Japanese territorial conquests in Asia, 1914 to 1921
The assassination of an Austrian archduke in the distant city of Sarajevo led to the nations of Europe turning against one another, and slaughtering each other in both record numbers and marvel ways. In Tokyo, a window of opportunity was perceived. Because the governments of Europe were concerned with the tremendous conflict raging on their own continent, there would be a chance for Japan to increase its standing in both East Asia and the world at large. Many factions in the Empire's leadership saw expansion as a useful tool, for various reasons. The yakuza, the capitalists, and the industrialists (often, one and the same) are interested in expanding free trade into foreign markets, with European-style colonization seen as the most effective means of doing so; China is the most obvious market, but the Open-Door Policy ensures equal treatment to all countries, meaning that the Japanese must compete openly with European and American business interests. The Japanese political parties in the domestic government are interested in gaining new territories to use as population valves, because the islands of Japan are hugely overpopulated, with around fifty-five million people. Nationalists and other ideological factions to see conquest as a matter of national pride: it will bring glory to both the Emperor and the Japanese people, it will challenge and partially nullify Occidental power in what should be a Japanese sphere of influence, and it will help achieve the objective of hakkō ichiu, "all the world under one roof" of Japanese civilization. Finally, all of the political factions are concerned with gaining larger reserves of strategic resources - such as, but not limited to, iron, petroleum, rubber, and food resources - which Japan is deficient in.
The Japanese side with their British allies in the war against Germany, and the Imperial Japanese Navy proceeds to take the Chinese city of Tsingtao from the Germans, with British support. The Japanese entrench themselves in Tsingtao, and establish hegemonic control over China's Shandong province, which had been in German control. This hegemony will be institutionalized and sanctioned in international law a few years later, during the Paris Peace Conference. The Japanese also proceed to occupy the Mariana, the Caroline, and the Marshall archipelagos, the furthest flung of Berlin's colonies; they encounter no organized resistance. These islands are later combined into a single administrative unit, the Territory of the South Pacific (called the South Pacific Mandate outside of Japan).
In 1915, the Japanese, in the form of both the Navy and the Army, lobby the government of the Republic of China to accept the Twenty-One Demands, which would, in effect, reduce China to a Japanese protectorate, with Japanese business interests given preferential treatment to Occidental ones. Although largely distracted by the European war, the imperial powers of the West are not that distracted, and the United States, in particular, is not involved in the war at all. Japan backs off on many of its demands, and instead sues for greater influence in the regions of Manchuria and Inner Mongolia. A treaty with Russia, signed in 1916, further positions Japan to gain total control of China's northeast.
The October Revolution in Russia is, once again, another tremendous opportunity for the Japanese to gain territory for themselves. Understanding that Russia will be in no position to object, the Japanese establish total control over Manchuria, which is portrayed, to locals, as the liberation of the subjugated Manchu people from centuries of Chinese rule. The Imperial Japanese Army establishes a "transitional Manchu government," based out of Harbin. Many Chinese loyalists rebel, but, over the course of the next three years, almost all nationalist resistance is completely eradicated.
The Imperial Japanese Army proceeds to align itself with the monarchist, anti-Bolshevik resistance in Russia - the "white" movement, as opposed to the "red" of the socialists. The Japanese Army invades Kamchatka, Sakhalin (renamed Karafuto in Japanese), and Primorsky Krai, establishing a "free and transitional Russian government under Japanese administration" in all three territories. (In 1920, however, Karafuto is properly annexed by Tokyo, declared the fifth of the Home Islands, and thereby correcting "a mistake of history.") The Army deploys forces to the greater Transbaikal region, as well, but in this case, the Japanese are actually cooperating with the White-aligned Cossack forces of Grigori Semenov as - more or less - equals, rather than completely supplanting their authority. Over the next few years, however, Semenov will fairly quickly lose his sovereignty vis-à-vis the Japanese, and he will be seen more and more as Tokyo's puppet; this is, in part, due to desertion of the insane Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, and due to rivalry with Aleksandr Kolchak.
