Japan was better prepared for World War II

Over the four decades of service the B-25 Mitchell came across many new and improved models such as the B-25A - B-25H. The B-25 is one of the most well known bombers during World War II and is a symbol of just how powerful America was in the war. In the year of 1938 the Army Air Corp was looking for a new type of medium sized bomber. The Army Air Corp was looking for a bomber that could meet their

Starting in the early 1930’s, the Japanese began to display their great imperialistic dreams with ambition and aggression. Their goal was to create a "Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere" where they controlled a vast empire in the western Pacific.1 In September of 1939, Japan signed the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis Treaty, allying themselves with Germany and Italy in an effort to safeguard their interests in China from the Soviet Union. Japan’s only major obstacle left lay in the significant size of the United States Pacific Fleet. To rid themselves of this, Japan attacked the United States Pacific Fleet in hopes of crippling it enough to prevent any further hindrance from the

(Doc. 8) In the 19th century, Japan began to see that the world was moving forward without them in technology and manufacturing. In addition, they also saw that their military was inferior to those of their peers. On the matter, Prime Minister Yamagata Aritomo said, "The protection of the nation’s line of sovereignty and the defense of our line of advantage are essential if we wish to maintain our independence and security... it is essential that we begin to make significantly larger appropriations for our navy and our armed forces." To reconcile this, the nation immediately made every effort to pull themselves out of the past and into the present by strengthening their army and diving headfirst into industrialism. (Doc. 8) Much the same as the British, Japan's rapid industrial growth led to expansion and colonization. By the late 1930s, Japan had taken control of both Korea and Manchuria, giving them more power and position than they had ever before come to know. (Doc.

They also had comms(radios) to talk to each other. The planes were very basic at first, but they eventually got new sights to improve their accuracy, new motors to fly farther, and a new design so the plane was more streamlined. As refinements progressed, along with better pilot training and tactics, it became a formidable weapon in the Allied war against Germany and the War in the Pacific. The planes would get in a box formation, flying relatively close for gunners meant more firepower.

Despite much domestic and international hysteria that Japan could now be drawn into foreign conflicts, and potentially even launch a war, closer scrutiny reveals it still has a long way to go to cast off its pacific post-War legacy. “The United States supports recent changes in Japanese defense policy, including the adoption of collective self-defense and new bilateral guidelines for U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation,” (Crook,

The growth of Japanese military was proved by their victory in Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War

During WWII, Japan was attempting to expand their territories by taking over Manchuria and many other places. The U.S., however, said that they “would refuse to recognize any territorial acquisitions that violate American treaty rights” (Bordelon). Japan didn’t listen to America’s threats and still went on to violate the Kellogg-Briand Treaty of 1928 and the Open Door Policy Pact of 1922. This caused the relationship between to grow even worse because it made the U.S. concerned that they wouldn’t be able to protect their imports of tin, rubber, and oil. In addition, Japan was continually violating treaties and taking over little islands near the United States in Hawaii. As a result, the U.S. became increasingly worried and knew they needed

Japan was a loser of Second World War and the closest friend of America in Asia. The consequence of the war and the rise of Japan as economic super power of the world had much meaning to America policy in Asia. Japan’s connection with the west can be traced back to the sixteenth century when it began trading with Western countries, but was disrupted and the trading was banned due to the connections with Christianity, but the relationship remained with East Asian dominated by Chinese empire. And when the imperialism and colonization was the main stream, Asia became more and more attractive to western main powers, many countries were colonized. Japan’s success in driving out the Europeans sparked the Asian nationalism and revolution against colonialism, but japan had learned the lessons from the west that it would need a strong army for decisive use until later turned itself into an even more brutal colonial power in Asia and ignited the war with America in the Second World War.

The Mitsubishi A6M Zero was the prize fighter of the Japanese Imperial Navy. Shrouded in myth and legend, it was a plane for which the United Stated had no answer. It was commissioned as, “a triple threat: an escort with the extreme range needed to accompany bombers deep into China and later to cover vast Pacific distances; a point-defense interceptor with a rapid rate of climb to hit attacking bombers before they reached their targets; and a consummate dogfighter with extreme maneuverability” (Wilkinson Myth of the Zero 25). It had a reputation as the most agile plane in the skies, as well as the plane with the best maneuverability.

Japan would go through many wars having loses and victories and gaining a decent military. A war containing the Japanese and the Sino expanded in to WWII but ended with an atomic bombing of Hiroshima and

Near the end of World War 2 and after the fall of the German war machine, the US and soon the USSR were still at war with Japan. Despite most of the Imperial Navy being defeated, Japan wouldn’t give in to defeat and continued throwing what they had left into the defense of their mainland. I consider there to be four main causes of the Japanese defeat near the end of the war; the loss of the IJN Yamato dreadnought, the two US nuclear attacks, the depletion of resources needed or them to continue fighting, and the USSR joining the fight against them.

Though worldwide economic depression incited the rise of Japan’s militarism, another factor that caused the militarism was that western threat to sign unequal treaties in the 1850s before the Restoration. (Pyle, 82) At the time of the West’s imperialism, Japan had lots of diplomatic disadvantages because of the West’s unequal treaties. These facts taught Japanese the realities of power politics that strong military force is necessary to strengthen the country and to enrich the colonial success. Therefore, Japan strongly advocated militarism and imperialism and practiced the West’s same imperialistic force to Asian countries such as China, Japan and Russia.

Japanese Militarism The recent spat between Japan and China is the latest in a series of outbursts between the two nations. What started as a Chinese objection to Japanese interpretation of history especially with reference to the latter’s acts against China during the fourth quarter of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, has now snowballed into a major controversy which could threaten the fragile relationship between them. The current episode started simmering when the Chinese began circulating an online petition protesting against Japan’s bid for a permanent seat at the UN Security Council.

Although the United States had begun a late rearming in the 1930s, the Japanese remained convinced that in a naval battle, their ships, planes and personnel were just as modern and plentiful, if not better than what the United States had

World War II was the first time that Americans really called for a more advanced, safer way to fight war in the air. During this war more than 40,000 planes and over 80,000 soldiers were lost (Shaw). This statistic alarmed many Americans, who then discovered it would be cheaper and safer to go towards an unmanned type of air force (Shaw). In 1946 the United States created a special branch of the military, which specialized in the research of pilotless aircrafts, and they ended up creating a few versions (Shaw).