Account for Japans decision to go to war against the United States in 1941 - Essay Example

Attempts to successfully negotiate a ceasefire failed primarily on account of Japan’s refusal to return conquered territory (Iinkai 1973, 111). As the Second World War progressed, Japanese leaders began to feel increasingly vulnerable and particularly isolated (Bess 2008, 27). From the Japanese perspective the Soviet Union was a long and enduring enemy so that by 1936 Japan had subscribed to an anti-Communist pact with Germany and Italy. Fortifying the anti-Communist and anti-Soviet stance, Japanese military factors had conflict with the Soviet factions on Korea’s border with the Soviet Union in 1938.

A larger battle would follow between the two in 1939 at Nomonhan near the border between Mongolia and Manchuria. The latter was a region in China conquered by Japan. The Soviets defeated the Japanese in this later battle and forcing Japan to conclude a non-aggression truce with the Soviets having learned that Germany had entered into a similar agreement with the Soviets. The knowledge that Germany had engaged a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union would be a turning point for Japan. In the latter stages of the 1930s Japan had commenced cooperation strategies with Nazi Germany, assuming that the two nations would jointly attack the Soviet Union and divide that country’s wealth between them (Duiker and Spielvogel 2006, 696).

Japan came to the realization that it could not take the Soviet Union on its own and would inevitably have to find another method for obtaining its wealth. Attention then turned to Southeast Asia. This would mean a potential war with the Europe over its colonies in the area and the US who had already expressed disapproval of Japan’s attack on China, particularly following an attack on a US naval ship stationed in China (Duiker and Spielvogel 2006, 696). German victories in Europe in 1940 however, particularly the