However, this period of moderation in Tokyo did not last long.
(MUSIC)
In the spring of nineteen forty, Germany launched its blitzkrieg, or lightning invasion, of Europe. The Nazis captured Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and finally France.
The city of Rotterdam in the Netherlands after a German air raid on May 14, 1940
Extremists in the Japanese government saw the German victory as their chance to launch their own attack on European colonies in Asia. They quickly began negotiations with Hitler to form a new alliance. And within months, militant leaders overthrew the moderate government in Tokyo.
The new Japanese government was headed by a moderate, Prince Konoye. But the minister of war was an expansionist, General Tojo. Tokyo wasted no time in taking action. It forced France to give Japan permission to occupy northern Indochina. And Tokyo also demanded that Britain close the Burma Road to the Chinese city then known as Chungking.
(SOUND)
The Burma Road was a major route by which the United States was supplying China with munitions as part of the Lend-Lease Act.
These events caused relations between Tokyo and Washington to become even worse.
In the second half of nineteen forty, President Roosevelt banned the export of metal and oil products to Japan. His administration also lent money to China.
(MUSIC)
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