P116 Long befrore 1914, Amreica's minifest destiniy had carried it far beyond its own shores;the USA had no intention of standing aside while the Europeas were occupying the world.In 1867 it annexed Midway Island;in 1878 it established a semi-protectoreate over Tutuila in Samora;it annexed Hawai[1} in 1893(which foreshadowed its clash with Japan at Peal Harbor in 1941) and Wake island and Guam in 1898.Then,led by President William McKinley, following the sinking of the US battleship Maine in the port of Havana, it conquered Spanish Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines(1898) and what ever else was left of Spain's empire,other than Morcco.The Philllipines were regarded by the USA as suitable jumping off point for China....
P117 At the time of the century, unsuccessful efforts were made to lease Samsah Bay from China.American began to talk about manchuria becoming Amreica's 'new West'(which is partly why, in 1907 and 1910, Russia and Japan divided it between themselves),....As a 'corollary to the Monroe Doctrine(1823),Thedore Roosevelt announced the right of the USA to intervene in Latine America to prevernt'chronic wrong doing' and European interference.....
p213 Between 1918 and 1941, Japan's conduct towards the rest of the world ocillated between peaceful and war like intentions.For most of the 1920s, it gave the other power little to grumble about.At the Washington Naval Conference----called by the USA to discuss political stability in East Asia and nabval disarmament---Japan amicably accepted Britain's decision to tereminate the Anglo-Japananese Alliance of 1902,....A Four Poewer Pacific Treaty was signed between the USA, the British Empire, Franceand Japan.Japan even became conciliately towards China, handing back Shantung Province in 1922(temporaily),Japan also cooporated with the USA and Britain by agreeing to scale down its naval armaments,and by accepting a ratio of major warships favourble to the Western powers......Japana cooporated with the Western powers again on naval discussion s at Geneva in 1927.With the London Naval Treaty of 1930, it extended to its heavy cruisers the three-to-five ratio it hadd accepted with the USA,mit pledged to maintan the staus quo in the Pacific.....
p214
Forces were at work,however that would eventually undermine whatever goodwill was established between Japan and the West.Following the policies already introduced in the British dominions, the United States immigration Quota Acts of 1921 and 1924 deliberately penalized Asian immigrants,including the Japanese.The introduction was denounced as the a 'day of shame'Growing world autarchy resulted in the excusion of Japanese products from Amreican and other Western markets.The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, whch caused the further decline of internationl trade, upon which Japan greatly depended.Between 1929 and 1931 the value of Japanese exports was halved.Protective measures taken by the Dutch in 1932 and by the British in 1933 further restricted the sale of Japanese goods.With vastly increased number,and with its population growing by a million a year, Japan needed to find----either throught the expansion of world commerce or by territorial aggrandizement in Manshuria---a solution to its demographic and economic problems.
To the detriment of future world relations , the economic problems strenghened the hands of the Japanese militalirists and ultra-nationalists, Condemed by the League of Nations fro its invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Japan abondoned the league in March 1933......In 1936 Japan withdrew from the London Naval Treatyl from being a friend of the British, Japan became a potential enemy.
In the same year Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany, there were more political assasinations and attempted coups in Tokyo. In 1937, taking advantage of the fact the Erurope was preoccupied with the Spanish Civil War(1936-9), Japan began its long-prepared invasion of central and southern China.In December 1937 Japanese troops entered Nanking;an estimated 200,000 Chinese were massacred over the next two months;others died from Japan's use of biological weapon such as plague,By now,the military were completely in charge of Japanese policy, In 1938 the League of Nations,prompeted by the Americans , declared Japan as aggressor,The Next year the USA rescinded its Treaty of Commerce and Navigation with Japan.As a warning,the American Pacific---now the world's greatest---was moved from its base in San Diago on Pearl Harbor, 2000 miles closer to the Japanese achipInelago.In 1940 Japan signed a tripartite Pact of Mutual Assistance with Italy and Germany;it also signed a friendship with Thailand.President Roosvelt responded with ecnomic sanctions, including the cutting off of scrap iron and steel supplies.In September 1940 Japan began its expansion in the Pacific by occupying northern French Indo-China.Roosevelt's answer was to ban oil shipment to Japan.
Denied vital oil supplies Japan faced a stark choice;it either had to abondon its stake in China (which the American demanded and which Japan could not possibly condede) or seize the oil of Indonesia, then called the Dutch East Indies.oil was the crucial issue. In 1941, thorugh nominally still at peace with Japan, the USA bannd virtually all normal trade and froze all Japanese assets. Japan found itself in a corner from which,outside of war or humiliation, it could not escape.The only thing it coud do was try to neutralize the Soviet Union, which it did when it signed a non-aggression pact with Moscow in April 1941.
