Reasons For Japan's Expansion Prior To World War II

Japan’s expansion prior to World War Two is directly related to why World War Two was launched in the far east (Japan) and the far west (USA) (ocs…). As the whole world was experiencing the Great Depression in the 1930s, Japan was emerging out of its own depression in 1926, making it more economically superior in relation to the other countries (afe…). The main reason for their expansion was that the nationalists party in Japan rise to power at the end of the nineteenth century, and with them, Japan rose to become the most powerful empire in the far east (globalsecurity… and history…). Since Japan was rapidly increasing in size prior to World War Two, they weren’t afraid of joining the war and were very confident in their strength to succeed in the war (ushmm…).

The USA wanted Japan to hand over China and French Indochina (Vietnam), but the Japanese government had no intention of doing that, as they were dreaming of establishing the “Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere”, which included most of the northeast-asian, southeast-asian, and Oceanic countries. It was created in hopes of expelling the western imperialism and wanting to bring all of these countries back to their original cultures, as well as creating a union of allies nations that trade all of their goods, with Tokyo as their capital (alphahistory… and japanfocus…). When President Franklin D. Roosevelt realized Japan’s true intentions, he proposed a trade blockade on them. That order proved to be catastrophic for Japan, as the USA was their greatest provider of oil, steel, and many other materials that Japan greatly relied on (Axelrod 142). Due to the blockade by the US, other countries such as Great Britain and the Netherlands also stopped trading with Japan, causing Japan’s overseas trade to drop by 75% and to lose 88% of its imported