Abstract
“Oshima came to my house to see me on August 22 at midnight. The news that Ribbentrop was flying to Moscow …. was a heavy blow for him, though he was Japanese and General enough not to lose his outward poise. His face became rigid and grey.”1 Before his departure the Foreign Minister had told the Ambassador by telephone of Germany’s new policy, and naturally the envoy desired further information. The State Secretary spoke of the German-Russian rapprochement, but only increased the visitor’s “uneasiness.” Oshima argued that the U.S.S.R., relieved of anxiety in Europe, was bound to turn her attention to the Far East, and this would work to the detriment of Japan. Besides, what had taken place in the Soviet capital was inconsistent with the German-Japanese relationship so far; he expected that his country would experience “a certain shock.” Weizsäcker must have prepared himself in advance, for he truly marshalled his retorts. He denied that the German-Japanese entente had been impaired; rather, this new development would aid Japan in the improvement of her Russian relations. Moreover, Japan did have a “priority,” and the German government waited for six months without obtaining a satisfactory reply.
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References
Nazi-Soviet Relations, op. cit., p. 47.
Ibid., pp. 52, 54, 56.
Ibid., p. 58.
Ibid., pp. 72–73, 75. It must be pointed out that article 4 of the Nazi-Soviet Pact, agreeing not to participate in any hostile combination, meant a German pledge to discontinue further conversatons with Japan for an alliance. Ibid., p. 77.
International Military Tribunal for the Far East, Analysis of Documentary Evidence, IPS doc. 4047 (hereafter cited as IMTFE); J. W. Gantenbein, Documentary Background of World War II (New York: Columbia University Press, 1948), pp. 739–740.
Ministero degli Affari Esteri, J Documenti Diplomatici Italiani, Ottava Serie: 1935–1939 (Roma: La Libreria dello Stato, 1953), XIII, pp. 292–293. Oshima admitted to an official of the German Foreign Ministry that he was “profoundly disappointed” by the conclusion of the Nazi-Soviet Pact. Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, vol. VII The Last Days of Peace (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1956), pp. 237–238. (hereafter cited as DGFP).
Koichi Kido, Extracts from the Diary of …. 1931–41. (Microfilmed by the University of California), August 23, 1939.
See e.g. DGFP, VII, pp. 259–260; Craig and Gilbert, The Diplomats, 1919–1939 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953), p. 621.
IMTFE, Exhibit 3587; Katsuji Futse, “Rapprochement between Germany and the Soviet Union,” Contemporary Japan, VIII (September, 1939), pp. 824–831.
Kido Diary, op. cit., August 28, 1939; DGFP, VII, pp. 444–445.
As quoted in David J. Dallin, Soviet Russia’s Foreign Policy, 1939–1942 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1942), p. 227. For another statement see, Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939, Third Series (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1955), IX, p. 523.
Ministero degh Affari Esteri, op. cit., XIII, pp. 120–121; IMTFE, Exhibit 2726; DGFP, VII, pp. 224–225.
IMTFE, Exhibit 2232.
The italics are in the original document.
Nazi-Soviet Relations, op. cit., pp. 80–83.
For the text see IMTFE, Exhibit 39; “Kündigung des deutsch-japanischen Handelsvertrag,” Ostasiatische Rundschau, XX (August 16, 1939), pp. 368–369; “Japan-German Trade Pact,” The Oriental Economist, VI (September, 1939), pp. 594–596.
IMTFE, IPS doc. 4050; “Japan-Handelsverträge/Aussenhandelsentwicklung,” Ostasiatische Rundschau, XX (September 5, 1939), p. 394.
IMTFE, Exhibits 509, 510, IPS doc. 4034; Ministero degli Affari Esteri, op. cit., XIII, pp. 226–227, Ibid., Nona Serie: 1939–1943 (Roma: La Librería dello Stato, 1954), I, pp. 361–362.
Sir Robert Craigie, Behind the Japanese Mask (London: Hutchinson & Co., Ltd., 1946), pp. 79–80.
Langer and Gleason, The Challenge to Isolation, 1937–1940 (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1952), p. 296.
IMTFE, Exhibit 3751, chapters 338–340 (Saionji-Harada memoirs); Foreign Relations, 1939, op. cit., III, pp. 73, 74–75; David J. Dallin, Soviet Russia and the Far East (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1948), pp. 150–151.
IMTFE, Exhibit 2234; Langer and Gleason, op. cit., p. 301; H. J. Trefousse, Germany and American Neutrality, 1939–1941 (New York: Bookman Associates, 1951), pp. 67–68.
IMTFE, Exhibit 507.
Gantenbein, op. cit., pp. 739–740.
IMTFE, Exhibits 498, 507, IPS doc. 4047; DGFP, VII, p. 191.
Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918–1945, vol. VIII The War Years (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1954), p. 237; Ministero degli Affari Esteri, op. cit., I, p. 184.
IMTFE, Exhibit 3751, chapter 341, IPS doc. 4045; Craigie, op. cit., pp. 79–80; Langer and Gleason, op. cit., pp. 292–293, 297; Frank W. Iklé, German-Japanese Relations, 1936–1940 (Berkeley, Calif.: Ph. D. dissertation, 1953), pp. 237–238.
IMTFE, IPS doc. 4040. These views were shared by Doctor Knoll, head of the Far Eastern section of the Wilhelmstrasse. See DGFP, VIII, p. 57. 3i IMTFE, Exhibit 3503B.
Erich Kordt, Wahn und Wirklichkeit (Stuttgart: Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1948), pp. 226–227.
