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I think that saying "thanks for helping us "forge" today's historical tale may sounds good on your head but when said it sounds more like you are forging the story lolol
In a way the Japanese military of that era repeatedly going rogue really set the tone for their future 'strategic' goals in WW2: capture territory and resources followed by something, something something.
Yeah, definitely they should have acted in a more civilized way.... Just like morally impeccable European colonists, who created heavens on earth in Asia and Africa.
The funny thing about capturing territory and resources was that the Japanese still had to get those resources back to Japan to be of any use meanwhile the US was waging unrestricted submarine warfare and sinking Japanese merchant ships. A successful allied submarine campaign would render the entire capture of the resources meaningless which was something Japan really should have seen coming.
When you're familiar with this period of Japanese History, all of a sudden the military government and politics portrayed in Full Metal Alchemist make a lot more sense.
... Huh, interesting view on the manga and actually makes sense. Wonder where the inspiration for Ishbal came from then (Briggs could be borders to Russia).
With this in mind, is FMA one of the few Japanese mangas that actually shows criticism of the Japanese military and it's war crimes during WWII (represented by the Ishbal war)? Is rare for me to see talks about that period in manga.
@@harrisonlee9585 Frankly I'm starting to think all of Gundam is just an attempt to teach the history of this time period in Japanese history and the dangers of lack of civilian control, serial escalation, corruption, and crises in civil governance.
So if playing Japan in HOIV is accurate, you'd load the game and then not be able to do anything except watch while your army and navy go off and start wars on their own in a totally disorganised, piecemeal fashion while actively trying to undermine each other and refuse orders from you entirely.
with the way the movement system derps out in HOI, that's about right. I always enjoyed planning a push only for my troops to get on a ship and redeploy halfway around the world with no supplies for some reason
It's fascinating to me, as a westerner, to be told how much the Japanese revere the emperor, and then see time and again throughout history how "for the emperor" is used as justification for all sorts of things
Tbh similar idea-sets exist all over the world and is used to excuse all sorts of atrocities: 'For the Revolution', 'For the Mother-/Fatherland', 'For safety', etc. whatever is most important to people at the time is used to excuse inexcusible actions, like mass murder, war, torture and trying to seize power illegitimatly. In the end everybody must judge themselves if the end really justify the means and not if by going the path of blood you become the very thing you wanted to take down. In the end, the easiest way to go is to just try to forgive, love and understand each other. Violence and hate will always fuel more violence and hate.
@@krankarvolund7771 Exactly. The humans create their own image what a god would want, meanwhile most religions have behaviour patterns that work well formulated, but those are often ignored for a tiny detail in some script, maybe even being there because of a copying or translation mistake, which is then used as evidence to justify ones actions. Meanwhile ignoring the basic rules.
@@magmat0585 no, for the US it’s more “to protect and/or spread democracy”. Even in Iraq and Afghanistan where terrorism played a big role, spreading democracy was still a big selling point
@JB you’d think pretending to have rules and having no rules is basically the same but man is it a world of difference. shame about the racism tho, the League really only emboldened the ultranationalists with it.
This series is becoming the perfect example of everything that's wrong with zealotry: from seeking your desired result at any cost without thinking about what comes after or worrying if the "any cost" is something you can really afford, to the haughtiness of advocating your prejudices as the "will", "desire" or "needs" of someone or something you haven't bothered to consult with. And about the Emperor's silence, there's an easy reason: how has been able the Japanese Imperial Family to become the longest lasting uninterrupted ruling family? They got very good very soon at being just ornaments. Meiji was an outlier. An Emperor of Japan won't give his opinion about politics unles directly and specifically asked, no matter what he desires, and shall preferrable give said opinion in a roundabout way, unless things are very dire (the directness, not the "unless asked). This is also why he didn't overturn the resignement of that PM, despite the fact that doing so would have taken the wind out of the sails of the extremists. He had been conditioned from infancy to behave like that.
Meiji is not an outlier, he is the same as Hirohito. He is beholden to an oligarchy of first-fielders and ambitious men that governed independently under his name. His father Emperor Komi though, is the outlier since he is the one that actually exercises his power as Emperor... Except what he wants is Sonno Joi (expelling the foreigners and their foreign ways)...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 From what I know about japanese history, some time inbetween the Nara period and the Heian period, and before the figure of the shogun gained any significant power, the emperor became a figurehead of the Minister of the Left (which was almost always either a Fujiwara or a Fujiwara by marriage). Then the shogun raised to power and there were political tensions between him and the Fujiwaras, followed by the civil wars called the Warring States (Sengoku) period, which ultimately culminated with the Tokugawa Shogunate. During the Tokugawa Shogunate, the figure of the Emperor, which was already just decorative, became cemented as a zero to the left, and it kept being so until the Meiji Restoration. From every source I have come across (though I admit I haven't gone in-depth), including EH's series about the Meiji Restoration, there were no exceptions to the rule until Meiji, all of the shenanigans started to happen way after Meiji was enthroned and Meiji played an at least somewhat active part in the whole thing. And from what I know about world history, Meiji was lucky that a lot of people in high places wanted an absolute or semi-absolute monarch, otherwise he would have either met a tragic accident or sadly passed away due to some fulminant disease.
@@jorgelotr3752 There are maybe 3 or 4 emperors who exercised any real power as per their station. A few more managed to do so as retired emperors, but they don't really count.
@@MrGksarathy my point exactly. Those were outliers, while the general trend was having emperors that had been raised as good puppets. In fact, while in Europe courtiers had to make sure that the next monarch would be easily manipulable by pruning the more proactive candidates from among the current monarch's children, in Japan, for long time, they kept the entire imperial family in a section made specifically for them, booting those without the proper parentage (not important enough non-imperial family member) or too fussy as Minamotos and Genjis (descendants of the imperial family with no claim to the throne) and choosing the next emperor from the ones that remained (i.e. the ones perceived as easy to manipulate).
