US-Japan Relations were like this after 1938:
- Japan had invaded Manchuria, China, Korea.
- US attempting to avoid war in Pacific, focus on Europe (secretly meeting with UK+Canada to discuss plans for defeating Germany, Rainbow 5/ABC-1/Europe First).
- US cut off sale of scrap metal to Japan (vital in maintaining the production of their war machines/navy), cut of sale of petroleum (most of Japan's oil prior to the war came from production on the US West Coast), and put in place economic sanctions to deter further economic ties between the two.
- US just trying to distance itself from Japan, Japan sees it as an economic attack. Trying to establish an autarky (a self sufficient state independent of foreign involvement) (want to unit all of Asia under Japan and separate it from the world to rely on themselves).
- Japan needs oil. Dutch East Indies the answer. What's in the way of the Dutch East Indies? Philippines... Who controls the Philippines during WW2? USA.
- Japan realizes if they want to take the East Indies for oil they need to take the Philippines as well, the December 1941 attack is an attack everywhere... Pearl, other territories, Philippines, East Indies, other EU colonial holdings in the Pacific, all at once. They hope to take all of the territory, knock out the US Pacific Fleet (which is the only thing that could challenge their plans) and move on.
- Unfortunately for Japan they didn't strike a decisive enough blow to the US Pacific Fleet, and it was easily repaired/replaced/upgraded in the aftermath... Not to mention the US had always planned for war with Japan and keels had been laid down in 1938/1939/1940 that were becoming complete in 1942 adding dozens of new ships to the US fleet.
- Then Japan didn't see the war going as it did, many early battles were equally deadly to both the US/Japan with large casualties/material loss on both sides, but Japan couldn't maintain that loss/replace it, while the US not only maintained it, but replaced lost men and materials faster than they were lost.
- This is why battles like Midway destroyed Japan, they simply couldn't afford to lose 3 heavy carriers because they were incapable of replacing them.
- Nukes weren't known about(by Japan that is, the Manhattan project was years in the making by then)/used until 1945. And even then there were only two (the US threatened to use more after Hiroshima/Nagasaki, but didn't have them).
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