1930-1940 Japan in East Asia. Japan's political strategy before the war: monograph. Right story. The Battle of Moscow and the Japanese “Ripe Persimmon Strategy”

Impact of economic difficulties on Japan

Economic recession, which affected Japan in 1927, was caused not only by the boycott of Japanese goods that unfolded in China. The main reason was their lack of competitiveness in foreign markets due to low quality, which led to a drop in exports and the collapse of many banks. Entrepreneurs were looking for the usual way out: they cut workers' wages, increased labor intensity, and demanded new subsidies from the state.

The worsening economic situation led to a change of government, but the new one, led by Shichi Tanaka, sent troops to Shandong, and failed to improve the situation. In addition, the presence of Japanese troops abroad required new expenses - in 1929 the government was forced to withdraw troops, which was the reason for Tanaka’s resignation.

Erupted at the end of 1929 global economic crisis had a huge impact on Japan. As is known, with the onset of the crisis, the United States and major European powers introduced increased customs tariffs on foreign goods in order to leave domestic markets to their entrepreneurs. This put Japan, which did not have its own capacious domestic market, in a difficult situation: already in 1930, the volume of exports decreased by 2 times.

Particularly catastrophic was the sharp reduction in the export of Japanese silk to the United States, which before 1930 accounted for almost a third of exports. All this led to a drop in the level of industrial production, government orders in heavy industry decreased by 2 times, and mass bankruptcies began. Production fell particularly sharply in the coal industry and shipbuilding. With the fall in prices for agricultural products, peasant incomes decreased and the domestic market narrowed even more.

The timing of the global crisis coincided with the strengthening of the Kuomintang's position in the newly unified China. This led to a reduction in Japanese capital activity and aggravated Japan's economic difficulties. The global recession since 1929 has had such far-reaching consequences as the curtailment of the process of democratization of Japanese society.

Socio-political consequences of the global crisis

The crisis gave rise to a wave of bankruptcies and mass unemployment in Japan: already in 1930 the number of unemployed exceeded 10 million people. Those who retained their jobs were forced to accept a reduction in wages by an average of 25-45% (depending on the area).

Masses of people who had lost their jobs began to return to their places of former residence - to the countryside, which immediately aggravated the social situation there. Landowners who rented out land began to raise rents and drive peasants off the land (many even preferred to farm themselves, using almost free labor that poured in from the cities). This led to clashes in rural areas and attempts to seize land without permission.

Despite the measures taken by the government to resolve these problems, the situation did not improve and unemployment grew. The population became increasingly convinced of the inability of the political parties that formed the governments to overcome the difficulties that had arisen and to protect people from the consequences of the economic crisis. Their authority was rapidly declining.

This has led to deep disillusionment among people with political institutions parliamentary democracy. In the minds of citizens, the deterioration in living standards was associated with the granting to parliament in 1924 of the right to form a government from political parties - after all, at the time when the emperor himself appointed the government, all this did not exist.

Measures taken by other countries to close their domestic markets to Japanese goods have caused a surge of xenophobia among the Japanese. The displacement of Japanese goods from foreign markets seemed to be an insidious plan directed specifically against Japan. Back in 1924, after the adoption of the emigrant law in the United States (which limited the annual quota of emigrants to 2% of the size of the ethnic community living in 1890 G.). Anti-American sentiment began to emerge in Japan. There were even calls for an economic boycott. However, trade with the United States played an important role for Japan: it accounted for 40% of exports; imports from the United States accounted for the most important types of raw materials (oil, cotton, scrap metal).

Now the “grievances” against the United States have manifested themselves with particular force and have spread to all Western countries. This was facilitated by the London Conference on maritime law 1930, in which Japan had to face the agreed position of England and the United States. In Japanese society, political parties have become associated with pro-Western policies.

In Japan, calls are increasingly heard to break with the West, to eliminate everything in the country political structures, borrowed at one time precisely from Europe, return to national traditions, to “firm power and order.”

With criticism of capitalist orders and industrial civilization back in the 1920s. The religious sect Omoto-kyo spoke out. In accordance with her ideal, she called for a return to the traditional peaceful life of farmers. However, denying the legitimacy of the rule of the emperors, she brought down the repressions of the authorities. The same thing happened with another sect - Hommity, it was also banned by the end of the 1920s.

But with the beginning of the 1930s. Ultranationalist sentiments are growing in Japan, which leads to turbulent domestic and foreign political events.

II. Revival of totalitarian sentiments in Japan

Activation of radical sentiments in the army and transition to an aggressive foreign policy

In 1930, as a result of the struggle for power in the army, two opposing groups emerged: the “imperial path group” (“Kodoha”) and the “control group” (“Toseiha”). The first was closely connected with the “new concerns”, with radical organizations among officers, including the “Young Officers” organization, led by Generals Araki and Mazaki.

Skillfully using social demagoguery, Kodoha opposed big capital, “speculator capitalists,” and “politicians.” Despite opposition to the authorities, its representatives succeeded in the early 1930s. seize a number of important posts in the state apparatus - General Araki even became Minister of War.

In the struggle for power, radicals used terror, exploded bombs in the offices of political parties, and organized conspiracies. In 1931 alone, 2 conspiracies were uncovered, during one of which Japanese Prime Minister Hanaguchi was killed.

On May 15, 1932, putschists from the Young Officers organization assassinated Prime Minister Inukai. Although the coup attempt failed and some of the conspirators were arrested, their leaders remained inviolable, including General Araki retained the post of Minister of War. Repression fell on the left-wing intelligentsia - 2,250 people were arrested in October 1932 alone.

Another group in the army, Toseiha, sought to put an end to putschism and establish strict control over the “young officers.” In ideology, she adhered to traditionalist nationalist concepts and was closely associated with financial groups and the imperial court. Since 1934, the “control group” has become closer to the Seiyukai party, which actually begins to support its slogans. She managed to strengthen her position by weakening the “Imperial Path Group.”

In September 1931, Japan switched to an aggressive foreign policy, seizing Manchuria from China. This caused a sharp deterioration in relations with the United States and European countries and contributed to the growth of nationalist sentiments. Having met the condemnation of the League of Nations, Japan left this organization in February 1933 and thereby demonstrated to the whole world that it no longer intended to take into account any international laws. This increased the feeling of international isolation in Japan and provided additional arguments in favor of national isolation.

Japan has embarked on the path of preparing for big war: Since July 1934, huge government subsidies have been allocated for the development of heavy industry, and large military orders have been placed at enterprises. At the same time, the intensity of labor has increased: wages have been reduced and the working day has been increased to 11 hours.

Of the major political parties, only Minseito and the Socialist Party tried to somehow strengthen the constitutional order and resist militarism and totalitarianism, but their role and influence in society was relatively small. All that remained was to eradicate from public consciousness remnants of liberal ideas.

Nationalist offensive against liberals in government

In 1935, there was still a struggle in the ruling circles of Japan between civilians and military. Prime Minister Hamaguchi sought to prevent the military elite from monopolizing influence on politics, arguing that the reorganization of the army and determination of the number of troops were the prerogatives of the cabinet, and not the military command.

At the very beginning of 1935, at the London Conference on the Law of the Sea, Japan found itself in diplomatic isolation and was forced to agree to reduce its naval forces. This caused serious criticism of the government from the military, who insisted that it was they who correctly understood the situation and could make decisions on issues so important to the country.

In February 1935, a campaign was launched against the liberal figure Professor T. Minobe: Baron T. Kikuchi, who spoke in the House of Peers, directly accused a member of the same chamber, T. Minobe, of insulting the “status of the emperor” and of “disloyalty.” The immediate reason for the accusation was the use by the government of Hamagu-chi of the provisions of the scientist’s works to justify the signing of the London Maritime Agreement. Although Professor Minobe managed to adequately respond to all the accusations, he still had to resign from the House of Peers and leave the University of Tokyo. The head of government, Hamaguchi, was also forced to resign. He was replaced by Okada.

The persecution of T. Minobe began in the country, his books were burned; even the government was forced to ban three books by T. Minobe and issue a special decree in which his theory was declared contrary to the true meaning of “kokutai”. The campaign against T. Minobe was only the beginning of a broad offensive by nationalist forces united around the “Imperial Way Group” against the liberals in the government.

At the same time, a campaign was launched in Japan to find out the “essence of kokutai.” The press and the public discussed: what are the specifics of Japan’s historical path, what are the features of its power structure, what is its historical purpose?

In February 1935, parliamentary elections were held, in which the extreme radicals suffered defeat. Nevertheless, on February 26, the “young officers” launched another coup attempt. It was headed by General Araki. Prime Minister Saito and a number of other major officials were killed, but the rebellion was suppressed by naval forces. However, the government led by Hirota included the military in the posts of naval and military minister, thereby recognizing their right to control over these areas. From now on, the “control group” wins the final victory in the struggle for power.

Since 1935, the role of the bureaucracy has been increasing in Japan. In the same year, the Research Bureau was created under the Cabinet of Ministers, which was engaged in planning public policy. Measures were also taken to weaken the influence of political parties in the country. Japan is speeding up preparations for a “big war”: increasing the production of new types of weapons, dissolving trade unions at military enterprises. In November 1936, an alliance was concluded with Germany and Italy (Anti-Comintern Pact), which determined Japan's future strategy.

III. Formation totalitarian regime

Justification of the specifics of Japan

The discussion on clarifying the essence of “kokutai”, which began in 1935, ended in 1937 with the publication of a special brochure “Basic principles of kokutai”. It was intended for teachers of “moral education” in educational institutions at all levels, but became a set of requirements for subjects regarding how they should evaluate the history, regime structure and purpose of Japan. The brochure was distributed to teaching staff of all schools and universities. School directors were given special notices about the need to use every opportunity to familiarize the widest possible range of the population with its content in order to “cultivate and awaken national feelings and consciousness.”

The introduction to the brochure emphasized that the cause of internal unrest and unrest in the mid-1930s. is the spread of Western ideas, and therefore it is necessary to explain to the broad masses the true essence of “kokutai”.