By then,the USA had come to be regarded by many Japanese as their country's chief enemy.The only crime Japan was committing in expanding on th the landmass of Asia was to upset the division of world territory already settled in the West's favor. It was doing nothing the West had not done.What was the difference, the Japanese asked, between US actions in Central America and the Caribbean and their own idea of 'Co-prosperity Sphere' in Asian. Only the USA---sated wit territory---prevented Japan from fullfilling its destiniy as the leader of East Asia.......
On 7 December 1941 the Japanese made their surprise attack against the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and installations in the Phillipines.
p245 On 6 August an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and on 9 August on Nagasaki. In Hirosshima more than 100,000 people died instantly; similar number died later from the effects of radiation. One of the most powerful considerations in dropping the bomb was to avoid the immense casualties that invasion would have incurred;another consideration was to end the war before the Soviet could stake a claim for the joint cccupation of Japan.
I think it is wrong to say that Japan engaged in the war to liberate Asia,but it is also wrong to say the allies engaged in the war to liberate Asia.
Post War East Asia
China
p367 Immidiately followin Mao's triumph,China reasserted itself in Manchuria, Inner Mongolia and Chinese Trukistan.In 1950 the People's Liberation Army reclaimed Tibet (which had broken away during China's 1911 revolution)
Taiwan
The tensions between China and Taiwan find their roots in the 1949 Chinese revolution, when communists led by Chairman Mao claimed control of the mainland
Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek withdrew to Taiwan, with two million refugees, vowing the reclaim the mainland.
With the influx of so many refugees, resentment grew between the millions of native Taiwanese and the mainland newcomers. The conflict reached such a point that Chiang imposed a "perpetual" martial law over the island for the next 38 years. Thousands of opponents were executed under his rule, and severe restrictions were placed on civil and political liberties.
With the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 U.S.
President Harry S. Truman ordered the 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent possible Chinese attack on the island. It was the first time the United States had intervened in the conflict between the island and mainland. The U.S. considered Taiwan a buffer against communist expansion in Asia and provided the island money and military supplies.
Calls for independence
During the 1960s some native Taiwanese, upset by the rule of the mainland minority, began to call for independence from China. It was during this time that focus shifted from reclaiming the mainland to developing the island itself.link
Tens of thousands of protesters have taken part in a march and rally in Taipei highlighting the threats that Taiwan faces from mainland China.
"The great Taiwanese people oppose annexation and invasion," President Chen Shui-bian told the crowd.BBC
Indonesia
During World War II, with the Netherlands under German occupation, Japan began a five-prong campaign in December 1941 towards Java and the vital fuel supplies of the Dutch East Indies. Though Japan captured Java by March 1942, it initially could not find any national leader willing to collaborate with the Japanese government against the Dutch. Eventually the Japanese commander ordered Sukarno’s release from his prison island, and in July 1942, Sukarno arrived in Jakarta. Sukarno and his colleagues collaborated with the Japanese occupiers. In 1945, with the war drawing to a close, Sukarno was made aware of an opportunity to declare independence. In response to lobbying, Japan agreed to allow Sukarno to establish a committee to plan for independence. However, Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declared independence unilaterally on 17 August soon after the Japanese lost the war. Following the defeat of Japan in the World War, the Netherlands' Army, at first backed by the British, attempted to reoccupy their former East Indies colonies. Indonesia's war for independence lasted from 1945 until 27 December 1949 when, under heavy international pressure, especially from the United States, which threatened to cut off Marshall Plan funds, the Netherlands acknowledged the independence of Indonesia as a Federation of autonomous states.wiki
French Indochina
On March 9, 1945, with France liberated, Germany in retreat, and the United States ascendant in the Pacific, Japan decided to take complete control of French Indochina. The Japanese kept power until the news of their government's surrender came though in August, after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
After the war, France had the Franco-Siamese treaty of 1938 nullified and attempted to reassert itself in the region, but came into conflict with the Viet Minh, an organization of Communist Vietnamese nationalists under French-educated Ho Chi Minh. During World War II, the United States had supported the Viet Minh in resistance against the Japanese; the group was in control of the country apart from the cities since the French gave way in March 1945. After persuading Emperor Bao Dai to abdicate in his favour, on September 2, 1945 Ho — as president — declared independence for the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. But before the end of September, a force of British, French and Indian soldiers, along with captured Japanese troops, restored French control. Bitter fighting ensued in the First Indochina War. In 1950 Ho again declared an independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which was recognized by the fellow Communist governments of China and the Soviet Union.