I know that this is a series for the rise of Japanese Militarism and not the crimes and the war itself but some facts on how barbaric the army was would have drivin the point in more. because 7:09 the Nanjing Massacre was on scale maybe even the worst thing humanity ever has done but ''smaller incidents'' happened sadly all the time.
the nanking massacre is a topic unsuited for a video, if you keep to the facts you have to neglect the human side of things, if you focus on the humanitarian catastrophe you lose the necassary rational distance of an informative video. Try to find a middle ground wont leave anyone satisfied as well, so its better just mentioned and if there is interest everyone can find their information themselfs.
I wish they had used its real name. Not sure if I can type that name here but its very appropriate due to he scale of the horrors committed. Much more then "just" a massacre.
It's haunting how Nanjing was basically a microcosm of the war itself. The out-of-control and unaccountable military visiting untold horrors upon those they conquer for no real reason other than because they can.
@@andreboden1437 ww2 was full of massacres mate, most of what the japanese did , had been done before and would be done after , in berlin , for example, wars an ugly thing , worse with dehumanization going on.
The US in Vietnam was heavily criticized by ww2 US vets. Vets like Eisenhower said to the Johnson administration that if your gonna fight a war against north Vietnam then actually fight one and not half ass it. Johnson ignored. US troops weren’t allowed into north Vietnam which angered US troops cause now they feel what’s the point of fighting if your not gonna attack the enemy. US pilots weren’t allowed to bomb Hanoi till 1972. They weren’t allowed to bomb SAM sites unless fired upon incase there were soviets advisors around the SAM sites with fears of escalating the war. US troops couldn’t go to the Ho chi men trail except for bombing runs by the Air Force. Douglas MacArthur said Vietnam was pointless he warned Kennedy. Saying it wasn’t worth going there to Kennedy
Honestly most of it was younger officers, green officers, who were barely educated, charging off to wet their swords in blood and win glory. Only to starve a few years later, their glory burned to embers around them along with their friends, brothers and likely other relatives when militaries with more cohesive planning decided to attack them instead.
@@deadby15 Yes, Belgium might be one of the worst offenders. You don't expect such monstrous behavior from people that make such delicious waffles. I was only concerned with Asian colonialism, so Leopold II got a pass for the Congo from me earlier.
USA and their wilsonian ideals are the big ideological opposition to Japan at this point. The US public reads the paper about japanese atrocities in China and Korea. They think Chiang and his nationalists are the legitimate Chinese government. A lot of the european great powers wouldn't mind having Japan in the great powers club. What they think is getting less relevant though, the Great War has weakened them all. Some of them don't mind that Japan has a legitimate sphere of interest.
If Japanese history is brought up again, I'd love to see a mini-video on a certain little-known failed assassination attempt known as the Ōtsu Incident.
I’m curious and I hope this’ll be explained in lies, is there any reason Hirohito is drawn without glasses? Like plenty of the other people are drawn with them, and I’ve only ever seen pictures of him with glasses on, so was this an artistic decision, did he only wear glasses in public?
I think his glasses were mainly reading glasses and with pretty much every filmed public appearance of him he was either ratifying a treaty/law or reading a pre-written speech. As such he always had to read in public appearances. However I'm not completely sure on this as sources differ on wether this was true or wether that was a claim made by the Japanese government to hide the fact that their 'god' emperor was actually near blind without glasses.
@@wouterkessel5030 president Roosevelt was very careful to not be seen as handicapped, and no one thought of him as a god. Weakness has to be hidden by those in power.
Hopefully, Extra History will do a one-off or two-off on the Soviet-Japanese Border Conflict and/or the Battle of Khalkin Gol one of these days. Patrons really only get to vote on the bigger series; shorter topics are largely at the staff's discretion.
History with Hilbert recently did a good video on Mongolia in WWII which of course included the battle of Khalkin Gol but also discussed their role in supporting the Soviet Union in fighting against the Germans as well as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in the final days of the war.
Wait, so they started a war with china...That they had no idea what to do with? **facepalm** An object lesson in why you don't let the military run everything. Because when all you have is a hammer (or a lot of guns), everything starts to look like a nail (or something shootable). :(
Yep and many of their conquests ended up backfiring. For instance Japan was facing food shortages during the war and yet often times they would capture cities and population centers but not the rural areas growing the food. Suddenly they were forced to try to feed Chinese cities when they could barely even feed themselves. A lot of Japanese victories were basically "one step forward two steps backwards."
You know, I just learned that if Hirihito had just affirmed his rule, as he did to the imperial way, Japan, and in extension Asia, could have been sheilded from years of bloodshed
Of course the League of Nations didn't object to British and French control of the Middle East. Those were approved by the League itself as mandates in the early 20s. Japan also got mandates out of that, having gotten island chains in the central Pacific. But the League doesn't approve of invading Manchuria a decade later and suddenly Japan cries that it's not being treated fairly.
There is a key difference between "mandate" and "colony/territory" in the definition of the League of Nations. Mandates had a class system which determined how each territory should be treated. Much of the Middle East were "Class A", meaning that the French and British were supposed to keep these places in trust before preparing them for independence. While this process had many flaws, all of them will (officially) receive independence according to the mandate (Iraq 1932, Syria and Lebanon 1941, Jordan 1946, Palestine 1947). In contrast, Japanese Pacific gains were "Class C", meaning that these territories were not culturally or economically developed enough and was best made integral to Japan. The LON still mandated these areas to be demilitarized, in which Japan would frequently violate. As for China, the invasion of Manchuria had no real legal basis or reason to be approved by the League. China appealed under Article 11 and there was actually unanimity but for a partial withdrawal, proposing to make Manchuria an autonomous state under China. By this point Japan was already consolidating their gains and had little to care about what the League thought. Worse, after Japan left the League, there were virtually no sanctions levelled against them, essentially cracking it's credibility as an organization.
@@Nolaris3 The problem of the League of Nations was that they didn't have any means to enforce their decisions, like the United Nations with their troops (which also failed several times, like in Srebrenica or Ruanda).
Thank you for your wonderful work on this series. This was one of the most interesting series you’ve done. I hope Lies goes a lot deeper on the final military take over as that seems to have been cut for time.