The first section outlined the myths associated with the origins of imperial power, examined the relationship between the emperor and his subjects, and drew attention to the unique qualities of the Japanese compared to other mortals.

The second dealt with the official interpretation of Japanese history, customs, way of life, national character traits, rituals and moral principles, features of the development of culture, economics and military affairs.

In the final part, the conclusion was made: Japan, “by the will of the gods,” has been entrusted with a special mission - to assimilate Western culture, but on the basis of “kokutai”, that is, to combine the technical achievements of the West with the spiritual values ​​of the East. Kokutai became the official ideology of the totalitarian regime in Japan.

In March 1937 created government led by Prince Konoe. It

relied on various groups in the army, primarily, of course, on the “control group”, as well as on the Seiyukai Party, which supported the idea of ​​​​transforming Japan into a totalitarian state. It was necessary to prepare internal structures states to wage a big war. Also in 1937, the League for the Mobilization of the National Spirit was created, headed by Prime Minister Konoe. This organization launched extensive activities in the country to promote militarism. On July 7, 1937, Japan began a full-scale war with China without encountering serious opposition from the West.

In November 1938, the Konoe government put forward the concept of a “new order in East Asia”: Japan would take on the role of “liberator of kindred peoples” from “Western colonialism” with the goal of creating a “new oriental culture" This kind of justification for external aggression caused official condemnation of Japan by the USA, England, France, Holland and others. Western countries, but not more.

However, there were still illusions about the main direction of Japanese aggression in the future (in August 1938, the famous events took place on Lake Khasan, and in 1939, battles broke out in Mongolia with Soviet troops, near Khalkhin Gol).

In 1939, a group of scientists under the Konoe cabinet formulated the theory of the “East Asian community” - it was about the formation pan-Asian interethnic community under the auspices of Japan on the basis of cultural unity and kinship of the peoples of East Asia. This was already an open challenge to the West, but the West itself was in a deep crisis, and soon the Second World War began.

Toughening of the regime

At the beginning of 1939, the Hiranuma government came to power in Japan, taking an even tougher course. In May 1939, the government increased pressure on China, demanding that the West recognize Japan's rights to the Shanghai settlement - this led to an open conflict, in particular, the Japanese-American trade agreement was terminated.

When World War II began in September 1939, Japan declared a “policy of non-participation” in the conflict. Her hands were still tied in China; in March 1940, the puppet government of Wang Jingwei was created there. Japan closely monitored the progress of the war in Europe, and there events clearly developed in favor of Germany.

By June 1940, all Western Europe was in the hands of Hitler, France was defeated and capitulated, England was left alone against

lecture sh. 1 photos of internal development of Japan in the 1930s. "

fascist states. This prompted Japan to take more decisive actions in Asia, in particular the occupation of Indochina, where, after the surrender of France, the weak power of the Vichy administration remained.

In July 1940, the Konoe government was created for the second time: a full-scale restructuring of the entire political system in accordance with military needs began in Japan. This was preceded by an ideological reorganization - it was then that the government announced its intention to create a “great East Asian shared prosperity sphere.” Japan's relations with Manchukuo were to serve as a model. The concept became the rationale for Japanese aggression and was considered the official doctrine during the Second World War. The future sphere was to include China, the countries of French Indochina, the British colonies of Burma and Malaya, Dutch Indonesia, and the American Philippines. These regions became the main focus of Japanese aggression.

In September 1940, a “tripartite pact” was concluded (with Italy and Germany) - Japan was finally determined. In 1941, a neutrality treaty was signed with the USSR, which was supposed to make it possible to cope with China and meant the final choice of the direction of Japanese expansion into the South Asian region.

By that time, the structures of a totalitarian regime had developed in the country. All attributes of parliamentary democracy were destroyed: political parties and trade unions were dissolved, elections were cancelled, parliament lost its role, and all democratic freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution were abolished.

Instead of political parties, since 1940 a single Association for Assistance to the Throne and its local branches have been created; all funds were brought under control mass media, the press and radio began to be subject to strict censorship.

Since the autumn of 1940, so-called “societies for serving the fatherland” have been created, which necessarily included teachers, journalists, writers, musicians, cultural figures and representatives of other professions intellectual work. The same kind of “societies” replaced the dissolved trade unions.

The authorities established strict social and political control over citizens through a recreated system of “neighborhood communities.” Communities united people at their place of residence, distributed food stamps and consumer goods, collected scrap metal, subscribed for war loans, etc.

The law “On the Protection of Public Peace” was tightened, and in 1941 an even more severe law “On Ensuring National Defense” was adopted, which threatened with hard labor even for the dissemination of information “harmful to public order.”

The economy was also entirely subordinated to the interests of the state. In each industry, “Control Associations” were created - through them government officials distributed orders, set prices, determined sales, and the flow of resources. It was an analogue of industrial ministries in the USSR. All resources came under the complete control of the state, primarily raw materials and fuel imported, and scrap metal. Japan is creating strategic reserves in case of war and blockade.

Peasants were in the same system: they were prescribed how much and what to grow, when and to whom to hand it over, at what prices, etc. In Japan, a strict labor regime was established: a 14-hour working day, the authorities received the right to reduce wages, tighten administrative control, forced mobilization of the workforce, unauthorized leaving of work and transfer to other enterprises was prohibited.

In the ideological sphere, the concept of “kokutai” completely dominated - the preaching of the exclusivity of the Japanese nation and the great mission of Japan to liberate the oppressed peoples in Asia was carried out everywhere without fail. All this strengthened the regime and provided it with popular support. In general, the structures of totalitarian power turned out to be extremely effective in the conditions of the upcoming war.

/. Economic difficulties of the late J920s. caused serious social upheaval in Japan, disappointment in democracy, and a surge of xenophobia and mistrust of the West. This put an end to further democratization of society.

2. Activation of ultranationalist forces in the early 1930s. The more aggressive foreign policy pursued since 1931 also contributed to this. Gradually, the Seiyukai Party also began to support the idea of ​​​​tightening power.

3. An open attack on liberals began in 1935 during an ideological campaign to “clarify the essence of kokutai.” In March 1937 the resistance of civilian structures was broken; The government of Prince Konoe embarked on the path of preparation for a big war.

4. Gradually, the ruling regime in Japan acquired all the features of a totalitarian one: the attributes of parliamentary democracy were eliminated, the economy was under full state control, the ideas of “kokutai” served as ideological fuel for the regime and ensured the support of the population.

Baranova Maria

In 1926, Hirohito became the 124th Emperor of Japan with the motto of his reign “Showa” - which translated means “the era of enlightened peace.” At this time, Japan was experiencing a severe economic crisis, which led to the massive ruin of the petty and middle bourgeoisie, a sharp deterioration in the situation of workers, and a worsening agrarian crisis. The social protest movement was expanding in the country, mass strikes of workers occurred year after year; The policies of the governments formed from the large parliamentary parties Minseito and Seiyukai were criticized. The Great Depression, which hit the economies of developed countries, led to a sharp aggravation of Japan's trade tensions with Great Britain and the United States, which resulted in a real trade war that hit Japan hard, since it depended on the import of colossal volumes of raw materials from these countries for its industry.

In the political sphere, the situation was also unstable. The main forces that made up the ruling circles were: 1) political parties, the orientation of which, in general, can be assessed as conservative; 2) courtiers and associates of the emperor, who served as conductors of his political influence; 3) and the military, who played a particularly important role in Japanese politics in the 1930s. According to the 1889 constitution, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces was the emperor, who with his power could give orders without any approval from the government. The special place of the military in the structure of the state provided them with powerful levers of influence on political life.

However, despite the fact that General Nara regularly reminded the emperor about the decline in discipline in the armed forces, Hirohito turned a blind eye to the continued disorganization of the army and navy. The officer corps increasingly expressed dissatisfaction with their commanders and publicly accused political parties of unwillingness to effectively solve the country's problems. The armed forces were increasingly out of control.

For the most part, the military were bearers of militaristic and ethnocratic views and supporters of expansion through suppression and plunder. It was the army that, since the late 20s, became a hotbed of radical nationalist ideas, and the privileged position it occupied in political and public life gave the ideological and political movements within it a national character.

Significant changes took place in the national self-awareness of the Japanese - a sense of racial superiority and the exclusivity of Japanese statehood was formed. In 1941, Interior Minister Hiranuma Kiichiro declared: “Japanese government system has no analogues in the world. In other countries, dynasties were founded by people. It was people who created kings, emperors and presidents in other countries, and only in Japan was the throne inherited from divine ancestors. Therefore, the reign of the imperial house is a continuation of the deeds of the divine ancestors. Dynasties created by men may perish, but the throne founded by the gods is not subject to the will of men.” [Molodyakov, 1999, p. 83] Belief in the infallibility of the emperor’s genius as a guarantor of the country’s prosperity acquired very aggressive and nationalistic features.

The military reform of 1922 led to a massive influx into the officer corps of people from poorer strata of the city and countryside, from whom an aggressive expansionist unofficial movement of “young officers” was formed, quite well organized, which was often used by the Japanese generals both to satisfy political ambitions and to fight rivals - contenders for top command positions.

In the early 30s, generals Araki Sadao and Mazaki Jinzaburo created a new group, Kodo-ha (Imperial Way Group), whose ideology was very close to the concept of “national socialism.” They intended to come to power through a military coup, suspending the constitution and establishing a dictatorship. In opposition to them, generals Naga, Tojo and Muto created the Tosei-ha group (Control Group). Their strategy was to establish control over the main institutions of the state while maintaining strict loyalty to the state. [Rybakov, 2006, p. 608]

The Kodo-ha strategic doctrine was based on the fact that Japan's main enemy is Soviet Union. The lack of material resources was compensated by the fighting spirit of the nation. These views became especially stronger after the victory in Russian-Japanese war. Tosei-ha, on the contrary, gave preference to the modernization of the armed forces, to which they were pushed by the realization that such a war would require society to maximize its economic potential. Such ideas in ruling circles confirm the widespread anti-communist and Russophobic sentiments, which subsequently played an important role in the rapprochement of Japan with Nazi Germany.

