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Final Paper
Final Paper
Le Ba Cuong (G0748292U)
„Though Japan and Germany were unlikely allies during World War 2, they shared similar
strengths and weaknesses.’ Discuss with reference to their rise and fall.
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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to seek the validities of two hypotheses about World War II. The
first one is that Japan and Germany were unlikely allies during World War II, and the second one
is that they shared similar strengths and weaknesses. As such, my research will try to test each
hypothesis separately with reference to their rise and fall during World War II.
The paper will begin with the background of World War II with more focus on Germany and
Japan. Next, we will test the first hypothesis whether the two powers are truly allies based on not
only the form of their alliance system but also its substance. Afterward, the paper will analyze
the similar strengths and weaknesses of both powers. For this part, their strengths and
weaknesses will be related to their advance in battlefield at the beginning of the war and their
collapse in the end, respectively. Then the paper will be ended with a conclusion and evaluation
(173 words)
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1. Introduction
On 1 September 1939, the invasion of Poland by Germany initiated the deadliest war
trillion USD due to the sheer destruction of infrastructures, property and industrial
equipments1.Axis Powers including Germany, Italy and Japan and Allied Powers
including France, Britain, US, USSR and China were two main opposing military
Among the Axis members, Japan and Germany were the most prevailing ones. On the
one hand, Germany was forced in to war in 1939 due to not only Hitler‟s long term
ambition of restoring Germany‟s hegemony but also his short term afraid of
“domestic unrest and economic crisis brought about by the excessive cost of
World War II, Germany occupied most of Europe continent. On the other hand, the
rise of Japanese nationalism as well as her soaring industrialization growth made her
strongly believe that there would be no country but Japan leading all Asian countries.
Consequently, after conquering most of China in 1941, Japan launched another war
her Pearl Harbor naval base, leading to the involvement of US in World War II3,
which made the war become global. Germany and Japan, sharing lots of same
strength, weakness as well as ambition, were officially alliances during World War II,
1
World War II (1939-1945)-Britannica Online Encyclopedia.
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/648813/World-War-II (accessed February 21, 2011)
2
Overy, R.J. The Origins of the Second World War, 1. Longman, 1998
3
Spector, Ronald.H. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan, 6-7 . 1st Vintage Books ed. New York :
Vintage Books, 1985
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2. Were Germany and Japan truly allies during World War II?
According to Overy (1989), Germany and Japan were both “have-not” countries by
World War II who lacked natural resources, international wealth and always in threat
of being blocked to new markets and raw materials by the long-established great
powers such as Britain and France (p.7). Sharing a same interest of establishing a new
world order at that time, they signed Tripartite Pact in Berlin, Germany on September
27, 1940 to cooperate and promote their mutual benefit. Thus, Germany and Japan
Despite signing Tripartite Pact with Germany in September 1940, Japan, however,
still agreed with Russia upon a neutrality treaty in April 1941, hence decided not to
open an eastern front against Russia while Germany besieged Moscow. Accordingly,
USSR had time to mobilize her troops from Siberia to replenish the wounded and
exhausting troops in the western front. Consequently, they could successfully drive
Nazi Germany was totally refused by Japan when her foreign minister Yosuke
Matsuoka stated that “Nowhere have I promised that we would carry out his [Hitler‟s]
top of that, according to Overy (1998), while Japan just wanted to set up a Great East
Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere stretching from China to Dutch East Indies under its
4
Kennedy, Paul M. The Rise and Fall of Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to 2000,
342. London: Fontana Press , 1989
5
Showa Period. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sh%C5%8Dwa_period (accessed March 24, 2011)
5|Page
hegemony, German‟s ambition was not just about a geographically defined influence
Besides, given that the Nazi Germany worldview at that time was racism against so-
called “subhuman” races such as Jews, Slavs, and Asian, her Axis alliance with Asian
Japan seemed to be more in political form rather than in substance6. Hence, even if
military and economic cooperation between Japan and Germany had occurred during
World War II, the Fascist alliance system was flawed and contradicts to itself, and we
could firmly confirm that Germany and Japan were unlikely allies during World War
II.