I wonder, during the movie about the japanese emperor and japan just after they surrendered, they mentioned an attack on the imperial palace by a faction, all this kinda reminds me of that part of the movie, could we get an extra episode covering that ?
I suspect that was the attempt by radical youth soldiers (they had a lot of those over the years) to seize the audio disc of the emperor's declaration of surrender and put him in "protective custody". Because if you've learned anything about Japanese history from these videos, it's that no one cares less about what the emperor thinks should be done than the people most professing loyalty to him. (The attempt failed, obviously.)
So the Japanese plan as to how to successfully conquer China was exactly like someone telling you that he's planning to do his homework literally on the way to school.
Y'all are easily one of my favorite channels for history, I really wish y'all had a podcast with episodes based on this stuff so I could listen at work without having to worry about commercials and keeping my phone on constantly
The Marco Polo incident started when the Japanese garrison did a headcount and found one soldier missing and demanded the Chinese give up the Japanese soldier who was not even present on their side. none of them reached an agreement and they fired on each other. the next morning, the Japanese soldier did turn up, he fell asleep in a brothel on the japanese side the night of.
The “missing” Japanese soldier was not sleeping in a brothel, but was intentionally kept hidden by the Imperial Japanese military to create a pretext for waging war. False flag operation was the common tactic of the Imperial Japanese military.
I think something to expand upon is that the Buddhists institutions in Japan were very pro-military because they were coming out of decades of persecution themselves and wanted to be seen as good supportive Japanese citizens. During the Meiji era when Japan institutionalized the State Shino (the new purist Japan religion and the emporer is a god version of Shintoism) as the country's religion, many Buddhist temples and religious artifacts were destroyed, Buddhist monks were even attacked and killed. Even during the war, Buddhist temples were strictly controlled, making sure they didn't pass on any teachings of questioning leaders who go against the Dharma and whatnot.
And regardless of why things happened or who was to blame, the ending result were the millions of innocent civilians throughout Greater China and SEA slaughtered and displaced by the Rising Sun.
Didn't newspapers write about two officers going on a rampage murdering civilians in Nanjing and wasn't this fact known by the government at the time and even praised by them?
I'm a big fan of this running theme of imperialists trying to turn Hirohito into the god-king of Japan, and him not wanting that at all and hating their guts
Thanks for your great movie as usual. As one Japanese, I've been wanted explains in English why Japan had withdrawn from LN and why Marco Polo bridge incident had begun. I'm appreciated that the movie told about colonialism in LN, the uncertain incident, and lack of strategy in Japanese Government.
You know, this series on Japanese Militarism gives a lot of context to some of the plot the threads from latter half ofAttack on Titan. Corrupt civilian government usurped by the military to restore the emperor, interfactional fighting within the military, control of the press, military acting independently and starting wars with other nations, its all there in AoT as well!
@@carso1500 How is Isayama pro-military and nationalistic? AOT literally show how dangerous racism, fascism, militarism, ultranationalism, imperialism and colonialism really are and the fatal consequences when all six are mixed together.
This was a fascinating series. I hope that they eventually get to the post-war years and the US's involvement in Japan following the atomic bomb deployments.
The Axis powers were also just really bad communicators. The Japanese had no idea Germany was preparing to attack Poland or the Soviet Union and the Japanese didn't tell the Germans that they were about to attack the US and the British. The Axis also just had a really bad habit of starting wars, realizing they don't have the resources to win them and invading new countries to get the resources. By the start of 1942 the allies had the British Empire, most of China, most of the Soviet Union, all of North America and South America and most of Africa on their side. That's a lot of enemies.
I would love it if you guys did a series on japan's post war history. From the U.S. occupation to the 90s, japanese post war history is just as interesting as it's prewar history.
@@SlapstickGenius23 not the same thing at all. This was a modern parlamenrary state with a post enlightenment monarch who could essentially say anything and people would follow out of respect. The shogun and daimyo were a feudal structure
renya mutaguchi(colonel at that time) order to assemble and attack, with his own decision. the worst toilet break in history (by that time 1937, politicians are too scared to step up AGAINST the military. and military don't really care about diplomatic approach on things)
What countries voted in favor of Japan in the League of Nations. I assume Japan is one of them, but I don't really know where to look for information on the participating delegations.
Hi. I will like to point out a minor discrepancy between the map showed on 07:55 and the then effective treaties. Treaty of Shimonoseki/Maguan signed between Qing Empire and Imperial Japan in 1895 stated that Taiwan and its surrounding islands should be ceded to Japan. Japan only surrender the said territory after WWII. Therefore on this map, Taiwan should be painted red, as per to Japan's then occupation of Taiwan.
About the Lytton report vote in the league of nations... was the vote actually 42 to 1, or what other country stood beside Japan in the vote? Thank you again for a very interesting series! 💯💯
Fun fact: One of the Imperial way officers was General Tomoyuki Yamashita, one of the famous general in the Japanese army. He was called "The tiger of Malaya" as he defeated the British during the Battle of Singapore, one of the most greatest British defeats in history
5:40. Incorrect. The Emperor was worried about getting shot if he ruled against the coup. He couldn’t say anything until he was certain he had no coup-sleeper agents in the palace. Once secured, he made his call.
I once read in a Book: "If you know what the Strategic Plan is, the means to achieve them, and the Political, Military and Economic objectives of Japan during the Interwar Period and World War II, you should go to Tokyo and report them to the Government, Army and Navy, I'm sure they would like to know too." The Big Problem with Japanese Militarism and Politics in these periods is that they were Factions and Cabals, with no long term Plan other than very general and generally conflicting goals and rhetoric. this turned Japan into a state that could only react rather than plan, Kept on down the path of the War they can't win
Imagine if HoI4 was historically accurate so when we plays japan the army and the navy doing god knows what while your country is constantly destabilizing.
It’s really sad to see the direction Japan went down. Japan could’ve been a truly democratic power, one that limited militarism. How the world would’ve changed for the better.
Well, now we have an entire nation that's mostly anti-war and prefers not to have a standing force beyond its self-defence forces. Not sure how much of a good trade-off that is but it's what exists now. Still, definitely very unfortunate.
