World Events Set Stage for Isolationism

1. What was the Japanese reaction to the Treaty of Versailles?
The reaction was different for the Japanese. Some believed that their country should
engage the great powers and support the international systems. Others on the other hand, believed that the great powers, particularly Britain, France, and the U.S. would never treat Japan fairly and with respect. In Japan, some often worried that the proposed League of Nations would be used to keep Japan as a second-tier power.

2. Read the pull-out box on page 4 entitled, "Japan Becomes a Great Power." Cite specific evidence Japan was becoming a strong power that rivaled European & American interests. And, why specifically was Japan threatened by U.S. actions?
Japan was becoming a strong power that rivaled European and American interests. An example of Japan's rapid increasing power would be how between 1885 and 1920 its gross domestic product, or all of the goods produced by Japan, increased threefold. Manufacturing and mining increased six-fold. Also, in 1905 Japan defeated Russia in the Russo- Japanese War and gained access to Manchuria. Japan was also interested in expanding into China. But other powers, such as Britain and the United States saw Japaneses interests in conflict with their own designs.

3. Why was the Washington Naval Conference convened and what was accomplished?
The Washington Naval Conference came together because Japan's growth as a naval power in the Pacific threatened U.S. interests. Participants in the conference aimed at limiting a naval arms race and to discuss issues related to nations of the Pacific ocean and the Far East. It's accomplishments were the limitation of the sizes of naval ships, the placing of a moratorium on building new battle ships, the outlaw of the use of poison gases, and the limitation of the role of submarines in future wars.

4. The Senate's willingness to ratify the Kellogg-Briand Pact relected two strong and widely held sentiments. What were they?
First, the United States was entitled to act in self-defense militarily and second, that it was not required to enforce the treaty by taking military action against those who violated it.

5. Why did Hitler enjoy popular support in Germany for most of the 1930s? Give three reasons.
Because he improved the economic situation, reduced unemployment, and restored national pride for Germans still humiliated by the defeat in WWI and by how poor they became.

6. Japan voiced its intentions to invade China for what two reasons?
One, for obtaining raw materials, and two to increase Japan's power.

7. Compare the Reichstag fire and the explosion on the Japanese railway in Manchuria. What did they accompllish?
The Reichstag fire was blamed on German communists who Hitler claimed were trying to overthrow the government by inciting civil war. As for accomplishment for Hitler, Hitler used the fire as an excuse to suspend the freedoms garaunteed by the German constitution, including the right of speech, press, and assembly. The explosion on the Japanese railway in Manchuria was blamed on Chinese dissidents by the Japanese. These two explosions/fires are similar because historians today argue that Japanese bombed their own railways so that they could blame the Chinese and use it as an excuse to invade them. Historians had also believed that the Nazi's themselves had started the fire in Reichstag.

8. Why was the united States unable to oppose Japan in the early 1930s with a significant military force?
The United States was unable to oppose Japan in the early 1930's with a significant military force because their army became the most powerful bureaucratic institution in the government, and became more influential in the decision-making. By the late 1930's japan had become a militarized state intent on expanding into China and beyond.

9. Describe the major similarities and differences among liberal democracy, fascism, and socialism.
Fascism is an authoritarian form of government that emerged in Italy and then was later adopted by the Nazi Party in Germany. Fascism puts the economy under government control, and emphasizes the control of state over the individual. Socialism hoped to create a classless society that would end the exploitation of the workers. Both socialist and fascist leaders saw their systems as the wave of the future and therefore as a challenge to liberal democracies of Europe and the united states. Liberal democracies have a constitution, with elective representatives whose decision-making is regulated by a rule of law that emphasizes the rights and freedoms of individuals. Liberal Democracies are very different from fascism because it cares more about the rights of the people, and the power of the people before the government.