East Asia and the Pacific

The Causes and Consequences of World War II HIST 1301 | History East Asia and the Pacific The few American and Filipino forces faced fierce struggle in the jungles when the Japanese invaded the Philippines starting in December 1941. On April 9, 1942, nevertheless, they were outnumbered and gave up their positions on the Bataan Peninsula. Almost a month afterward, the command headquarters at Corregidor Island surrendered. More than 25% of the estimated 80,000 Allied captives died during the next sixty-mile forced march to an internment camp, which came to be known as the Bataan Death March. Approximately 140,000 Allied soldiers were detained by the Japanese during the war in appalling conditions in a number of camps located in the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere and on the Japanese home islands. Up to thirty thousand had died there by the conclusion of the conflict. By the middle of 1942, the Japanese had successfully incorporated a substantial chunk of the Philippines, Burma, Malaya and the Straits Settlements, Indonesia, French Indochina, and Indonesia into the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere within five months. In order to support a larger Japan, the Japanese started methodically using the freed countries' resources while dismantling White colonial control. Despite the Greater East Asia CoProsperity Sphere's dazzling appearance, Japanese military and civilian authorities struggled to address major issues. The scale of the captive population and the confined territory created challenges for government, and the physical location of the place severely hindered networks of transportation and communication. Some of these issues were attempted to be resolved by puppet administrations, such as the collaborationist Wang Jingwei government in 1940 in China, the Ba Maw government in Burma during the Japanese occupation, and José P. Laurel's administration in the defeated Philippines. Successes were fleeting, though, as the United States soundly prevailed in the Battle of Midway in June 1942, impeding Japan's push across the Pacific and serving as a pivotal moment in the war. Four aircraft carriers and a heavy cruiser were sunk by the Japanese, while other ships suffered significant damage. It was evident that the Allies gained the upper hand, and the Japanese fleet was never able to regain its momentum. The United States was forced to fight the Japanese in impenetrable jungle terrain on many occasions as it pursued an island-hopping effort to reclaim areas that the Japanese had taken. The Japanese army had been operating under the belief for years that valorous resolve would triumph over any enemy's technology and other advantages. As a result, strong Japanese resistance prolonged these conflicts, as exemplified by the six-month-long Guadalcanal Battle, which took place on the Pacific island between August 1942 and February 1943 until Japan eventually withdrew. Throughout the Pacific, the Japanese military committed several errors. An earlier effort to seize a portion of the Aleutian Islands was unsuccessful. Throughout 1942 and 1943, Japan's home islands' defence boundaries were continually altered. Japan transferred soldiers from China to seal gaps in this perimeter without reassessing its plans. From its first invasion in 1937 until its capitulation in 1945, its overall losses in the China campaign were close to 500,000. The Chinese suffered losses of up to 10 million. Regarding the number of millions of individuals that the war displaced, historians dispute.) Japan attempted to invade India starting in March 1944, but it was abandoned in July 1944 due to severe casualties. Amidst uncertainty and confusion, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere started to disintegrate. As the public face of the war party both domestically and internationally, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo made it very evident that a peace agreement with the Allies was unthinkable under his leadership. As a result, Tojo was compelled to step down in July 1944 after losing the emperor's backing due to his plans' failure. China suffered a great deal throughout the war, including a significant loss of people, yet it was still able to combat the Japanese. China was seen as a key player in the Axis powers' downfall by the western Allied forces. In order to do this, Chiang Kai-shek and other Allied officials were called to a meeting in Cairo in 1943. Chinese forces were able to break through Burma and reestablish the main route between China and India during the last stages of the conflict. Additional attacks restored additional Japanese-held territory. China emerged as a major player in international affairs and had recaptured all of the territory that Japan had seized by the conclusion of the war.