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113-742: On 7/8 December 1941, Japan invaded Thailand and attacked the British colonies of Malaya , Singapore , and Hong Kong as well as the United States military and naval bases in Hawaii , Wake Island , Guam , and the Philippines . On 7 of December, Canada declared war on Japan. Followed on December 8, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Netherlands declared war on Japan, followed by China and Australia

226-620: A base of operations to invade neighbouring Malaya. Within hours after the armistice came into effect, squadrons of Japanese aircraft had flown into Songkla airfield from Indochina , allowing them to carry out air raids on strategic bases in Malaya and Singapore from a short distance. On 14 December, Phibun signed a secret agreement with the Japanese committing Thai troops in the Malayan campaign and Burma campaign . An alliance between Thailand and Japan

339-539: A complete coup d'état, but it effectively ended rule by political parties in Japan. From 1932 to 1936, the country was governed by admirals. Mounting nationalist sympathies led to chronic instability in government. Moderate policies were difficult to enforce. The crisis culminated on February 26, 1936. In what became known as the February 26 Incident , about 1,500 ultranationalist army troops marched on central Tokyo . Their mission

452-523: A constitutional monarchy and parliamentary system with a liberal democracy . In 1952, with the Treaty of San Francisco , Japan became a sovereign state again. The postwar Shōwa period was characterized by the Japanese economic miracle . The Shōwa era was longer than the reign of any previous Japanese emperor . Emperor Shōwa was both the longest-lived and longest-reigning historical Japanese emperor as well as

565-541: A district of Prachinburi Province ) along the nearly finished railway link between Aranyaprathet and Monkhol Bourei. (It opened for traffic on 11 April 1942.) The Japanese 1st Infantry Battalion of the 143rd Infantry Regiment (part of the IJA 55th Division) landed at Chumphon on the morning of 8 December from two troop ships. They managed to form a perimeter around their landing areas, but were pinned down by determined resistance by Thai 'Yuwachon Thahan' ('youth soldier' cadets of

678-566: A military presence in Manchuria . On September 18, 1931, the Mukden Incident occurred. There was a small explosion on the tracks of a Japanese railway, north of Mukden . Japan invaded Manchuria in the aftermath. The Imperial Japanese Army mobilized the Kwantung Army and attacked Chinese troops. The Minseito government, headed by Hamaguchi's successor Wakatsuki Reijirō , was unable to curb

791-639: A neutral stance on both the European war and the Japanese war with China; and Japan was a superpower with a growing buildup of forces in French Indochina. Phibun may have decided he had little choice, as his own forces would have been unable to defeat the Japanese by themselves. Thailand's invasion of French Indochina in 1940 also made it difficult for the United States government to support Phibun. Midway through 1941, Phibun sought British and American guarantees of effective support if Japan invaded Thailand. Neither

904-649: A passage of the Chinese Book of Documents : 百姓昭明，協和萬邦 (Translated: "[T]he people (of his domain), ... all became brightly intelligent. (Finally), he united and harmonized the myriad states.") From this same quotation, Japan also adopted the era name Meiwa ( 明和 ) during the Edo period in the late-18th century. There were two other candidates at the time – Dōwa ( 同和 ) and Genka ( 元化 ). The term could be roughly understood as meaning "enlightened peace" or in some interpretations "radiant Japan". In his enthronement address which

1017-499: A powerful force in society. Mass education and conscription served as a means to indoctrinate the coming generation with "the idea of Japan" as a nation state instead of a series of daimyōs . In this way, loyalty to feudal domains was supplanted with loyalty to the central government. Industrialization and centralization gave the Japanese a strong sense that their country could once more rival and dominate Western powers technologically and socially. Moreover, successful foreign wars gave

1130-492: A rainstorm, and only ended in the afternoon when the hard-pressed Thais received orders to lay down their arms. The Thais lost 17 or 18 dead, but the number of injured was not known. Due to its closeness to the Malayan border, Pattani was the second most important objective of the Japanese 25th Army. Eight IJN destroyers including the Shirakumo and Shinonome provided support for the five troop transports. The landings by

1243-584: A reconnaissance flight over the South China Sea , located three Japanese ships steaming west, and about 15 minutes later, sighted the IJN Southern Expeditionary Fleet convoy, consisting of a battleship, five cruisers, seven destroyers and 22 transports. One of the two merchant seaplane tenders with the convoy, the Kamikawa Maru , launched a Mitsubishi F1M "Pete" floatplane to intercept

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1356-463: A reserve force which brought the army's numbers up to about 50,000. The Royal Thai Air Force possessed some 270 aircraft, of which 150 were combat aircraft, many of them American. Japan had provided Thailand with 93 more modern aircraft in December 1940. The Royal Thai Navy was poorly trained and equipped, and had lost a substantial number of vessels in its conflict with French Indochina. However,

1469-463: A threat to all Asians and that Asia could only survive by following the Japanese example. Japan had been the only Asian and non-Western power to industrialize itself successfully and rival great Western empires. While largely described by contemporary Western observers as a front for the expansion of the Japanese army, the idea behind the Co-Prosperity Sphere was that Asia would be united against

1582-509: Is an issue of fierce debate between Chinese and Japanese historians. By 1939, the Japanese war effort had become a stalemate. The Japanese Army had seized most of the vital cities in China, including Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, and Wuhan . The Nationalists and the Communists, however, fought on from Chongqing and Yenan , respectively. Negotiations for a German-Japanese alliance began in 1937 with