The spread of nationalist and fascist ideas in the army and navy was accompanied by sharp criticism of the emperor’s peace-loving policies and accusations of the government of “lack of patriotism.” The military was especially outraged by the signing of the London Agreement on the Limitation of Naval Arms in 1930, which the Japanese government was forced to sign due to its reluctance to provoke a conflict with the United States and Great Britain, called “selling the interests of the homeland.”

By the summer of 1931, disagreements between the government and the military had reached such an acute level that the court group could no longer ignore them. At the same time, a conflict with China is brewing: on the border of Manchuria and Korea there was a clash between Chinese and Korean peasants, which provoked anti-Chinese protests throughout the Korean peninsula. The colonial authorities were unable to prevent the death of 127 Chinese, in response to which the Kuomintang government announced a boycott of all Japanese goods.

On September 18, 1931, an explosion occurred on the railway north of Mukden, which did not cause significant damage. But blaming the Chinese side for everything, the Japanese army attacked the barracks of the Chinese troops. Over the next five days, without meeting any resistance, the Japanese occupied the main settlements Manchu provinces of Mukden and Jilin. It is very significant that the actions of the Japanese troops were not sanctioned by either the government or the emperor - at an emergency cabinet meeting it was decided not to allow the conflict to expand. But nevertheless, the Japanese units stationed in Korea, on the personal orders of General Hayashi, crossed the border of Manchuria.

An anti-Japanese movement immediately developed in China, sweeping big cities, where there were Japanese enterprises, especially Shanghai. A society was created to fight Japan and save China, in which all segments of the population were involved. Anti-Japanese demonstrations were associated with calls for the government to repel the invaders and return Manchuria. Opposition against the authorities’ indecisiveness in organizing resistance grew into accusations of capitulation. Chiang Kai-shek was especially harshly criticized by the opposition - “reorganizationists”, who demanded a reorganization of the leadership. In January 1932, the leader of the “reorganizationists” Wang Jingwei headed the government, Chiang Kai-shek remained commander-in-chief.

The issue of Japan's aggressive actions was raised at a meeting of the League of Nations. In response, the Japanese government declared that it had no territorial claims in Manchuria. However, literally a week later, the Kwantung Army bombed one of the cities. This prompted another statement from the League of Nations, which went unnoticed, since Great Britain and the United States were in no hurry to interfere with Japan, which was explained by their concern about the strengthening of Soviet influence in China and the strengthening of the communist positions there. It was assumed that Japanese troops in Manchuria would become a counterweight to “Soviet expansion.”

On March 1, 1932, the creation of the state of Manchukuo, completely controlled by the Japanese, was announced on the territory of Manchuria, headed by the former Qing emperor Pu Yi, overthrown by the Xinghai Revolution of 1911. In June, at a meeting of the Japanese parliament, a resolution on recognition was unanimously adopted Manchukuo. Meanwhile, the League of Nations refrained from recognizing the new state and discussed the issue at a special conference, but the continued advance of the Kwantung Army to the west forced the League of Nations to pass a resolution which, while recognizing Japan's "special rights and interests" in the area, declared the seizure of Manchuria a violation " Treaty of the Nine Powers." In response to this, Japan, without hesitation, withdrew from the League of Nations, which was widely supported by Japanese society.

On this occasion, on the eve of 1931, the vice-president of the Privy Council and an official of the Ministry of Justice, Hiranuma, published a political overview of the state of affairs in the crisis-ridden empire. He announced that the paths of the new Japanese nationalism and internationalism had completely diverged: “Today the great powers sing loud praises of the League of Nations, but behind its back they are actively increasing their military potential. We cannot consider the words of those who warn us about the possibility of a new world war after 1936 to be the reasoning of idiots. If such a war breaks out, the nation must be prepared for it. Let others forget about the safety and prosperity of humanity. Our people will show the greatness of their spirit, inherited from their ancestors - the founders of the state.”

The conflict with the League of Nations led to the intensification of far-right terrorists in Japan. On May 15, 1932, a serious coup attempt was made by a group of extremists. It was attended by army and navy officers together with militants from several terrorist organizations. The putschists attacked the residence of Prime Minister Inukai, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the headquarters of the Seiyukai Party, the Bank of Japan and some other objects. After the action was completed, the participants in the putsch confessed. During their trial, lawyers provided the court with more than 100 thousand letters with petitions for pardon, which expressed sympathy for the defendants as “true patriots and loyal subjects of the emperor.”

By that time, the course of “arms reduction” under pressure from the military had turned into a policy of “reorganization and rearmament” in accordance with the requirements of preparation for war: the transfer of peaceful industries to the production of dual-use products was intensified, funding for the army and navy increased significantly, which in the draft budget of 1935 . accounted for 46.6% of its expenditure.

In 1934, when forming a new cabinet, the army and navy demanded the annulment of the decisions of the Washington Conference on the limitation navy and achieve an equal tonnage of weapons with the United States. Japan's request was refused, and the new government eventually announced unilateral termination of the agreement.

After the parliamentary elections, in which the Seiyukai and Minseito parties, which had been leading for a long time, won almost an equal number of seats, on February 26, 1936, Japan was shocked by the largest and bloodiest putsch. About 1,400 soldiers attacked a number of government residences, several were killed statesmen, including a former prime minister. By the end of the day, the putschists had captured the parliament building and several blocks of Tokyo. But after the Minister of War addressed the rebels, they began to come to his residence, where they were disarmed and arrested. Thus, the conservative political system rejected radical initiative from below. After this putsch, the government resigned and a new cabinet was formed, with the program “fundamental principles national policy", which included a weapons system, strengthening the "national defense" in Manchuria, carrying out fundamental changes within the country in the field of politics and economics, with the aim of creating favorable conditions for the consolidation of the nation.

The new Minister of War, Terauchi, outlined his plans for the creation of a “total state” as a prerequisite for the “total mobilization of the Japanese people.” This meant the complete exclusion of parties and parliament from the sphere of government decision-making. This policy was accompanied by clarification of the guidelines of the Japanese foreign policy. Immediately after the formation of the Hirota cabinet, it was decided to begin negotiations with Germany. His Government welcomed the measures taken Nazi Germany in the field of full-scale rearmament of the army, its policy of anti-Sovietism and racial intolerance. The result of these negotiations was the Anti-Comintern Pact, concluded on November 25, 1935. The parties pledged to inform each other about the activities of the Comintern and fight against it, as well as take the necessary measures against those who directly or indirectly act in its favor. In 1937, Italy joined the pact.

In 1937, a new cabinet was formed headed by Prince Konoe Fumimaro, who stated that the basis of his leadership would be “the unity of all political forces of the country”, promised to carry out social and political reforms, and in the field of foreign policy - mitigating Japan's international isolation by improving relations with China and rapprochement with Great Britain. However, soon after this the Sino-Japanese War began.

Hostilities began with the “Lugojiao Incident” - a military provocation by Japanese troops who fired at the Chinese garrison. The firefight continued for 2 days, after which a truce was concluded. It can hardly be said that the Japanese government was drawn into the war by certain external factors. On the contrary, Konoe, with the support of influential generals, decided to use the incident to establish strict control of the imperial military forces in the Beijing-Tianjin territory. “It was Konoe’s cabinet that started the war, at his insistence troops were sent to China, and at his will the conflict expanded.”

Konoe represented the quintessence of Japanese nationalism; his personal belief was that "the economy of China and other Asian countries should be dominated by Japan, Japan's sacred mission is to save Asia from enslavement by the West." He was irritated by the order that had developed in the world after the signing of the Washington Treaty: the United States and Great Britain refused to accept Japanese immigrants and did not trust Tokyo’s plans regarding China. Added to this were the widespread dreams of opposing the white race and anti-communist ideas in Japanese society; Moreover, Konoe believed that China should sacrifice itself to the social and economic interests of Japan [Bix, 2002, p. 163]

It is worth explaining here that in the eyes of the Japanese and according to official Japanese theology, the emperor was a living god, and Japan was the embodiment of morality and high morality; its wars were fair by definition and could not be considered aggression. The desire to establish the “path of the emperor” in China, even if this required the bloodshed of individual troublemakers, was for the benefit of the neighboring nation and in no way corresponded to the concepts of “colonial expansion.” That is why in Japan this war was called “sacred”.

In July 1937, hostilities resumed - 20 thousand Japanese troops and a large amount of military equipment were concentrated in the Beijing and Tianjin area. On July 26, the Japanese government issued an ultimatum to withdraw troops from Beijing within 48 hours, but it was rejected. And the next day a full-scale war began, which lasted 8 years. And yet, no war was declared. This is explained by the fact that Japan was completely dependent on American oil supplies, and the empire could lose its most important strategic resources if it officially recognized itself as a belligerent power. Therefore, calling the war in China an “incident” was not accidental - it made it possible for overseas powers to circumvent the Neutrality Act (passed by the Senate in 1935).

An important role was played by the Soviet-Chinese non-aggression agreement for a period of five years, according to which the USSR provided loans to China, reaching a total amount of 500 ml. dollars. In 1937, deliveries to China began of aircraft (904), tanks (82), guns (1140), machine guns (9720) [Milexetov, p. 528] and other weapons. Chiang Kai-shek announced the creation of a united front between the Kuomintang and the CPC in the war against the Japanese invaders.

Japan, apparently, did not plan to start a major war, but unexpectedly stubborn resistance forced its command to strengthen its military group and expand military operations. Japanese troops launched an offensive in 3 directions - to Shandong, to Hankou (south) and to Suiyuan (northwest). By August, hostilities had moved to the Shanghai area, and in December to the Chinese capital Nanjing.

