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Book No. – 52 (History)
Book Name – Modern World History (Norman Lowe)
What’s Inside the Chapter? (After Subscription)
1. SUMMARY OF EVENTS
2. JAPAN BEFORE THE SECOND WORLD WAR
2.1. In 1918 Japan was in a strong position in the Far East
2.2. Why did Japan become a military dictatorship?
3. JAPAN RECOVERS
3.1. How was Japan’s rapid recovery possible?
3.2. Japanese recovery was not without its problems
4. Economic and political change: 1990-2004
5. SPAIN
5.1. Spain in the 1920s and 1930s
5.2. Why did civil war break out in Spain in 1936?
5.3. The civil war, 1936-9
5.4. Franco in power
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Japan and Spain
Chapter – 15
Table of Contents
SUMMARY OF EVENTS
- After Mussolini’s March on Rome (1922), many countries faced with economic problems turned to fascism or right-wing nationalism.
- In Japan, the democratically elected government fell under military influence in the early 1930s due to economic, financial, and political problems.
- The military led Japan into war with China and later attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, drawing Japan into World War II.
- Japan initially experienced success but eventually suffered defeat, culminating in the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- After the war, Japan returned to democracy and became an economic power, though it faced economic stagnation in the 1990s.
- In Spain, an incompetent parliamentary government was replaced by General Primo de Rivera (1923-1930), ruling as a benevolent dictator.
- The world economic crisis led to Rivera’s downfall, and King Alfonso XIII abdicated in 1931, avoiding bloodshed.
- The situation deteriorated into civil war (1936-1939), with right-wing Nationalists led by General Franco winning the war.
- Franco ruled Spain until his death in 1975, keeping the country neutral during World War II. The monarchy was restored, and Spain gradually returned to democracy.
- In Portugal, Antonio Salazar ruled as a right-wing dictator from 1932 until his 1968 stroke.
- Salazar’s Estado Novo (New State) was sustained by the army and the secret police until democracy returned in 1974after his successor was overthrown.
- Japan, Spain, and Portugal shared some characteristics with Mussolini and Hitler’s regimes, such as a one-party totalitarian state, death or imprisonment of opponents, secret police, and repression.
- However, they were not strictly fascist states, as they lacked mass mobilization for national rebirth, a key feature in Italy and Germany.
- Many South American politicians, like Juan Perón (Argentina) and Getúlio Vargas (Brazil), were influenced by fascism.
- Perón (1943-1955, 1973-74) and Vargas (1939-1945) adopted elements of European fascist ideas, especially the mobilization of mass support.
- Both leaders garnered huge support from the working classes and mass union movements.
- Their governments were a combination of nationalism and social reform, differing from Mussolini and Hitler’s fascist model.
- As historian Eric Hobsbawm notes, European fascism destroyed labour movements, while Latin American leaders inspired by fascism created them.
JAPAN BEFORE THE SECOND WORLD WAR
In 1918 Japan was in a strong position in the Far East
- Japan’s close contact with the West began in 1853 when Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Yokohama harbour with four battleships, demanding Japan open up trade with the USA.
- Over the next five years, Japan signed trade treaties with several Western countries, seen as a national humiliation by the Japanese.
- This humiliation spurred a determination to modernize and strengthen the country.
- In 1868, with the restoration of the Meiji emperor, Japan began modernization efforts including railways, improved road systems, industrialization (e.g., cotton and silk manufacturing), and a democratic parliamentary system modeled on Germany’s constitution.
- Japan became a unified and centralized empire for the first time in over two and a half centuries.
- To avoid being treated like China by Western powers, Japan occupied Korea and Manchuria, leading to two wars:
- War with China (1894-95)
- War with Russia (1904-05)
- Japan won both wars, and in the case of Russia, it was the first time an Asian country defeated a European power, establishing Japan as the dominant power in the Far East.
- Japan signed a military alliance with Britain in 1902.