1695-641: The British–Thai Non-Aggression Pact on 12 June 1940. By February, the British were beginning to suspect the Japanese were planning to attack their possessions in Southeast Asia and were concerned Japan might set up bases in Thailand to that end. The situation Phibun faced was that France had now been defeated by Germany, and Britain was heavily engaged in Europe; the United States had until then taken

1808-751: The Dutch East Indies ( Indonesia ). Thailand managed to stay independent by becoming a satellite state of Japan. On 13 April 1941, the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed. In December 1941 to May 1942, Japan sank major elements of the American, British and Dutch fleets, captured Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, and reached the borders of India and Australia. Japan suddenly had achieved its goal of ruling

1921-652: The Franco-Siamese crisis of 1893 . The Japanese, who wanted to use the Indo-Chinese ports and air-bases, acted as negotiators to bring about a settlement between the French and Thais on 31 January 1941. As part of the process, secret discussions were held with Thai Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram , in which the Japanese military sought free passage through Thailand. Phibun had responded positively, but his later actions showed he may have been very uncertain, as he had concluded

2034-624: The Free Thai Movement . Sh%C5%8Dwa (1926%E2%80%931989) The Shōwa era ( 昭和時代 , Shōwa jidai , [ɕoːwadʑidai] ) is a historical period of Japanese history corresponding to the reign of Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) from December 25, 1926, until his death on January 7, 1989 . It was preceded by the Taishō era and succeeded by the Heisei era . The pre-1945 and post-war Shōwa periods are almost completely different states:

2147-522: The Hull note and the McCollum memo .) The Japanese sought to have the sanctions lifted by promising not to encroach on Thailand and withdrawing their forces from Indochina, provided the United States withdrew its support for China. This was unacceptable to both Britain and the United States because of its impact on China. In late November, the British became aware of a probable attack on Thailand by Japan because of

2260-576: The Imperial General Headquarters tolerated many atrocities against local populations , such as the experimentations of Unit 731 , the sankō sakusen , the use of chemical and biological weapons , and civilian massacres such as those in Nanjing , Singapore and Manila . Some of the atrocities were motivated by racism. For instance, Japanese soldiers were taught to think of captured Chinese as not worthy of mercy. On July 7, 1937, at

2373-658: The Kamikawa Maru , piloted by Ensign Ogata Eiichi, spotted a No. 205 Squadron RAF Consolidated PBY Catalina reconnaissance flying boat (W8417), piloted by Warrant Officer William E Webb. Ogata attacked the Catalina from the rear, damaging it and destroying its radio. Ogata shadowed the Catalina for 25 minutes until five Nakajima Ki-27 "Nate" fighters from the JAAF's 1st Sentai in Indo-China arrived and shot it down. Webb and his crew were

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2486-723: The New Order in East Asia ( 東亜新秩序 , Tōa Shin Chitsujo ) . In 1940, the concept was expanded by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe , who sought to create the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere , including Japan, Manchukuo , China, and parts of Southeast Asia. This would, according to imperial propaganda, establish a new international order seeking "co-prosperity" for Asian countries which would share prosperity and peace, free from Western colonialism and domination under

2599-598: The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers ; he and his staff exerted wide but indirect power, for the decisions were carried out by Japanese officials. A War Crimes Tribunal , similar to that at Nuremberg , was set up in Tokyo. On 3 May 1946, the prosecution began of Japanese military leaders for war crimes. Several prominent members of the Japanese cabinet were executed, most notably former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo . But

2712-632: The Washington Naval Conference of 1921–1922, the Great Powers met to set limits on naval armament. The Five Power Naval Limitation Agreement worked out in Washington limited competition in battleships and aircraft carriers to a ratio of 5:5:3 (in terms of tonnage) for the United Kingdom, the United States, and Japan respectively. Japanese ultra-nationalists viewed this as an attempt by Western powers to curb Japanese expansionism in an area of

2825-638: The Western powers under the auspices of the Japanese. The idea drew influence in the paternalistic aspects of Confucianism and Koshitsu Shinto . Thus, the main goal of the Sphere was the hakkō ichiu , the unification of the eight corners of the world under the rule ( kōdō ) of the Emperor. The reality during this period differed from the propaganda. Some nationalities and ethnic groups were marginalized, and during rapid military expansion into foreign countries,

2938-560: The economic collapse brought new hardship to the people of Japan. Silk and rice prices plummeted and exports decreased 50%. Unemployment in both the cities and the countryside skyrocketed and social agitation came to a head. Meanwhile, the London Naval Treaty was ratified in 1930. Its purpose was to extend the Washington Treaty System. The Japanese government had desired to raise their ratio to 10:10:7, but this proposal

3051-458: The "crass" materialism of the West. In practice, however, the Japanese installed organizationally-minded bureaucrats and engineers to run their annexed territories, and they believed in ideals of efficiency, modernization, and engineering solutions to social problems. It was fascism based on technology and rejected Western norms of democracy. After 1945, the engineers and bureaucrats took over and turned

3164-475: The 13th Artillery battalion) immediately occupied positions alongside the roads leading down to Malaya, but were brushed aside into positions the main Japanese advance could ignore. A further clash occurred at Hat Yai . The Thais lost 15 dead (8 KIA from 41st Inf. Bat. and 7 from the 5th Inf. bat.) and 30–55 wounded. The fighting ceased at noon when orders for an armistice to be arranged was received. While these landings were taking place in Thailand, troops from