The greatest resistance to Japan's imperial drive is in and around Lake Baikal, particularly the city of Irkutsk, which is seen as crucial to both sides in the conflict. Many Japanese and Cossack soldiers distinguish themselves in the trenches between the cities of Irkutsk and Angarsk, and also around Sewerobaikalsk. Many Koreans, forced to fight for a foreign emperor, are also killed at the battlegrounds of Baikal. Ironically, the trenches around Earth's greatest lake see more deaths from the Spanish influenza than from warfare; the disease, already incredibly deadly, is particularly potent in a region where medical care is insufficient.
By late 1921, the Japanese have expanded their territory substantially. Previously, they had been in control of four and a half of the Home Islands, including the southern portion of Karafuto; Okinawa; the Kuril Islands; Formosa, as a theoretically independent protectorate (previously a colony, it was placed under Navy administration in 1920, considering the Navy's success in Shandong); and the colony of Korea (placed under total Army administration in 1921). The Japanese have now gained the protectorates of Manchuria (theoretically independent), Shandong, and "Free Russia" (Primorsky Krai and Kamchatka); the entirety of Karafuto; and the Territory of the South Pacific. They also maintain extensive economic and politcal influence in the Transbaikal region and certain regions of southern China.
A growing rivalry between the Army and the Navy
The Japanese Imperial Army and the Japanese Imperial Navy are distinct and independent organizations, with no overarching command structure before the ruling coalition in the Japanese Diet and the Emperor himself. Prior to the outbreak of the First World War in Europe, there had been a limited rivalry between these two organizations, but, in granting either wing of the armed forces a free hand in administering its own territories, the rivalry between the two was heightened; both organizations sought to improve their standing in the eyes of both the Emperor and the Japanese public. In a relatively short period of time, the Navy and the Army had made a small ideological split from one another, particularly in the way that they administered their constituencies.
In Navy constituencies, a policy of peaceful and gradual assimilation and integration is pursued, accompanied with humanitarian aid. In Shandong and, briefly, in Formosa, schools, hospitals, and various other forms of infrastructure are constructed. Free government education becomes available universally, taught in whatever the local dialect of Chinese is. In history classes, Japanese history and local history are taught; the history of China, as a whole, is given lesser emphasis. However, there is a great deal of focus on the positive relationship between China and Japan throughout history, and recent Chinese history is put on the spotlight, portraying the Europeans, the Qing dynasty, and the republicans as varyingly dangerous, greedy, incompetent, and harmful to the Chinese people. On the other hand, the Emperor of Japan is portrayed as a protector, willing to grant the Chinese people liberty, safety, and the right to a decent and happy life. In return, he demands a certain level of respect, loyalty, and cooperation. Schoolteachers are required to teach the creation myth of Japan, and that the Emperor is descended from the Sun goddess Amaterasu. In addition, Japanese is taught as a mandatory second language course in high school.
The Navy employs many local Chinese as administrative officials of lower rank. Japanese corporations are encouraged to do business in Shandong and Formosa, with moderate Navy regulation and intervention; at the same time, local Chinese business is, in most cases, treated equitably - although local businesses are, obviously, not allowed to do business outside of the respective protectorate. Outside of the school system, pro-Japanese propaganda is, generally, quite reserved. Several temples and shrines in honour of the Japanese emperor are constructed, Japanese high culture is promoted, and some medical literature (almost universally ignored) is distributed to encourage smaller families and a lower population. Although Japanese immigration to Shandong and Formosa is not discouraged, it is not encouraged, either: no exceedingly tempting incentives are offered for would-be Japanese settlers.
Despite the relative enlightenment of the Japanese administration, there is resistance. In Shandong particularly, the Tokeitai are used to repress political and nationalist agitation of all kinds.
The administration of the Territory of the South Pacific is largely similar, but with many key differences. The administration goes to some lengths to teach in local languages where possible, but, in areas where German, Spanish, or another European language has completely supplanted the local language, Japanese is used. Japanese history, including mythology and respect for the Emperor, is taught along with local history, which emphasizes the cruel legacy of the Europeans and Christianity. Another key difference between the Chinese protectorates and the South Pacific is that Japanese immigration is encouraged.