So how did the alliance between Japan and Germany affect the outcome of World
War II? When Soviet‟s Red Army invaded Berlin in April 1945 and Japan-held
Manchuria to defeat the Kwantung Army in August 1945, it seemed like the
perspective, a close military cooperation between Japan and Germany, even though
impossible in reality, could have turned around the situation during 1942-1943
periods. It was quite impossible for USSR to deal with both western and eastern
fronts at once. In fact, a defeat of Soviet would not only mean the eradicating of their
most dangerous enemy but also give both Japan and Germany the biggest resources
pool in Eurasia continent, so that they could advance against other allied powers like
a. Strength
Coming from two different culture and economies, German and Japan owned some
different strength. On the one hand, German military strategy was considered the best
out of World War II. The whole idea of its main strategy, Blitzkrieg, was to
concentrate its armored forces with substantial air supports to inflict tremendous
damages to enemies, cause chaos and panic, and destroy all obstacles7. On the other
hand, Japan also had her own military strength which is the moral of troops. In fact,
factors-loyalty, faith in victory, aggressiveness and fighting spirit over material ones
in warfare”8.
Domestic support
Despite the different strengths mentioned above, both Germany and Japan shared lots
of similar strengths. Japan and Germany governments attained lots of supports from
the mass public prior to and even during the most part of the war. In addition to her
newspapers, radio and movies, Germany also stimulated economic growth and soaked
services to earn supports from her people9. Regarding Japan, her government was
naturally supported by the whole population due to Japanese long rooted ideology and
7
Uri, Noy. 2 World War 2. 2002. http://www.2worldwar2.com/principles-of-war.htm (accessed February 21 2011)
8
Spector, Ronald.H. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan . 1st Vintage Books ed, 37. New York :
Vintage Books, 1985
9
Sodaro, Michael J. Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction. 3rd ed, 235. New York: Henry Holt, 2008
7|Page
celestial authority ruling Japan. Hence, once the Emperor decided to stand on the
same side with the government, it would have the absolute support from the whole
population10.
Additionally, one main reason behind the advance of both Germany and Japan at the
beginning of World War II was that they invested a lot on defense industry during the
prewar period, compared to other status quo powers. Here is the figure for defense
From this table above, we can see Germany‟s defense expenditure was the highest
among all powers‟ by the edge of World War II. Japan‟s figure was lower than
10
Sodaro, Michael J. Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction. 3rd ed, 255. New York: Henry Holt, 2008
8|Page
expenditure of USSR and UK who weren‟t her direct opponents during 1930s but
Both Germany and Japan owned a lot of advanced military weapon technology. In
1930s, there was no doubt that Japan possessed the most highly developed torpedoes,
torpedo carriers, cruisers and destroyers in the world11, whereas Germany was famous
for her fearsome tanks, brand new portable machine guns and missiles12. Moreover,
regarding their military training, both Japan and Germany had disciplined and well-
trained troops. According to Kennedy (1989), the Japanese navy was famous for their
night fighting skills as well as their adept pilot, while their army counterparts were
also excellent in both defensive and offensive warfare. The same was true for
Germany. Owning one of the best education systems in the world at that time,
Germany could build up a first-rate military troop with high discipline and efficiency
(p. 298-311).
b. Weakness
While German Blitzkrieg tactic was an excellent example of the cooperation between
her advanced armored units and powerful aircrafts ones, lack of the cooperation
within its units and branches seemed to be Japan‟s weakness. In fact, her Navy and
Military, with different views, tactics and doctrines, almost fought two singular wars.
While the Army stayed focused in China mainland, the Navy concentrated more on
the Pacific front. Ironically, when US began their invasion of Japan, millions of
11
Spector, Ronald.H. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan . 1st Vintage Books ed, 45. New York :
Vintage Books, 1985
12
World War II . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II (accessed February 21, 2011)
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Japan‟s infantries got stuck in China due to the lack of cooperation with their navy
counterpart, and incapable of going back and defending their own country13.
On the other hand, whereas Japan enjoyed the same geopolitical advantages as Britain
who was separated from the Eurasia continent and could avoid an encirclement
Allied powers, for example Russia in the east and France in the west. In fact, at the
end of World War II, the Allied powers could open two fronts against Germany from
both west and east while in Pacific front, Japan had only to deal with the US Navy
forces.
In addition to the lack of cooperation between them as mentioned above, in fact, both
German and Japan shared a lot of critical weaknesses which caused them to lose
According to Maiolo (2010), “The decisive wealth gap between Germany and its
enemies was even wider than most temporary expert believed.” (p.5). More
specifically, Harrison (1998) stated that if the respective colonies are taken into
account, the Anglo-French alliance system had approximately 700 million people,
while the Axis powers had only 190.6 million (p. 7). Also, the joining of USSR and
USA in later stages gave a gain of about 300 more million people to the Allied side
exaggerated the gap between the two alliance systems. Consequently, the vast
difference between the population of Allied and Axis‟ powers resulted firstly in the
number of troops each side could deploy during World War II. According to Harrison
13
Uri, Noy. 2 World War 2. 2002. http://www.2worldwar2.com/principles-of-war.htm (accessed February 21 2011).
