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Home , Japanese holdout, Kwantung Army, Lake Khasan

The Soviet-Japanese War

Background: Japan in the 1930 Japan was one of the few Asian countries that managed to survive the Age of Imperialism. For two-hundred years Japan was run by a Samurai called a Shogun. These Shogun’s isolated Japan until the 1850’s. In 1853, an American expedition led by Commodore Matthew Perry who was sent to open up Japan. He sent a request to the Shogun stating that he had the choice of opening up Japan, or have Edo (now ), blown up by his ships. Matthew Perry gave the Shogun one year, after which Perry would come back to hear his answer with more ships. The Japanese had observed the defeat of during the Opium Wars, and realized that they cannot compete with the Western Powers. A year later, Perry came back with more ships and the Shogun decided to open up Japan. After this, Japan started to rapidly modernize. After a civil war, the , the young Emperor , established a new centralized government that was centered on him and his cabinet. Background: in the 1930

Then in 1894-1895, Japan went to war with China and crushed them. As a result, they gained the title of the most powerful Asian country. However, when Japan occupied , Taiwan, and the , European Powers demanded that Japan hand over the Peninsula back to the Chinese. understood that the Western Powers intended to push Japan out of the picture. Japan’s sphere of influence came into conflict with another power: the . The Russians, like the Japanese, intended to push into Northern China, particularly the mineral rich region of , which was under the control of the . These tensions boiled over into the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905. This war was a resounding victory for Japan. This victory stunned the West and made Russia a laughing stock. During the First World War, Japan allied with the British and played a major role in the war in the Pacific by taking over Pacific Islands owned by the Germans. However, after the war, Japan, taking advantage of a deteriorating China, began imposing more hardships to keep Japan's influence in the region.

Expansion & Conflict: Japan is an island nation with no new natural resources. The Japanese Government was split on where to look to expand. They Army supported, “Hokushin-Ron” or Northern Expansion Doctrine. This operation was a mission to invade Manchuria, , and to gain access to their vast grain, minerals, and natural gas reserves. Meanwhile, the Japanese Imperial Navy supported "Nanshin-Ron", or the Southern Expansion Doctrine, which stated that Japan should go after the colonies in South East Asia and the US owned Pacific Island. However, at the time, Japan had to consistently rely on the for oil and therefore could not risk an attack islands in the Pacific and South East Asian Colonies. By 1932 Japan had complete control over Manchuria. Manchuria had huge coal and mineral deposits that the Japanese were in dire need of. Taking advantage of the fact that China was in the middle of the which provided the perfect time for the Japanese to attack.

Battle of Lake Khasan: The Battle of Lake Khasan was the first major confrontation between the Soviets and the Japanese. Lake Khasan is located on the border of Russia and Korea, however the Japanese claimed it as belonging to them rightfully. This battle took place on the border between the Japanese of and the Soviet Union. The battle started when Manchurian cavalry began an assault on a Soviet armor . The Soviets however were quick to reinforce their positions and, in the end, they were able to push the Japanese and Manchurians back into China. The Soviet Marshal was later put in charge of the region.

Battle of Khalkin Gol: Mongolia was under the leadership of Choi Bolson who was basically a Soviet puppet. Bolson was, (for obvious reasons), concerned that the Japanese will use Manchukuo as a base of operations to attack Mongolia. He allowed Soviet troops under Field Marshall Georgy Zhukov to station themselves along the border of Mongolia and Manchuria. Finally, in May of 1939, near the town of Khalkhin Gol, the Soviets and Japanese finally engaged. The Soviets vastly outnumbered the Japanese but the Japanese had more experienced troops. Japan used their infamous Kwantung Army which was the backbone of Japanese Army in Manchuria. The Soviet armor units were decimated by Japanese anti-tank units. However, this battle revealed the capability of Marshal Georgy Zhukov and he would later go on to defeat Germany and take Berlin. This was the largest battle before WWII with over 100,000 troops, 600 tanks, and 1300 planes. This battle also forced the Japanese to scrap the Northern Expansion Doctrine which forced them to pursue the Southern Expansion Doctrine and brought them into conflict with the United States.

End and Result: In February of 1945, the Allied met at the port city of Yalta in the Soviet Union. Along with deciding the future of Europe, sitting President of the United States, Franklin D. Roosevelt, tried to convince Soviet Premiere , to join the war against Japan. Then on August 6th, 1945, America dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Then on August 9th, 1945, just a few hours before the 2nd atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, 1.5 million Soviet troops stormed into Manchuria from the Mongolian & Russian borders and attacked the Japanese forces. The prestigious Japanese Kwantung Army was overwhelmed by sheer numbers and the massive tanks of the Soviet war machine. In less than a month Stalin managed to capture Manchuria, Northern China and half of Korea. This move was far more likely a cause for surrender because even though the United States had relentlessly firebombed Japan, the Japanese still refused to surrender. It was not until August 15th when the Japanese Emperor announced their surrender, the Soviet Union continued to rip into China. However, not all troops surrendered immediately so the fighting continued until September 2 when Japan signed an official surrender.