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To: PurpleMountains
The underlying cause of World War II was the effort by Japan and Germany to take by force of arms resources they decided they needed to fuel their economies.

Oh please.

For Germany, World War II was about revenge and regaining Germany's "rightful" place in the world.

Japan did not attack Pearl Harbor because of severe pineapple shortages. Japan already had built a raw-material empire in the 1937-1939 period. Widening the war was an ideological decision based on the Shinto nationalist policy of Hakko ichiu.

5 posted on 05/08/2008 1:01:06 PM PDT by wideawake (Why is it that those who call themselves Constitutionalists know the least about the Constitution?)
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To: wideawake

A. Japan saw the United States as a threat to the continuation of their strategy.

B. Drang Nach Osten. what you state was the excuse Hitler used.


8 posted on 05/08/2008 1:15:52 PM PDT by PurpleMountains
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To: wideawake

“For Germany, World War II was about revenge and regaining Germany’s “rightful” place in the world.”

There was some of that, yes, but don’t forget that whole “Lebensraum” thing in the east.


9 posted on 05/08/2008 1:18:08 PM PDT by PLMerite ("Unarmed, one can only flee from Evil. But Evil isn't overcome by fleeing from it." Jeff Cooper)
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To: wideawake
Prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor everybody was expecting the Japanese to make a move against the Dutch East Indies to expropriate the oil found there. Holland was occupied by Germany & so these Dutch colonial posessions were ripe for the taking.

The US/Britain/Holland (Exile)/& Australia briefly formed something called ABDA (America, Britain, Dutch, Australia) to defend the islands & a mixed naval task force was organized. Incidentally, a move against US forces in the Philippines was also expected since those islands sat astride the sea lanes to Japan.

US war plans were geared toward a relief of the Philippines from bases at Pearl & the US west coast. That was until the Japanese turned naval strategy on its head by first raiding Hawaii & destroying the US battlefleet. Once the US Fleet was sunk they could take Indochina, the Philippines, Singapore & the Dutch East Indies without having to worry about US naval intervention.

Japan expected that the US might sue for Peace as the Russians had done in 1905. They also underestimated the rapidity with which the US was able to reconstitute its naval & air power.

Japanese Combined Fleet commander, Yammamoto, said he would "run wild for 6 months, after that, he could guarantee nothing". The elapsed time between Pearl Harbor & the Battle of Midway -- the first major US victory -- almost exactly 6 months.

11 posted on 05/08/2008 1:25:14 PM PDT by Tallguy (Tagline is offline till something better comes along...)
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