At least Korea is liberated since Japan got into the war. We might have been liberated without war, but I don't see any practical way that could've happened.
@@arduous222 well if anything Joseon (korea) traded one master for another to become S.Korea / N.Korea (Joseon as i understand was a tributary state to China before coming slightly more independent and then the government became weak arse at the arrival of the western countries/ ship which resulted in several "incidents" and the eventual downfall of the imperial family to Japan via the Traitorous Fives)
@@PrograError I am not sure why the hell you're bringing that irrelevant topic up. But the difference is; being a tributary state did not mean the loss of self-determination, a foreign army permanently situating and massacring people, prohibition of using our own language, forced labors outside own lands, and so on.
@@arduous222 true, but in simplistic sense, they did traded one master for a much much worse master. (I respect the guts of the people who preserved the Korean language during the Japanese occupation against all odds and beatings. That said, if any disagreement herefore I'd say let's agree to disagree, each to their own)
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I LOVE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT MORE TOPICZ LIKE THIS U ARE CHEERISHED
I doubt even World Anvil can make sense of Kingdom Hearts lore.
Since we're talking about imperial Japan, surely the flag in these animations is wrong?
Yeah bro 😎 and the boys were
I think that saying "thanks for helping us "forge" today's historical tale may sounds good on your head but when said it sounds more like you are forging the story lolol
“Bringing an end to the path nobody knew they were walking.”
Snap, that was a good quote!
In a way the Japanese military of that era repeatedly going rogue really set the tone for their future 'strategic' goals in WW2: capture territory and resources followed by something, something something.
Something something something oil,
something something something rubber
Phase 1: collect territory
Phase 2:
Phase 3: profit
Yeah, definitely they should have acted in a more civilized way.... Just like morally impeccable European colonists, who created heavens on earth in Asia and Africa.
The funny thing about capturing territory and resources was that the Japanese still had to get those resources back to Japan to be of any use meanwhile the US was waging unrestricted submarine warfare and sinking Japanese merchant ships. A successful allied submarine campaign would render the entire capture of the resources meaningless which was something Japan really should have seen coming.
@@deadby15 Nice sarcasm
Now ask anybody from southeast asia, china or korea if they were trated fairly under japanese rule
When you're familiar with this period of Japanese History, all of a sudden the military government and politics portrayed in Full Metal Alchemist make a lot more sense.
... Huh, interesting view on the manga and actually makes sense. Wonder where the inspiration for Ishbal came from then (Briggs could be borders to Russia).
@@nygge Ishbal is a mixture of Middle Eastern cultures I think. Drachma is obviously Russia. Captain Buccaneer even has a Manchu style mustache.
@@nygge Ishval might be an analogy for the Ainu people of northern Japan
@@nathanialt.59 Not strange for them to represent jews either, with how much western culture is going on within the manga.
With this in mind, is FMA one of the few Japanese mangas that actually shows criticism of the Japanese military and it's war crimes during WWII (represented by the Ishbal war)? Is rare for me to see talks about that period in manga.
"Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" is still one of the wildest attempts at spin I've ever heard
And now I now where Gundam Unicorn got "Side Co-Prosperity Sphere."
@@timothystamm3200 The Federation and the Vist Foundation really leaned hard into some tropes
@@harrisonlee9585 Frankly I'm starting to think all of Gundam is just an attempt to teach the history of this time period in Japanese history and the dangers of lack of civilian control, serial escalation, corruption, and crises in civil governance.
@@timothystamm3200 Amogus
@@carteriffic1681 What?
Japan:
steps up to the podium
"we can't accept this report"
doesn't elaborate
Leaves
What a power move
It’s a diplomatic “deez nuts”
Japan was a founding member so had a veto on any vote. They literally had the power to overturn any vote against them.
To translate: Yo mum demands I withdraw from Manchuria.
So for you non-nerds, this is basically pulling up a middle finger and walking out without elaboration
So if playing Japan in HOIV is accurate, you'd load the game and then not be able to do anything except watch while your army and navy go off and start wars on their own in a totally disorganised, piecemeal fashion while actively trying to undermine each other and refuse orders from you entirely.
While also trying to dodge assassination attempts
Paradox would probably make that an expansion and charge $25.
That's just playing with coops
with the way the movement system derps out in HOI, that's about right. I always enjoyed planning a push only for my troops to get on a ship and redeploy halfway around the world with no supplies for some reason
@@AsbestosMuffins look they needed to support the Peruvian front in the Tuvan-French war, I'm sure you understand.
It's fascinating to me, as a westerner, to be told how much the Japanese revere the emperor, and then see time and again throughout history how "for the emperor" is used as justification for all sorts of things
Tbh similar idea-sets exist all over the world and is used to excuse all sorts of atrocities: 'For the Revolution', 'For the Mother-/Fatherland', 'For safety', etc. whatever is most important to people at the time is used to excuse inexcusible actions, like mass murder, war, torture and trying to seize power illegitimatly. In the end everybody must judge themselves if the end really justify the means and not if by going the path of blood you become the very thing you wanted to take down. In the end, the easiest way to go is to just try to forgive, love and understand each other. Violence and hate will always fuel more violence and hate.
Just like when we do things for God no? ^^
Except that God can't get down and say "Hey stop, I don't want that!" XD
@@krankarvolund7771 Exactly. The humans create their own image what a god would want, meanwhile most religions have behaviour patterns that work well formulated, but those are often ignored for a tiny detail in some script, maybe even being there because of a copying or translation mistake, which is then used as evidence to justify ones actions. Meanwhile ignoring the basic rules.
@@alphaviki7987 Yep, in the USA its either "for the children" or "to fight terrorism", where terrorism is anyone the powers that be don't like.
@@magmat0585 no, for the US it’s more “to protect and/or spread democracy”. Even in Iraq and Afghanistan where terrorism played a big role, spreading democracy was still a big selling point
League of Nations: "So, why Japan is attacking China?"
Japan: "Yes".
"IDK I got bored"
"No, the whole point of the League of Nations is to not take over the world!"
And Japan was like: "How bout I do, anyway?"
