Page 55 - All About History - Issue 29-15

What if…
JAPAN HAD NOT STRUCK PEARL HARBOR?

Vietnam War, for instance, does not take place. The Viet Minh
The USS Arizona burning after the
would have fought the Japanese and, I suspect, have won. Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor
The Japanese were not good with insurgencies. They tended
to react brutally, which alienated the populations they were
trying to rule – again, look at China. So I think Japan would
have handed over independence in these areas, but they
would have given the power to people they saw as safe. In
turn the local revolutionary movements probably would have
overthrown them anyway, such as Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam,
and the Western colonial powers would not have returned.
Malaysia, I suspect, would have fallen to the communists
without the British back in power.

Would the USA have become involved in the war
without Pearl Harbor?
Yes, I think they would have. Roosevelt saw the Nazis as evil
and he did want to get involved – but it was winning over
the American public that was his problem. I think he would
eventually have found a way to justify fighting in Europe.
I think it is possible that the USA would not have become
involved in Asia, which means – as we just touched upon –
you would not have the 20th century as it currently existed,
right down to Pol Pot in Cambodia.

Stalin had a non-aggression pact with the Japanese. But
on 9 August 1945, he also declared war on the territory.
Was this too little too late? How could the Russians Japan concentrates its troops in China, and sets up puppet Have your say
have influenced the outcome of all this? administrations that actually function. The USA, at the time, Do you agree with our
It is interesting because, until Pearl Harbor, the Japanese army wanted free trade in Asia, and Japan was looking to create expert’s view?
felt their next war was going to be with the Soviet Union. closed areas of financial interest. So let’s imagine that Japan
They fought them on the borders of Manchukuo and they did just enough in China for the USA that the White House /AllAboutHistory
were chastened by that experience. The outbreak of war with relaxed its trade ban. In theory, that could have stopped Pearl
China was in many ways not what the Japanese expected. I Harbor. But the main thing that would have stopped the @AboutHistoryMag
think they were anticipating that Stalin would break that pact attack on Pearl Harbor is Germany. At the time of the attack,
at some point. Germany looked as if it was winning in Europe. Japan felt it
was going to be on the winning side of the war and it was part
Finally, can you think of any way that the USA and of this all-conquering fascist Axis. Six months later, though,
Japan might not have gone to war with each other? Germany was in retreat. If that had happened I don’t think
I think we can imagine a possible circumstance where Japan would have launched an attack on Pearl Harbor.

O Invasion of the Philippines O Fall of Hong Kong O Dropping of atomic bombs in Hiroshima O Tokyosurrendersandretreatsfrom
With their sights on the oil-rich The British colony of Hong Kong and Nagasaki its colonies
Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), surrenders to Japan. Churchill considers Eager to test out the power of nuclear warfare, ThewarinAsiacomestoaconclusion.
the Japanese attack and conquer it a disaster as this marks the very first President Eisenhower makes the controversial Japanretreatsfromallofitsterritories,
the American protectorate of the British territory to surrender to fascism. decision to engulf two of Japan’s major cities butfightingbetweentheWestern
Philippines. Manila becomes one of the Burma (now Myanmar), British Borneo, in a mushroom cloud of death and radiation. powers and their ‘liberated’ populations
biggest victims of the whole of World Malaysia and Singapore would soon The cost to civilian lives remains controversial. continuesforyears,andinsomecases
War II. 8 December 1941 follow. 25 December 1941 6 August and 9 August 1945 decades. 2September1945

O Talks with Chiang Kai-shek O Eisenhower drops a nuclear O ‘Comrade Godzilla’
Hideki Tojo’s government bomb on Moscow Inspired by the bombing
speaks to Chiang Kai-shek With Stalin’s forces brutally of Moscow, the creation
about joining forces against occupying Taiwan and Korea, of ‘Comrade Godzilla’ – a
the communist army of Mao. the president’s flirtation with mutated red lizard that
Once the communists fall, nuclear weaponry becomes a trashes the Russian capital –
Japan agrees to leave China. reality. Moscow surrenders all thrillsviewersallacrossthe
28 December 1941 territories. 6 August 1945 world. 9 June 1955

O The USA threatens to freeze O Japan removes itself from O Defeat of the Chinese O Stalin becomes involved in
Japanese assets Hitler’s sphere of influence communists the war in Asia
The USA requests that Japan With rumours that Stalin is One of the bloodiest struggles Aghast at Japan’s aggression
withdraw from China or else prepared to tear up his non- of the war comes to a close. towards the Chinese
all assets will be frozen. Japan aggression pact with Tokyo, Japan Japan wins cautious plaudits for communists, Stalin orders the
begins talks with the White proclaims it is no longer aligned assisting Chiang Kai-shek in his Red Army to strike Taiwan and
House about a resolution with fascism. vision for a unified, Western- Korea, hoping to gain a foothold © Ian Hinley
regarding China. 26 July 1941 20 August 1941 friendly China. 1 March 1944 in the continent. 31 May 1945
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