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 Western powers ● New warship tonnage ratio for US, Br, Japan - 10 : 10 : 7 Response by Japanese: ● Navy was discontented with civilian govt. and their signing of the London Naval Treaty which seemed to put Japan in a disadvantageous position ● Navy commanders saw this as betrayal by the govt. ● Military was able to capitalise on the unpopularity of the govt. ● Build up their own public image ● Able to gain support from: army, nationalists ● Increase in power and influence of the military

● Japanese perceived govt’s signing of the treaty as a form of weakness → lost trust in the govt. Opposition to the Civilian Government ● In Japan, a network of ultranationalists and anti-democratic activists began to form and grow ● Network included junior military officers who likely had the secret backing of senior military commanders - were against the civilian politician leaders and the zaibatsu, whom they regarded as self-serving ● 4 groups were: ○ Showa Restoration Faction ○ Sakurakai ○ Kodoha ○ Ketsumeidan ● All groups shared a common goal: remove all aspects of democratic govt + restore direct rule of Emperor ● Groups carried out assassinations against many key figures in the govt. and the zaibatsu ○ Nov 1930: PM Hamaguchi Osachi shot by right-wing fanatic → died ● Military capitalised on the assassinations ● Push for militarist political reform by generating public sympathy ● Exploited the power vacuum ● Weakened position of civilian leadership to stall any attempts by civilian politicians to form a new govt. ● Forced emperor to nominate someone from the militarist faction as the PM ● Military able to gain support from: japanese ● Eliminate political opponents ● Increase in power and influence of military

Economic Challenges in Japan Economic challenges in Japan Examples to illustrate economic challenges of Japan How did it lead to the rise of militarist Japan? D Ex A Economic challenges 1923: ● Great Kanto Earthquake caused devastation & loss of lives → hardship ↑ 1927: ● Banking crisis - closure of many banks ● Japanese lost their savings 1929: ● Wall Street Crash affecting the world economy → GD in Japan 1920s (includes the 3 factors): ● Severe inflation in Japan - cost of goods ↑ → price of rice increased by 174% ● ↓ Overseas demand for Japanese goods → large companies dismissed workers → unemployment ↑ ● Growing resentment among the Japanese towards civilian govt. ● Blamed civilian govt. for the economic challenges faced ● Military was not blamed due to overseas victories ● Military able to gain support from: Japanese - unemployed, poor ● Increase in power and influence of the military Challenges in the Countryside ● Those living in the countryside did not benefit as much as those living in the cities ● Insufficient land for farmers due to the large population growth in Japan ● Productivity of farmers in the countryside had stagnated as tech. advances in farming did not spread quickly enough in the countryside ● Majority of farmers were tenant farmers who struggled to survive - much of their harvest went towards paying the landlord → left with barely enough to eat ● Those who owned farms only had small plots of land and was affected by poor harvests ● Military followed an expansionist policy as a solution to Japan’s econ. problems and to make Japan strong and independent ● Military was able to gain support from: those living in countryside ● Increase in power and influence of the military Great Depression of 1929 Impact on farmers: ● Demand for farmer’s produce dropped → farmers earned less ● Landowners continued to demand high rent & tried to evict those who could not pay Impact on small biz owners: ● Could not attract customers due to econ. crisis ● Many closed down ● Economic recession heightened fear of a communist uprising in Japan ● Japan’s proximity to the Soviet Union - security became a key concern of the Japanese govt. ● Enabled military to increase

Unemployment: ● Businesses collapsed → caused almost 15-20% of Japan’s workforce to lose their jobs Fear of Communism: ● Many workers were attracted to the comm. ideas ● Ideas never really took root in the country - People felt that the govt. cared about the well-being of the elites and wealthy but were negle