William L. Shirer, Berlin Diary (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1941), p. 242.
Ciano’s Diplomatic Papers, edited by M. Muggeridge(London: Odhams Press Ltd., 1948), p. 316. See also Mussolini’s letter of January 4, 1940, to Hitler about this subject. Les lettres secrètes échangées par Hitter et Mussolini (Paris: Editions du Pavois, 1946), p. 52.
Ciano’s Papers, op. cit., p. 315.
International Military Tribunal, Trial of the Major War Criminals (Nuremberg: The Secretariat, 1947), XXVI, doc. 789 PS.
Führer Conferences on matters dealing with the German Navy, 1939 (Washington: Office of Naval Intelligence, 1947), pp. 36, 40, 46, 69. For Japanese reactions to German advice about Russia, see Foreign Relations, 1939, op. cit., III, pp. 95, 97–98.
Langer and Gleason, op. cit., p. 310.
Craigie, op. cit., p. 81; Joseph C. Grew, Ten Years in Japan (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1944), p. 312;
Toshikazu Kase, Journey to the Missouri (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1950), p. 39.
Documents on American Foreign Relations, 1939–1940 (Boston: World Peace Foundation, 1940), II, pp. 279–283.
Adolf Hitler, My New Order (New York: Reynal and Hitchcock, 1941), p. 787.
DGFP, VIII, p. 490; Gantenbein, op. cit., pp. 740–743. Even when Germans were removed by a British cruiser from a Japanese ship in het own territorial waters, and a wave of anti-British sentiment swept Tokyo, the Japanese government proved most reluctant to intervene on their behalf, IMTFE, Exhibit 3503B; Craigie, op. cit., pp. 83–84.
IMTFE, IPS doc. 4030; DGFP, VIII, pp. 820, 835.
Masamichi Rōyama, Foreign Policy of Japan, 1914–1939 (Tokyo: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1941), p. 133.
IMTFE, Exhibits 2744, 3503B.
Ibid., Exhibits 511, 514, 515.
Ribbentrop’s knowledge of past events was somewhat mixed-up, it seems, for America had entered the European war in 1917 before concluding an agreement with Japan. It is true, however, that these two events might not be unrelated. Hitler’s letter to the Duce pointed out that the “mere existence of a strong Japan” indirectly aided Germany. DGFP, VIII, pp. 871–888.
Ciano’s Papers, op. cit., pp. 356–357.
IMTFE, IPS doc. 888; The Ciano Diaries, 1939–1943, edited by Hugh Gibson (New York: Doubleday & Co. Inc., 1946), March 30, 1940. Mussolini was so incensed at Ribbentrop’s objection to the Italian step that he called him: “a truly sinister man because he is an imbecile and presumptuous.”
Joseph W. Ballantine, “Mukden to Pearl Harbor,” Foreign Affairs, XXVII (July, 1949), pp. 651–664.
Documents on American Foreign Relations, op. cit., II, pp. 305, 306–307; Langer and Gleason, op. cit., pp. 584–587.
IMTFE, IPS doc. 4020. But Ott reported from Tokyo that the Navy had forced Arita to make the statement. Ibid., IPS doc. 4030.
Documents on American Foreign Relations, op. cit., II, p. 307.
IMTFE, Exhibit 517.
Ibid., IPS doc. 4026. See also Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945. Vol. IX The War Years (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1956), p. 376,
IMTFE, Exhibit 517; DGFP, IX, pp. 285–287.
IMTFE, Exhibits 518, 519; Documents on American Foreign Relations, op. cit., II, p. 309; DGFP, IX, pp. 414–415.
IMTFE, Exhibits 511, 515, 516.
Langer and Gleason, op. cit., pp. 597–598.
Kido Diary, op. cit., June 19, 1940.
Gantenbein, op. cit., pp. 740–746.
DGFP, IX, pp. 633–634.
Ciano’s Papers, op. cit., p. 374.
Führer Conferences on matters dealing with the German Navy, 1940 (Washington: Office of Naval Intelligence, 1947), I, p. 66.
IMTFE, IPS doc. 4027.
Craigie, op. cit., p. 102; see also the remarks in Grew, op. cit., p. 320.
Craigie, op. cit., p. 103.
As quoted in Langer and Gleason, op. cit., p. 603.
Documents on American Foreign Relations, op. cit., II, pp. 288–289.
IMTFE, Exhibits 530, 531; Ballantine, op. cit., p. 657.
IMTFE, Exhibit 522; DGFP, IX, pp. 634–636.
Ibid., Exhibit 523; Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, vol. X The War Years (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1957), pp. 5–6. The German Foreign Office instructed Ott to treat these Japanese overtures with complete reserve.
Kido Diary, op. cit., July 1, 1940.
IMTFE, Exhibit 2733; Frank M. Tamagna, Italy’s Interests and Policies in the Far East (New York: Institute of Pacific Relations, 1941), p. 36.
IMTFE, Exhibit 524; DGFP, X, pp. 162–167, 183.
IMTFE, Exhibit 526.
Ballantine, op. cit., p. 657.
Kido Diary, op. cit., July 8, 1940.
Langer and Gleason, op. cit., p. 605.
IMTFE, Exhibit 527.
Ibid., Exhibit 528.
Kido Diary, op. cit., July 17, 1940.
Herbert Feis, The Road to Pearl Harbor (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950), p. 33.
Foreign Relations of the United States, 1940 (Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1955), IV, p. 398.
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Presseisen, E.L. (1958). The Second Crisis. In: Germany and Japan. International Scholars Forum. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-6590-9_8
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