3277-535: The 18th Air District Regiment along with an army air force signals unit, the 32nd Anti-Aircraft Battalion, and the 6th Labour Construction Company. Shortly after midnight, they began disembarking their troops at Tha Phae canal (AKA Pak Phoon Canal), north of Camp Vajiravudh. The landing was made adjacent to the main Thai army camp, Camp Vajiravudh. The Thais, notified earlier of the Japanese invasion at Songkhla , immediately went into action. The battle lasted until midday, when

3390-520: The 42nd Infantry Regiment of the IJA 5th Division led by Major Shigeharu Asaeda were made despite the rough seas and on unsuitable landing grounds. The invaders were effectively opposed by the Thai 42nd Infantry Battalion, Pattani Provincial Police, and Thai Yuwachon Thahan units (the 66th Yuwachon Thahan Training Unit from Benjama Rachoothit School), until the battalion was ordered to cease fire at midday. The Thai battalion commander, Khun (ขุน) Inkhayutboriharn,

3503-408: The 4th Guards Infantry Regiment landed at Samut Prakan in the early hours of 8 December. It was tasked with the capture of Bangkok . The force was met by a small Thai police detachment. Despite a tense confrontation, fighting did not occur and the Japanese subsequently agreed not to enter the Thai capital until formal negotiations were concluded. The Japanese bombed Bangkok with one bomb falling on

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3616-535: The 52nd Yuwachon Thahan Training Unit from Sriyaphai Secondary School), along with the regular army 38th Infantry Battalion and Provincial Police of Chumphon. Fighting ended in the afternoon when the Thais received orders to cease fire. The Thai had lost Captain Thawin Niyomsen (commanding the 52nd Yuwachon Thahan Unit, posthumously promoted to Lt. Col.), some provincial policemen and a few civilians. Nakhon Si Thammarat

3729-445: The American demands. ...we cannot let the present situation continue. If we miss the present opportunity to go to war, we will have to submit to American dictation. Therefore, I recognize that it is inevitable that we must decide to start a war against the United States. I will put my trust in what I have been told: namely, that things will go well in the early part of the war; and that although we will experience increasing difficulties as

3842-658: The Americans. Finally, the death agony of the Empire of Japan came in August 1945. On August 6, an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima , instantly killing approximately 70,000 people when the attack took place (plus another estimated 130,000 by 1960 due to after-effects). On August 8, the Soviet invasion of Manchuria began. The following day, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki , killing approximately 40,000 people. These attacks with

3955-562: The Axis out of the Mediterranean, securing their lines of communications to their colonies. The American Navy, led by Admiral King, wished to prioritize fighting Japan, while the American Army, led by George C. Marshall, argued in favor of an immediate cross-channel invasion in 1942. Roosevelt, favoring naval strategy, was persuaded by Churchill to prioritize the Mediterranean, and even suggested to

4068-491: The British studied the feasibility of a cross-channel invasion and found it to be impossible in 1942. General Mark Clark, commander of all American forces in Britain, corroborated this conclusion later that year, pointing out that only one infantry division (the 34th Infantry Division) was available, but had neither amphibious training, anti-aircraft guns, tanks, nor landing craft. The 1st Armored Division also lacked equipment, as were

4181-891: The British to strengthen their forces in the Pacific. Arcadia created a unified American-British-Dutch-Australian Command (ABDA) in the Far East; the ABDA fared poorly. It was also agreed at the conference to combine military resources under one command in the European Theater of Operations (ETO). Japanese invasion of Thailand Ceasefire 1941 1942 Second Sino-Japanese War Taishō period Shōwa period The Japanese invasion of Thailand ( Thai : การบุกครองไทยของญี่ปุ่น , RTGS :  Kan Buk Khrong Thai Khong Yipun ; Japanese : 日本軍のタイ進駐 , romanized :  Nihongun no Tai shinchū ) occurred on 8 December 1941. It

4294-619: The Chamber of Commerce Building into a command post. The Japanese air force attacked Don Muang Royal Thai Air Force Base , which was defended by the Thai air force. The Thais lost six fighter planes to a numerically superior Japanese force. A Japanese infantry company from the 1st Battalion of the 143rd Infantry Regiment landed from one troopship at the coastal village of Ban Don in the early hours of 8 December. They marched into Surat Thani , where they were opposed by Royal Thai Police and civilian volunteers. The desultory fighting took place amid

4407-657: The Emperor Hirohito was neither tried at the Tokyo trials nor dethroned, nor any members of the imperial family . Instead, under the Post-war Constitution , the Japanese Emperor was reduced to a figurehead nominal monarch without divine characteristics and is forbidden to play a role in politics. Douglas MacArthur sought to break the power of the zaibatsu ; Japan was democratized and liberalized along American " New Deal " liberal lines. Parliamentary party politics

4520-648: The Empire of Japan. One solution was war. During the first part of the Shōwa era, racial discrimination against other Asians was habitual in Imperial Japan, having begun with the start of Japanese colonialism. The Shōwa regime thus preached racial superiority and racialist theories, based on sacred nature of the Yamato-damashii . One of Emperor Shōwa's teachers, historian Kurakichi Shiratori, remarked, "Therefore nothing in

4633-548: The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. The ideology of Japan's colonial empire, as it expanded dramatically during the war, contained two somewhat contradictory impulses. On the one hand, it preached the unity of the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere , a coalition of Asian nations, directed by Japan, against Western imperialism . This approach celebrated the spiritual values of the East in opposition to

