Zachariah

Banned
Might it be at all possible for the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact to develop into an outright alliance between the Soviets and the Japanese, during WW2, with the Japanese breaking away from the Tripartite Pact and the Axis Powers to do so? And if it had, then how might this have affected the war and the postwar world?
 
Might it be at all possible for the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact to develop into an outright alliance between the Soviets and the Japanese, during WW2, with the Japanese breaking away from the Tripartite Pact and the Axis Powers to do so? And if it had, then how might this have affected the war and the postwar world?
They'd need a common enemy, which they are contending for influence in China and Korea; with the USSR backing the GMD, CCP, and Korean Nationalism, while Japan propped up puppet regimes (Wang Jing-wei and Manchukuo) and keeping Korea. Perhaps if you kept Taisho Democracy in place and prevent Japan from going to war at all, the alliance could see Japan as a buffer against the Americans and Western Europeans to the South. Even then, Japan would still remember the Russo-Japanese War and gravitate towards the WAllies and the GMD as their buffer against the Soviets and CCP. Communism is Japan, the GMD, and the WAllies' common enemy. If Japan had entered alliance with the USSR, they would be diplomatically isolated in Asia, and would be worse off than they are now. The Soviets may try to influence elections to help the Communist Party win.
 
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They'd need a common enemy, which they are contending for influence in China with the USSR backing the KMT and CCP and Japan backing Wang Jingwei and Manchukuo. Perhaps if you kept Taisho Democracy in place and preventing Japan from going to war at all, the alliance could see Japan as a buffer against the Americans and Western Europeans to the South.

I agree they’d need a common enemy, and the likely ones don’t fit the bill. Japan would have no reason to go to war with the Axis powers and the Soviets wouldn’t go to war with the Allies.

One possibility I see is a sort of temporary Poland-like arrangement for China. They team up against the KMT and divide China with the already existing Japanese puppet regime under Wang Jingwei in the East and a CCP regime in the West.

If the Chinese front were closed by Pearl Harbor and enormous numbers of Japanese troops freed up we could see a very different Pacific War.
 
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