"Uh just a slight weapons malfunction. Everything is under control here. How are you?"
@JB you’d think pretending to have rules and having no rules is basically the same but man is it a world of difference.
shame about the racism tho, the League really only emboldened the ultranationalists with it.
This series is becoming the perfect example of everything that's wrong with zealotry: from seeking your desired result at any cost without thinking about what comes after or worrying if the "any cost" is something you can really afford, to the haughtiness of advocating your prejudices as the "will", "desire" or "needs" of someone or something you haven't bothered to consult with.
And about the Emperor's silence, there's an easy reason: how has been able the Japanese Imperial Family to become the longest lasting uninterrupted ruling family? They got very good very soon at being just ornaments. Meiji was an outlier. An Emperor of Japan won't give his opinion about politics unles directly and specifically asked, no matter what he desires, and shall preferrable give said opinion in a roundabout way, unless things are very dire (the directness, not the "unless asked). This is also why he didn't overturn the resignement of that PM, despite the fact that doing so would have taken the wind out of the sails of the extremists. He had been conditioned from infancy to behave like that.
Meiji is not an outlier, he is the same as Hirohito. He is beholden to an oligarchy of first-fielders and ambitious men that governed independently under his name. His father Emperor Komi though, is the outlier since he is the one that actually exercises his power as Emperor... Except what he wants is Sonno Joi (expelling the foreigners and their foreign ways)...
@@theotherohlourdespadua1131 From what I know about japanese history, some time inbetween the Nara period and the Heian period, and before the figure of the shogun gained any significant power, the emperor became a figurehead of the Minister of the Left (which was almost always either a Fujiwara or a Fujiwara by marriage). Then the shogun raised to power and there were political tensions between him and the Fujiwaras, followed by the civil wars called the Warring States (Sengoku) period, which ultimately culminated with the Tokugawa Shogunate.
During the Tokugawa Shogunate, the figure of the Emperor, which was already just decorative, became cemented as a zero to the left, and it kept being so until the Meiji Restoration. From every source I have come across (though I admit I haven't gone in-depth), including EH's series about the Meiji Restoration, there were no exceptions to the rule until Meiji, all of the shenanigans started to happen way after Meiji was enthroned and Meiji played an at least somewhat active part in the whole thing.
And from what I know about world history, Meiji was lucky that a lot of people in high places wanted an absolute or semi-absolute monarch, otherwise he would have either met a tragic accident or sadly passed away due to some fulminant disease.
@@jorgelotr3752 There are maybe 3 or 4 emperors who exercised any real power as per their station. A few more managed to do so as retired emperors, but they don't really count.
@@MrGksarathy my point exactly. Those were outliers, while the general trend was having emperors that had been raised as good puppets. In fact, while in Europe courtiers had to make sure that the next monarch would be easily manipulable by pruning the more proactive candidates from among the current monarch's children, in Japan, for long time, they kept the entire imperial family in a section made specifically for them, booting those without the proper parentage (not important enough non-imperial family member) or too fussy as Minamotos and Genjis (descendants of the imperial family with no claim to the throne) and choosing the next emperor from the ones that remained (i.e. the ones perceived as easy to manipulate).
I know that this is a series for the rise of Japanese Militarism and not the crimes and the war itself but some facts on how barbaric the army was would have drivin the point in more. because 7:09 the Nanjing Massacre was on scale maybe even the worst thing humanity ever has done but ''smaller incidents'' happened sadly all the time.
the nanking massacre is a topic unsuited for a video, if you keep to the facts you have to neglect the human side of things, if you focus on the humanitarian catastrophe you lose the necassary rational distance of an informative video. Try to find a middle ground wont leave anyone satisfied as well, so its better just mentioned and if there is interest everyone can find their information themselfs.
I wish they had used its real name. Not sure if I can type that name here but its very appropriate due to he scale of the horrors committed. Much more then "just" a massacre.
It's haunting how Nanjing was basically a microcosm of the war itself. The out-of-control and unaccountable military visiting untold horrors upon those they conquer for no real reason other than because they can.
@@andreboden1437 ww2 was full of massacres mate, most of what the japanese did , had been done before and would be done after , in berlin , for example, wars an ugly thing , worse with dehumanization going on.
That is usually what the "lies" video is for
Yes the worlds premier diplomats, The British.
Absolutely nothing can go wrong...
You mean premier invader's?
*Japan walks out*
Everyone:…
The British: Oh no! Well anyway.
@@notaspy1227 that's funny
As we have invaded 178 of 200 countries, we are very happy to try to clean up the mess we probably created ...
No military objectives for a total war? Man, what did they think was gonna happen?
That's probably the thing though, they didn't think at all. They just did.
Arguably, the US involvement in Vietnam was because there were some super cool weapon systems that the Army was itching to try out.
@@rparl yeah that's another war without any real military objective.
The US in Vietnam was heavily criticized by ww2 US vets. Vets like Eisenhower said to the Johnson administration that if your gonna fight a war against north Vietnam then actually fight one and not half ass it. Johnson ignored. US troops weren’t allowed into north Vietnam which angered US troops cause now they feel what’s the point of fighting if your not gonna attack the enemy. US pilots weren’t allowed to bomb Hanoi till 1972. They weren’t allowed to bomb SAM sites unless fired upon incase there were soviets advisors around the SAM sites with fears of escalating the war. US troops couldn’t go to the Ho chi men trail except for bombing runs by the Air Force.
Douglas MacArthur said Vietnam was pointless he warned Kennedy. Saying it wasn’t worth going there to Kennedy
Honestly most of it was younger officers, green officers, who were barely educated, charging off to wet their swords in blood and win glory. Only to starve a few years later, their glory burned to embers around them along with their friends, brothers and likely other relatives when militaries with more cohesive planning decided to attack them instead.
In all fairness most of the Nations in the League were shameless in their own Imperialism. The Dutch and English being the two prime examples.
Kind Leopold II: (Whew...)
@@deadby15 Yes, Belgium might be one of the worst offenders. You don't expect such monstrous behavior from people that make such delicious waffles. I was only concerned with Asian colonialism, so Leopold II got a pass for the Congo from me earlier.