Fighting lasted until March 1954, when the Viet Minh won the decisive victory against French forces at the grueling Battle of Dien Bien Phu. This led to the partition of Vietnam into the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the North, under Viet Minh control, and the State of Vietnam in the South, which had the support of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France. The events of 1954 also marked the end of French involvement in the region, and the beginnings of serious US commitment to South Vietnam which led to the Vietnam War.wiki
India
The movement was largely led by Mahatma Gandhi and during Second World War by the Japanese backed Indian National Army led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. Millions of protestors would engage in mass campaigns of civil disobedience with a commitment to ahimsa or non-violence. Finally, on 15 August, 1947, India gained independence from British rulewiki
HongKong
Following Japan's seizure of Manchuria in 1932, the Sino-Japanese war broke out. As Japan headed towards China, thousand of Chinese people came to Hong Kong, the number of refugees growing rapidly. That brought Hong Kong's population to about 1.6 million people at the start of World War II. World War II disrupted all activity in Hong Kong. On December 25, 1941, the British surrendered the territory to the Japanese army. U.S. submarines brought Japanese planes to Hong Kong to prepare there for further attacks on the East Asian region. After Japan's surrender in August of 1945, Britain reclaimed its territory. After that, Chinese civilians returned and the population, which had decreased rapidly, grew to 1.8 million again.
Singapore
Before the Japanese Occupation, the British government in Singapore was respected and feared. Everybody, including the British themselves, thought that the British would be able to protect Singapore from attacks by other countries, and that the British would rule Singapore forever.
The Japanese Occupation, however, made people begin to think very differently. The British surrendered very quickly to the Japanese. Overnight, British soldiers became prisoners-of-war. In contrast to the picture of health and fitness that they presented before the War, they were now reduced to skin-and-bones, arousing not fear but pity from the local people.
After the War, many local people felt that since the British had been the masters of Singapore for well over a hundred years and yet had failed to protect it, the British should therefore leave Singapore.
At first, the British did not want to give up their control over Singapore. This was because they knew that Singapore would still be useful as a free port for British goods and as a military base. However, some people in Singapore were determined to fight for self-government and democracy, and had formed political parties to achieve this. Outside Singapore, many countries which had been colonies before World War II were on the way to governing themselves too. The influence of such external events increased the local people's desire to govern themselves. In the face of the people's demands, the British began to make some changes.History of Singapore
Maalaysia
The Japanese invasion of Malaya and British Borneo in late 1941, which culminated in the humiliating British surrender in Singapore two and a half months later, shattered Western colonial supremacy and unleashed the forces of incipent nationalism. Although the British were able to resume their authority in the region after the collapse of Japan in 1945, they faced an entirely new political situation and those circumstances forced them to adopt new policies.
As a result, the Straits Settlements were dissolved. Pulau Pinang and Melaka were joined with the Malay States of the Peninsula to form a new Malayan Union. Singapore become a separate crown colony and so did both Sarawak and British North Borneo in place of the former Brooke and Chartered Company regimes. Labuan was joined to British North Borneo.
These new arrangements met with considerable Malaysian opposition. In Sarawak, a strong campaign developed opposing the crown colony status and culminated in the assassination of the second British governor (1949). But the most serious opposition was in the Malay Peninsula against the Malayan Union which reduced the status of the Malay States virtually to that of a British colony.
Consequently, the British were obliged to abandon the Malayan Union scheme, and in 1948 in its place established the Federation of Malaya, after protacted negotiations with the Malay Rulers, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) and other parties concerned. The new Federation consisted of all the nine Malay states of the Peninsula, along with Melaka and Pulau Pinang, united under a Federal Government in Kuala Lumpur headed by a British High Commissioner.
virtualmalaysia
Burma
During World War II Burma became a major front in the Southeast Asian Theatre. After initial successes by the Japanese in the Burma Campaign, during which the British were expelled from most of Burma, the Allies retaliated. By July 1945 had retaken the country. The Burmese fought for both sides in the war. The Burma 1st Division, the Kachin Levies, the Karen Rifles and in other formations such as the American-Kachin Rangers fought for the Allies. The Burmese National Army under the command of Aung San fought for the Japanese to drive the British out, but subsequently switched sides to drive the Japanese out in 1945wiki
[1]Hawai
After a century of American rule, many native Hawaiians remain bitter about how the United States acquired the islands, located 2,500 miles from the West Coast.
