World War 2 is often thought to have started in 1939 with Germany's invasion of Poland, but if you've seen this excellent installment of World at War you'll know that it arguably began years earlier. After the First World War, in which Japan was on the side of the victorious nations, the country suffered worse from the effects of the Depression more so than most other places. Being part of a very short list of countries that have never been invaded, Japan was distrustful of their former ww1 allies, seeing as how they didn't really get any good offerings out of the last war. It didn't help that it was an island nation, and had barely any natural resources of its own. We see how in spite of its small size, Japan had a ruthless military style government where citizens were taught to idolize their emperor as a living god. Hirohito's government also had military officers put in place at schools, ensuring that even from a young age, Japan's population was ready to give their lives for him. In the early 1930s, Japan starts to consider its options when it came to gathering more resources and settled on expansion. Having humiliated Tsarist Russia in the 1905 war, Japan was in full control of Manchuria; a northern Chinese territory that was mostly empty nothingness. However, it did have materials (such as iron) that the japanese needed. In 1937, japan ups the ante by invading china itself, taking advantage of the civil war going on there involving nationalist forces under Chiang Kai-Shek and communist ones under Mao Zedong. After easily crushing any chinese resistance, japanese forces make their way up the Yangtze valley to the city of Nanking. Here, japanese forces commit some of the worst atrocities in recorded history against hundreds of thousands of chinese civilians, with many of the acts being so evil and cruel that it even draws condemnation from Nazi officials. As chinese forces continue to pull back into the vast hinterland of the west, japan's appetite for more land catches the attention of china's northern neighbor Soviet russia. In 1938, japan is involved in a skirmish with soviet forces near the manchurian border, and they are badly beaten. Stalin makes it clear that even the USSR's mostly frozen and desolate eastern territories are not japan's to seize. In 1940, after France is defeated by Hitler, japan takes advantage of the situation by invading the overseas french colonies of Indochina (Vietnam today). Meanwhile, America, watching from a position of uneasy neutrality, tries to do what it can in order to halt japan's advances non-violently. The US places sanctions on the country, effectively robbing it of its ability to purchase oil. Although this is damaging for japan's navy, they made it clear by leaving the League of Nations that they care little about international punishment. Not to mention, all the condemnation he was getting pushed Hirohito closer toward an alliance with Hitler and Italy. In order to get around the import ban, the japanese attempt to take over oil fields in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), alongside invading the Phillipines simultaneously. Knowing this move is going to upset america as the aforementioned country was a colony of theirs, japan decided to neutralize america's ability to respond to any potential threat first. So it was that in December 1941, japan attacks the US Pacific fleet based at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. After crippling all the battleships there, japan is convinced america won't be bothering them anymore, but they made a critical error as no aircraft carriers were present at Pearl Harbor on december 7th. Attacking one enemy is never enough, so japan also makes a move against british ships stationed at Singapore. Once this is accomplished, japanese land forces attack singapore from the north. British forces are easily swept aside, as all the big guns they have point towards the sea. The british eventually surrender singapore to japan along with over 100 thousand men: the worst disaster in UK military history. 200 years of English rule in East Asia had been wiped out in just 10 weeks. Finally, japan extends their ambitions even further by invading numerous islands and territories in the wake of their singapore assault, including Wake Island, Borneo, Guam, Manila and Hong Kong. Just like every other episode of this show, this one gives a lot of crucial insight into how an important theater of ww2 played out. Because the pacific war was such a huge part of ww2, it can't all be covered in one episode, but they start right from the beginning. As expected, the archive footage is this show's bread and butter, and there's no shortage of it here. The parts detailing Nanking are especially hard to watch, but it's important people saw what japan was doing in china back then. They made nazis look like kindergartners. I just wish the episode spoke about how Ho Chi Minh, the future communist leader of north vietnam, was active in politics around this time and saw the japanese as invaders no more welcome than the french. The show makes no mention of it, but american forces actually cooperated with him, eerily setting the stage for the vietnam war. I guess that's why history always appeals to me, because everything is connected to something else. Additionally, this episode includes interviews from both allied countries and japan, so it's as comprehensive as it gets.
Review of Banzai! Japan 1931-1942