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4746-558: The Hudson, which eluded it by taking cover in the clouds. A few minutes later, a second Hudson also sighted the convoy. Air Chief Marshal Sir Robert Brooke-Popham was advised of the sightings at 14:00. He was not authorised to take any action against the convoy, as Britain was not at war with Japan, the Japanese intentions were still unclear, and no aggressive action had yet been taken against British or Thai territory. He put his forces in Malaya on full alert and ordered continued surveillance of

4859-567: The Japan's 25th Army also landed further south at Kota Bharu in Malaya. Once Thailand was secured the 15th Army's 143rd Regiment moved north to replace the Imperial Guards. The Imperial Guards headed south to join the 25th Army and participate in the invasion of Malaya and Singapore. The 15th Army moved to attack Burma. Phibun's decision to sign an armistice with Japan effectively ended Churchill's hopes of forging an alliance with Thailand. Phibun also granted Japan permission to use Thailand as

4972-762: The Marco Polo Bridge, the Japanese Kwantung army stationed there used explosions heard on the Chinese side of Manchuria as a pretext for invasion. The invasion led to a large-scale war known as the Second Sino-Japanese War approved by the Emperor that was called a "holy war" ( Seisen ) in Imperial propaganda . At the time, China was divided internally between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which

5085-436: The Nations for his actions. The withdrawal from the League of Nations meant that Japan was politically isolated. Japan had no strong allies and its actions had been internationally condemned , whilst internally popular nationalism was booming. Local leaders, such as mayors, teachers, and Shinto priests were recruited by the various movements to indoctrinate the populace with ultra-nationalist ideals. They had little time for

5198-442: The Netherlands, threatening to restrict the supply of vital materials to the Japanese war machine, especially oil, steel and money. The Japanese army, after sharp defeats by the Russians in Mongolia , wanted to avoid war with the Soviet Union, even though it would have aided the German war against the USSR . The Emperor became fatalistic about going to war, as the military assumed more and more control. Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe

5311-434: The Pacific War brought about radical change in Japan. For the first and only time in its history, Japan was occupied by foreign powers , an American-led occupation which lasted for six years and eight months. Allied occupation brought forth sweeping democratic reforms. It led to the formal end of the emperor's status as a demigod and the transformation of Japan from a form of mixed constitutional and absolute monarchy to

5424-434: The Philippines, Malaysia , Papua New Guinea , French Indochina , Burma and many Pacific islands . The decisive naval/aerial Battle of Midway took place in early June 1942. That changed the momentum of the war. Japan was put on the defensive as the Americans pursued their policy of island hopping . Tokyo was repeatedly firebombed in 1945 and in the early spring and summer of 1945, Iwo Jima and Okinawa were seized by

5537-436: The Philippines, and 50 percent of military fatalities in China. The aerial bombing of a total of 69 Japanese cities appears to have taken a minimum of 400,000 and possibly closer to 600,000 civilian lives (over 100,000 in Tokyo alone, over 200,000 in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined, and 80,000–150,000 civilian deaths in the battle of Okinawa). Civilian deaths among settlers who died attempting to return to Japan from Manchuria in

5650-409: The Soviet Ambassador Litvinoff that a landing in North Africa might enable attacking German-occupied Europe from the south. Marshall, however, insisted upon a cross-channel invasion and suggested withdrawing from the liberation of Europe if the British did not agree to his plan. On Churchill's last day in Washington, the invasion of Guadalcanal was approved. Roosevelt ultimately overruled Marshall after

5763-450: The Thai Navy had two operating submarines, HTMS Matchanu and HTMS Wirun , which were a cause of concern for the Japanese commanders. The Royal Thai Army started to set up the new military units in the Kra Peninsula including: Japan had units of its 15th Army under Lieutenant General Shōjirō Iida and 25th Army under Lieutenant General Tomoyuki Yamashita stationed in Indochina. Both armies had combat aircraft units. The 15th Army

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5876-441: The Thai military, as this would delay the invasion and significantly reduce the element of surprise. The Japanese plan was seen by the Nazi government of Germany as helpful in diverting the United Kingdom's military forces, and thus assisting Germany in its own conflict. Thailand had a well-disciplined military, and after a series of border skirmishes in 1940 had invaded neighbouring French Indochina to recover provinces lost in

5989-472: The United Kingdom nor the United States could give them, although British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was in favour of a public warning to Japan that an invasion of the Southeast Asian kingdom would result in a British declaration of war. However, the United States was unwilling to agree to this, and Britain was not prepared to make it alone. By August, the United Kingdom and the United States had placed sanctions against Japan. (For further information, see

6102-414: The United States and dropped Japanese immigrants to the level of other Asians (who were already excluded). The overwhelming reaction in Japan, both at the highest levels and in mass rallies that reflected angry public opinion, was hostile and sustained. Commentators suggested the opening guns of a race war and called for a new buildup of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces . The Shōwa financial crisis

6215-419: The airfield to the south. The Japanese laid siege to the airfield, but the Thai airmen along with Prachuap Khirikhan Provincial Police managed to hold out until noon on the next day, when they too received the ceasefire order. The Japanese lost 115 dead according to Japanese estimates, and 217 dead and 300+ wounded according to Thai estimates. The Thais lost 37 dead and 27 wounded. The Japanese 3rd Battalion of

