The widening of the Cold War 1949-55
Why did Japan go from US enemy to US ally?
Possible justifications of the use of the atomic bomb being necessary:
- To definitively bring about the Japanese surrender and end of WW2.
- To show American military strength on a global scale.
- As punishment for barbarism in imperial expansionism.
- As revenge for the destruction of white supremacy in Southeast Asia.
Defeat and punishment of Japan
- In August 1945 WWII came to an end in Asia and the Pacific with the
surrender of Japan.
- The American military governor of Japan, Douglas MacArthur, began a
programme of demilitarisation and breaking up large business
groupings, while purging those associated with Japan’s aggressive
policies of expansion and war in WW2.
- In doing this he believed that he was reforming Japan in a way that
would make it conform to the American model of capitalism.
- While this might have succeeded in the long-term, in the short-term it
did nothing to solve the pressing problems of Japanese economic
collapse after the war.
- In purging the Japanese business executives who were linked to the
aggressive nationalist groups of the war, MacArthur was arguably
worsening the Japanese economic crisis.
Zaibatsu: ‘Zai’- wealth, ‘Batsu’- clique
- The zaibatsu was the heart of economic and industrial activity in
Imperial Japan.
- They formed monopolistic business practices which had nationalised a
significant portion of production capability during WW2.
- Many of the economic advisors accompanying the SCAP administration
had experience with the New Deal program under the American
President, Roosevelt, and were highly suspicious of monopolies and
restrictive business practices, which they felt to be both inefficient, and
to be a form of corporatocracy (and thus inherently anti-democratic).
- During the occupation of Japan, 16 zaibatsu were targeted for complete
dissolution, and 26 for reorganisation after dissolution, e.g. Asano,
Furukawa, Nakajima, Nissan, Nomura, and Okura.
Kennan’s influence on economic policy
- Much like with American policy towards Germany, a ‘reverse course’ on
Japan was taken from the summer of 1947.
- Kennan argued that in terms of the global balance of power, a strong,
rebuilt Japan and Germany would counter Soviet power without
threatening Western interests.
- Rebuilding Germany and Japan would make them ‘immune to
Communism’.
- It was decided that Japan would not have to pay reparations, and the
de-industrialisation programme (with the attempt to break up the
zaibatsu) would be abandoned.
,- As with the Marshall Plan in Europe, the USA sent Japan $500 million to
help with economic recovery.
Economic revival, ‘reverse course’ from 1947
- Joseph Dodge was appointed as economic advisor to the SCAP.
- Dodge and Hayato Ikeda (Japanese Finance Minister) produced a ‘super
balanced budget’ which set a target for a surplus of 157m yen ($4m).
(This initially led to business closures and unemployment).
- Japan wanted to become an active member of world institutions. The
USA demanded that Japan join GATT which strengthened Japan’s
access to Western trade (and prevented trade with the PRC in the late
1950s).
Economic stabilisation was at the heart of USA’s aims for postwar
Japan:
- A balanced budget.
- Stricter lending criteria.
- Wage controls.
- Efficient tax system.
- Price controls.
- Increased regulation of trade.
- Increased regulation of foreign exchange.
From 1947 onwards, Truman’s overriding Asian policy goal was to
create a stable, prosperous, pro-Western Japan.
Japan’s value for the USA
- Early in 1948 American generals warned Truman that if Japan fell under
Communist influence, the USSR would gain an additional war-making
potential equal to 25% of her existing capacity.
- In Dec 1949, Secretary of State Dean Acheson similarly outlined the
issue of Japan’s importance in terms of the overall power balance
between the two superpowers. ‘Were Japan added to the Communist
bloc, the Soviets would acquire skilled manpower and industrial
potential capable of significantly altering the balance of world power’,
he stated.
- Japan therefore became a crucial component in the USA’s quest to
contain communism in Asia.
- Shigeru Yoshida (Prime Minister) saw an opportunity to renegotiate
WW2 treaties and restore Japan’s sovereignty.
8th September 1951: The San Francisco Treaty
- The treaty was signed by 49 nations and served to recognise the full
sovereignty of the Japanese people.
- Japan renounced claims to surrounding territories including Korea and
Taiwan.
, 1951: US-Japan Security Treaty
• This gave the US:
- Unrestricted use of military bases in Japan.
