Quote:
Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki
There was enough blame when the dust settled fore everyone. World War II was caused by the treaties, agreements, sanctions, and deals of World War I, which itself was caused by the treaties, agreements, sanctions, deals, arranged marriages, and complicated royal family lines of post-imperialist era. America was not innocent, as we looked to obtain our own colonies and pursue our own imperialist agenda, especially in the pacific ocean, which led us to bump up against Japan's goals. This can still be seen in the fact that Hawaii is a state, and Guam is a protectorate, and we have plenty of other terrritories/protectorates as well in the Pacific.
The Japanese believed that we would come to the aid of our traditional European allies sooner or later, especially as we already considered them a threat. Pearl Harbor was a calculated first strike to end the Pacific War before it started by pretty much destroying the US Navy. Too bad someone in Tojo's cabinet didn't realise America could not be beaten that easily (even if Yamamoto did).
Chew on this: the US reserves first strike now, but is against anyone else having it.
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We did not go to war with Japan because we were competing to build an empire and "bumped into each other". America in the 30's was in the midst of the Great Depression, and after Wilson's Folly (aka WW1), America in general wanted nothing to do with empires and European entanglements. We had enough trouble with our dustbowl and stock market crashes and starving, out of work populace struggling to put food on the table. Thats why it took so long for the US to join WW2, and why it took an attack on the US and thousands of dead Americans before the public was convinced WW2 had to really concern them too.
As for the chewy part, every country in the world would strike first if they felt they were in imminent danger of being attacked themselves. America is no different. But I can't remember the last time we actually struck a country without any previous warning or reason. If you're thinking of Iraq, that was a continuation of hostilities because Saddam had not lived up to the requirements in the peace treaty he'd signed after Gulf War 1 (proof of disarmament, regular UN weapons inspections with total and unrestricted access, stop the human rights abuses, stop funding and sheltering terrorists, etc). But while the US was sending food and supplies to England, and were close enough allies that we might have eventually added them in person, we were not nearly so close with China, and didn't make nearly as big a fuss about Japan attacking parts of China as we did over Nazi Germany taking over France and attacking England. Sure, Japan and Germany were officially allies, but not long, close friends with historical ties like the US and England. And even after Japan attacked us at Pearl Harbor, our response was to go fight the Nazis first.