In 1893, a small group of sugar and pineapple-growing businessmen, aided by the American minister to Hawaii and backed by heavily armed U.S. soldiers and marines, deposed Hawaii's queen. Subsequently, they imprisoned the queen and seized 1.75 million acres of crown land and conspired to annex the islands to the United States.
On January 17, 1893, the conspirators announced the overthrow of the queen's government. To avoid bloodshed, Queen Lydia Kamakaeha Liliukalani, yielded her sovereignty, and called upon the U.S. government "to undo the actions of its representatives." The U.S. government refused to help her regain her throne. When she died in 1917, Hawaii was an American territory. In 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state after a plebiscite in which 90 percent of the islanders supported statehood.degita history
[2] Philippines
Annexation Fever. There were also many in the United States who saw the advantages of taking over the Philippines. Many missionaries, for instance, favored annexation. So did people who feared that Germany might get the Philippines if the United States did not. Some favored annexation to give America a “foothold” in the populous markets of Asialink
I. THE PHILIPPINE-AMERICAN WAR
....Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation. On December 21, 1898, President William Mckinley announced his decision to keep the Philippines as an American colonial possession.
Entitled “Benevolent Assimilation Proclamation,” the McKinley proclamation was announced in the Philippines on January 4, 1899. It stated clearly the intention of the United States to stay permanently in the Philippines.It was a Filipino. I yelled “Halt!” and made it pretty loud, for I was accustomed to challenging the officer of the guard in approved military style. I challenged him with another loud “halt!” Then he shouted “halto!” to me. Well, I thought the best thing to do was to shoot him. He dropped. If I didn’t kill him, I guess he died of fright. Two Filipinos sprang out of the gateway about 15 feet from us. I called “halt!” and Miller fired and dropped one. I saw that another was left. Well, I think I got my second Filipino that time.
.....
The Americans viewed the fighting as an insurrection, not a war. Hence, Americans refer to this episode as the Philippine Insurrection, not the Philippine-American War.....
Dragged by Galloping Horses. During the war, torture was resorted to by American troops to obtain information and confessions. The water cure was given to those merely suspected of being rebels. Some were hanged by the thumbs, others were dragged by galloping horses, or fires lit beneath others while they were hanging.
Another form of torture was tying to a tree and then shooting the suspect through the legs. If a confession was not obtained, he was again shot, the day after. This went on until he confessed or eventually died.
Villages were burned, townfolks massacred and their possessions looted. In Samar and Batangas, Brigadier General Jacob H. Smith and General Franklin Bell, respectively, ordered the mass murders in answer to the mass resistance.
On the other hand, Filipino guerrillas chopped off the noses and ears of captured Americans in violation of Aguinaldo’s orders. There were reports that some Americans were buried alive by angry Filipino guerrillas. In other words, brutalities were perpetrated by both sides.
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Concentration Camps. General Miguel Malvar of Batangas, who took over the leadership of the fallen Aguinaldo, continued the fight. He was the commanding general of all forces south of the Pasig River. The Americans committed barbaric acts because of the population’s support to the guerrillas.
For instance, by December 25, 1901, all men, women, and children of the towns of Batangas and Laguna, were herded into small areas within the poblacion of their respective towns. The American troops burned their houses, carts, poultry, animals, etc. The people were prisoners for months.
Those acts were considered by many as an early version of the concentration camps used by American soldiers in the Vietnam War.link
references/
Old US plan to invade NZ revealed
18 July 2006
By EDWARD GAY
History of United States overseas expansion/wiki
As a child of a poor Indian immigrant family growing up in the 1950s in the British colony of Singapore, neither I nor my classmates could have even conceived the notion that an Asian century would begin in our lifetimes. We believed that London was the center of the universe;
Cultural confidence is a necessary but not sufficient condition for development. Centuries of European colonial rule had progressively reduced Asian self-confidence. Future generations of Indian citizens will be wondering how 300 million Indians—including my own ancestors—allowed themselves to be passively ruled by fewer than 100,000 Britons. Those as yet unborn will not understand how deeply the myth of European cultural superiority had been embedded into the Indian psyche. Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Indian Prime Minister, once said the defeat of Russia in 1905 by Japan first triggered the idea of independence for India in his mind. That was a remarkable admission; it implied that intelligent Indians could not conceive of governing themselves before Japan, an Asian power, defeated a European one.time.com
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