The capture of Nanjing was marked by absolutely brutal actions of Japanese troops. The beginning of the operation to “pacify” Nanjing coincided with artillery fire on ships carrying refugees; Chemical weapons were widely used, causing the death of not only military personnel, but also civilians. With the approval of Hirohito, campaigns were carried out to “completely exterminate” the population, very significant in in this case the policy of three “everything”: “burn everyone, kill everyone, rob everything” - in accordance with which the Japanese officers acted.

By the fall of 1938, the Japanese army moved military operations to the south of China: in October, Guangzhou was occupied, and then Hankou, after which the government evacuated to Chongqing (Sichuan Province). Thus, most of the industrialized areas of China came under Japanese control, and the last railway line through which the Chinese troops were supplied was cut.

At the end of 1938, Japanese Prime Minister Konoe announced three conditions for ending the war: cooperation between China and Japan and Manchukuo, a joint fight against communism, and economic cooperation with Japan. Chiang Kai-shek, who by that time had already been receiving help from the USSR for a year, did not want to turn into a Japanese puppet and rejected these conditions. But Wang Jingwei, who stood in pro-Japanese positions, and his supporters accepted these conditions and fled from Chongqing to Japanese-occupied Nanjing. Japan immediately relied on them, trying to deepen the gap between different factions of the Kuomintang as much as possible.

Having captured the main political and economic centers of China, the Japanese were faced with the problems of their development. In addition, the Japanese were not prepared for a protracted war, and the gigantic size of the occupied zone did not correspond to Tokyo's military capabilities - actual military control was established only over a small territory. It consisted of three spheres: the space from the most important roads and strongholds 10-15 km away were controlled directly by military garrisons and were called the “zone of calm”; then, for about 15-20 km, there was a “semi-quiet zone” - here patrol units were present during the day, but left the territory at night; the next zone was the “danger zone”, where the former Kuomintang or CCP power extended. There was little sense in dispersing Japanese troops along ever-lengthening communications: in the “danger zone,” the directive “burn everyone, kill everyone, rob everything” was carried out during every punitive campaign, but even such repressions could not stop the growth of national resistance and were ineffective.

The war has reached a dead end, victory is not visible even in the future, and in December 1937 the Japanese began to create a “provisional government of China” similar to the government in Manchuria. To this end, the head of intelligence of the Kwantung Army, taking advantage of the split within the Kuomintang, contacted Wang Jingwei and invited him to head the “provisional government.” Ultimately, he headed the "central government of China" in occupied Nanjing.

On November 3, 1938, the Konoe government issued a statement that Japan's task at this stage was to establish a “new order in East Asia,” which in effect meant establishing Japan's economic and political hegemony over all of China and demanding recognition of such a position by other powers. Thus, Japan contrasted itself with all other countries that had interests in China. The announcement directly stated that any use by Western countries of previously guaranteed rights in China would be conditional on their recognition of Japan's military and political hegemony in that country. Such statements provoked sharp objections from the United States and Great Britain.

The militarization of Japan in the 1930s had serious consequences both for the internal structure of the country and for the international situation. The entire economy was put on a war footing; waging a war with China required the mobilization of all the country's resources. In Japan it has finally become stronger political influence military, nationalism and fascism acquired a national character. Japan's termination of arms reduction treaties and aggressive actions in China, affecting the interests of other major powers, aggravated international conflicts and created the preconditions for the country's involvement in the Second World War. world war, pulling China with it.

Bibliography:

1. Bix G. Hirohito and the creation of modern Japan. M., 2002

2. History of the East. T. V. The East in modern times (1914 - 1945). M.: Vost. lit., 2006

3. History of China: Textbook / Ed. A.V. Meliksetova. M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 1998

4. Molodyakov V.I. Conservative revolution in Japan: ideology and politics. M., 1999

In June 1940, after Japan's ultimatum to the French authorities in Indochina, supplies to China along the Indochina Road were stopped. In July 1940, Britain, which was in an extremely difficult situation due to the situation in Europe, agreed to a temporary cessation of transport to China via the Burma Railway. Japan's actions in East Asia were viewed with concern by the great powers. In April 1940, when the real threat Germany's capture of the Netherlands, Japan declared the need to maintain the status of the Dutch East Indies. This step in general had an anti-German sound, since it indicated Tokyo’s desire to prevent the “automatic” transfer of the Dutch colonies to Germany. Japan allowed itself this statement not without taking into account the signing of the Soviet-German Pact of 1939, which caused an increase in Tokyo's distrust of Berlin and a temporary cooling in German-Japanese relations. At the same time, at the same time as Japan, the United States of America also declared the need to maintain the status quo in the Dutch East Indies, thereby sending Japan a kind of warning against attempts to use the weakening position of the Netherlands to expand the sphere of Japanese control in Southeast Asia.

The prospect of US opposition in Asia was taken seriously in Japan. The Japanese government preferred to resolve emerging differences in its relations with Germany in the interests of a joint confrontation with the United States. In August 1940, the Japanese government, led by Prince Konoe, issued an official statement on the “establishment of a new order in Greater East Asia,” which included a request for the creation of a Japanese sphere of influence that included Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, Malaya, Burma and the Philippines. Japan's aspirations determined its position in negotiations with Germany and Italy on preparations for the conclusion of the Tripartite Pact. Taking advantage of Germany's interest in signing it, Japanese diplomacy achieved Berlin's support on the issue of expanding Japanese control in French Indochina. Under pressure from Germany and Japan, the Pétain government at the end of August 1940 was forced to sign a general agreement with Japan that allowed the creation of Japanese bases in Indochina. The main thing that Tokyo sought was the right of transit through the territory of French Indochina and air bases in Northern Indochina, from where Japanese aircraft could make regular raids on the Burmese strip. railway on Chinese territory.

In development of the general agreement, in September 1940, the Japanese side negotiated the right to station ground forces in Northern Indochina to protect their bases. In fact, the area was brought under Japanese control. Japan's success was sealed on September 27, 1940, when the Tripartite Pact was signed in Berlin. Germany and Italy recognized Japan's sphere of influence in East Asia as outlined in the Konoe government's August statement. Moreover, New Caledonia was also included in Japan's sphere of interests. It was also agreed that over time, Japanese dominance would spread to Australia and New Zealand. The issue of former German possessions in Micronesia, which was under a Japanese mandate, was not specifically discussed. In fact, Germany refused to raise the question of their return. Berlin's goal was to encourage Japan to rather attack Britain's East Asian colonies, while Germany's own colonial aspirations were more focused on former German possessions in Africa.

Alliance between Japan and Thailand. Japan and the Dutch East Indies. In June 1940, the Thai government entered into a treaty of friendship and territorial integrity with Japan. Relying on it and recognizing the weakness of France, demonstrated by the concessions of the Pétain regime to Japan, at the end of 1940 the Thai Government began military operations against French Indochina. Only in May 1941, with the mediation of Japan, was this conflict resolved. Based on a tripartite treaty between Thailand, the Peten regime and Japan, Thailand received a significant part of Laos and Cambodia. At the same time, the three parties in a special protocol pledged not to enter into direct or indirect cooperation with any external forces against Japan. In fact, all of Indochina became a zone of predominant Japanese influence. In July 1941, this balance of power was consolidated by the signing of an agreement between Tokyo and Vichy on the joint defense of Indochina. Thus, both Thailand and the Pétain government became Japan's main allies in East Asia. Japanese diplomacy tried to achieve the peaceful inclusion of the Dutch East Indies in its sphere of influence. From the summer of 1940 to the summer of 1941, several rounds of negotiations between Japanese representatives and the Dutch colonial authorities took place in Batavia, the administrative center of the Dutch East Indies. Japan sought, first of all, benefits and privileges in relation to the import of the petroleum products it needed - primarily high-octane aviation fuel - and other raw materials. The Japanese government managed to obtain the consent of the Dutch administration to supply oil to Japan. However, the main consumer of aviation fuel from the Dutch East Indies was British aviation, which fought to save Britain in Europe. The Dutch government, which was in exile in London, was completely dependent on Britain and the United States. Anticipating complications in the relations of these powers with Japan, it stubbornly evaded the proposed cooperation with Tokyo. From mid-1941, contacts between the Dutch colonial administration and Japan were frozen.

Japan's relations with Southeast Asian countries. The Japanese leadership intended to compensate for its weakness in the confrontation with the United States and Britain by mobilizing Asian nationalism against them. In 1942-1943, in the occupied territories of Malaya, China, Indochina and the Dutch East Indies, the Japanese occupation authorities expropriated foreign property, emphasizing that they were seeking to destroy the positions of non-Asian powers in Asia. Japanese occupation was perceived in different countries East Asia is not the same. In the Philippines, China and Malaya, the Japanese were treated with hostility. But in Burma, the Dutch East Indies and French Indochina, the arrival of Japanese troops was initially greeted with enthusiasm - as liberation from the colonial yoke. Sympathy for the Japanese was especially noticeable in Burma, which in August 1943, with the support of Japan, declared itself an independent state and signed an alliance treaty with Japan. On October 14, 1943, the independence of the Philippines was proclaimed, which also entered into an alliance with Japan. On October 21, the creation of the Free India government was proclaimed, headed by Subhas Chandra Bose, although the latter did not represent any significant political force. The bulk of Indian nationalists remained loyal to Britain, despite sharp disagreements with London. Only over time did the cruelty of the Japanese occupation regime lead to the disillusionment of local national forces in Japan and their turn to the struggle against the Japanese occupation.

Along with the nationalists, competing with them, communist and associated groups spoke under the slogans of national liberation. In 1943, on the territory of Southern China, with the active participation of the famous Vietnamese communist Ho Chi Minh, the first pro-communist national organization in East Asia was created - the Democratic Front for the Independence of Vietnam, which simultaneously pursued the goals of expelling the Japanese, overthrowing the old colonial authorities and establishing a new communist regime in the territory French Indochina. In 1942, the radical leftist anti-foreign (anti-Japanese and anti-American) Hukbalahap movement arose in the Philippines. Left-wing nationalist groups were active in Malaya and the Dutch East Indies. The movements in the territories occupied by Japan developed against the background of a powerful rise of the national wave in India, where since 1942 the Gandhis launched a campaign for granting the country full independence. This could not but cause concern for both Japan and its opponents - the USA, Britain and Holland.

The Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia was carried out gradually and had its own specifics in each country. Thus, until March 1945, Indochina was characterized by the coexistence of the Japanese and French colonial administrations in the form of a “double protectorate.” After France entered the war with Germany in Europe, the colonial authorities began to destroy the legal organizations of the Vietnamese communists, who were forced to move their residence to China (from October 1940 to Tonkin), from where the leadership of illegal cells in Vietnam came. Having been defeated by Germany, France, represented by the Vichy regime, signed a military convention with Japan, according to which the latter actually had equal rights with the mother country in the region.

After thirty years of emigration, Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam in early 1941 and headed the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. Under his leadership, at the Plenum of the Central Committee in May 1941, a decision was made to form the League for the Struggle for the Independence of Vietnam (Viet Minh). In October of the same year, her Manifesto was published, which set the task of fighting against the dual protectorate regime. The French colonial authorities, feeling the weakening of their positions, sought to enlist the support of Emperor Bao Dai, as well as a number of political parties and organizations - the Constitutional and Democratic Parties, the 1884 group and others. Their positions were especially strong in the south of the country. In the North, Vietnam had the predominant influence, whose supporters formed several partisan detachments and created the first liberated areas there already in 1941. Japan, in turn, spread the ideas of “Greater East Asia, the unity of the yellow race, and supported the actions of the Dai Viet and Phuc Quoc parties, as well as a number of religious sects. The symbol of this part of the Vietnamese political elite was Prince Kyung De, who spent many years in exile in Japan. In 1944, when the advantage of the Anti-Hitler coalition began to manifest itself more and more clearly on the fronts of World War II, and the Vichy regime fell in France, Vietnam put forward new program liberation struggle. The Vietnam Liberation Army was created on the basis of existing partisan detachments. In March 1945, Japan, seeking to seize the initiative, eliminated the French colonial administration and its armed forces. The “independence” of the country was proclaimed subject to cooperation with Japan. But such a development of events could no longer mislead anyone. Moreover, the position of the Communists among the people strengthened even more, and by the summer of 1945, vast areas had formed in the North where Vietnamese rule was established.

In June 1940, after the conclusion of a military treaty between Japan and Thailand, the latter openly began to lay claim to part of Laos. As a result, in June 1941, the Vichy regime was forced to give it part of Luang Prabang and the province of Bassac. As compensation, the French authorities annexed three provinces to Luang Prabang that had previously been administered directly by the colonial administration. The French encouraged the creation of the “Lao Movement” among young people under the slogan of “awakening the national spirit” and strengthening the influence of the metropolis, but from that period the power of France was already nominal. In March 1945, the Japanese declared the "independence" of Laos while maintaining their full control. Dissatisfied with this development of events, the political forces of Laos from among the top elite and intelligentsia went to create the movement “Lao Itsala” (“Free Laos”), which was supported by the leaders of the “Lao Movement” and the organization “Lao Pen Lao” (“Laos for Laotians”) created in exile "). They demanded the liquidation of the French protectorate after the departure of the Japanese. On September 1, 1945, the denunciation of the treaty with France and the unification of Laos into a single state was announced. A People's Committee was formed, which on October 12 announced the formation of a provisional government and the adoption of a provisional constitution. On the same day, the independent state of Pathet Lao (Country of Lao) was proclaimed.

In March 1945, Cambodia, like other countries in Indochina, declared independence and the termination of all agreements with France. In August of the same year, in Cambodia, on the eve of the surrender of Japan, with the support of Tokyo, the creation of a government headed by Son Ngoc Thanh was announced, who was arrested in October by the French who arrived here. In southeastern Burma, military operations began in the directions of Hukaun and Yunnan, which also proceeded extremely unsuccessfully. The fierce battles that the Eighteenth Division had been waging in the direction of Hukaun for seven months ended in nothing at the end of June, and the fate of Myitkyina was unclear. Northern Burma fell into enemy hands.

Front commander Kawabe came to the conclusion in mid-June that the abandonment of Northern Burma was already inevitable, and therefore decided to organize a defensive front along lines east and west of Mokhnyin. On May 17, 1944, enemy ground mechanized units captured the Myitkyina airfield, did not waste a minute, airlifted airfield units, anti-aircraft artillery, and infantry here by air and continued to build up their forces. Major General Mizukami received an order indicating that the army would advance with its main forces in the direction of Longlin, that defensive measures in the area of ​​Bamo and Nangana had not yet been completed, and that Major General Mizukami was to defend Myitkyina to the end. On August 3, the last battle for the city took place. Mizukami sent a report to Honda: “It is no longer possible to hold Myitkyina…”. Thus ended the defense that lasted 80 days.

With the outbreak of World War II, contradictions arose in the Burmese national liberation movement. Supporters of an alliance with Japan appeared, as an enemy of Great Britain, who naively believed that in the event of victory, Japan would grant Burma independence. A group of Burmese nationalists led by Aung San underwent military training in Japan at the beginning of the war. Included Japanese army, which defeated British troops and occupied the country within a few weeks of 1942, there were also Burmese units. However, despite the fact that in 1943 Burma was formally declared an independent republic, in fact it turned into a powerless, brutally exploited Japanese colony, sharing the fate of all other countries occupied by Japan. During the years of occupation, anti-imperialist forces, both the communists who were underground and that part of the patriots who initially collaborated with the Japanese, united into the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (ALLP) led by Aung San.

Thus, the period of World War II is one of the most important years in the history of the states of Southeast Asia. In fact, all of them, with the exception of Thailand, found themselves occupied by Japan, whose rulers dreamed of including the region into their empire. The Japanese occupation and the inability of the metropolis to provide any serious resistance caused an upsurge among the local population liberation movement. Illusions in the region regarding Japan's true motives, as well as its “help” to achieve full political independence. Under these conditions, the authority of left-wing organizations, in particular communists, who proposed armed methods of struggle for national liberation, increased significantly. However, part of the local elite, which was more moderate, maintained a strong position in society. The situation could finally become clear only after the war.



Taking advantage of the disunity between the USSR and the West and the rivalry of great powers in Far East, Japan began a forced revision. Faced with choosing the direction of further expansion, Japan, however, decided not to bring matters to war with the USSR and to pursue a cautious policy in China, trying to expand its zone of influence by peaceful means and create a military-economic base in Manchuria for the future.

On November 3, 1938, Japan announced plans to create a "Greater East Asia".

Japan used the First World War quite successfully from 1914-1918. for your economic development, increasing its national wealth by 25%. The weakening of great power competition in the Far East allowed Japanese industry to develop through exports, but the restoration of the pre-war situation led to a decline due to the narrowness of the domestic market. In 1920-1923, the Japanese economy experienced a crisis, complicated by an earthquake in the Tokyo area.

In November 1921, an international conference was convened in Washington, with the goal of considering issues of the post-war balance of forces in the Pacific basin and the limitation of naval armaments. During the conference, a new balance of power was established in the Far East, which was based on a partnership of great powers based on consensus on naval issues, mutual guarantees of regional interests and general principles of policy in China. Japan was forced to abandon its alliance with Great Britain and limit its claims in China and Russia, but received guarantees of naval security and thus found itself in the role of the main guarantor of the Washington System of International Relations. One of the agreements signed at the conference was the “Nine Power Treaty” (USA, Britain, France, Japan, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Portugal and China), which proclaimed the principle of respect for the sovereignty, territorial and administrative integrity of China. It obliged all participants to adhere to the principles of “open doors” and “equal opportunities” in trade and industrial development throughout China.

On December 25, 1926, the Japanese imperial throne was inherited by 25-year-old Showa (Hirohito). The first part of his reign (1926-1945) was marked by growing militarism. Already since 1900, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy had veto power over the formation of the cabinet. Since 1932, when the next Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was assassinated, the military has gained almost complete control over all political life Japan, which led to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945), and then to Japan's entry into World War II.

Tanaka immediately began pursuing an aggressive foreign policy. During 1927-1928, he sent troops three times to China, which was torn by civil war. Already on May 27, 1927, Japanese troops went to Shandong for the first time to cover the Japanese protege in Beijing, the leader of the Manchu Fengtian clique Zhang Zuolin from the National Revolutionary Army (Commander-in-Chief Chiang Kai-shek). The Japanese leadership was faced with the question of determining the foreign policy line in the current situation, and during the Eastern Conferences of June - August 1927, it was decided to intensify expansion in China. In early September 1927, Japanese troops withdrew from Shandong, and Chiang Kai-shek visited Japan, trying to regulate relations amid the outbreak of civil war in southern China. The visit ended without much results, and the Nanjing government began to focus on the United States, which used this opportunity to strengthen its position in China.

After the conclusion of agreements between the Nanjing government and the United States in March - April 1928, the NRA began a campaign against Beijing. Japan again used troops in Shandong, but was unable to keep Zhang Zuolin from withdrawing his troops from Beijing and retreating to Shenyang. Zhang Zuolin himself, who came under suspicion of intending to negotiate with Chiang Kai-shek and the Americans, was killed as a result of sabotage while returning to Mukden (Huangutun Incident). Japanese intelligence was blamed for his death.

As a result of the ensuing political crisis, having lost support and being criticized both by parliament and by Emperor Hirohito himself, Tanaka and his cabinet resigned. Osachi Hamaguchi became the new prime minister.

Japan's open intervention led to the growth of the anti-Japanese movement in China. On June 5, 1928, the NRA occupied Beijing, on July 25, Chiang Kai-shek's government was recognized by the United States, and on December 20, by Great Britain. After Zhang Zuolin's death, command of his troops and power over Manchuria was inherited by his son Zhang Xueliang. On December 29, 1928, Zhang Xueliang recognized the Kuomintang's authority over Manchuria. Under these conditions, Japan, fearing to worsen relations with the United States and England, withdrew its troops from Shandong in May 1929 and on June 3, 1929, together with Germany and Italy, recognized the new government in China.