6328-451: The army's offensive. The Kwantung Army conquered all of Manchuria and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo on March 1, 1932. The last Emperor of China , Puyi , was installed as the puppet ruler of Manchukuo. The Diet, now dominated by army officials, voted to withdraw from the League of Nations . The first seeds of the coming conflict had been sown. Prior to 1868, most Japanese more readily identified with their feudal domain rather than

6441-421: The convoy. On 7 December at 03:00, Vice-Admiral Jisaburō Ozawa ordered patrols in the area between the convoy and Malaya. The convoy was about 100 nautical miles (190 kilometres) from Kota Bharu . There was heavy rain and zero visibility. The Kamikawa Maru and Sagara Maru launched 11 F1M2's and six Aichi E13A 's. About 20 nmi (37 km) west northwest of Panjang Island at 08:20, an E13A1 ZI-26 from

6554-445: The creation of a Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere . Indeed, the Second Sino-Japanese War fueled the need for oil that could be found in the Dutch East Indies . After the Imperial General Headquarters refused to remove its troops from China (excluding Manchukuo ) and French Indochina , U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt announced in July 1941 an oil embargo on Japan. The Imperial Japanese Navy , increasingly threatened by

6667-408: The first casualties of the Pacific War. Unaware of this incident, the British took no action. Ogata would later be killed in the Battle of the Coral Sea . At 23:00 on 7 December, the Japanese presented the Thai government with an ultimatum to allow the Japanese military to enter Thailand. The Thais were given two hours to respond. Thailand had a well-trained military of 26,500 men, together with

6780-409: The focus of the nationalist movement in Japan. Japanese nationalism was buoyed by a romantic concept of Bushidō and driven by a modern concern for rapid industrial development and strategic dominance in East Asia . It saw the Triple Intervention of 1895 as a threat to Japanese success in East Asia and warned that the " ABCD Powers " (America, Britain , China , and the Dutch ), were threatening

6893-424: The globe over which they had no interest. However, those in power in Japan readily agreed to the disarmament, realizing that the global taste for war had been soured after the First World War and knowing that, the ratio was sufficient to maintain hegemony in the Pacific. In 1924, however, friendly U.S.–Japanese relations were torpedoed by the Immigration Act of 1924 . The act closed off Japanese immigration to

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7006-565: The government debated a response, Phibun could not be located and was unaware of the ultimatum until late morning. At dawn the Imperial Guards Division under Lieutenant-General Takuma Nishimura and IJA 55th Division under Lieutenant-General Hiroshi Takeuchi of the 15th Army crossed the border from Indo-China into Thailand's recently reclaimed Phra Tabong Province at Tambon Savay Donkeo, Athuek Thewadej District (Russei) of Battambang. The Japanese encountered no resistance, and from Sisophon swung north-westwards into Aranyaprathet (then still

7119-418: The idea of "Japan" as a whole. When the Tokugawa shogunate was overthrown, the leaders of the revolt, Satsuma and Chōshū , were ideologically opposed to the house of Tokugawa since the Battle of Sekigahara . The Meiji era changed all of that. With the introduction of mass education , conscription , industrialization , centralization , and successful foreign wars, Japanese nationalism began to foment as

7232-481: The invading force considerable difficulty. The port city of Songkhla was one of the main objectives of Yamashita's 25th Army. During the early hours of 8 December, three regiments of the Japanese 5th Division led by Colonel Tsuji under Lieutenant General Matsui Takuro landed there from 10 troop transports. The landing was supported by IJN destroyers Asagiri , Amagiri , Sagiri , and Yūgiri . The Thai garrison at Khao Khor Hong (the 41st Infantry Battalion and

7345-433: The landings in Thailand and at Kota Baru in Malaya. The known IJN ships participating, apart from those sent to Kota Baru, were: In total there were 18 transports involved, which included three landing troops at Kota Baru. Japanese troops invaded Thailand from Indochina and with landings south of Bangkok and at various points along the Kra Peninsula several hours after Thailand had not responded to their ultimatum. While

7458-417: The longest-reigning monarch in the world at the time. On 7 January 1989, Crown Prince Akihito succeeded to the Chrysanthemum Throne upon the death of his father, Emperor Shōwa, which marked the start of the Heisei era . Emperor Hirohito was served by total of 33 prime ministers , beginning with Wakatsuki Reijiro and ending with Noboru Takeshita . The two kanji characters in Shōwa ( 昭和 ) were from

7571-431: The loss of its oil supplies, insisted on a decision, warning the alternatives were a high risk war, that Japan might lose, or a certain descent into third class status and a loss of China and Manchuria. Officially the Emperor made the decision, but he was told by a key civilian official on 5 November 1941: it is impossible, from the standpoint of our domestic political situation and of our self-preservation, to accept all of

7684-460: The main post office, which failed to explode. While police rounded up Japanese residents, the Thai cabinet debated its options while they waited for the prime minister to arrive. Some favoured continued resistance, including the establishment of a government-in-exile, but when Phibun finally arrived, the decision was made to relent, and the Thais caved into Japan's demands. The Japanese then moved into Bangkok, occupying Chinatown ( Sampeng ) and turning

7797-406: The mid- to late-1800s. Tanaka interpreted the principle as meaning that imperial rule had been divinely ordained to expand until it united the entire world. While Tanaka saw this outcome as resulting from the Emperor's moral leadership, Japanese nationalists used it in terms of freeing Asia from colonizing powers and establishing Japan as the leading influence in Asia. The concept became expressed in

