On December 7, 1941, the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor in the United States, and the United States officially declared war on Japan, which directly led to the outbreak of the Pacific War. Why did Japan attack the United States? How did the Japanese army perform in the Chinese battlefield at this time? We can see this from the decline of the Japanese army in the Chinese battlefield.
I. In 1938, "On Protracted War" accurately predicted the war situation
Japan's occupation of China began with the September 18 Incident in 1931. By 1937, Japan officially launched a full-scale war of aggression against China. At that time, China had two different voices about the future of the War of Resistance, one was too optimistic, and the other was too pessimistic.
In 1938, Mao Zedong published "On Protracted War", which expressed forward-looking opinions on the war situation between China and Japan. It thoroughly analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of China and Japan, analyzes the fundamental reasons for Japan's launching of the war to the fullest, accurately analyzes the war situation, and predicts that China's resistance to Japan will gradually move from strategic defense and strategic stalemate to the stage of strategic counteroffensive. This war will take a long time, and victory must belong to China.
Among them, "On Protracted War" makes a profound and accurate analysis of the domestic situation in Japan. After the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarked on the road of capitalist development. The country has indeed developed and become stronger, but most of the interests are included in the pockets of warlords and plutocrats, and ordinary people have not profited in essence.
With the passage of time, the situation of serious wealth differentiation in Japan has become increasingly serious, accelerating domestic contradictions and exposing various social problems. The Japanese government is in a precarious situation, and they can only invade the outside world, obtain benefits, and then distribute them to the domestic civilian class to alleviate social contradictions.
When Japan's domestic wealth began to decline again, they had to plunder resources again, and then bring the wealth back home to redistribute, and so on. But the benefits brought back from the foreign war were all divided up by a privileged minority, and all the costs of the war were borne by ordinary people. The civilian class is poorer, and the Japanese government has to expand its enterprises to plunder resources from more places.
Such a Japan simply cannot withstand the attrition of a long war, because once the foreign war reaches a stalemate, the contradictions in Japan will intensify and they will collapse from within. So Japan's defeat was doomed early on.
Second, in 1941, Japan was plagued by difficulties and contradictions
At this time, three years have passed since Japan launched an all-out war of aggression against China, and China is still stubbornly resisting, not only continuing to fight on the frontal battlefield, but also opening up anti-Japanese base areas in the areas it has occupied. The Japanese army was already feeling overwhelmed on the battlefield in China.
In order to win the war, all the centers of gravity in Japan served the war. All domestic enterprises give priority to the production of military materials. The production of civilian goods has gone bankrupt and millions of workers have been unemployed, and this has been going on for two years.
A large number of unemployed people cannot be fed and fed. The workers who can continue to work are engaged in military industrial production, although they can eat and wear warm. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the war, the company system was born at this time, which required everyone to be on standby 24 hours a day.
High-intensity and long-term work, the physical fitness of workers has declined rapidly. According to statistics, the number of people who died of overwork in Japan in 1937 was as high as 7,000. The intensity of the work has increased, but the income has decreased. In Japan, where inflation is taking place, the yen is becoming less and less valuable, but things are rising in price.
In agriculture, food production is in short supply, and people cannot eat rice. Due to the rise in prices such as pesticides, the normal production of farmers cannot be guaranteed at all. Most farmers work hard for a year, and the food they produce is not enough to eat for themselves and cannot be supplied to the market.
In 1941, in response to this situation, the Japanese government could only issue the "White Rice Restriction Order", which stipulated that adults could not consume more than 330 grams of food per person per day.
Hunger and disease in Japan have led to a sharp decline in the number of people engaged in agriculture, and a large reduction in the number of farmland. Peasant revolts broke out frequently.
Soldiers were tired of war, as the Japanese government knew. So they can only be deceived and let them continue to fight. In January 1939, three thousand Japanese troops caused a mutiny on a steamship at sea. Because they wanted to return to China, they were sent to the battlefield of North China to continue to sell their lives.
In the war, Japan's economy collapsed, the state's revenue was empty, all kinds of industries were withered, the people at home rioted frequently, and the soldiers hated war, just like the "paper tiger", which looked powerful on the surface, but in fact it shattered when touched.
Third, Japan has set its sights on the Pacific Rim
In 1941, Japan was already in a state of poverty, the Chinese battlefield was in a stalemate, and Japan was in urgent need of new resources and interests, so they took a fancy to the rich resources of Southeast Asia and prepared to seize them.
For Japan, rubber oil in Southeast Asia, as well as iron ore in Australia, as long as they can get their hands on it, they can get rid of the dilemma of resource poverty, and the contradictions in the country can be alleviated. Southeast Asia has always been a sphere of influence between Britain and the United States, and if it wants to move their circles of interest, Japan can only declare war on European and American countries.
After the Meiji Restoration, Japan relied on manufacturing to accumulate a large amount of gold and foreign exchange. Japan used gold to buy oil and steel from the United States. All the wealth accumulated over the years was thrown into the war of aggression against China. The harder the Japanese fought, the faster the gold was spent. By 1941, Japan's gold reserves were largely gone.
Once Japan is defeated, Japan's domestic economy will completely collapse. According to the strategy adopted by the Japanese government, if there is no war, it will go bankrupt, and if it wins, it will also win benefits from the defeated countries. Now that the gold reserves are about to be exhausted, the war cannot continue. If the Japanese army withdrew from China, all the initial investment would be wasted. Japan can only make a desperate bet.
On December 7, 1941, pearl harbor, the base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was attacked by the Japanese army, and the Japanese army sent a huge force to severely damage the American army. This incident also directly led to the Declaration of War by the United States on Japan. The U.S. Navy soon took control of the Pacific, cutting off Japan's maritime supply lines.
Fourth, the situation on the battlefield in China began to reverse
The United States officially declared war, and China had been fighting alone against Japan for ten years, so China quickly joined the Allies and formed an alliance with the United States and Britain. The United States sent a lot of manpower and material resources to start aiding China, precisely because it was optimistic that China could counter Japan and was of great value to the entire Pacific war situation.
The logistical support of the Japanese army has been seriously unable to keep up, and the combat effectiveness of Japanese soldiers has plummeted. However, the Chinese military and civilians continued to fight steadily and steadily. The Chinese battlefield has always consumed the manpower, material and willpower of the Japanese army. The situation in this war between China and Japan has been reversed, and victory is just around the corner. On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, and China won a complete victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
epilogue
Chinese people against the Japanese aggressors, we paid a huge price, but also fully demonstrated our wisdom and courage, not only to defend our own country, but also to the final defeat of the aggressors in the entire Second World War.