By the early 1930s, the Japanese ruling circles represented three main political forces: parliamentary parties (expressing the interests of the largest Japanese concerns), the state bureaucracy and the military. The military reform of 1922 led to a massive influx into the officer corps of people from poorer strata of the city and countryside - the so-called “young officers”, who turned out to be extremely susceptible to far-right ideology. In the early 1930s, this led to a split within the military itself. Generals Sadao Araki and Jinzaburo Mazaki, together with several officers, created the Kodoha group (“Imperial Way Group”), whose ideology was close to the concept of “National Socialism”. The radicals from the Kodoha group intended to come to power through a military coup, suspending the constitution and establishing a dictatorship. In opposition to them, generals Kazushige Ugaki, Tetsuzan Nagata, Hajime Sugiyaku, Kuniaki Koiso, Yoshijiro Umezu and Hideki Tojo organized the Toseiha (“Control Group”) group, the goal of which was to gradually establish control over existing state institutions while maintaining strict loyalty to the state.

On September 21, 1931, at a meeting of the League of Nations, China officially put the issue of Japan's aggressive actions on the agenda. In response to the League's appeal, the Japanese government stated that Japan had no territorial claims in Manchuria and would withdraw its troops as soon as possible after restoring order and clearing Manchuria of communist elements. However, the Kwantung Army continued fighting, receiving the support of both a significant part of the Japanese public and leading political parties.

The success of the army operation in Manchuria prompted the Japanese navy, which was politically rival with the army, to take active action. On January 23, 1932, the Japanese fleet attempted to capture Shanghai, but fierce resistance from Chinese troops and diplomatic intervention from Western powers prevented it from doing so. On March 3, 1932, the Japanese command in Shanghai issued a cessation of hostilities and withdrew troops from Shanghai.

Meanwhile, in Manchuria the question arose about the status of the occupied regions. The option of creating a puppet state there was chosen. On March 1, 1932, the formation of Manchukuo was proclaimed.

On February 23, 1933, the Kwantung Army invaded the Chinese province of Rehe, capturing it and part of Inner Mongolia, after which it annexed this territory to Manchukuo.

On February 24, 1933, a session of the League of Nations adopted a resolution on the Sino-Japanese conflict, in which, while recognizing Japan’s “special rights and interests” in this region of China, the seizure of Manchuria was declared a violation by Japan of the Nine Power Treaty. In response, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations, which received the approval of Japanese public opinion, prepared by the media to implement an “independent policy.” Leaving the League of Nations, Japanese Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka said farewell from its rostrum:

In a few years we will be understood by the world as Jesus of Nazareth was understood by them... Japan's mission is to lead the world spiritually and intellectually... Japan will be the cradle of a new messiah.

The failure of the intervention in Shanghai and the conflict with the League of Nations led to the activation of the far right in Japan. The killings have begun politicians, and on May 15, 1932, a coup attempt was carried out, during which Japanese Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi was mortally wounded. During the trial of the coup terrorists in Tokyo, there was a stream of petitions expressing sympathy for the defendants as “true patriots and loyal subjects of the emperor.” Lawyers for prisoners provided the court with 111 thousand letters asking for clemency.

Plans for the creation of a “total state” were accompanied by clarification of the guidelines for Japanese foreign policy. The changing situation in Europe stimulated the rapprochement of Germany, Italy and Japan. The USSR's entry into the League of Nations and Moscow's support for the Mongolian People's Republic required Japan to search for anti-Soviet allies in Europe, so Tokyo welcomed the German soundings that began in May 1935. In the fall of 1935 and spring of 1936, new clashes occurred on the Mongol-Manchu border, which forced the USSR to openly declare its alliance with the Mongolian People's Republic. This in turn precipitated the conclusion of the Anti-Comintern Pact by Germany and Japan on November 25, 1936, which was reinforced by a new clash on the Manchurian-Soviet border at Lake Khanka on November 26–27, 1936.

Despite the existence of peace agreements with China, Japan continued military operations on Chinese territory, but carried them out using the wrong hands. In 1936, in particular, she supported the separatists from Inner Mongolia, who proclaimed the creation of their own state of Mengjiang.

The occupation of Manchuria and the creation of the puppet state of Manchukuo on its territory strengthened Japan's strategic position on the Asian mainland. The Tanggu Armistice, concluded in May 1933, along with the agreements of the summer of 1935, allowed the Japanese army to control the situation in the northern provinces of China. This area, which the Japanese called the "Independent State of Eastern Hebei", was a transshipment point for the import of Japanese goods into China, bypassing Chinese customs. The Japanese military, however, was not satisfied with the situation in terms of the strategic tasks facing them. According to General Tojo Hideki, then chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, “if we consider the current situation in China from the point of view of preparations for war with the Soviet Union, then the most appropriate policy is to strike first of all ... at the Nanjing government, which would eliminate the threat to our rear ".

Considering the preoccupation of England and France with Spanish events, cooperation with Germany and Italy and without fear of US intervention, Japan decided to take active action on the continent. On July 7, 1937, Japan launched a full-scale war against China. In Japanese historiography, this war is traditionally called the “China Incident,” which reflects the initial understanding of Japanese generals about the expected nature of military operations in China. Japanese militarists were preparing for a “big war” with the Soviet Union, while China was not considered a serious adversary, and therefore a “real” war with China was not taken into account in military plans. Actions against him were considered as an auxiliary operation. Unexpectedly, the stubborn resistance of the Kuomintang government forced the Japanese command to strengthen its military force and expand military operations. The constant expectation that the war in China was about to end in victory gradually wore down the Japanese economy. When it became clear that the “China Incident” in the north and the “Shanghai Incident” in the south had turned into one big protracted war, it was already too late.

With the declaration of war in Japan, mobilization was carried out. The parliament, which met in an emergency session in September 1937, was forced to adjust the budget: even the initial, still non-military budget was provided with revenues of only one third (the rest was supposed to be covered by government loans), taking into account additional expenses, only emergency measures could provide coverage of the budget . In this regard, the Japanese economy began to move onto a war footing. Laws were passed on control over the military economy, over commercial shipping, over the production and distribution of artificial fertilizers, etc., but the most important place was occupied by the law on control over military finance, which eliminated the freedom of movement of capital.

New aggression Japan led to unfavorable changes in China's domestic and foreign policy situation. Already in August 1937, the Kuomintang government agreed to the proposal of the Chinese communists to create a united national front against the Japanese aggressors, and on August 21, a non-aggression pact was signed between the USSR and the Republic of China.

Meanwhile, hostilities in China were becoming increasingly widespread. Having occupied Beijing, Japanese troops launched a powerful offensive in three directions: along the Beijing-Tianjin Railway to Shandong, south towards Hankou, and also in a northwest direction towards Suiyuan.

By August 1937, military operations had moved to the Shanghai area. It took the Japanese army of about 100 thousand people almost 3 months of fierce fighting to occupy this city. Continuing their advance up the Yangtze Valley, Japanese troops captured Nanjing on December 13. In the ensuing massacre, hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed over several days.

In the territories captured by the Japanese, puppet governments were created: the Great Road Government in Shanghai, the Provisional Government of the Republic of China in Beijing, and the Reformed Government of the Republic of China in Nanjing.

By the end of September 1937, a Japanese army of 350 thousand people was fighting in China. The Chinese government turned to the League of Nations for help, which referred its request to a special conference of the signatory powers of the 1922 Washington Treaty. The conference, which opened on November 3, 1937, was also attended by all states interested in the situation in the Far East, including the USSR. Japan refused to participate in the conference under the pretext that it was acting in China in a manner of “self-defense” and therefore did not violate the “Nine Power Treaty”. The conference ended only with a statement of the fact of Japan's violation of the Nine Power Treaty. The resolution expressed the wish that Japan would reconsider its position towards China and find a way to peacefully resolve the conflict.

In December 1937, the Japanese government turned to the German ambassador in China with a request to mediate in negotiations with the Kuomintang. On December 3, the Japanese side received a response from Chiang Kai-shek, in which it was reported that the Chinese government agreed to negotiations. On December 27, the Chinese government received ultimatum demands:

Although there was no unity in the Kuomintang government regarding the Japanese terms, as a result of heated discussions it was decided not to accept the Japanese terms, after which on January 16, 1938, Prime Minister Konoe announced in a special declaration his decision to end all relations with the Kuomintang government.

Meanwhile, in China, the situation for the Japanese troops was not very successful. Although the Japanese were successful in landing operations on the coast, in the interior of the country, Chinese troops were able to stop the Japanese offensive on Changsha and were able to retake Nanchang.

By this time, Japan had already lost about 1 million killed and wounded in the “Chinese incident.” The country began to experience difficulties with food supply. Despite the rationing of basic food products, there were interruptions in the supply of rice to industrial areas, which caused social discontent.

There are different opinions among historical scholars as to how to characterize political regime Japan 1920s - 1940s:

Currently, most scientists adhere to the latter version, denying the presence of fascism in Japan in those years.

Those who consider the regime in Japan of those years to be fascist refer primarily to the fact that in Japan there were fascist organizations. And after February 26, 1936, when these organizations were defeated, in Japan, according to them, the so-called “fascism from above” was formed. This view is still popular among Japanese researchers.

At the same time, Japan strove precisely for power superiority over other nations (which is characteristic of chauvinism).

Shortly before the outbreak of World War II, the former Japanese ambassador to Italy, Toshio Shiratori, proudly wrote:

The waves of liberalism and democracy that not so long ago flooded our country have now receded. A recently widely accepted theory government controlled, which held Parliament to be the true center of power, has now been completely abandoned, and our country is rapidly moving towards totalitarianism, as the basic principle of Japanese national life of the last thirty centuries.

Also in 1940, Japan signed an agreement with Germany and Italy; in the pact, these three countries provided for the division of the captured territory. Europe and Africa were given to Germany and Italy, and Asia to Japan. At that time the USA and Great Britain did not interfere in the affairs of these three countries and hoped for a German attack on the USSR, provided that their countries were spared the war.

