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JAPANESE AMBITIONS 107

Despite its size and its extensive empire, Japan had only limited

access to vital raw materials. The oil, coal, steel, iron, and minerals it

needed to drive its economy all had to be imported. Japan’s conquest

of Manchuria in 1931 (see pp.22–23) provided much-needed coal, but

demand for oil, tin, and rubber had yet to be met. Japan’s incursions

into eastern Siberia in the 1930s were defeated by the USSR. The

Japanese government thereafter looked toward the resource-rich

European colonial territories in Southeast Asia.

Japan used discontent against the colonial powers to propose

the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in 1940, promising “Asia

for the Asiatics” and independence from oppression (see pp.222–223).

Japan also allied with independent Thailand in June 1940, and began

to plan for war in April–May 1941. It prepared for an invasion of

Southeast Asia by occupying French Indochina in July 1941—an

act that prompted an economic embargo of Japan by the Western

powers. Faced with impending oil shortages and potential economic

collapse, Japan prepared for a larger war, planning its conquests and

its defense of a greatly enlarged empire.

THE ECONOMIC EMBARGO AGAINST JAPAN

“I fear we would become a third-class nation

after two or three years if we just sat tight.”

PRIME MINISTER HIDEKI TOJO, NOVEMBER 5, 1941

In order to deter Japanese military

expansion in China and Southeast

Asia, the US, Britain, and the Dutch

East Indies restricted and then

ended sales of oil, iron ore, and

steel to Japan. Without oil, the

Japanese military would have quickly

ground to a halt. The Japanese

referred to these embargoes as the

ABCD (American-British-Chinese-

Dutch) encirclement. In April 1941

they began to draw up plans to seize

resource-rich Malaya and the Dutch

East Indies.

JAPANESE

AMBITIONS

After the invasion of China, Japan looked elsewhere to

expand its empire. By 1941, it became clear that Japan

had substantial imperial and economic ambitions in

Southeast Asia, particularly regarding the American

and European colonies in the region.

Thai gains by May 1941

THAI GAINS JUNE 1940–MAY 1941

Unlike its neighbors, Thailand was independent from

Western control. Under the military dictatorship of

Field Marshal Luang Phibunsongkhram, Thailand allied

itself with Japan in June 1940. Taking advantage of the

German conquest of France (see pp.54–55), Thailand

declared war on Vichy France in October 1940, and by

May 1941 had seized two areas of French Indochina.

3

INDOCHINA SEPTEMBER 1940–JULY 1941

After the fall of France, Japan first occupied northern

French Indochina in September 1940. On July 28, 1941,

they made further incursions into southern Indochina,

moving 140,000 troops to prepare for an invasion of

the Dutch East Indies. Vichy officials and French

troops were allowed to remain in Indochina under

Japanese supervision.

4

THE NEED FOR RESOURCES 1940–1941

By 1940, Japan had acquired China’s north-east and

much of its east coast, but still faced strong opposition

inland. Its war economy remained in desperate need

of oil from the Dutch East Indies and tin and rubber

from British Malaya. In anticipation of military advance,

Japan had built a number of forward bases on its

mandated islands (see pp.16–17) in the mid-Pacific.

1

RAW MATERIALS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Japanese forward bases

Coal

Oil

Iron

Rubber

Tin

JAPANESE EXPANSION

By December 1941, Japan had

taken over much of northern

and eastern China, occupied

French Indochina, and

acquired an ally in Thailand.

Its eventual aim was to create

a defensive perimeter to

protect Japan itself.

KEY

US

Netherlands

Britain and

Commonwealth

COLONIAL POSSESSIONS IN 1941

France

Portugal

Under British and

French administration

Japanese Empire

in 1920

Japanese Empire

gains by 1940

GREATER EAST ASIA CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE

JUNE 1940–1945

On June 29, 1940, Japan announced its intention to

create a self-sufficient “bloc of Asian nations led by

the Japanese and free of Western powers.” Initially

intended to support pan-Asian ideals of freedom, the

plan was later corrupted by Japanese Nationalists to

affirm their supposed superiority over other Asians.

2

Territories that became part of the Greater East

Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere

1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945

TIMELINE

1 2 3 4 5 6

Dutch soldiers destroy oil

reserves in Java

Japanese bases established in Indochina

I N D I A N O C E A N

P A C I F I C O C E A N

Arafura

Sea

Coral

Sea

Sea of Japan

(East Sea)

East

China

Sea

Sea of

Okhotsk

Gilbert

Islands

Bismarck

Archipelago

Midway

Atoll

Kwajalein Atoll

Marshall

Islands

Wake

Island

P

H

IL

IP

PI

N

ES

Timor

Java

Sumatra

Borneo

Mariana Islands

Yap

Guam (to US)

Truk Lagoon

Celebes

Saipan

Palau

Islands

Taiwan

Hainan

Fiji

New

Caledonia

New

Hebrides

Carolin

e Islands

Alaska

SAR

AW

AK

BRITISH

NORTH

BORNEO

MONGOLIA

Shanghai

Nanjing

Beijing

Harbin

Fushun

Rangoon

Toungoo

Manila

Saigon

Port

Moresby

Vladivostok

(MANCHURIA)

MANCHUKUO Khabarovsk

Nagasaki

Pusan

Taihoku

Seoul

Guangzhou

Hanoi

Haiphong

Mandalay

Palembang

Chongqing

Kunming

Singapore

Tokyo

Kyoto

Bangkok

Kuala

Lumpur

Calcutta

Delhi Lhasa

Batavia

D

UT

CH

(^) E A ST INDI
ES
BHUTAN
CEYLON
FR
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IN
D
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IN
A
NEPAL
THAILAND
KOREA
M
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A
B
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M
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USA
New
Gui
nea
AF
GH
AN
IS
TA
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IA
U
S
S
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AUSTRALIA
J
A
P
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TANNU

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US_106-107_japanese_ambitions_in_asia.indd 107 24/05/19 1:16 PM