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We gave billions in aid to China during WWII. And I mean GAVE. For every two tons of supplies that made it to the troops another fifteen tons was stolen by the authorities along the Burma Road.
not billions, more like $250 million. you do realize china was divided during ww2, between maoists and chiang kai shek nationalists. the US were surely not aiding the ccp. the US and UK were aiding china for currency stabilization while it was still a capitalist economy to protect their own business interests until they could get out, nothing more. and any idea taht US were real allies with the nationalists doesn't have any credence either as the US let chiang kai shek rot in taiwan with broken promises.
for the US, a communist china was better for US supremacy. a communist china meant isolationist policies, and less global competition. it's interesting how our textbooks and asian textbooks differ so much in covering asian history. i rather trust the asian ones with regard to what really happened there written by those who lived there.
not billions, more like $250 million. you do realize china was divided during ww2, between maoists and chiang kai shek nationalists. the US were surely not aiding the ccp. the US and UK were aiding china for currency stabilization while it was still a capitalist economy to protect their own business interests until they could get out, nothing more. and any idea taht US were real allies with the nationalists doesn't have any credence either as the US let chiang kai shek rot in taiwan with broken promises.
for the US, a communist china was better for US supremacy. a communist china meant isolationist policies, and less global competition. it's interesting how our textbooks and asian textbooks differ so much in covering asian history. i rather trust the asian ones with regard to what really happened there written by those who lived there.
US had tried its best for China's peace and prosperity after WWII.
Before General Marshall headed for Europe and orchestrated the Marshall Plan which led to post WWII prosperity for Western Europe, he flew to China first. He headed for the Communist base in Yanan in late 1945, personally guaranteed the personal safety of Mao and Zhou, escorted them to Chongqing to talk with Chiang. When Marshall thought that he had finalized a peace deal for China, he flew back to U.S.
Then peace stalled and civil war broke out in China.
If KMT and CCP gave peace a chance as General Marshall had tried earnestly to achieve, millions would have not perished in the civil war.
Whatever happened in China should not be blamed on U.S.
Anyone watched the first Pearl Harbor attack movie -- "Tora Tora Tora" that was a joint US-Japan production released in 1970?
There was an interesting scene in the movie. The Japanese agent Yoshikawa who masqueraded as a staff in the Japanese Consulate, spent day and night on a hillside teahouse overlooking Pearl Harbor and counted how many warships anchored there on the eve of attack.
After 75 years, the house is still intact and doing business. Everyone can go to their balcony and count the warships as Yoshikawa did.
not billions, more like $250 million. you do realize china was divided during ww2, between maoists and chiang kai shek nationalists. the US were surely not aiding the ccp. the US and UK were aiding china for currency stabilization while it was still a capitalist economy to protect their own business interests until they could get out, nothing more. and any idea taht US were real allies with the nationalists doesn't have any credence either as the US let chiang kai shek rot in taiwan with broken promises.
for the US, a communist china was better for US supremacy. a communist china meant isolationist policies, and less global competition. it's interesting how our textbooks and asian textbooks differ so much in covering asian history. i rather trust the asian ones with regard to what really happened there written by those who lived there.
US (UK didn't offer much help) aided China during WWII not because of protecting their business interest. Their business interest, mostly concentrated in the coastal area like Shanghai, were already under Japanese control.
CCP mostly occupied the rural area and the only major area that KMT held on were the inland provinces (Even nowadays there are not much US investment in the inland provinces).
US aided China principally by supplying badly needed stuffs like petroleum via the Burma Road. Its principal purpose was to drag the massive Japanese army in the China Theater so that it could not be diverted anywhere if China fell.
In reciprocity, the Chinese army under the command of General Stilwell, defeated the Japanese army in Burma in spring 1945.
Anyone watched the first Pearl Harbor attack movie -- "Tora Tora Tora" that was a joint US-Japan production released in 1970?
There was an interesting scene in the movie. The Japanese agent Yoshikawa who masqueraded as a staff in the Japanese Consulate, spending day and night on a hillside teahouse overlooking Pearl Harbor and counting how many warships anchored there on the eve of attack?
After 75 years, the house is still intact and doing business. Everyone can go to their balcony and count the warships as Yoshikawa did.
US (UK didn't offer much help) aided China during WWII not because of protecting their business interest. Their business interest, mostly concentrated in the coastal area like Shanghai, were already under Japanese control.
CCP mostly occupied the rural area and the only major area that KMT held on were the inland provinces (Even nowadays there are not much US investment in the inland provinces).
US aided China principally by supplying badly needed stuffs like petroleum via the Burma Road. Its principal purpose was to drag the massive Japanese army in the China Theater so that it could not be diverted anywhere if China fell.