Thus militaristic Japan waged a slow and cunning war game. The largest Japanese operation should be considered the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 (Operation Hawaiian).

Military generals understood this and took advantage of it, trying to reinforce national ideas with religion. Those who especially noted the help of Shintoism and its connection with popular politics were Prince Kotohito, Heisuke Yanagawa, Kuniaki Koiso and Kiichiro Hiranuma.

The advancement of totalitarianism occurred regardless of the will of the emperor. His consent was desirable, but was not considered necessary.

To consolidate power and promote militarism, in 1941 the Japanese military government commissioned the Throne Assistance Association to produce pamphlets praising Japan's totalitarian rule. One of the most famous brochures was called “Basic Principles of the Imperial Way.” It was based on the canonized ideology of militarism and was often used by teachers in schools as a lesson to the growing generation.

Imperial Path Faction (Japanese: 皇道派 Ko:do:ha) - faction, which included members of the younger Russian army Japanese army. The organization's goal was to establish a military government and promote totalitarian, militaristic and expansionist ideals. The faction was never recognized as a political party and had authority only within the army.

Competed with the Tosei-ha group.

Kodo-ha envisioned a return to an idealized pre-industrialized, pre-Western Japan, in which the state would be purged of corrupt bureaucrats, opportunistic politicians, and greedy capitalists.

As a result of the strengthening and rise of the Tosei-ha faction, the Imperial Path Faction fell into decline in 1940.

During the war, the Imperial Japanese Army committed brutal war crimes in captured territories. The crimes were of a genocidal nature, as they were aimed at the destruction of “non-Japanese”.

The Europeans who remained in Nanjing organized a committee headed by the German businessman Jon Rabe. This committee organized the Nanjing Security Zone.

To this day, some Japanese politicians deny the massacre in Nanjing, claiming that all materials on this subject are falsified. However, today there are no sufficient grounds to assert that the figure of 300,000 people is reliable. There were a lot of victims. But no one counted them then. Therefore, the figure of 300 thousand is very approximate. Some Japanese historians believe that this figure was first cited by the Americans in order to somehow level out their own responsibility for the victims. atomic bombings Hiroshima and Nagasaki (see related articles).

In February 1945, on orders from Tokyo, retreating Japanese Army troops resorted to destroying the city of Manila. Educational infrastructure, communication centers, administrative buildings, churches and residential buildings were destroyed.

There was also destruction in the Manila area. Villages and nearby monasteries were actively cleared.

By some measures, the number of civilian deaths during the Manila incident is over 100,000.

Death march on the Bataan Peninsula(Tagalog: Martsa ng Kamatayan sa Bataan, Japanese: バターン死の行進 Bata: n si no ko: sin), 97 km long, occurred in 1942 in the Philippines after the end of the Battle of Bataan and was later regarded as a war crime by the Japanese.

There are no exact estimates of casualties. The minimum estimate is 5 thousand Americans and Filipinos who died from wounds, disease, hunger and dehydration. Maximum - 54 thousand people.

Operation Su Qing(Chinese: 肅清大屠殺) - a punitive operation of the Japanese army carried out against the Chinese population of Singapore.

On 15 February 1942, Japan officially approved the occupation of Singapore. The occupation authorities decided to completely eliminate the Chinese community. It was mainly the Chinese who took part in the defense of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore who were killed, but civilians were also shot. The cleanup operation was called “Su Qing” (from Chinese - “liquidation”). All Chinese men aged eighteen to fifty years living in Singapore passed through the filtration points. Individuals who were particularly dangerous, according to the Japanese, were shot outside the city limits.

The operation soon spread to the entire Malay Peninsula. Due to the large population, the army did not conduct interrogations, but immediately exterminated the indigenous population. In March 1942, the operation ended, as most of the military forces were transferred to other fronts. The exact number of deaths is unknown. According to different opinions, the numbers range from 50 to 100 thousand dead.

"Comfort Stations"(In some sources, “Comfort Stations”) - brothels operating from 1932 to 1945 in the Japanese-occupied territories of East and Southeast Asia. The establishments served soldiers and officers of the Japanese army.

The stations were installed to reduce the number of rapes of local women by Japanese soldiers. This kind of behavior could spread sexually transmitted diseases among the soldiers and provoke the local population to rebel. At first, girls were hired voluntarily in Japan, but soon the demand at the station increased, and Filipino, Indonesian and Korean girls who were forcibly imprisoned in brothels were used.

The total number of stations in the entire occupied territory is 400. They passed through different sources from 50 to 300 thousand women. In some places, the number of clients for one girl reached up to 60 soldiers.

The Japanese pirates showed that we Japanese have enough strength to stand alongside the great powers. In robberies, massacres, debauchery, we are by no means inferior to the Spaniards, Portuguese, Dutch and English...

Akutagawa Ryunosuke,
(Japanese writer)

Japanese geopolitical doctrines and Japanese militarism in the 20-30s.

Imperial Japan, unlike fascist Italy, already had successful imperialist practices in the East Asian region ( victorious wars with China and Russia), an army fanatically loyal and mobilized to the Japanese emperor, and therefore the plans of the Japanese imperialists were of a more ambitious nature.

Moreover, the geopolitical situation after World War I favored rapidly growing Japanese imperialism. The northern giant - Russia, hanging like a huge shadow over Japan, was extremely weakened and itself almost became easy prey for the Japanese samurai during its years Civil War. Weakened by the World War, Great Britain, barely holding on to its colossal colonial possessions, could no longer prevent Japan's expansion in the Pacific Ocean and China. In fact, China, which had broken up into a number of warring territories, was a huge and easy prey for the Japanese army.

The United States remained a powerful force opposing Japanese expansion in Asia, but its interests until the end of the 30s. were limited mainly Latin America, and the prevailing isolationism in the United States did not allow open opposition to Japanese aggression. So the geopolitical balance of power in the region Pacific Ocean and East Asia in the early 30s. was very favorable for Tokyo, which he did not fail to take advantage of.

The geopolitical ideas of the Japanese imperialists were based on the concept of pan-Asianism, calling on the peoples of East Asia to overthrow the power of the European colonialists. In slogan form it looked like this: “Asia for Asians!” But in fact, under “real Asians” the Japanese saw only themselves. Therefore, they intended to replace European domination over Asia with Japanese domination.

In their programmatic implementation, such geopolitical ideas were embodied in the secret “Memorandum” of General, Prime Minister and Minister of Military Affairs of Japan Tanaka to the Emperor of Japan in 1927. Later, this document No. 169 served as documentary evidence of the aggressiveness of Japanese policy in the documents of the Tokyo International War Tribunal for the Far East over the main Japanese war criminals of 1946–1948. The memorandum stated: “... in order to conquer China, we will first have to conquer Manchuria and Mongolia.

In order to conquer the world, we must first conquer China. If we manage to conquer China, all other Asian countries and countries south seas they will fear us and capitulate to us... Having all the resources of China at our disposal, we will move on to the conquest of India, the Archipelago, Asia Minor, Central Asia and even Europe." The plans are, to be sure, grandiose. Despite the fact that there is still debate about the authenticity of Tanaka's memorandum, the fact is that the Japanese conquests in World War II largely coincided with the plans of this document.

The struggle for the redivision of the world “in Japanese” meant war, or rather a chain of interconnected wars. But for this the Japanese nation had to be prepared. Militarism and chauvinism in Japan grew rapidly during this period. Radical and militant circles of the Japanese bourgeoisie, bureaucrats and military leadership grouped around the “Young Officers” organization, which made several (though not entirely successful) attempts to carry out a coup d’etat in the country and establish a military dictatorship (Vasiliev L.S.).

And only in the second half of the 30s. In Japan, a military dictatorship was actually established with the elimination of all previously established semi-democratic rights and freedoms. “Fascism has come to Japan,” lamented the Japanese liberal Yoshino Sakuzo (Quoted by D.L. McClain). However, Japanese society, with its traditional service to the divine emperor (Tennoism), and not to the party Fuhrer, was not ready for fascism. In addition, there was not a single ruling party in power that subjugated the entire state like Nazi Germany.

But the openly undemocratic militaristic-bureaucratic regime established in Japan, with the spirit of samurai service to war and aggression, was in many ways similar to a fascist state. It was this military dictatorship that led Japan on the path of outright imperial territorial seizures, unprecedented in the scale of cruelty and violence against the civilian population of Asian countries.

The goal of Japanese expansion was the creation of a Great Asian Empire; fabulously rich China was chosen as the main “prize”. In 1931, Japan occupied the Chinese province of Manchuria, creating there the puppet state of Manchukuo, independent from China, headed by the last representative of the Qing dynasty, Pu Yi, who became Tokyo’s “pocket” emperor. To finally free its hands, in 1933 Japan defiantly withdrew from the League of Nations and began preparing for a serious war to establish its dominance in East Asia.

The bulk of the Japanese, brought up in the spirit of unconditional obedience to the authorities, welcomed the “advancement of the empire to the continent,” because they hoped that the occupation of China and other Asian territories would improve the economic situation of the Japanese. Slogans of the 30s: “Manchuria and Mongolia are the lifeline of Japan!”, “Let us protect the property won by the blood of our fathers and grandfathers!”, “There are endless lands in Manchuria! Peasants, move to Manchuria!” (Koshkin A.A. Japan: “Asia for Asians.”).

However, all the dividends and profits from the exploitation of the occupied territories in Asia, bypassing ordinary Japanese, flowed in a wide stream into the safes of the largest Japanese monopolies - the “zaibatsu” or were used to further increase the power of the imperial army and navy. And this, in turn, pushed for new territorial conquests.

In Japan in 1937, militarization and chauvinistic war propaganda swept through all government and professional organizations and institutions. And on May 5, 1938, the law “On the General Mobilization of the Nation,” drawn up on the model of emergency wartime laws, came into force. The Japanese nation, extremely zombied by its leadership and militarized, was thus completely ready to wage big wars and an aggressive policy towards any countries against which its leaders directed it. China, as planned, became the first target of the Japanese samurai. The Sino-Japanese War.

