Introduction
There are still many myths and mysteries that remain undiscovered despite the time that has passed since World War II ended. World War II is considered as the deadliest and most devastating human conflict ever recorded.
The cumulative number of casualties was over a hundred million. It was an event of total war between some of the world’s leaders in terms of economic and military capabilities such as the United States of American, France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union which was during that time headed by the Russian Empire, China, Poland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Greece, Norway, the Netherlands, Brazil, and Mexico, and on the other side of the frontier was Germany, Japan, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Thailand, Finland, Iraq, and the puppet state Italian Socialist Republic. There were other countries, colonies, and puppet states that also contributed to the war by either sending in military troops and equipment in significant military campaigns—depending on the side they were in.
More than twenty sovereign countries and significant other states participated in this war. And so, the result was chaos. Many civilians were forced into conscription and even pushed to serve in military camps and operations, most likely for military-related operations.
As of now, most people already know the causes, and the factors that triggered the spiraling down of the situation during the early phases of war—the phase wherein only Germany, Japan, and Poland were involved. Most people also know the final outcome of the war which was the crushing defeat of the Axis powers which was headed by Germany and the Empire of Japan. However, most people do not know the rationale of other countries, especially the major ones who later on turned up as the world superpowers—the United States of America and the Soviet Union which was succeeded by what is known today as Russia after its collapse. There are a lot of myths and mysteries in World War II that need to be reviewed and answered. However, most people did not bother to know it anymore because they think that the only important thing to happen during that time was to ultimately end the war, because it was already causing too much death and destruction that if it was to continue, an all-out bombing of civilian establishments and settlements, and later on, nuclear war could ensue.
One of the biggest mysteries during the World War II that until now is still left unanswered is the reason why the United States Wanted to Rebuild Japan after the World War II. In fact, this paper will revolve around this question. The objective of this paper is to discuss the existing and other contributing factors that made the United States of American arrive at a game-changing idea or decision to let most of the Japanese live and be rebuilt after their very cruel demonstration of power during the World War II. This paper will start off by discussing general information about the World War II such as how it started, when it started, and who were the real culprits behind this great suicide in human history that killed over a hundred million soldiers and civilians—who were at that time, were also technically soldiers. The author will look into every aspect of the United States and Japan such as their economy, military, social, and cultural interests in order to arrive at a sensible, logical and most importantly, realistic answer.
The World War II
As stated in the introduction, World War II was an all-out war that lasted for about 6 years and 1 day from the year 1939 up to the year 1945 which also involved majority of the world’s established nations at that time. According to literatures, the World War II is by far the largest, the most devastating, and also the most destructive human military conflict that ever happened in human war history. The number of casualties in WWII greatly exceeded the number of casualties in World War I. World War II was also marked as a period of mass killings of not only soldiers who were captured and became prisoners of war, but also civilians—some were not even in the slightest bit involved in the war.
One great example of mass civilian killings during that time was the Holocaust. The Holocaust was a wartime crime that was perpetrated by the Germans, specifically the Nazis during the WWII. The Nazis believed that the principles of selective breeding should also be applied to humans just like the way it is being applied in agriculture, specifically, livestock raising, wherein individuals with the superior genes, traits, and qualities would be the only ones who will be allowed to live and have rights; the others who do not exhibit any of the superior characteristics that the Nazis look for would be executed in order for them not to pollute the existing gene pool which according to them should only be composed of the Germans. Jews were the main target of these mass killings. Large numbers of Jews were sent into concentration camps. As far as the Jews were concerned, they were being sent to concentration camps for protection or as prisoners of war. Some also believed that the reason why they were being sent to such camps was to serve the enemy and be a part of their own country’s defeat. Unfortunately, none of these two rationales were correct. As unbelievable as it is, Jews were being sent to concentration camps for mass killings. They were either gunned to death or suffocated inside industrial gas chambers until they die.
The Japanese also had their own share of horror and terror-inflicting stories. According to researches, the real culprit behind the spiraling down of situations during the World War II was Germany and the Empire of Japan. Japan, during the World War II was so eager to expand its territories to the size of the entire East Asia even if it meant invading countries and entering military conflict.
