Caesar Biden
Banned
In the lead up to World War 2, Japan continuously acted more and more aggressive in East Asia, and consistently butted up against American interests. The Japanese invasion of China, in particular, completely undermined American investments, not to mention all the war crimes and naked aggression that was going on.
IOTL, America would eventually fight Japan, but not until December 1941, many years after tensions had been rising. So my question is: Is it possible to have the United States go to war with Japan much earlier, or inspire Japanese aggression against them with embargoes earlier? I imagine 1937 would be the earliest date, due to all the anti-Japanese agitation in the U.S and other countries thanks to the invasion of China. Could a more hawkish president than FDR (Or just a FDR making different decisions) push for more embargoes faster, or create a situation that would lead to war very quickly (not to mention outright declaring war)?
If so, we can probably assume:
A. America is sure to win, and it will probably be quicker than OTL. Japan has less time to build up, less chance of such a lucky streak than OTL, and are not going to be able to easily snag British and Dutch possessions. To be fair, they won't be fighting the British, either (although Britain will support the U.S from a neutral capacity), but that won't really matter when U.S industry ramps up. However....
B. The United States won't be as focused on unconditional surrender as they were IOTL, and the Japanese leadership won't be quite as set in stone as they would be later. This leaves the possibility open for a negotiated peace, albeit one where the U.S is clearly enforcing its demands.
C. The U.S economy will recover from the Depression thanks to the war. Fairly self explanatory.
So with this in mind, there are a few things to consider: At what point would the Japanese leadership be willing to give into whatever terms the United States is demanding? How quickly would the war last, or would it be a long slog until U.S industry wins out? What terms (besides the general pulling out of China and stop aggression and whatnot) would the U.S try to force upon Japan once victorious?
Would the USSR intervene and attack Japan, with a lot to gain and nothing really to lose? And what of the effects on Europe; would war be seen as more desirable, because the U.S economy recovered so quickly from it? In 1940/41, the U.S navy and army will be gigantic, and assuming the European War goes similarly to OTL, what kind of effect would this have on the European powers?
I'd imagine that Lend Lease to Britain will be even greater than IOTL, due to having all these materials left over from war. But what about the USSR? If they were to invade Manchuria as Japan collapsed, helping the Chinese Communist, that would certainly cause tensions between them and the Americans.
You can answer any or none of my questions, or talk about something completely different in the scenario. I'm just trying to kick off discussion.
IOTL, America would eventually fight Japan, but not until December 1941, many years after tensions had been rising. So my question is: Is it possible to have the United States go to war with Japan much earlier, or inspire Japanese aggression against them with embargoes earlier? I imagine 1937 would be the earliest date, due to all the anti-Japanese agitation in the U.S and other countries thanks to the invasion of China. Could a more hawkish president than FDR (Or just a FDR making different decisions) push for more embargoes faster, or create a situation that would lead to war very quickly (not to mention outright declaring war)?
If so, we can probably assume:
A. America is sure to win, and it will probably be quicker than OTL. Japan has less time to build up, less chance of such a lucky streak than OTL, and are not going to be able to easily snag British and Dutch possessions. To be fair, they won't be fighting the British, either (although Britain will support the U.S from a neutral capacity), but that won't really matter when U.S industry ramps up. However....
B. The United States won't be as focused on unconditional surrender as they were IOTL, and the Japanese leadership won't be quite as set in stone as they would be later. This leaves the possibility open for a negotiated peace, albeit one where the U.S is clearly enforcing its demands.
C. The U.S economy will recover from the Depression thanks to the war. Fairly self explanatory.
So with this in mind, there are a few things to consider: At what point would the Japanese leadership be willing to give into whatever terms the United States is demanding? How quickly would the war last, or would it be a long slog until U.S industry wins out? What terms (besides the general pulling out of China and stop aggression and whatnot) would the U.S try to force upon Japan once victorious?
Would the USSR intervene and attack Japan, with a lot to gain and nothing really to lose? And what of the effects on Europe; would war be seen as more desirable, because the U.S economy recovered so quickly from it? In 1940/41, the U.S navy and army will be gigantic, and assuming the European War goes similarly to OTL, what kind of effect would this have on the European powers?
I'd imagine that Lend Lease to Britain will be even greater than IOTL, due to having all these materials left over from war. But what about the USSR? If they were to invade Manchuria as Japan collapsed, helping the Chinese Communist, that would certainly cause tensions between them and the Americans.
You can answer any or none of my questions, or talk about something completely different in the scenario. I'm just trying to kick off discussion.