USA and their wilsonian ideals are the big ideological opposition to Japan at this point. The US public reads the paper about japanese atrocities in China and Korea. They think Chiang and his nationalists are the legitimate Chinese government.
A lot of the european great powers wouldn't mind having Japan in the great powers club. What they think is getting less relevant though, the Great War has weakened them all. Some of them don't mind that Japan has a legitimate sphere of interest.
@@deadby15 nearly forgot about him
Well none of those nations regularly killed their own politicians
If Japanese history is brought up again, I'd love to see a mini-video on a certain little-known failed assassination attempt known as the Ōtsu Incident.
I’m curious and I hope this’ll be explained in lies, is there any reason Hirohito is drawn without glasses?
Like plenty of the other people are drawn with them, and I’ve only ever seen pictures of him with glasses on, so was this an artistic decision, did he only wear glasses in public?
That's actually very good point :/ no idea why
I think his glasses were mainly reading glasses and with pretty much every filmed public appearance of him he was either ratifying a treaty/law or reading a pre-written speech. As such he always had to read in public appearances. However I'm not completely sure on this as sources differ on wether this was true or wether that was a claim made by the Japanese government to hide the fact that their 'god' emperor was actually near blind without glasses.
@@wouterkessel5030 president Roosevelt was very careful to not be seen as handicapped, and no one thought of him as a god. Weakness has to be hidden by those in power.
Glasses are like wheel chair for eyes - Veep, Selina Meyer
@@mzamroni when the last chinese emperor puyi was discovered to be near sighted, there was a great debate over if they would give him glasses or not.
Random unrelated history fact:
Mongolia was technicaly involved in WW2 because they clashed with the Japanese at their borders.
They also allied with the Soviet Union as a satellite nation to prevent being annexed by China.
Hopefully, Extra History will do a one-off or two-off on the Soviet-Japanese Border Conflict and/or the Battle of Khalkin Gol one of these days. Patrons really only get to vote on the bigger series; shorter topics are largely at the staff's discretion.
History with Hilbert recently did a good video on Mongolia in WWII which of course included the battle of Khalkin Gol but also discussed their role in supporting the Soviet Union in fighting against the Germans as well as the Soviet invasion of Manchuria in the final days of the war.
Keep up the awesome work EC! Every episode is a gift to us.
Wait, so they started a war with china...That they had no idea what to do with? **facepalm**
An object lesson in why you don't let the military run everything. Because when all you have is a hammer (or a lot of guns), everything starts to look like a nail (or something shootable). :(
French PM Clemenceau once said War is too important to be left to the generals. He was right.
Well, that's military 'intelligence' for you. It's not actually very intelligent at all.
Yep and many of their conquests ended up backfiring. For instance Japan was facing food shortages during the war and yet often times they would capture cities and population centers but not the rural areas growing the food. Suddenly they were forced to try to feed Chinese cities when they could barely even feed themselves. A lot of Japanese victories were basically "one step forward two steps backwards."
@@HamSaladtv Clemenceau sure talk big for someone responsible for all this mess
@@ethank5059 This is also one of the key locations for most Resistance's especially CCP utilized the guerrilla tactic to defend against the invasion.
You know, I just learned that if Hirihito had just affirmed his rule, as he did to the imperial way, Japan, and in extension Asia, could have been sheilded from years of bloodshed
Most crisis of the 20th century would have been avoided by such simple actions.
Dont you think, these militarists would have placed a puppet emp, like a pretender, or his son?
@@AmanKumarPadhy they would judging by their reaction to his surrender at the end of the war.
They eventually tried a coup after the nukes, so not really. They're weren't loyal to the Emperor, but the idea of him.
And risk the outcry of the populace by turning him form a technical puppet to an actual one? Probably not, but that may have happened
Very well done and interesting. I do think the artwork is wonderfully done - very clean but definitely enhancing the storytelling.
Of course the League of Nations didn't object to British and French control of the Middle East. Those were approved by the League itself as mandates in the early 20s. Japan also got mandates out of that, having gotten island chains in the central Pacific. But the League doesn't approve of invading Manchuria a decade later and suddenly Japan cries that it's not being treated fairly.
Also given the fact that both Britain and France were the 1920s/30s equivalent of the UN Security Council, who could exactly object?
There is a key difference between "mandate" and "colony/territory" in the definition of the League of Nations. Mandates had a class system which determined how each territory should be treated. Much of the Middle East were "Class A", meaning that the French and British were supposed to keep these places in trust before preparing them for independence. While this process had many flaws, all of them will (officially) receive independence according to the mandate (Iraq 1932, Syria and Lebanon 1941, Jordan 1946, Palestine 1947).
In contrast, Japanese Pacific gains were "Class C", meaning that these territories were not culturally or economically developed enough and was best made integral to Japan. The LON still mandated these areas to be demilitarized, in which Japan would frequently violate.
As for China, the invasion of Manchuria had no real legal basis or reason to be approved by the League. China appealed under Article 11 and there was actually unanimity but for a partial withdrawal, proposing to make Manchuria an autonomous state under China. By this point Japan was already consolidating their gains and had little to care about what the League thought. Worse, after Japan left the League, there were virtually no sanctions levelled against them, essentially cracking it's credibility as an organization.
@@Nolaris3 The problem of the League of Nations was that they didn't have any means to enforce their decisions, like the United Nations with their troops (which also failed several times, like in Srebrenica or Ruanda).
Japan: Marco
China: Polo
Japan: Invades China
👍🤣😇
Hope you guys make a series about post war Japan.
That will be cool
Thank you for your wonderful work on this series. This was one of the most interesting series you’ve done. I hope Lies goes a lot deeper on the final military take over as that seems to have been cut for time.
I wonder, during the movie about the japanese emperor and japan just after they surrendered, they mentioned an attack on the imperial palace by a faction, all this kinda reminds me of that part of the movie, could we get an extra episode covering that ?
I’d like a series about the Japanese surrender and the Tokyo war trials. It’s a sort of sequel to this.