In contrast to the Navy, the Army pursues a policy of subjugation. The Army's governors are military governors, first and foremost; they cannot bridge the gap between military governorship and civilian administration like those in the Navy can. They are strongly committed to the philosophy of kokutai, or Japanese racialism, and, save for Japanese civilians, they apply martial law to everyone in their constituencies; the Navy only applies martial law to seamen. Many massacres, extrajudicial executions, and rapes occur during the pacification of Manchuria, as well as in the suppression of the Korean independence movement. The Army treats the Bolsheviks and suspected Bolshevik sympathizers with no mercy. They also enact large and mostly involuntary deportations of Europeans from Karafuto, Primorsky Krai, and Kamchatka; any man above the age of sixteen and below the age of forty-five who chooses to remain in "Japanese safety" is branded as either a Red or a coward. Wimmin and children are theoretically allowed to remain, but most leave with their husbands and fathers.
The Army operates a "Manchu national government" out of Harbin, and a "free Russian government" out of Vladivostok. Both of these governments are composed of seven local officials, appointed by the Army's top brass and used in a purely figurehead function. In Korea, there is no effort made to present the colony as having a national character; instead, the Korean people are subject to aggressive cultural genocide, forced labour, forced conscription, blatant propaganda, and the total structuring of their economy to serve nothing but Japanese economic needs.
Japanese settlement is encouraged in both "Free Russia" and Manchuria, and to a lesser extent in Kamchatka, with potential Japanese settler families offered large incentives for emigrating elsewhere, like extremely cheap land. Karafuto is, of course, later handed over to Tokyo directly - the domestic government continues the Army policy in regards to settlement. The Army mostly doles out contracts to Japanese corporations for military infrastructure, like building more factories in Korea and more railroads in other mainland holdings.
Unlike the Navy, which encourages emperor worship but little else, the Army actively discriminates against Western religions, which it views to be Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Although anti-Bolshevik Europeans are permitted to take up residence in Harbin and to practice their religions there, the Army destroys Christian churches in Korea, Manchuria, "Free Russia", and it destroys the mosques, synagogues, and churches of Irkutsk, despite objections from the Whites. In Korea and Manchuria, those who are too openly Christian are persecuted, beaten, and sometimes killed.
In regards to the Spanish influenza, which is taking lies around the world, the Army is quick to exclude the Chinese in Manchuria from medical care, leading to a disproportionate number of Chinese deaths, in comparison to other ethnic groups. In Navy-administered constituencies, all ethnic groups are treated about equally, with preference to the Japanese.
In Japan itself, the Navy and the Army are competing for influence with Tokyo and the Emperor. The Navy is in favour with the liberals, whereas the Army is in favour with the conservatives, who are in the minority. The Navy's strengths are seen as contributing more to the current economic prosperity of Japan, and as have more potential of uniting Asia peacefully under the Emperor. While strong adherents to kokutai appreciate the Army's lack of pretense to integration, their struggle in the face of the new Bolshevik threat, and their opening up of more lands to Japanese settlement, most government officials consider the Army to be unnecessarily draining the treasury, to be adding unnecessary foreign pressure on Tokyo, and to being exceedingly violent and heavy-handed in their administration. The Japanese public is more evenly split.
In competition with each other, the Navy has recruited its own small land army, and the Army has built its own small navy. Engaged in espionage in China, Europe, and the United States, the Kempeitai and the Tokeitai come into conflict with one another as much as they come into conflict with local problems. Fortunately, in the lower ranks, the Army and the Navy - especially on leave in Japan - are usually not too concerned with the political wrangling between their organizations.
The clashing imperial ambitions of Tokyo and Washington
Shaped by the ideology of the new imperialism, for the last few decades, American foreign policy had been oriented around gaining access to foreign markets, either through actual territorial conquest, or simply through gunboat diplomacy and unequal treaties. Among other places, the Philippines had come under American control, and were a very useful market; those islands served as a launching pad into China. One of the most important foreign markets for the United States was China, just as it was important for Japan and the European imperial powers. The Open-Door Policy had been incredibly advantageous for the capitalist class in America.
Japan's aggression in and towards China is concerning to the Americans for various reasons. The Twenty-One Demands, though aborted, would have established China as a Japanese protectorate, where Japanese business would get preferential treatment in the lucrative Chinese markets. As things stand, the Japanese are still getting preferential treatment in Shandong, Manchuria, and Formosa. Due to Japanese protectionism, there is little possibility of American capital intertwining with Japanese capital, as it might have a chance to do in countries with more liberal trade policies. There is also the nationalistic character of the yakuza, who control all large industries in Japan; they also have strong ties to government, the military organizations, the royal family, and the state religion.
