Before Pearl Harbour (1853 - 1941)

The USA and Japan, 1941-52

In this course, we explore the relationship between the United States and Japan between the attack on Pearl Harbour to the San Francisco Peace Conference and the end of US occupation of Japan. In six modules, we explore the relationship between the two countries up to 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbour and the Pacific War, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the beginnings of the Cold War and US interest in the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, and US occupation of Japan, including the writing of the Japanese constitution in 1947 and the 'reverse course', when things started to heat up in Korea and Vietnam.

Before Pearl Harbour (1853 - 1941)

In this module, Christopher looks back to the beginning of relationships between the United States and Japan, to the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry to the island in 1853. Japan's opening up to the Western world led to a period of rapid modernisation and expansion, with the Japanese recording famous military victories against China in 1894-5 and Russia in 1904-5. Fighting on the side of the Allies in the First World War, Japan was disappointed by her treatment in the Treaty of Versailles, and expansion in the Pacific continued at the same time as the United States herself was expanding into the region. A conflict seemed inevitable, and it was Japan that struck the first blow on 7 December 1941.