In reciprocity, the Chinese army under the command of General Stilwell, defeated the Japanese army in Burma in spring 1945.
no, it was a dynamic situation within a civil war in china. the US did not SUPPORT china, the US strategized within the interest of the US observing it's internal conflicts. no, the US has not had a military alliance with china since pre-ww2.
the us trades with china today. a trade agreement, and military alliance, these things are 2 completely different things.
no, it was a dynamic situation within a civil war in china. the US did not SUPPORT china, the US strategized within the interest of the US observing it's internal conflicts. no, the US has not had a military alliance with china since pre-ww2.
the us trades with china today. a trade agreement, and military alliance, these things are 2 completely different things.
Sure we did, we backed KMT G'mo Chiang Kai-shek, trying to get him to fight off the Japanese in WWII (IJA invaded Manchuria in 1931). We poured money, materiel, time & effort into the KMT (for our own purposes, of course - but the KMT could have gained legitimacy if they had actually fought off the IJA). US Gen. J. Stilwell thought highly of Chinese troops. He thought much less of the G'mo & KMT officers. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang...nese_Civil_War
"General Joseph Stilwell, an American military adviser to Chiang during World War II, strongly criticized Chiang and his generals for what he saw as their incompetence and corruption.[52] In 1944, the United States Army Air Corps commenced Operation Matterhorn in order to bomb Japan's steel industry from bases to be constructed in mainland China. This was meant to fulfill President Roosevelt's promise to Chiang Kai-shek to begin bombing operations against Japan by November 1944. However, Chiang Kai-shek's subordinates refused to take airbase construction seriously until enough capital had been delivered to permit embezzlement on a massive scale. Stilwell estimated that at least half of the $100 million spent on construction of airbases was embezzled by Nationalist party officials.[53]
"Chiang played the Soviets and Americans against each other during the war. He first told the Americans that they would be welcome in talks between the Soviet Union and China then secretly told the Soviets that the Americans were unimportant and that their opinions would not be considered. Chiang also used American support and military power in China against the ambitions of the Soviet Union to dominate the talks, stopping the Soviets from taking full advantage of the situation in China with the threat of American military action against the Soviets.[54]"
(My emphasis - More @ the URL)
Chiang may have had some ultimate dream of a democratic China, inherited from Sun Yat-sen. But in practice, he connived & maneuvered to get financial & military support for the KMT, with himself as the head. KMT lost their best troops early on, in the fight against the IJA. With a stronger economic & military base, & less reliance upon warlords, he might have delivered on Sun Yat-sen's dream.
samurais were long gone by the 1940's. the days of the samurai were when japan existed in sakoku which literally meant closed country and national isolation. first half 20th century japan borrowed from western imperialism.
Samurai culture never really went away. It evolved and was integrated into the western influenced society during the Meiji Restoration.
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that said, pearl harbor remains one of the greatest strategic battles in modern history.
Very debatable and another current thread is exploring many things about the battle.
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and contrary to popular belief, the battle of pearl harbor wasn't initiated by the japanese, it was a reaction to the us blocking fuel shipping lines to japan. the japanese had no intent to ever attack america.
This is patently false, but it also had little to do with China. The US placed an embargo on oil exports to Japan after Japan annexed French Indo-China and placed military forces there. The US enacted the embargo as a way to convince Japan to end its expansion in SE Asia and placed additional pressure on them for their ongoing war in China. Japan refused to back down and set out on a course for war.
A little known battle occurred in 1939 by the name of Khalkin Gol. It was a short-lived border war between the Soviets and the Japanese. The Soviets mauled the Japanese and forced them to rethink any actions against the Soviets. This battle led to a non-aggression pact that settled the border and made Japan turn southward to get the resources it needed. Japan wanted to take the Dutch East Indies, Singapore, Java and Indo-China. This would give the oil and rubber resources they needed to prosecute a war. Standing between Japan and those territories was the US territory of the Phillipines.
The Japanese knew that if they went after the other territories chances are the US would become involved. In that case the Phillipines would be a perfect base from which to attack Japanese interests. Therefore, Japan must take out the US first to secure what it needed. What followed was a plan to establish a defensive ring of islands from behind which Japan would await the US fleet before engaging it in a decisive battle that would force America out of the war. Japan never believed that it could overwhelm the US and win. They needed a decisive blow to knock them out.
Added to this plan was the radical idea of Admiral Yamamoto to use a carrier strike force to attack the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. The resulting damage to the fleet would ensure that Japan would have ample time to secure its defensive ring before the US could respond.
So, yes, the US placed an embargo, but that embargo was the direct result of Japanese expansion in SE Asia. The embargo forced Japan into a position of either abandoning their expansion plans and standing down or lashing out and taking what they wanted. They chose the latter. You can try to spin it anyway you want, but the Japanese knew that conflict with the US was inevitable if they pursued their master strategy and they only struck when they did because the US drew a line in the sand over their seizure of French-Indochina.
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