When we talk about World War II, most often remember the European theater of war.Meanwhile, in the vast Asia-Pacific, where the Germans were allies of the Japanese, the battle unfolded, who also had a considerable influence on the outcome of the war and the subsequent fate of the Asian peoples.
lightning strike
Hostilities began in Asia for the Japanese is still a few years before German tanks rolled into Poland.Using the weakness of China, where there was a struggle for power between several factions war, Japan had in 1932 successfully seized Manchuria, creating a semblance of an independent state there.After 5 years, the descendants of the samurai have started a war for the seizure of all of China.Therefore, the main events of the Second World War in 1939-1940 occurred in Europe and not in the Asian open spaces.The Japanese government has been slow to disperse its forces, is the leading colonial powers did not surrender.When France and the Netherlands were under German occupation, he began to prepare for war.
Land of the Rising Sun has very limited resources.Therefore, the main focus was on rapid capture of territories and their colonization.It can be said that Japan in World War II used the tactic, similar to the German blitzkrieg.After the capitulation of the French and the Dutch the most serious opponents in the region were the USSR and the USA.After June 22, 1941 the Soviet Union was not up to Japan, so the main blow was required to put on the American fleet.December 7 it was done - in the attack on Pearl Harbor were destroyed almost all American planes and ships in the Pacific.
This event was for the Americans and their allies as a complete surprise.Nobody believed that Japan was occupied by the war in China, another attack on some territory.But hostilities between all developed rapidly.Under the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong and quickly proved to Indochina, in January 1942, British troops were driven out of Malaysia and Singapore, and by May in the hands of Japanese were the Philippines and Indonesia.Under the rule of the descendants of the samurai, so was the huge territory of an area of 10 million sq. Kilometers.
success, which at first did Japan in World War II, contributed to the promotion and well thought-out.The peoples of Asia, taught that the Japanese came to liberate them from white imperialism and together build a prosperous society.Therefore, the occupiers at first supported the local people.Similar sentiments were not yet in occupied countries - such as India, where Japanese Prime Minister promised independence.It was only later, when he saw that "their" at first glance, aliens better than Europeans, locals began an active insurgency.
from victory to defeat
But the Japanese blitzkrieg collapsed with the same bang as the plan "Barbarossa".By the middle of 1942 the Americans and British came to life and began to attack.Win this fight Japan with its limited resources could not.In June 1942, the Americans inflicted a crushing defeat at Midway, near the famous Pearl Harbor.At the bottom of the Pacific left four Japanese aircraft carriers and the best Japanese pilots.In February 1943, after bloody fighting, which lasted several months, the Americans occupied Guadalcanal.
For six months, the United States, taking advantage of a lull at the front, increased the number of aircraft carriers, many times, and led a new attack.The Japanese left the Pacific archipelago, one after another under the pressure of an opponent who is superior to them in weapons and numbers.
However, it should be said that these victories were not given to the Americans is easy.Battles that Japan lost the Second World War, brought a lot of losses to the enemy.Soldiers and officers of the Imperial Army, in accordance with the traditions of the samurai, in no hurry to surrender and fought to the last.This resistance of the Japanese command actively used, a vivid example of which are the famous kamikaze.Even the beleaguered unit locked on the islands, held until recently.As a result, at the time of the surrender, many soldiers and officers of the Japanese army simply starved to death.
But neither heroism nor the dedication did not help Japan survive.In August 1945, after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the government decided to capitulate.So Japan in World War II was defeated.
country of US troops quickly occupied.They were executed war criminals, held parliamentary elections, a new constitution.Agrarian reform permanently eliminated the samurai class, and so there is more in the tradition.Cancelling the monarchy Americans did not dare, for fear of a social explosion.But the consequences of World War II to other Asian countries were such that forever changed the political map of the region.Who fought with the Japanese peoples are no longer willing to tolerate the colonial authorities and entered into a fierce struggle for their independence.