True enough, it started invading nearby countries one or two years before the official reported start of the war. Among the first countries that Japan attempted to invade, and turned out successful in doing so, was China. China, being the weaker and more militarily compromised country between the two, was slowly but surely losing its territories, especially the coastlines to Japan. Japan on the other hand was rapidly gaining the upper hand. During the Japanese occupation of the successfully invaded territories of China, various war atrocities committed against Chinese civilians and prisoners of war were reported. According to some recounts, some women were raped, killed, and tortured, while men were forced into hard labor, tortured and killed. Some recounts of the stories during the World War II also report of incidences of baby killings.
These war atrocities committed by Japanese soldiers, not only victimized the Chinese but also other countries whose territories had been occupied by Japan during the World War II. The Philippines and Singapore were among those other countries. Such acts of cruelty by the Empire of Japan sparked criticisms and worldwide condemnation. However, such condemnations were not enough to convince other countries, and even superpowers such as the United States and the Soviet Union to finally step into the battle zone and join in the war to finally stop the terror precipitated by a territorial expansion-centered mentality.
Japanese later on invaded other East and Southeast Asian countries such as South Korea and the Philippines. During that time, the Allied Powers, headed by the United States and closely followed by the Soviet Union, were already getting wary because Australia an independent state under the United Kingdom’s (one of the members of the Allied Powers) supervision and at some point, protection, and other countries in the Pacific would most likely be the next of Japan’s territorial expansion.
In the last quarter of 1941, Japan attacked one of the most crucial military and naval bases of the Allies in Pearl Harbor. The real intention of the Japanese was to keep the United States from entering the war by threatening them and crippling their navy. The original plan was to destroy all of the Aircraft Carriers and as many battleships as possible stationed in that port. It would be crucial to know that Aircraft Carriers and Battleships at that time were the American Navy’s pride and for the Japanese, removing such icons from the equation would demoralize the U.S. and prevent them from entering the war. Unfortunately, no Aircraft Carriers were stationed there when they attacked. The Japanese Pearl Harbor Attack forces, headed by General Yamamoto failed to destroy ship repair depots and gas tanks which could have left the U.S.. crippled and unable to wage war for at least 6 months. The Japanese focused too much on the promising effects of destroying battle ships and aircraft carriers and not on the logical aspect of the situation. The United States finally declared war against Japan and on 1945, some 4 years after the incident at Pearl Harbor which killed a significant number of U.S. sailors and military personnel from other Allied countries.
The United States-led Allies became successful in regaining the territories they lost during the previous successful Japanese attacks during the early phases of war. The Japanese, still eager to accomplish their East Asia expansion plot, did not surrender until a few days after the United States dropped two Atomic Bombs on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Allies sent an appeal under the Potsdam Terms to Japanese Emperor Showa to unconditionally surrender and they succeeded in doing so.
On the 15th of August 1945, Japan finally surrendered and surrender documents were finally signed aboard the deck of the American Battleship USS Missouri on the 2nd day of September 1945 which decisively led to the end of the Second World War in the Pacific war theatre. The United States-led Allies occupied Japan after the war and planned for the implementation of major rebuilding and reforming plans in all aspects of the Japanese empire.
U.S. Considers Japan as a Cornerstone for their Security Interests in the Pacific – Main Point 1
The end of the Second World War was also marked as the start of the rise of communism. Communist counties of the Soviet Union and China participated in the Korean War as supporters of the communist North Korea. The United States, which was evidently the leader of the democratic and anti-communism force, backed the relatively weaker—compared to North Korea, South Korea. The goal of the United States was to prevent North Korea from successfully occupying South Korea despite being greatly outnumbered by the combined forces of Russian and Chinese military support troops and North Korea’s.
The downfall of South Korea into communist hands would put other Asian countries into high risks of falling into communist hands as well. For the United States, Japan was a cornerstone for their national interests in the Pacific. Before World War II started, the nearest U.S. air and naval base that could handle major military operations was at Hawaii, specifically at Pearl Harbor. Pearl Harbor was several hundred kilometers away from other key Asian countries. Therefore, occupying Japan could greatly benefit the U.S. by serving as a strategic location where U.S. could station and deploy its military units. Aside from Japan, the U.S. also took control of the Philippines which again, served as one of the cornerstones of U.S. security interests in the Pacific.
