This was the peak of Japan's territorial expansion in 1942. It involves more than 20 countries and occupies more than 7 million square kilometers, 20 times the size of Japan.
Japan at its peak
But in fact, Japan's ideal territory is much more than that. So, let's go through the map and see how crazy this ideal map for Japanese fantasy really is?
Japan's ideal territory
Japan's expansion began with the Russo-Japanese War of 1904. In this battle, Japan not only defeated the long-famous Tsarist Russia, but also conveniently snatched the Korean Peninsula and half of Sakhalin. It was also this war that made Japan become the hegemon of East Asia and has the ambition to dominate the whole of Asia.
Japan annexes Korea
In 1910, Japan occupied and controlled the Korean Peninsula, but was still not satisfied, so it completely annexed Korea through the Japan-Korea Merger Treaty.
In 1931, Japan created the 918 Incident that shocked China and abroad and occupied the northeast region of the mainland.
In 1937, Japan launched a full-scale war of aggression against China, occupying half of China's land in only half a year, and even threatened to annex the whole of China within three months. However, after the all-out war of resistance by the Chinese people, Japan did not make a breakthrough in the Chinese battlefield and completely reached a stalemate.
Japan's all-out war of aggression against China
In 1939, the protracted war consumed a lot of Japan's war resources, so Japan hit the Soviet Union on the head. However, the strength of the Soviet Union at this time far exceeded that of the previous Tsarist Russia, and Japan was not an opponent at all. Since there is no hope of going north, then you can only choose to go south.
In 1940, war resources became increasingly tight, and Japan did not care about the interests of the great powers in Southeast Asia, and directly invaded Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Japan invaded Southeast Asia
In 1941, in an effort to eliminate the greatest threat in the Pacific, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in the Hawaiian Islands. Then he returned to Southeast Asia and took Thailand.
In 1942, Japan took a short break and began its frenzied aggression against Southeast Asia. First and foremost was British Burma. Then they invaded British Malaysia and Brunei, and then killed the Philippines and Indonesia, and took East Timor.
Southeast Asia fell
As can be seen from the map, Japan's territory at this time has covered the whole of Southeast Asia and half of China, and if you add many islands in the Pacific Ocean, Japan's land area has reached more than 7 million square kilometers, even if you look at the world, it is a proper big country.
However, Japan's territorial greed has reached the point of near madness, and it intends to attack Australia and India, the two largest countries in South Asia and Oceania, at the same time.
I have to say that Japan's crazy move really explains what greed is not enough.
With the defeat in the Chinese battlefield, Japan's main forces were sharply reduced. And the southward movement of the Soviet Union also put an end to Japan's expansion plan completely. Coupled with the fact that the Japanese mainland was hit hard by the United States, Japan was known to be unable to return to heaven, and finally chose to surrender unconditionally in 1945 and return all the land it had usurped.
Japan returns all its territory
Although Japan's aggressive plans are doomed to failure. But it is undeniable that Japan's military prowess in World War II was truly astounding. Then, if we continue to develop according to Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Plan, the whole of East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and Oceania will be occupied by Japan.
And if the plan is realized, then there will be a second phase. That is, Japan and Germany occupied all of Asia, Oceania, Europe and Africa, respectively.
German-Japanese partition
Then came the third phase, in which Germany and Japan would encircle the United States through the Pacific and Atlantic oceans, thus taking America.
Although there is no fourth stage in the German-Japanese concept, after all, both are extremely aggressive countries.
Unify the planet
Even if an agreement on peaceful coexistence is reached, war will eventually break out and final reunification will be completed.
So, if the earth were really united, do you think it would be better than it is now?