7910-485: The new atomic weapons were a surprise. Japan lacked any atomic bomb technology and could not counter it. The government of the Empire of Japan (Prime Minister Kantarō Suzuki ) surrendered on August 14. The official surrender ceremony was held on September 2. Total Japanese military fatalities between 1937 and 1945 were 2.1 million; most came in the last year of the war. Starvation or malnutrition-related illness accounted for roughly 80 percent of Japanese military deaths in

8023-456: The new divisions arriving in-theater. The main policy achievements of Arcadia included the decision for "Germany First" (or " Europe first "—that is, the defeat of Germany was the highest priority); the establishment of the Combined Chiefs of Staff , based in Washington, for approving the military decisions of both the US and Britain; the principle of unity of command of each theater under a supreme commander; drawing up measures to keep China in

8136-460: The next day. Four days after Pearl Harbor, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States, drawing the country into a two-theater war. The conference brought together the top British and American military leaders, as well as Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt and their aides, in Washington from December 22, 1941, to January 14, 1942, and led to a series of major decisions that shaped

8249-451: The next six months, the Japanese had the initiative and went on the offensive. Hong Kong was overrun on December 8, 1941. By the summer of 1942, the Japanese had conquered Burma , Siam , the Dutch East Indies , and the Philippines . The Empire of Japan was one of the largest in history. In 1942 the Empire of Japan was at its greatest extent with colonies in Manchuria, China, Indonesia ,

8362-538: The onset of hostilities between Japan and China. On September 27, 1940, the Tripartite Pact was signed, creating the Rome-Tokyo-Berlin Axis . The alliance was shallow, with very little coordination or mutual help until the last two years of the war, when it was too late to make much difference. By 1938, the United States increasingly was committed to supporting China and, with the cooperation of Britain and

8475-597: The other way if Japan invaded the Kra Peninsula , but wanted them to avoid passing through the Bangkok Plain . After further discussions on 3 December, Phibun agreed to passage through Thailand, provided Thailand could regain the territories ceded in the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909 , as well as Burma's Shan State . On 2 December, the Japanese military issued the order "Climb Mount Niitaka ", which set in motion

8588-633: The passage of the Peace Preservation Law and related legislation, kokutai emerged as the symbol of the state. Kokutai was seen as the barrier against communist and socialist movements in Japan. With the challenge of the Great Depression on the horizon, this would be the death knell for parliamentary democracy in Japan. After World War I , the Western Powers, influenced by Wilsonian ideology, attempted an effort at general disarmament. At

8701-453: The passage of universal adult male suffrage in May 1925. General Election Law gave all male subjects over the age of 25 the right to vote, provided they had lived in their electoral districts for at least one year and were not homeless. The electorate thereby nearly quadrupled in size, from 3.3 million to 12.5 million. However the forces of reaction grew more powerful and steadily; after 1925 there

8814-618: The populace a sense of martial pride in their country. The rise of Japanese nationalism paralleled the growth of nationalism within the West. Certain conservatives such as Gondō Seikei and Asahi Heigo saw the rapid industrialization of Japan as something that had to be tempered. During the Meiji era, such nationalists railed against the unequal treaties , but in the years following the First World War , Western criticism of Japanese imperial ambitions and restrictions on Japanese immigration changed

8927-578: The pragmatic ideas of the business elite and party politicians. Their loyalty lay to the Emperor and the military. In March 1932 the " League of Blood " assassination plot and the chaos surrounding the trial of its conspirators further eroded the rule of democratic law in Shōwa Japan. In May of the same year a group of right-wing Army and Navy officers succeeded in assassinating the Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi . The plot fell short of staging

9040-559: The pre-1945 Shōwa era (1926–1945) concerns the Empire of Japan , and post-1945 Shōwa era (1945–1989) concerns the State of Japan . Before 1945, Japan moved into political totalitarianism, ultranationalism and statism , culminating in Japan's invasion of China in 1937, part of a global period of social upheavals and conflicts such as the Great Depression and the Pacific War . Defeat in

9153-500: The prime minister's orders for a ceasefire were received. Prachuap Khiri Khan was home to the Royal Thai Air Force's Fifth Wing, under the command of Wing Commander Mom Luang Prawat Chumsai. The Japanese 2nd Infantry Battalion of the 143rd Infantry Regiment under Major Kisoyoshi Utsunomiya landed at 03:00 from one troopship, and occupied the town after having crushed police resistance there. Further landings took place near

9266-468: The rapid buildup of Japanese troops in Indochina. On 1 December 1941, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo of Japan stated that he was uncertain where Thailand stood regarding allowing Japanese troops free passage through its territory, but was hopeful a clash could be avoided. Further negotiations took place between the Japanese diplomatic representative, Tamara, and Phibun on 2 December. Phibun was prepared to look

9379-489: The same day he reached an agreement with the Japanese, was advised by the British that Thailand was about to be invaded by the Japanese. There is a possibility of imminent Japanese invasion of your country. If you are attacked, defend yourselves. The preservation of the true independence and sovereignty of Thailand is a British interest, and we shall regard an attack on you as an attack upon ourselves. At noon on 6 December, one of three RAAF No 1 Squadron Lockheed Hudsons on

9492-408: The state was in danger from revolutionary movements. The Japanese state never clearly defined a boundary between private and public matters and, thus, demanded loyalty in all spheres of society. Subsequently, any ideological attack, such as a proposal for socialist reforms, was seen as an attack on the very existence of the state. The meaning of the law was gradually stretched to academic spheres. After

