Rumors are all around that Japan was afraid of Russia. It's true, Russia left the Japanese fearful of them, due to the Russo Japanese war. The Japanese chose to go to war after feeling threatened by Russian armies and their strategic way of plotting war. The Japanese Navy made a rash attempt in launching a surprise attack on the Russian Eastern fleet at Port Arthur, in 1904 when negotiations failed. Now one may think that the Japs were afraid because of several loses of battles to the Soviets, but it was the Russians who suffered many defeats to Japan. Tsar Nicholas II had a gut feeling that Russia would gain at least one victory, so his pursuit in the war did not cease. He first wanted to see the outcomes of some naval battles, but then to get back the dignity of the Soviets by considering a "humiliating peace". The war kept on whilst the Treaty of Portsmouth, which officially ended the Russo-Japanese war on September 5th, 1905, by U.S. president, Theadore Roosevelt. The whole achievement of the Japanese military surprised the world. The Russians beat the Japanese severely, transforming the balance of power in East Asia, and resulting into analysis of Japans prior entry into the global stage.
Jumping ahead many years later, on December 7th, 1941, hundreds of Japanese fighter airplanes attacked near Honolulu, Hawaii where there was an American naval base at Pearl Harbor. This was an absolutely brutal incursion where they attacked the Americans on complete surprise. America had been avoiding war for decades, knowing they didn't need or want it, but Japanese government believed that the only way to fix its demographic and economic problems was to expand its neighboring territories and secure more resources. After all, America was right next door, and they had everything they needed. Though this isn't the only contact that the Japs and the Americans had when it came to war. America had made attempts to keep out of the war, in one way, refusing sales of war materials to the Japanese and everyone else, which angered Japan, because what is a nation with no supplies? The Japanese hardly had anything against, the Americans, but rather, were just doing their job. They were well trained and knew what they had to get done in order to serve and success their country. |