There are many advantages for America's ruling class in the event of a Japanese-American war. Enormous profits will be generated as weapons, munitions, and matériel are manufactured for the war effort. It is widely believed that Formosa could be an attractive American colony, especially considering its favourable position vis-à-vis China. Although cognizant of the Russo-Japanese War and its history, the American generals consulted for the planning are dismissive of Japanese military capabilities - the Russians, simply put, were incompetent in 1905, being little better than Asians themselves. The "full reinstatement" of the Open-Door Policy in China, as well as forcing Korea and Japan into their open-door policies, would be extremely profitable for American business.
Due to the popular resentment and fear of Japanese and Chinese settlers in the form of "the yellow peril," it is not difficult for the American elite to create a climate of war fever. Although suffering from many years of terrible discrimination at the hands of American civil authorities, the Chinese are more positively portrayed in popular publications as an intelligent and downtrodden people that had contributed greatly to American industry, that are conscientious and loyal workers, and that had responded well to Christian missionary efforts. The China lobby begins to foster sympathy for the Chinese, who have suffered terrible tragedies in their homeland, and who now seek a peaceful and prosperous life in the land of opportunity, where, God willing, they will discover the light of Christ. In contrast, the Japanese are portrayed as cunning and barbaric - a new Mongol horde, led by an Emperor who is paralleled with Genghis Khan. Like the Mongols in previous centuries, the Japanese are portrayed as a genuine threat to Western civilization; they are ruthless, heathen, thoroughly martial, and obsessed with their mission of world domination. Many claims, some of them entirely unsubstantiated, are made in regards to Japanese atrocities in Korea, Manchuria, and China, and some extremely out-of-left-field papers even allege that there is some kind of a Bolshevik-Japanese conspiracy. By 1921, many Americans believe that a war with Japan would be beneficial for both the Chinese, as a humanitarian effort, and for the West, because it would nip the Japanese threat in the bud.
Radical agitation in Japan
Inspired by the October Revolution in Russia, the number of general strikes across Japan increases from 1917 onward, organized by various organization of anarchists, socialists, syndicalists, and other radicals. The radicals lead the segments of Japanese society opposed to military expansion, and the Japanese translation of Vladimir Lenin's Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism is widely distributed. The Tokko, the Special Higher Police, hunt down and kill radical leaders whenever possible, as part of Japan's domestic version of the Red Scare; these domestic operations are considered to coincide with Kempeitai operations against radicals on the mainland.
Despite economic growth in Japan, bolstered by the war effort and the development in the economies, many Japanese workers feel that they are not receiving a fair share of the spoils, and demand greater rights and remuneration. Many union leaders, politicians, industrialists, intellectuals, and others are assassinated by both sides in this period, and there are a few conspiracies to assassinate the Emperor. Terrorist attacks occur sporadically in the larger cities, and the Tokko respond with massacres.
By 1921, the movement has largely been repressed, with the socialist parties largely driven underground, and a cooperative anarchist-socialist movement largely broken up. Many anarchists flee to Manchuria, Primorsky Krai, and Karafuto, appreciative of the Army's willingness not to do extensive background checks on prospective settlers. Strong anarchist networks develop in rural Manchuria, in rural Primorsky Krai, and in Karafuto, but in an underground capacity - for the moment. In Kamchatka, Hokkaido, and northern Honshu, looser networks are established - for the most part, isolated small farms operated by anarchists.
The Red Scare in North America
American society finds itself polarized on a variety of strata. Many isolationists, opposed to any American involvement in a European war at all, are extremely concerned with the prospects of another war in the Far East. The American military remains deployed in northern Russia and in revolutionary Mexico, notwithstanding the usual deployments in the Philippines and around the American Lake. Many fringe political organizations, mainly of a leftist or anarchist nature, had chosen to largely censor themselves while the First World War was raging; however, these organizations, which had been vociferously opposed to American involvement in the European war until the troops were sent overseas, had once again began to agitate. Demanding a withdrawal of American forces from military engagements in revolutionary Russia and Mexico, the organizations gain significantly more support than may have been expected; many in the United States are weary of war, and dislike the idea of getting entangled in international affairs.