Some historians count the beginning of World War II as the beginning of large-scale Japanese aggression against China on July 26, 1937. On Chinese soil, without an official declaration of war, the Japanese military committed unimaginable atrocities by the standards of the 20th century, and against civilians.

In December 1937, when the Japanese army stormed the Chinese capital of the Kuomintang, Nanking, there was a monstrous massacre and outrage against the civilian population. As the British historian testifies: from 260 to 300 thousand civilians were killed, up to 80 thousand Chinese women were raped. “Prisoners were hanged by their tongues on butcher hooks and fed to hungry dogs. Each woman was handed over to 15-20 soldiers for rape and abuse. This was imperialism at its worst. However, this was Japanese imperialism, not British."

Thus, the Briton Ferguson, convinced of the civilizing superiority of British imperialism compared to Japanese, assures his readers that the Japanese Empire was a much worse alternative for the Asian peoples compared to the European colonialists. In fairness, it is worth noting that overt racism and extreme cruelty towards conquered peoples (which was so clearly manifested in the Second World War) was a kind of business card Japanese imperialism.

Well-known atrocities of the Japanese army: sending many tens of thousands of Asian women (mostly Koreans) to free army brothels, hundreds of thousands of men to forced labor in Japanese mines and as “human shields” to the front (tests on living people looked especially sinister, matching the Nazis bacteriological weapons - “Tanaka weapons”) - in the occupied territories of the East, especially in China, many times covered all the colonial sins of Western countries in Asian countries.

The imperialist war itself against China, despite the low combat effectiveness of the Chinese army with its weak weapons, massive collaboration, and the loss of vast territories conquered by the Japanese, ultimately turned into a protracted and bloody war for Japanese imperialism, with an unclear prospect.

In addition, China, which found itself a victim of unbridled Japanese aggression, was helped (each in its own interests) by the USSR and the USA. Soviet Russia provided large-scale material and military assistance to the Chinese people who fought against the Japanese occupiers, thanks to which the war in China became protracted for the Japanese military. For example, from September 1937 to June 1941, more than 1,235 aircraft and 1,600 guns were sent to China. Hundreds fought in the skies over China Soviet pilots, which from May to December 1938 alone shot down more than 80 Japanese aircraft and destroyed 70 military transport and military ships. (Mirovitskaya R.A.)

By the beginning of 1939, thanks to the efforts of Soviet military specialists from the USSR, losses in the Chinese army had dropped sharply. If in the first years of the war the Chinese losses in killed and wounded were 800 thousand people (5:1 to the Japanese losses), then in the second year they were equal to the Japanese (300 thousand). (Katkova Z.D.). Although in general, during the entire war, the losses of Chinese troops were many times greater than those of the Japanese.

The USSR is enemy number 1

The participation of Soviet military advisers and volunteers on the Chinese side was due to tense relations between the two countries. For Japanese strategists, the Soviet Far East acted as the next target in their global expansion.

This is how the naval attaché of Italy assessed Japan’s policy towards the USSR in Mussolini’s report on May 27, 1939: “... if for Japan the government of Chiang Kai-shek is an open enemy, then enemy No. 1, an enemy with which it can never there will be no truce, no compromise, is Russia for her... The victory over Chiang Kai-shek would not have had any meaning if Japan had been unable to block Russia’s path, throw it back, and cleanse the Far East once and for all of Bolshevik influence . Communist ideology, naturally, is outlawed in Japan; the best army of Japan, the Kwantung Army, stands on the continent guarding the coastal province. Manchukuo was organized as a starting base for an attack on Russia” (quoted from Senyavskaya E.S.).

That is why the Soviet-Japanese clash at Lake Khasan in 1938 was not just a random border incident, but the first unique “test” of the strength of Soviet borders. And this check Soviet troops passed successfully. Behind Hassan, a larger battle of the two empires was inevitably about to begin, and it took place in Mongolia, at Khalkhin Gol in May 1939. At Khalkhin Gol, the Soviet Red Army under the command of G. Zhukov, operating together with the Mongolian troops for 4 months Selected, so-called imperial units of the Kwantung Army opposed. The complete defeat of the Japanese army in a local undeclared war in Mongolia from Soviet troops led to a significant reassessment of the military capabilities of the USSR and its strategic plans for the war.

American historian J. McSherry wrote: “The demonstration Soviet power on Khasan and Khalkhin Gol had its consequences, it showed the Japanese that a big war against the USSR would be a disaster for them” (quoted by A.M. Krivel). The main thing is that the Japanese, from the experience of two lost battles, were convinced that Soviet troops had much better quality indicators, unlike Russian military personnel imperial army with its weaker weapons.

Historical meaning The Khalkhin-Gol defeat of the Japanese was great. It forced Japan to reconsider its plans for upcoming military operations, giving preference to the southern direction, which meant a war with Great Britain and the United States in Asia and the Pacific. If there had been no Khalkhin Gol, there would have been no Pearl Harbor, but there would have been an attack by Japan together with Germany in 1941, says Russian historian V. A. Shestakov. As is known, such a revision of Japanese military plans eased the situation of the USSR, which avoided a war on two fronts.

However, the very revision of the strategic strike on the Asian colonies of the Europeans and the United States in the Pacific Ocean did not at all mean a renunciation of the war with the USSR and the attack on it. Even after signing and ratifying the neutrality pact between the USSR and Japan in April 1941, the Japanese command continued to build up its military forces ( Kwantung Army) and is preparing to deliver a sudden and powerful blow to the Soviet Union “at the right moment.” Thus, War Minister Tojo repeatedly emphasized that the invasion should occur when the Soviet Union “is like a ripe persimmon ready to fall to the ground,” that is, having waged war with Hitler, it will weaken so much that it will not be able to provide serious resistance in the Far East (Koshkin A.A.).

The historian A.A., who studied archival documents. Koshkin provides a lot of documentary evidence of how, at the highest political and military level of Japan in 1941, there was a struggle between various supporters of the war against the USSR. On the one hand, between supporters of an immediate military strike on Russia (Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka) immediately after Hitler’s attack on the USSR and supporters of an attack on it only after German troops inflict a decisive defeat on it. In the end, the second position won, which was called in Japan the “ripe persimmon” strategy. Its essence: defeated by German troops in the European part of the country, the USSR itself will fall at the feet of Japan, like a ripe persimmon.

However, already in August 1941, the Japanese ambassador and military attaches reported to Tokyo that Moscow and Leningrad were not captured by the Germans on time. Hence, plans for a military invasion and seizure of the Soviet Far East and Eastern Siberia began to be constantly postponed in Japan. They were postponed after the defeat of German troops near Moscow in December 1941, and then near Stalingrad. As A. Koshkin rightly concludes: “So, the carefully prepared attack on the USSR did not take place not as a result of Japan’s compliance with the neutrality pact, but as a result of the failure of the German “blitzkrieg” plan and the preservation of the reliable defense capability of the Red Army in the eastern regions of the country.”

Choosing the southern geopolitical option.

Deciding that the time had not yet come to cross swords with its main enemy in the Far East, the USSR, Japan became increasingly inclined to attack the USA and Great Britain. The defeat of European armies by Hitler and the strategic military alliance with Germany and Italy (the "Pact of Steel" of 1939) favored Tokyo's southern geopolitical expansion, with the goal of creating a great Asian colonial empire.

In 1940, Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe put forward his foreign policy doctrine, which was based on a program to create the so-called “great sphere of East Asian prosperity.” This area was supposed to include the Soviet Transbaikalia up to Lake Baikal, Mongolia, China, Indochina, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Borneo, Burma and Malaya, and the southeastern islands of the Pacific Ocean. The implementation of this plan, in addition to war with the USSR, also meant an inevitable war between Japan and Great Britain, the United States and France. “...the Japanese,” wrote Charles Messenger, “decided by force to ensure the creation of the “Great Sphere of East Asian Prosperity.”

Immediately after the defeat of France in European war from Germany in 1940. Japan carried out a successful invasion of French Indochina. By March 1941, the Japanese finally ousted the French from Indochina, proclaiming their own colonies there. Now it was the turn of the British, Dutch and American colonies and possessions.

At this time, war hysteria and chauvinism in Japan reached their maximum paroxysm. Imperialist ideas among the Japanese people were reinforced by official propaganda with legends about divine origin the Japanese nation, about its superiority over others, “Down with the white barbarians!”, “The Great Japanese Empire to the Urals!” etc. The cult of war was even deified: “He who goes to war is protected by God!” (Krivel A.M.).

Japanese soldiers inspired the idea that death for the god-emperor in battle is glorious and will immediately lead the deceased to heavenly paradise. And any captivity was considered a disgrace, despised by the samurai code of Bushido. Even the civilian population was brought up in this spirit. The Japanese turned out to be an ideal people to die bravely and thoughtlessly for the glory of the divine emperor and his aggressive military leaders, on any foreign land. On July 2, 1941, a secret Imperial meeting was held, at which they discussed the choice of a strategic direction for further Japanese expansion, at which two options: “northern” (that is, war with the USSR) and “southern” (war with Great Britain and the USA). There the decision was made in favor of the southern option, with an attack on the USA and Great Britain. Of course, this did not at all mean a final and irrevocable decision; everything depended on events on the Soviet-German front and in negotiations with the United States.

Only on November 5, 1941, at the next imperial meeting, the “Principles for the implementation of the state policy of the empire” were adopted, the essence of which was that Japan, while continuing negotiations with the United States, simultaneously decided to start a war against them, as well as against Great Britain and the Netherlands, as soon as preparations will be completed. The end date for these negotiations was also set there - November 25 (History of the Second World War. 1939-1945. Vol. 4.).

After this date, Japan rushed at full speed towards the imminent approach of its catastrophe, the attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Before the catastrophe itself, however, there were four years left, four years of difficult war. But it was precisely the decision to attack Pearl Harbor that was suicidal for the subsequent historical destinies of Japan.