- Administrative control of Owkinawa.
- The right to use military force to intervene in internal disorder in Japan.
- The right to veto offering military bases to other states.
Japan’s importance to US thinking had been increased by the victory of
Mao in the Chinese Civil War (October 1949) and by the outbreak of the
Korean War (June 1950).
Origins of the Chinese Civil War
• Since the 1840s China seaboard had been dominated by Western
imperialists; but after 1911 local warlord vied for control of the interior.
• Sun Yat-Sen led a radical nationalist movement after 1912, which from
the mid-1920s split into two competing factions:
- The Guomindang (middle-class, right-wing nationalists) led by Jiang
Jieshi.
- The Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong.
- From 1931 they were not only at war with each other, but also at war
with Japanese imperialism as well.
Development of the Civil War
- August 1927: the First Civil War between the GMD and CCP begins.
- Sept 1931: Japan invades Manchuria; GMD, CCP and a variety of other
forces launch a campaign of resistance warfare.
- July 1937: Japan invades surrounding areas of China from Manchuria,
and along the coast. The GMD and CCP forces reach an uneasy truce.
Roosevelt begins supplying aid to China.
- Sept 1945: Japan surrenders to Jiang Jieshi’s GMD forces in the wake of
the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.
- 1946-49: Despite US and Soviet efforts, the Second Civil War between
the GMD and CCP breaks out. Mao’s communists emerge as the victors.
- October 1949: the People’s Republic of China is proclaimed; two
months later, Jiang’s GMD establishes itself on the island of Taiwan.
Mao Zedong
- In 1921, he became a founder member of the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP). In 1923, the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist party had allied
with the CCP to defeat the warlords who controlled much of northern
China. Then in 1927, the KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek launched an anti-
communist purge.
- Mao and other communists retreated to south east China. In 1934,
after the KMT surrounded them, Mao led his followers on the 'Long
March', a 6,000-mile journey to northwest China to establish a new
base.
- The Communists and KMT were again temporarily allied during eight
years of war with Japan (1937-1945), but shortly after the end of World
Why did Japan go from US enemy to US ally?
Possible justifications of the use of the atomic bomb being necessary:
- To definitively bring about the Japanese surrender and end of WW2.
- To show American military strength on a global scale.
- As punishment for barbarism in imperial expansionism.
- As revenge for the destruction of white supremacy in Southeast Asia.
Defeat and punishment of Japan
- In August 1945 WWII came to an end in Asia and the Pacific with the
surrender of Japan.
- The American military governor of Japan, Douglas MacArthur, began a
programme of demilitarisation and breaking up large business
groupings, while purging those associated with Japan’s aggressive
policies of expansion and war in WW2.
- In doing this he believed that he was reforming Japan in a way that
would make it conform to the American model of capitalism.
- While this might have succeeded in the long-term, in the short-term it
did nothing to solve the pressing problems of Japanese economic
collapse after the war.
- In purging the Japanese business executives who were linked to the
aggressive nationalist groups of the war, MacArthur was arguably
worsening the Japanese economic crisis.
Zaibatsu: ‘Zai’- wealth, ‘Batsu’- clique
- The zaibatsu was the heart of economic and industrial activity in
Imperial Japan.
- They formed monopolistic business practices which had nationalised a
significant portion of production capability during WW2.
- Many of the economic advisors accompanying the SCAP administration
had experience with the New Deal program under the American
President, Roosevelt, and were highly suspicious of monopolies and
restrictive business practices, which they felt to be both inefficient, and
to be a form of corporatocracy (and thus inherently anti-democratic).
- During the occupation of Japan, 16 zaibatsu were targeted for complete
dissolution, and 26 for reorganisation after dissolution, e.g. Asano,
Furukawa, Nakajima, Nissan, Nomura, and Okura.
Kennan’s influence on economic policy
- Much like with American policy towards Germany, a ‘reverse course’ on
Japan was taken from the summer of 1947.
- Kennan argued that in terms of the global balance of power, a strong,
rebuilt Japan and Germany would counter Soviet power without
threatening Western interests.
- Rebuilding Germany and Japan would make them ‘immune to
Communism’.