With a powerful sector advocating for a new war in the Far East, the country finds itself split between the antiwar and the prowar factions. In this environment, anarchists, socialists, unionists, and other idealists find themselves in a good position to wage war on capitalism, bourgeois interests, and other corporate structures of oppression. Industrial sabotage, strikes, and other challenges to the powers-that-be have become commonplace. In this environment, excesses by the police force and heavy-handed treatment of protesters have become commonplace, too - and non-interventionists and pacifists are lumped together with one another (this is not necessarily accurate), as well as being demonized along with the radicals. The unrest takes on a racial flair, as well. Because many social radicals are recent immigrants from Italy, the broken Russian empire, and other eastern and southern European countries, anyone from this kind of a background is demonized. Many blacks are radicalized, as well; race riots occur in several cities, fueled by experiences of relative egalitarianism in France, where many served in the war against Germany.
With mainstream papers advocating more and more vociferously for a war with Japan, which, in the view of some extremist commentators, will serve as a means of shipping off social radicals to fight and die in East Asia - thereby eliminating a serious problem - the anti-militarists gain more widespread support. Combined with a surge in feminism, with women's suffrage becoming a hot topic, and being widely adopted, and with the rising tide of Prohibition, America has become a seriously dangerous place. Other problems include widespread opposition by non-whites to Washington's veto of the anti-racism clause proposed by Japan, and many coloured people argue that Japan, as a powerful Asian nation, represents worldwide liberation from European dominance; this is, of course, vehemently opposed by most Chinese-Americans. Several pro-Japanese organizations are set up, some with clandestine Kempeitai and Tokeitai funding.
It is also worth noting the Spanish influenza had wreaked a terrible death toll in the United States, as elsewhere, up to 1921, and several million people had died. In this postwar era, hedonism is the name of the game for those who have any money whatsoever, and doomsday preachers speak of God's punishment in the form of influenza, Bolshevism, the Emperor of Japan, and the moral downfall of Western civilization. In the meantime, those who return from the occupation of northern Russia.
In 1921, the urban stage of the revolution is beginning to have a lull, with many radicals fleeing into the rural areas of the Midwest to establish rural networks, just as the Japanese anarchists and leftists are doing at this same time. A few others go to Mexico. This brief, relative lull allows a window of opportunity for the prosecution of war in the Far East - which, in and of itself, sparks more unrest.
Anglo-American relations in the immediate postwar period
Due to their clashing imperial interests in the Far East, fueling by different internal factors, Japanese-American relations rapidly decline with the defeat of the Central Powers. At the same time, for various reasons, Anglo-American relations begin to decline as well.
With Bolshevism surging westward through Europe, the British and the French had intervened in both northern and southern Russia, as well as intervening in the Finnish Civil War, fighting alongside the conservative White Guard of Finland, the Germans, and the Swedes, who abandoned their neutrality in the face of the Bolshevik tide.
The United States government is increasingly concerned, domestically, with the idea of a revolution - which, although much less likely than in tsarist Russia, is enough to frighten them. In comparison, the British home front is relatively stable, while they are extremely concerned with problems on the Continent. Although many had been wary against it, the British had argued for the inclusion of an anti-racism clause in the Treaty of Versailles, which the Americans had refused to accept; the Japanese, crucial allies in the war on Bolshevism, were not pleased with the rejection of that proposed clause, but were strengthened in their support of the British. Britain finds itself in the uncomfortable position of being in-between the Japanese and the Americans. The Japanese are largely considered to be untrustworthy Orientals among the British populace, but there is a lingering resentment of the Americans, considering that they had left the Empire so many years ago.
American withdrawal from northern Russia, and increasing military threats to the Japanese, are extremely concerning in London; many British are fed up with American isolationism, and they don't see the prosecution of war with Japan as beneficial whatsoever. While there are certainly dissidents in the British political apparatus who argue for a more pro-American, anti-Japanese stance, they are generally unable to make policy.
By 1921, the British are committed to going to war on behalf of Japan, should any other country declare war on her. The Anglo-Japanese Alliance is strengthened all the more. The Americans, on the other hand, find themselves isolated not just of their own accord, but due to a great lack of countries that will associate with them politically - although investment and trade continues mostly unabated, especially in Latin America.