I suspect that was the attempt by radical youth soldiers (they had a lot of those over the years) to seize the audio disc of the emperor's declaration of surrender and put him in "protective custody". Because if you've learned anything about Japanese history from these videos, it's that no one cares less about what the emperor thinks should be done than the people most professing loyalty to him. (The attempt failed, obviously.)
Wait isn't that incident happen before Japanese declaration of surrender?
@@ahmadniam3568 yes, they tried to stop the Emperor from surrendering
I think you are referring to Japan's Longest Day (1965) which features Kyūjō incident.
So the Japanese plan as to how to successfully conquer China was exactly like someone telling you that he's planning to do his homework literally on the way to school.
Not on the way to school, he's nearly at the front gate.
More like he's telling you he's planning to do it while the deadline was last month.
Y'all are easily one of my favorite channels for history, I really wish y'all had a podcast with episodes based on this stuff so I could listen at work without having to worry about commercials and keeping my phone on constantly
The Marco Polo incident started when the Japanese garrison did a headcount and found one soldier missing and demanded the Chinese give up the Japanese soldier who was not even present on their side. none of them reached an agreement and they fired on each other. the next morning, the Japanese soldier did turn up, he fell asleep in a brothel on the japanese side the night of.
How did the war of Shanghai started is even more ludicrous
“Hey sorry guys went on a bender last night what did I miss?”
“We’re at war”
@@sebastianhicnapie8170 and to faul this war we will have an other war
The “missing” Japanese soldier was not sleeping in a brothel, but was intentionally kept hidden by the Imperial Japanese military to create a pretext for waging war. False flag operation was the common tactic of the Imperial Japanese military.
I think something to expand upon is that the Buddhists institutions in Japan were very pro-military because they were coming out of decades of persecution themselves and wanted to be seen as good supportive Japanese citizens. During the Meiji era when Japan institutionalized the State Shino (the new purist Japan religion and the emporer is a god version of Shintoism) as the country's religion, many Buddhist temples and religious artifacts were destroyed, Buddhist monks were even attacked and killed. Even during the war, Buddhist temples were strictly controlled, making sure they didn't pass on any teachings of questioning leaders who go against the Dharma and whatnot.
God i love this series, good job extra credits!!
And regardless of why things happened or who was to blame, the ending result were the millions of innocent civilians throughout Greater China and SEA slaughtered and displaced by the Rising Sun.
"withdrawn from the league of nations"
It's like when a country withdraws from the NPT. You know that they're about to build nukes.
Japanese militarism in a nutshell:
Every few seconds, somewhere in the world, someone's like "wait Japan did WHAT??"
this deserves more likes
And before that:
Someone in the civillian government is like: Wait, we did WHAT??"
@@absolutumiocus2749 Shortly after that:
"Milord Minister?"
"Yes?"
"We accept your resignation."
*boom headshot*
Didn't newspapers write about two officers going on a rampage murdering civilians in Nanjing and wasn't this fact known by the government at the time and even praised by them?
"All Hirohito had to do to stop this madness was speak up."
Remind you of anyone?
Any authoritarian country where the leader has tons of power
Moral of the story always bring an axe with you EVERYWHERE
No the moral is KILL EVERYTHING THAT ISN'T YOUR COUNTRY MEN
My favorite history channel, amazing work thank you!
I like to think that the "Kings and Generals" channel's series covering the Pacific War is a natural sequel to this series.
Thank you for another informative and well presented video.
Man, I've never been so early for your work. LESSS GOOOOOO
The 1930s certainly wasn't the decade for doves
Hello Ec crew, I love the work you guys do. Have a great day.
I'm a big fan of this running theme of imperialists trying to turn Hirohito into the god-king of Japan, and him not wanting that at all and hating their guts
Thanks for the lessons
This is a great series
At the beggining i was like
" Wow, they really did actually say: How bout i do anyways? "
Another great video. Thanks for this!
Thanks for your great movie as usual.
As one Japanese, I've been wanted explains in English
why Japan had withdrawn from LN and why Marco Polo bridge incident had begun.
I'm appreciated that the movie told about colonialism in LN, the uncertain incident, and lack of strategy in Japanese Government.
Love the video! Keep up the great work!
You know, this series on Japanese Militarism gives a lot of context to some of the plot the threads from latter half ofAttack on Titan. Corrupt civilian government usurped by the military to restore the emperor, interfactional fighting within the military, control of the press, military acting independently and starting wars with other nations, its all there in AoT as well!
Yeah but the AoT writer is kinda pro military and nationalistic
@@carso1500 How is Isayama pro-military and nationalistic? AOT literally show how dangerous racism, fascism, militarism, ultranationalism, imperialism and colonialism really are and the fatal consequences when all six are mixed together.
The clothes and uniforms are absolutely timeless.
Thanks for diving all the way into this. I think most channels would have been reluctant to get into something this complex.
LL reminded me of another period famous L.L that being L. L. Zammenhoff, who I'd love to see an extra history episode about some time in the fuuture
Your guy's animation on history are amazing and entertaining
This was a fascinating series. I hope that they eventually get to the post-war years and the US's involvement in Japan following the atomic bomb deployments.
The story of before and during WW2 is basically of how the Axis Powers where in a constant state of shooting themselves in the leg.
The Axis powers were also just really bad communicators. The Japanese had no idea Germany was preparing to attack Poland or the Soviet Union and the Japanese didn't tell the Germans that they were about to attack the US and the British. The Axis also just had a really bad habit of starting wars, realizing they don't have the resources to win them and invading new countries to get the resources. By the start of 1942 the allies had the British Empire, most of China, most of the Soviet Union, all of North America and South America and most of Africa on their side. That's a lot of enemies.
I would love it if you guys did a series on japan's post war history. From the U.S. occupation to the 90s, japanese post war history is just as interesting as it's prewar history.
It's pretty scary how out of controll the army was in japan.
The Samurai was just like that.
What about the Daimyos and Shoguns?
@@SlapstickGenius23 not the same thing at all. This was a modern parlamenrary state with a post enlightenment monarch who could essentially say anything and people would follow out of respect. The shogun and daimyo were a feudal structure
@@nathanaelsallhageriksson1719 oh!
