The Anglo-Japanese Relationship after the Second World War

Abstract

When we consider Anglo-Japanese military relationships we should bear in mind that it is now 400 years since the visit by William Adams. Moreover it is 100 years since the conclusion of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance which created a close alliance relationship covering almost two decades. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN), from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1920s, also developed with the help of the Royal Navy and became the world’s third sea power in the world in the years following the First World War. In the century since the Alliance was formed, Japan and Britain fought together as comrades in the First World War and worked together during the Cold War, but they fought each other as enemies during the Second World War. This war lasted only for 3 years and 8 months from December 1941 to August 1945 but left deep and lasting wounds around the subjects of POW atrocities and war crimes.