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
EN
C
H
(^)
IN
D
O
C
H
IN
A
NEPAL
THAILAND
KOREA
M
AL
AY
A
B
U
R
M
A
USA
New
Gui
nea
AF
GH
AN
IS
TA
N
I
N
D
IA
U
S
S
R
AUSTRALIA
J
A
P
A
N
C
H
I
N
A
IRAN
TANNU
- TU
VA
US_106-107_japanese_ambitions_in_asia.indd 107 24/05/19 1:16 PM