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It's not entirely fair to blame Japan for its attack, as there was a lot of signaling by Washington that taking the strategic base at Hawaii would not be oppose
by JasonFruit 5y ago
It's not entirely fair to blame Japan for its attack, as there was a lot of signaling by Washington that taking the strategic base at Hawaii would not be opposed. We might not have been attacked if we hadn't invited it, and there's reason to believe that implicit invitation was extended intending to give the U.S. an excuse to enter the war.
- ceejayoz 5y agoThe “she was asking for it” excuse? Really?
- corty 5y agoSo Iraq didn't ask for it with WMD? Afghanistan didn't ask for it with harboring Taliban? "Asking for it" is an acceptable excuse for a war internationally.
- ceejayoz 5y ago> So Iraq didn't ask for it with WMD? Did we finally find some? > Afghanistan didn't ask for it with harboring Taliban? The idea that responding to 9/11 is similar to some supposed "we thought you'd be cool with us taking Hawaii" in 1941 is a bit baffling.
- nate_meurer 5y agoNotwithstanding some historians' claims that interventionists in the Roosevelt administration slyly baited Japan into attacking first, there is zero historical evidence that Japan would otherwise have avoided attacking us. The escalating embargo and blockade of Japan meant their industrial output was facing collapse within months. The attack was a desperate attempt to protect their invasion of the resource-rich East Indies. They literally had no choice, and this is exactly the argument that won Tojo permission to go forward with the attack. Plus, the spirit of the Japanese nation was very much in favor of total conquest. Hakko Ichiu was sort of the Japanese version of America's Manifest Destiny, except they explicitly applied it to everything from Russia to Australia and Burma to Alaska.
- JasonFruit 5y agoThose points are all excellent.