10 | P a g e
(1998), the Allied powers‟ advantage of number of troops stood at almost 2:1 on the
eastern front as in the west and the Pacific (p.10). Furthermore, the quantitative
shortcoming of Axis powers was even greater in arms and munitions than in number
of men.
of units)
Germany
- Guns 320
- Mortars 78.8
- Tanks 46.3
Japan
- Guns 160
- Mortars 7.8
- Tanks 4.8
USA
- Guns 549
- Mortars 102.1
- Tanks 99.5
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UK
- Guns 390
- Mortars 100.9
- Tanks 29.3
USSR
- Guns 482
- Mortars 351.8
- Tanks 102.8
Regarding other natural resources, only possessing sufficient coal, German heavily
relied on other imported raw material such as iron ore, cooper, bauxite, nickel and
Maiolo (2010), Japan didn‟t supply herself enough vital commodities for a total war.
She lacked all food, raw materials as well as fuel needed (p. 27). Moreover, the lack
Germany over many territories. Japan has conquered a vast area consisting of
14
Kennedy, Paul M. The Rise and Fall of Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict from 1500 to
2000, 342. London: Fontana Press , 1989
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Manchuria, part of mainland China and South East Asia, while Germany occupied
almost the whole Europe continent. Consequently, it was even more difficult for them
to mobilize its insufficient resources to all their fronts. In short, if taking in account
all other types of resources such as labors, capitals, degrees of skills and training,
technology…to calculate the relative war potential of each power, it goes without
saying that both Japan and Germany actually went to a war without any chance to
win.
Germany 14.4%
USSR 14.0%
UK 10.2%
France 4.2%
Japan 3.5%
Apart from economic perspective, born out of their fascist ideology, atrocity toward
civilians was very popular in any country occupied by both Japan and Germany.
While between 3 to more than 10 million civilian, mostly Chinese, were killed by the
Japanese troops, Germany was responsible for the Holocaust, the slaughter of about 6
million Jews, as well as 2 million Poles, and 4 million others including Romani,
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citizens were forced to work in many concentration and labor camps. As such, it
endangered the civilian, bolstered them to stand up resisting against the occupied
troops stubbornly instead of cooperating with them, and gave the Allied power the
alleged raison d'être to eradicate the occupation of Axis powers over those countries.
The fall of Germany and Japan in the end of World War II as well as their advances
during the beginning were both closely associated with their fundamental strengths
and weaknesses. Surprisingly, even though they were unlikely allies, Japan and
Germany shared very similar strengths and weaknesses. Owning fearsome military
troops compared to their direct foes but having relatively small economies, both
Japan and Germany walked the same path during World War II. Even economic
foundation including population, raw materials or capital were a very crucial factor in
any war, the battle outcome was also determined by military effectiveness, troops‟
French formidable army or the collapse of Pearl Harbor naval base at the beginning of
World War II was the excellent example. However, in a prolonged and total war,
economic factors seemed to be more important than military ones. Once running out
maintaining her military advances. Conclusively, the defeat of the Axis powers was
15
World War II . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II (accessed February 21, 2011)
14 | P a g e
Bibliography
Academic Sources
Calleo, David P. The German Problem Reconsidered: Germany and the World Order, 1870 to
the present. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978.
Harrison, Mark. The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International
Comparison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press , 1998.
Kennedy, Paul M. The Rise and Fall of Great Powers: Economic Change and Military Conflict
from 1500 to 2000. London: Fontana Press , 1989.
Maiolo, Joseph A. Cry Havoc: How the Arms Race Drove the World to War, 1931-1941/ Joseph
Maiolo. New York: Basic Books, 2010.
Overy, R.J. The Origins of the Second World War. Longman, 1998.
Sodaro, Michael J. Comparative Politics: A Global Introduction. 3rd ed. New York: Henry Holt,
2008.
Spector, Ronald.H. Eagle Against the Sun: The American War with Japan . 1st Vintage Books
ed. New York : Vintage Books, 1985.
Wiki Answers .
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_were_the_strengths_and_weaknesses_of_the_major_World_W
ar_2_combatants (accessed Feb 21 2011).