World War 2
Japan's Road to War
Japan had begun to intervene in mainland China in 1931, when the troops it stationed there to guard the Japanese-run railways in Manchuria took over the province. War with China followed in 1937 when the Japanese garrison guarded the embassy at Peking exchanged fire with Chinese troops before going on the offensive.
Japan went on to occupy the entire Chinese coast and large tracts of inland. The Japanese invasion of China and subsequent conquest of swathes of the Pacific and South-East Asia was characterized with extremes of brutality.
Without military support from Britain, which allowed war materials to be transported along the 'Burma Road' to Chungking, the Chinese government headed by Chaing Kai-shek, would have been unable to resist the Japanese.
Without military support from Britain, which allowed war materials to be transported along the 'Burma Road' to Chungking, the Chinese government headed by Chaing Kai-shek, would have been unable to resist the Japanese.
The United States had stood aside from the Japanese expansion. But in September 1940 it was extended to French Indochina, where Vichy France granted Japan military bases from which it could threaten Malaya, the East Indies and the US protectorate of the Philippines.
President Roosevelt chose an economic weapon to halt the Japanese advance, imposing an embargo on rubber, which was followed in 1941 by the freezing of all Japanese assets in the United States and the announcement of an oil embargo against all aggressors, including Japan. Because of this, the Japanese were deprived of 90% of their oil suppliers and 75& of their foreign trade. The Japanese were confronted with a choice - diplomatic retreat from their Chinese conquests of war.. They decided to play for time whilst planning a surprise attack on the US Navy.