The United States against the Soviet Union—Main Point 2
Aside from the creeping up of communism, the end of the Second World War also marked the beginning of a long-term conflict between the western and eastern bloc of the Allied Powers, particularly the blocs led by the United States and Soviet Union. That long-term conflict which lasted for about 46 years from 1945 to 1991 is known today as the Cold War. The resulting casualties and damages were not as great as that of the Second World War’s but the thing about this conflict is that it sprang tension to every nation involved in the Second World War.
The cause of the conflict was the great deal of difference between the United State and Soviet Union’s plans on how they will rehabilitate, control, and impose new rules on the defeated and now Allied-occupied Axis Power settlements. Soviet Union, having experienced tremendous losses in life—around 27 million, and properties amounting to several billion dollars at that time, due to invasions led by bordering countries, wanted to increase the security by dominating and actually superimposing on the internal affairs of countries and other territories that are just on the other side of Russia’s border.
Given the large surface area that Russia has, being surrounded by a multitude of smaller but stable countries even at a time when a worldwide war was just resolved, could definitely be threat to Russia’s security in the future. To make Russia’s claim short, they were simply insecure of the things that could happen in the future. They were traumatized by the losses that they have suffered from during World War II and from the past invasions.
The United States-led western allies on the other hand wanted the opposite of what Russia wanted to happen. The U.S. wanted the establishment of a security system wherein democratic governments instead of communist and foreign country-imposed ones would be established whenever and wherever possible and to permit every country to settle issues that are related to internal affairs by themselves, and those that involve conflicts with other countries through interaction and adherence to the rules and standards of international organizations.
The first phase lasted from 1945 to 1947 focused on imposing fundamental changes on the Japanese Government and Society. The goal of the first phase was first, to punish Japan for the war crimes and atrocities it committed during the recent world war and to reinforce the Japanese Economy after suffering from tremendous losses after staging a wide-scale war. The U.S. imposed changes in Japanese constitution such as renouncement of the right to wage war against other countries and the elimination of all non-defensive armed forces. In a way, it could be seen that the U.S. wanted to set an example on how post-war countries could be rehabilitated and reconstructed for Russia and other communist countries who strongly believe on the benefits of an authoritarian regime.
Improve Japan’s Economy in Order to Trade with Them—Main Point 3
If we are going to compare the current Japan to the one that we know of in the past, specifically after the Second World War, we would definitely see a huge difference. In the past, Japan was the war-stricken country that badly needed resuscitation that it fortunately got from the U.S.
Now, it is one of the top three largest economies in Asia. For a country that promotes free-market and capitalism-centered economy like the U.S., trade is very important. Being financially stable and advanced could also lead to being militarily and technologically advanced. A few months to years after the 2nd World War, the world’s economy was scrambling because of the countries’ overspending on military expenses.
The risk for skyrocketing inflation rates appeared and many economies plummeted into bankruptcy. And for a superpower like the U.S., preventing this from happening is vital to keep what they had gained after World War II afloat. The U.S. saw Japan as a potential trade partner. However, at that time, it badly needed reformations in order to prevent the recurrence of another wave of military conflicts in East Asia. As soon as they finished addressing that issue, they went full speed in bolstering Japan’s economy so that in the future, it could be a promising trade and economic partner. The U.S. remodeled Japan into becoming one of the largest economic superpowers and evidently, it succeeded in that aspect of its rebuilding plans for Japan. The U.S. now enjoys a healthy trade and other forms of bilateral relations with Japan and the same goes for Japan. In fact, there is an existing mutual defense treaty between the two countries which automatically recruits the help of the partner country in an event of an invasion led by another country.
Conclusion
The United States did not decide to rehabilitate and rebuild Japan from the ashes simply because it wanted to. The rehabilitation of Japan benefited the United States in a lot of ways. If not for such benefits, it would definitely be unclear whether the United States would still spend time, effort, and even lives on defending and rehabilitating one of its former archenemies. The U.S. saw Japan as a cornerstone for their security interests in Asia because of Japan’s location which would automatically be converted into a strategic advantage for the U.S. It also saw the possibility that Japan could be the next target of the communist countries. The U.S. wanted to stop the spread of communism and they saw protecting Japan as one of the milestones for that goal. Lastly, the U.S. saw Japan’s potential as a trade partner. True enough, Japan is now one of the top performing countries in the world economy and now enjoys a healthy bilateral relationship with the U.S.
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