civilian govt. cut the military budget → angered the military ● Many Japanese saw the strong relationship between the civilian govt. and the zaibatsus → saw them as serving their own interests ● Military promised to reverse the cut in the military budgets ● Able to gain support from: farmers, middle-class, army ● Increase in power and influence of the military Naval Conferences of 1921 - 1922 and 1930 Washington Naval Conference (1921 - 1922) ● After WWI, USA, Br, Japan, Fr, Italy, met to discuss naval disarmament ● Ratio for warship tonnage - 5 : 5 : 3 : 1.75 : 1.75 respectively ● Unhappiness of the navy with the arms limitations because it was fewer than what Britain and USA had ● Unhappiness intensified because the civilian govt. retrenched naval officers and scrapped warships London Naval Conference (1930) ● Met again to review the naval treaty - Japan demanded to build more warships but was rejected by the West