The+Pacific+Theatre

Click here for the presentation on the Ascent of the Japanese Empire media type="custom" key="22945562"

1. What were Japan's first major acts of aggression before World War II and what land did they acquire? 2. Some historian's argue that World War II did not begin with Hitler's invasion of Poland, but with Japan's aggression in 1937? What did the Japanese do during this year? Do you think WW II began in 1937 or 1939? 3. Compare and contrast Japanese aggression with the aggression of the Nazi's in the decade prior to the war. 4. Why was Nanjing the target of such brutality? Why is this attack referred to as the "Rape of Nanjing?" 5. Read the quote from Colonel Yahara below. What about the Japanese military philosophy would have made them an especially challenging enemy to fight? How might this have shaped other countries' military strategies? Would this have caused the Japanese to treat prisoners of war that they captured differently? ===="In Japan, from the thirteenth century until the Meiji Restoration of the mid-nineteenth century, there are many examples where every soldier was killed in defense of the castle. In some cases only the lord of the castle committed suicide, while the soldiers (samurai) lived. In the early years of Meiji, Tokugawa supporters readily surrendered to the new Imperial Army. Since the Meiji Restoration, through the Sino-Japanese War, the Russo-Japanese War, and the China Incident of 1931, Japan had never lost a war. We also had never waged a war in which large forces were isolated from mainland support. Thus, not to be taken prisoner became a fixed principle---part of our military education. Since the middle of the Greater East Asia War, most Japanese garrisons in the Pacific islands adhered to this supreme Japanese principle: 'Never surrender to the enemy.' Officers and men usually committed suicide, as a last resort to avoid the ultimate 'shame of capture."====
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