9605-649: The superior Japanese army. By October, Chiang Kai-shek 's best armies had been defeated at Shanghai . By the end of the year, the Chinese capital at Nanjing had also been seized . The use of brutal scorched earth tactics by both sides, the Chinese as in 1938 Yellow River flood and later by the Japanese with the Three Alls Policy , "kill all, burn all, loot all", initiated in 1940, claimed millions of lives. The Chinese nationalists resorted to massive civilian guerrilla tactics, which fatigued and frustrated Japanese forces. Countless Chinese civilians were executed on

9718-584: The suspicion of being resistance fighters. Japanese war crimes at Nanking and other sites in China and Manchukuo have been well documented. On December 13, 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army , following the capture of Nanjing, began the Nanjing Massacre (sometimes called the "Rape of Nanking"), which resulted in a massive number of civilian deaths including infants and elderly, and the large-scale rape of Chinese women. The exact number of casualties

9831-572: The system of government or to abolish private ownership. The small leftist movements that had been galvanized by the Russian Revolution were subsequently crushed and scattered. This was in part due to the Peace Preservation Act, but also due to the general fragmentation of the left. Conservatives forced the passage of the Peace Preservation Law because the party leaders and politicians of the Taishō era had felt that, after World War I ,

9944-520: The tankers taking oil to Japan were sunk by American submarines, so Japan's oil shortage became increasingly acute. Japan sponsored an Indonesian nationalist movement under Sukarno . Sukarno finally came to power in the late 1940s after several years of battling the Dutch. With the defeat of the Empire of Japan , the Allied Powers dissolved it and placed the territories under occupation. The Soviet Union

10057-572: The umbrella of a benevolent Japan. The 30 man Number 82 Section (also known as the Taiwan Army Research Unit or Doro Nawa Unit) Strike South planning was formed in 1939 or 1940 to bring this about. In its final planning stages, the unit was commanded by Colonel Yoshihide Hayashi . As part of conquering Southeast Asia, the Japanese military planned to invade Malaya and Burma . In order to do this, they needed to make use of Thai ports, railways, and airfields. They did not want conflict with

10170-528: The war effort in 1942–1943. Arcadia was the first meeting on military strategy between Britain and the United States; it came two weeks after the American entry into World War II. The Arcadia Conference was a secret agreement unlike the much wider postwar plans given to the public as the Atlantic Charter , agreed between Churchill and Roosevelt in August 1941. From the start, significant differences in strategic priorities appeared. The British sought to push

10283-409: The war in the Pacific. The main invasion fleet for Operation "E", the invasion of Malaya and Thailand, sailed from Sanya , Hainan Island, China on 4 December. Further troops and ships joined the fleet from Cam Ranh Bay , Indochina. While the Japanese were preparing, the British and Americans were formulating their response to the Japanese troop buildup and the potential invasion of Thailand. Phibun, on

10396-462: The war progresses, there is some prospect of success. With the Emperor's approval, Imperial General Headquarters launched the Greater East Asia War . It began with a surprise attack on the U.S. naval base in Hawaii at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Japan declared war to the United States, Dutch and British. This marked the start of the Pacific War theatre of World War II . For

10509-633: The war; limiting the reinforcements to be sent to the Pacific; and setting up a system for coordinating shipping. All the decisions were secret, except the conference drafted the Declaration by United Nations , which committed the Allies to make no separate peace with the enemy, and to employ full resources until victory. In immediate tactical terms, the decisions at Arcadia included an invasion of North Africa in 1942, sending American bombers to bases in England, and for

10622-448: The wartime techno-fascism into entrepreneurial management skills. The Japanese government established puppet regimes in Manchuria and China; they were dismantled at the end of the war. The Army operated ruthless governments in most of the conquered areas but paid more favorable attention to the Dutch East Indies. The main goal was to obtain oil. The Dutch sabotaged their oil wells but the Japanese were able to reopen them. However most of

10735-465: The winter of 1945 were probably around 100,000. Japan launched multiple attacks in East Asia. In 1937, the Japanese Army invaded and captured most of the coastal Chinese cities such as Shanghai. On 22 September 1940, the Japanese invasion of French Indochina began. Japan took over French Indochina ( Vietnam , Laos and Cambodia ), British Malaya ( Brunei , Malaysia and Singapore ) as well as

10848-421: The world compares to the divine nature (shinsei) of the imperial house and likewise the majesty of our national polity ( kokutai ). Here is one great reason for Japan's superiority." The Anti-Comintern Pact brought Nazi ideologues to Japan who attempted but ultimately failed to inject Nazi-style anti-Semitic arguments into mainstream public discussion. Where the government presented the popular image of Jews, it

10961-559: The world." Imperial Japanese Army General Kiichiro Higuchi and Colonel Norihiro Yasue allowed 20,000 Jews to enter Manchukuo in 1938. Higuchi and Yasue were well regarded for their actions and were subsequently invited to the independence ceremonies of the State of Israel. Diplomat Chiune Sugihara wrote travel visas for over 6,000 Lithuanian Jews to flee the German occupation and travel to Japan. In 1985, Israel honored him as Righteous Among

11074-402: Was a financial panic in 1927, during the first year of the reign of Emperor Hirohito. It was a precursor of the Great Depression . It brought down the government of Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirō and led to the domination of the zaibatsu over the Japanese banking industry . From 1928 to 1932, a domestic crisis could no longer be avoided. As the left was vigorously put down by the state,

