America History: US-Japan Relations Before World War Two

26 May 2011Japanese soldiers raise their flag over the central government building in Nanking after seizing the city in 1937

STEVE EMBER: Welcome to THE MAKING OF A NATION – American history in VOA Special English. I’m Steve Ember.

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In recent programs, we talked about how the rise of Fascist leaders in Europe threatened American neutrality in the nineteen thirties.

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Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany created the most obvious threat. But there was also Benito Mussolini in Italy and Francisco Franco in Spain. These leaders challenged both the idea of democracy and the security of some of America's closest allies.

Hitler's invasion of Poland and the spread of war in Europe in nineteen thirty-nine made Americans wonder if they could remain neutral much longer.

Benito Mussolini, left , and Adolf Hitler in 1938

The United States would finally go to war against Hitler and the other Axis nations. But its first battle would not be in Europe at all. Instead, the United States would enter World War Two following a surprise attack by Japan on the large American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Relations between the United States and Japan had grown steadily worse throughout the nineteen thirties. Both nations were important industrial powers. But they had very different ideas about the economic and political future of East Asia, especially China.