Was?
The call of nature started the marco polo bridge incident
7:12 is the understatement of the year
7:24 You have got to be kidding me. Even the Japan army had no idea?
No they had an idea being kill everyone(that aren't Japanese
renya mutaguchi(colonel at that time) order to assemble and attack, with his own decision. the worst toilet break in history
(by that time 1937, politicians are too scared to step up AGAINST the military. and military don't really care about diplomatic approach on things)
@@AdmiralDevil genius, I see no problem with this war plan.
This needs to be a Mini-Series on the History Channel. I wish I learned about this in school.
we don't need the 'History' Channel- this is better than anything broadcast on that poor excuse for a channel.
7:55 flashback to your series about the resource war in WWII.
What countries voted in favor of Japan in the League of Nations. I assume Japan is one of them, but I don't really know where to look for information on the participating delegations.
I'd assume either Germany or Italy
I think that was a mistake in the video. As far as I know, all nations in the League voted against Japan
@@olenickel6013 Except for Japan; who voted against the measure and didn't withdraw until right after the vote. (42 - 1)
@@jonnunn4196 Yup, Japan was the only to object. The second vote not in favour was apparently Siam (more or less today's Thailand) abstaining.
The Marco-Polo Bridge Incident really had been a blow out for many Chinese and Japanese people.
This series is great!
Hi. I will like to point out a minor discrepancy between the map showed on 07:55 and the then effective treaties.
Treaty of Shimonoseki/Maguan signed between Qing Empire and Imperial Japan in 1895 stated that Taiwan and its surrounding islands should be ceded to Japan. Japan only surrender the said territory after WWII. Therefore on this map, Taiwan should be painted red, as per to Japan's then occupation of Taiwan.
Back in the heady days when a corruption scandal would cause a politician to resign.
Wish this series finished before the end of my capstone last semester
About the Lytton report vote in the league of nations... was the vote actually 42 to 1, or what other country stood beside Japan in the vote?
Thank you again for a very interesting series! 💯💯
It’s 42 to 1 in the Wikipedia
Siam (Thailand) had abstained.
Fun fact: One of the Imperial way officers was General Tomoyuki Yamashita, one of the famous general in the Japanese army. He was called "The tiger of Malaya" as he defeated the British during the Battle of Singapore, one of the most greatest British defeats in history
The Marco Polo Bridge Incident is important to know if one wishes to solve the mystery of the anime series "Higurashi no naku Koro ni"
Title confused for a second
then I remebered
It's been neat watching these so soon after listening to the Behind The Bastards podcast on Fascism in Japan from the same timeframe.
This is a great series. Thank you.
This is solid learning
5:40. Incorrect. The Emperor was worried about getting shot if he ruled against the coup. He couldn’t say anything until he was certain he had no coup-sleeper agents in the palace. Once secured, he made his call.
Incidentally, future coups would not make the same mistake, and made sure they could deal with a ‘problematic’ emperor.
"STOP! IF YOU'RE IN THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!"
And Japan said "🎶How 'bout I do, Anyway🎶"
0:50 oh no
can you do a series on the second opiom war?
League of Nations looks pretty diverse for 1933 here, was that really the case?
Yes, Haïti, Liberia and Siam were members, for example.
I didn't think that zoey with a human hand would look so unsettling but that sponsorship... Christ. Anywho, great vid as always EH.
Quite amazing series!!
Every step of this damned story is infuriating and frightening. Especially since no nation is immune.
9:53 lol love that image
This was better than I expected
I once read in a Book: "If you know what the Strategic Plan is, the means to achieve them, and the Political, Military and Economic objectives of Japan during the Interwar Period and World War II, you should go to Tokyo and report them to the Government, Army and Navy, I'm sure they would like to know too."
The Big Problem with Japanese Militarism and Politics in these periods is that they were Factions and Cabals, with no long term Plan other than very general and generally conflicting goals and rhetoric. this turned Japan into a state that could only react rather than plan, Kept on down the path of the War they can't win
Thats a completely different explanation for the marco polo bridge incident than i have ever heard...
Imagine if HoI4 was historically accurate so when we plays japan the army and the navy doing god knows what while your country is constantly destabilizing.
Nice.
amazing content
7:45 Taiwan was part of Japan at the time.
It’s really sad to see the direction Japan went down. Japan could’ve been a truly democratic power, one that limited militarism. How the world would’ve changed for the better.
Well, now we have an entire nation that's mostly anti-war and prefers not to have a standing force beyond its self-defence forces. Not sure how much of a good trade-off that is but it's what exists now.
Still, definitely very unfortunate.
At least Korea is liberated since Japan got into the war. We might have been liberated without war, but I don't see any practical way that could've happened.
@@arduous222 well if anything Joseon (korea) traded one master for another to become S.Korea / N.Korea (Joseon as i understand was a tributary state to China before coming slightly more independent and then the government became weak arse at the arrival of the western countries/ ship which resulted in several "incidents" and the eventual downfall of the imperial family to Japan via the Traitorous Fives)
@@PrograError I am not sure why the hell you're bringing that irrelevant topic up. But the difference is; being a tributary state did not mean the loss of self-determination, a foreign army permanently situating and massacring people, prohibition of using our own language, forced labors outside own lands, and so on.
@@arduous222 true, but in simplistic sense, they did traded one master for a much much worse master.
(I respect the guts of the people who preserved the Korean language during the Japanese occupation against all odds and beatings. That said, if any disagreement herefore I'd say let's agree to disagree, each to their own)
Exclusive sheckles go BRRR
"No stop that if you're in the League of Nations you're not supposed to try and conquer the world"
Japan forgot to select a casus beli before they started the war, is that allowed? i feel we need a patch.
Ah the hoi4 event that kick off the game
World tension increased.
"This is where the fun begins"
Japan: We did it! We’re at war with China!
Me: Now what?
Japan: ......I didn’t think this far ahead.
8:01
With all due respect to someone who may or may not be Oscar Wilde, the war is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding war.