11187-495: Was a retreat from reform, liberal policies and democracy. Pressure from the conservative right forced the passage of the Peace Preservation Law of 1925 along with other anti- left-wing legislation, only ten days before the passage of universal manhood suffrage. The Peace Preservation Act curtailed activism on the left—which was not extensive—and the screws were steadily tightened. It outlawed groups that sought to alter

11300-596: Was briefly fought between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Empire of Japan . Despite fierce fighting in Southern Thailand, the fighting lasted only five hours before ending in a ceasefire. Thailand and Japan then formed an alliance making Thailand part of the Axis alliance until the end of World War II. The origin of Japanese invasion of Thailand can be traced to the principle of hakkō ichiu as espoused by Tanaka Chigaku in

11413-420: Was far ahead of China in this respect, and was also in command of the world's third largest navy with 2,700 watercraft at its disposal. By the end of July 1937, the Japanese had slaughtered the elite 29th Army at Kupeikou and soon captured Beijing . From there, the Japanese advanced down south through the major railway lines (Peiping-Suiyan, Peiping-Hankow, and Tientsin-Pukow). These were easily conquered by

11526-467: Was formally signed on 21 December 1941. On 25 January 1942, the Thai government declared war on the United States and the United Kingdom. In response, all Thai assets in the United States were frozen by the federal government . While the Thai ambassador in London delivered the declaration of war to the British administration, Seni Pramoj , Thai ambassador to Washington, D.C., refused to do so, instead organising

11639-458: Was killed in action along with 23 other ranks, 5 Provincial Police, 4 Yuwachon Thahan members, and 9 civilians. Major Shigeharu Asaeda, when a member of Taiwan Army Unit 82, had been involved with intelligence-gathering in Burma, Thailand, and Malaya prior to the outbreak of war and had selected Pattani as a suitable landing site. Unknown to him, beyond the sandy beach, was a muddy sea bed which caused

11752-643: Was made responsible for North Korea , and annexed the Kuril Islands and the southern portion of the island of Sakhalin . The United States took responsibility for the rest of Japan's possessions in Oceania and took over South Korea . China, meanwhile, plunged back into its civil war , with the Communists in control by 1949. General Douglas MacArthur , from the US, was put in charge of the Allied Occupation of Japan as

11865-422: Was not so much to persecute but to strengthen domestic ideological uniformity. The anti-Semitic policies of Adolf Hitler 's Nazi Germany were refused when foreign minister of Japan Yōsuke Matsuoka stated that: "Nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his anti-Semitic policies in Japan. This is not simply my personal opinion, it is the opinion of Japan, and I have no compunction about announcing it to

11978-578: Was read to the people, the Emperor referenced this era name : I have visited the battlefields of the Great War in France . In the presence of such devastation, I understand the blessing of peace and the necessity of concord among nations. The election of Katō Takaaki as the Prime Minister of Japan continued democratic reforms that had been advocated by influential individuals on the left. This culminated in

12091-440: Was replaced by the war cabinet of General Hideki Tojo (1884–1948), who demanded war. Tōjō had his way and the attack was made on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, as well as British and Dutch strong points. The main American battle fleet was disabled, and in the next 90 days Japan made remarkable advances including the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, Malaya and Singapore. The quagmire in China did not stall imperial ambitions for

12204-499: Was shot on November 14, 1930, by an ultranationalist and died in 1931. By this time, the civilian government had lost control of the populace. A New York Times correspondent called Japan a country ruled by "government by assassination". The army, moving independently of the proper government of Japan, took the opportunity to invade Manchuria in the summer of 1931. Since the Russo-Japanese War of 1905, Japan had maintained

12317-557: Was swiftly countered by the United States . Thanks to back-room dealing and other intrigues, though, Japan walked away with a 5:4 advantage in heavy cruisers, but this small gesture would not satisfy the populace of Japan, which was gradually falling under the spell of the various ultra-nationalist groups spawning throughout the country. As a result of his failings regarding the London Naval Treaty, Prime Minister Hamaguchi Osachi

12430-616: Was tasked with the attack on Burma and the 25th with Malaya and Singapore. In order to attack Burma, the 15th Army needed to pass over the Bangkok plain, while the 25th Army needed to attack Malaya via the Kra Peninsula. The attack through Thailand on Malaya and Singapore was planned by Colonel Masanobu Tsuji while he was part of Unit 82. The Japanese had about 100,000 troops who needed to pass through Thailand. Ships from IJN 2nd Fleet under Admiral Nobutake Kondō provided support and cover for

12543-471: Was the site of the 6th Army Region headquarters and the 39th Infantry Battalion and 15th Artillery Battalion. Three Japanese troopships, Zenyo , Miike , and Toho Maru , landed troops at Nakhon Si Thammarat, covered by the Shimushu , dropped anchor a few kilometres off the coast during the night of 7 December. The ships carried 1,510 men and 50 trucks of the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 143rd Infantry Regiment,

12656-428: Was to assassinate the government and promote a "Shōwa Restoration". Prime Minister Okada survived the attempted coup by hiding in a storage shed in his house, but the coup only ended when the Emperor personally ordered an end to the bloodshed. Within the state, the idea of a Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere began to foment. The nationalists believed that the "ABCD powers" (Americans, British, Chinese, Dutch) were

12769-508: Was under the leadership of Mao Zedong , and the Nationalist government of China, the Kuomintang (KMT), which was under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek . The years of 1937–38 were a time of rapid and remarkable success by the Japanese, who had a number of advantages over the Chinese army. While the Japanese army possessed a smaller force of armour and artillery than many Western powers, it

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