- When World War I broke out in 1914, Japan joined the war on the side of Britain, primarily seizing German coloniesand bases in China.
- Japan was represented at the Versailles Peace Conference in 1919, became a member of the League of Nations, and was recognized as one of the ‘Big Five’ world powers.
- Japan had a powerful navy, a well-trained army, and substantial influence in China.
- Economically, Japan benefited from World War I as European nations were occupied with fighting:
- Japan provided shipping and other goods to the Allies.
- Japan stepped in to supply orders in Asia that Europeans could not fulfill.
- During the war years, Japanese cotton cloth exports nearly tripled, and the merchant fleet doubled in tonnage.
- Politically, hopes for democracy were raised in 1925 when all adult males were given the vote.
- However, by the early 1930s, the army took control of the government, undermining democratic progress.
Why did Japan become a military dictatorship?
- During the 1920s, Japan faced problems similar to Italy and Germany, where democratically elected governmentsstruggled to solve economic and political issues.
- Influential elite groups began to oppose democracy.
- Democracy was relatively new in Japan, with the Meiji emperor giving in to demands for a national assembly in the 1880s, believing that constitutions and representative government had helped the USA and Western Europe succeed.
- In 1889, Japan accepted a new constitution and established a parliamentary system with a House of appointed peers, a cabinet appointed by the emperor, and a Privy Council.
- The emperor retained significant power, including the ability to dissolve the Diet, make decisions about war and peace, and maintain control over the armed forces.
- The Diet had the power to initiate new laws, limiting the cabinet’s influence.
- After World War I, elite groups became more critical, particularly the army and conservatives, who opposed the government’s conciliatory approach to China and sought a more aggressive stance.
- Corruption among politicians was widespread, with politicians accepting bribes from big business, causing disillusionment with the government and damaging its prestige.
- The trade boom that benefited Japan during the war years ended in 1921, when European markets recovered.
- Unemployment and industrial unrest emerged, and farmers suffered from falling rice prices due to bumper harvests.
- Farmers and industrial workers who tried to organize were suppressed by the police.
- The world economic crisis of 1929 hit Japan hard, with exports shrinking and tariffs raised against Japanese goods.
- Raw silk exports, particularly to the USA, plummeted, causing severe poverty for farmers who relied on silk production.
- Army recruits were mostly peasants, and both officers and rank-and-file soldiers became increasingly frustrated with weak parliamentary government.
- By 1927, many officers, attracted to fascism, began planning to seize power and introduce a strong nationalist government.
- In 1931, the situation in Manchuria escalated as Japan’s economic interests were threatened by Chinese actions.
- The Japanese army invaded Manchuria without government permission, leading to the assassination of Prime Minister Inukai by military officers in 1932.
- From 1932 onward, the army effectively controlled Japan, using methods similar to Italy and Germany:
- Ruthless suppression of communists
- Assassination of opponents
- Tight control of education
- Build-up of armaments
- Aggressive foreign policy, including attacks on China (1937) and participation in World War II.
- Emperor Hirohito was criticized for not intervening to stop the invasion of Manchuria.
- Some historians, like Richard Storry, argue that Hirohito could have stopped the attacks, as his prestige could have influenced the military.
- When World War II began, Hirohito hesitated to form an alliance with Nazi Germany, but after early German successes, he agreed, leading to Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor (1941).
- Japan’s early victories included the capture of Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore, Burma, the Dutch East Indies, and the Philippines.
- Despite initial success, the attack on Pearl Harbor was not as decisive as it appeared, as American aircraft carrierswere not destroyed and proved pivotal in the defeat of Japan.
- In June 1942, the Battle of Midway marked a turning point in the war, with Japan suffering a significant defeat.
- Over the next three years, Japan suffered a series of reverses, culminating in the surrender of Japan in August 1945after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- Japan’s empire ambitions were shattered, and the country and its economy were left in ruins.