The Road to War in Asia

Abstract

Although it only emerged from 300 years of isolation in 1853, by 1900 Japan had become the leading Asian industrial power. War with China brought possession of Korea, Formosa and concessions on the Chinese mainland. Japan became the first Asian power to defeat a European one in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904–05. For fighting on the Allied side in the First World War, Japan was given German Pacific island colonies. Pressure tactics (the ‘21 Demands’) used against China, however, worsened Japanese relations with the US, already strained by American restrictions on immigration from Japan. The Japanese had been allies with Britain — sharing a rival in Russia — and the British helped the development of the Imperial Navy. However, after the First World War, American pressure and British desire to reduce commitments, led the British to end the alliance. In the Washington Naval Treaties (1921) Japan was limited to just over half the number of capital ships of Britain and the US (who claimed they had two or more oceans to protect, where the Japanese had only the Pacific). The ratios were 5 (US): 5 (UK): 3 (Japan): 1.5 (Italy and France).