World History – Kelemen



Assignment #1: The Rise of Militaristic Nationalists in Japan Before World War II

The rise of militarism, extreme nationalism and aggressive expansionism in Japan by the 1930s was the outgrowth of a long historical process. In simple terms, the roots of militarism laid with events of the earlier Meiji era (mid 1800s to early 20th Century), along with the failure of parliamentary democracy by 1931.

The rise of militarism in Japan can be traced back in the ancient military tradition of the samurai. Hundreds of years of rule by men-of-sword had made the Japanese people ready to accept the claims of militarists to national leadership. Fundamentally, Japan had a strong tradition of unquestioned obedience to authority. The spirit of honor and discipline known as bushido had existed in the hearts of the average Japanese person for generations. This “samurai code” or “way of the warrior” ideology stressed the importance of loyalty, honor, self sacrifice, duty and obedience.

Foreign threats to Japan encouraged the rise of Japanese militarism. Japan in the 1850s had been forced to sign unequal trade treaties with European powers, and her independence was threatened in an age of imperialism. These facts taught the Japanese the realities of power politics — that “Might Makes Right.” As such, the Meiji era political leaders, mostly ex-samurai, learnt the necessity of industrialization and a strong military force. In time, they carried out important military reforms and created an army second in size only to Germany in the world by 1910. Not surprisingly, the military leadership wanted to have decisive influence in the nation’s political affairs.

Political loopholes further helped to increase the influence of the militarists. The Meiji Constitution of 1889 gave total independence to the armed forces. It stated that the military had the right of direct access to the Emperor, and thus bypassing the elected parliamentary government. A second loophole was the 1900 Decree establishing that only army generals and navy admirals could become military advisors to the emperor. This eliminated any civilian control of the military allowing army and navy leaders to overrule actions of the democratically elected government. The lack of a tradition of civilian oversight and weak democratically elected government encouraged the growth of military influence in Japan by the early 20th Century.

Another factor that strengthened the tradition of militarism was Japan’s victories in the Sino-Japanese (1895) and Russo-Japanese War (1905). These two victories brought great benefits to Japan - in terms of money, territorial gains as well as international status. The victories occurred largely due to Japan’s rapid industrialization and population growth during the Meiji period. However, these military and economic advances stretched the natural resources of the island nation and encouraged the search for additional living space, raw materials and markets abroad. The Asian mainland, in particular, costal China and Korea, became Japan’s primary target for expansion by the 1910s and 1920s..

Meiji leaders, for the sake of national unity, strongly encouraged an extreme form of Emperor-centered nationalism among the Japanese population. The Emperor was revered as a god like figure by the Japanese public. This form of hyper-patriotism placed the Emperor in an unchallenged position of power and influence. Therefore, whoever acted in the name of the Emperor could control the destiny of Japan. In theory, the armed forces were controlled directly by the Emperor, but military leaders were qualified to speak for the Emperor. By making use of this absolute obedience to the Emperor, the militarists started to carry out aggression against neighboring peoples in Korea and China in the early 1930s, stating that expansion served the will of the Emperor and the nation’s interest.

Despite some achievements in the earlier years, the failure of democratically elected parliamentary government became apparent by the late 1920s. This failure of popularly elected political parties to provide effective national leadership gave the militarists their chance to rise to power. The failure of political parties derived partly from their own weaknesses: internal disunity, corruption, little popular support, and economic failures.

Also, there was strong reaction among the army officers against the “weak” diplomacy of the parliamentary government. The military men resented any plan by the elected government to limit the size of the armed forces and regarded the government policy of trying to improve relations with China as a sign of weakness. Militarists were especially unhappy with the 1930 London Naval Disarmament Conference in which the Japanese government agreed to naval inferiority in the Pacific compared to Britain and the United States. Shortly after this meeting, the Japanese Prime Minister was assassinated by an extremist militarist.

By the late 1920s, a number of diplomatic and economic developments accelerated the rise of militarism in Japan. First, China by 1928 was on the verge of being unified under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek. A unified and stronger China could threaten Japan’s position in Manchuria and Korea. The Chinese government located in the city of Nanking was trying to bring Manchuria back into China’s control. In the eye of the militarists, Japan had to act fast in order to safeguard its interests. Consequently, in September 1931, the Japanese Army took action and seized control of the Chinese province of Manchuria. Later in 1937 following victory in the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, Japanese military forces systematically killed or raped tens of thousands of civilians in and around the Chinese capital – an event known as the “Rape of Nanking”.

Another significant factor that eventually helped the cause of the militarists were the effects of the Great Depression of the mid 1930s on Japan’s economy. This world-wide depression led to a collapse of international trade. This development was very detrimental to Japan’s economy which depended heavily on export trade. Thus, between 1929 and 1931, Japan’s exports dropped 50%, unemployment reached 3 million, and peasants’ real income dropped one-third as a result of falling prices for silk. Then, there was a failure of rice crop in 1932. Such rural distresses intensified the discontents of the army officers, many of whom had connections with the rural population. Militarists blamed the democratically elected political parties in power and believed that parliamentary policies were ruining Japan. Consequently, there was growing popular support for military control in the face of the economic crisis. Many Japanese people believed that overseas expansion was an effective solution to economic problems and made the nation desperate for military expansion across Asia.

Japan’s expansionism was not an isolated event. In Europe during this same period, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy also undertook territorial expansion in Europe and North Africa. Theses aggressive actions echoed and reinforced each other’s, thereby drawing these three countries closer together. By 1940, the so-called Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis alliance took shape and this became an important factor for the outbreak of the Second World War.

Take notes in your notebook by summarizing how each of the factors contributed to the Militarists takeover in Japan

Ideological Factors (Philosophy & Beliefs):

Political Factors (Government & Laws):

Diplomatic Factors (Relations & Policies toward other countries):

Economic Factors (Trade, Jobs and Finance):

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