- It was decided that Japan would not have to pay reparations, and the
de-industrialisation programme (with the attempt to break up the
zaibatsu) would be abandoned.
,- As with the Marshall Plan in Europe, the USA sent Japan $500 million to
help with economic recovery.
Economic revival, ‘reverse course’ from 1947
- Joseph Dodge was appointed as economic advisor to the SCAP.
- Dodge and Hayato Ikeda (Japanese Finance Minister) produced a ‘super
balanced budget’ which set a target for a surplus of 157m yen ($4m).
(This initially led to business closures and unemployment).
- Japan wanted to become an active member of world institutions. The
USA demanded that Japan join GATT which strengthened Japan’s
access to Western trade (and prevented trade with the PRC in the late
1950s).
Economic stabilisation was at the heart of USA’s aims for postwar
Japan:
- A balanced budget.
- Stricter lending criteria.
- Wage controls.
- Efficient tax system.
- Price controls.
- Increased regulation of trade.
- Increased regulation of foreign exchange.
From 1947 onwards, Truman’s overriding Asian policy goal was to
create a stable, prosperous, pro-Western Japan.
Japan’s value for the USA
- Early in 1948 American generals warned Truman that if Japan fell under
Communist influence, the USSR would gain an additional war-making
potential equal to 25% of her existing capacity.
- In Dec 1949, Secretary of State Dean Acheson similarly outlined the
issue of Japan’s importance in terms of the overall power balance
between the two superpowers. ‘Were Japan added to the Communist
bloc, the Soviets would acquire skilled manpower and industrial
potential capable of significantly altering the balance of world power’,
he stated.
- Japan therefore became a crucial component in the USA’s quest to
contain communism in Asia.
- Shigeru Yoshida (Prime Minister) saw an opportunity to renegotiate
WW2 treaties and restore Japan’s sovereignty.
8th September 1951: The San Francisco Treaty
- The treaty was signed by 49 nations and served to recognise the full
sovereignty of the Japanese people.
- Japan renounced claims to surrounding territories including Korea and
Taiwan.
, 1951: US-Japan Security Treaty
• This gave the US:
- Unrestricted use of military bases in Japan.
- Administrative control of Owkinawa.
- The right to use military force to intervene in internal disorder in Japan.
- The right to veto offering military bases to other states.
Japan’s importance to US thinking had been increased by the victory of
Mao in the Chinese Civil War (October 1949) and by the outbreak of the
Korean War (June 1950).
Origins of the Chinese Civil War
• Since the 1840s China seaboard had been dominated by Western
imperialists; but after 1911 local warlord vied for control of the interior.
• Sun Yat-Sen led a radical nationalist movement after 1912, which from
the mid-1920s split into two competing factions:
- The Guomindang (middle-class, right-wing nationalists) led by Jiang
Jieshi.
- The Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong.
- From 1931 they were not only at war with each other, but also at war
with Japanese imperialism as well.
Development of the Civil War
- August 1927: the First Civil War between the GMD and CCP begins.
- Sept 1931: Japan invades Manchuria; GMD, CCP and a variety of other
forces launch a campaign of resistance warfare.
- July 1937: Japan invades surrounding areas of China from Manchuria,
and along the coast. The GMD and CCP forces reach an uneasy truce.
Roosevelt begins supplying aid to China.
- Sept 1945: Japan surrenders to Jiang Jieshi’s GMD forces in the wake of
the Soviet invasion of Manchuria and the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
and Nagasaki.
- 1946-49: Despite US and Soviet efforts, the Second Civil War between
the GMD and CCP breaks out. Mao’s communists emerge as the victors.
- October 1949: the People’s Republic of China is proclaimed; two
months later, Jiang’s GMD establishes itself on the island of Taiwan.
Mao Zedong
- In 1921, he became a founder member of the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP). In 1923, the Kuomintang (KMT) nationalist party had allied
with the CCP to defeat the warlords who controlled much of northern
China. Then in 1927, the KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek launched an anti-
communist purge.
- Mao and other communists retreated to south east China. In 1934,
after the KMT surrounded them, Mao led his followers on the 'Long
March', a 6,000-mile journey to northwest China to establish a new
base.
- The Communists and KMT were again temporarily allied during eight
years of war with Japan (1937-1945), but shortly after the end of World
