Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Peaurxnanski t1_iy1oher wrote

Reply to comment by Seienchin88 in On April 2, 1941, a Japanese foreign minister asked Pope Pius XII to speak to U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, so as to avert "a war of mutual destruction” by marketrent

Why did the US embargo them, and what were the terms to lift the embargo?

Japan was engaged in a brutal, genocidal campaign invading China and slaughtering millions.

The USA said "stop doing that or we'll cut off your oil supply"

All Japan had to do is stop invading and murdering China, and the US would sell them oil.

The US wasn't the bad guy, and they did nothing to deserve Pearl Harbor except try to stop a genocide using diplomatic means

55

[deleted] t1_iy1uilk wrote

[deleted]

0

Peaurxnanski t1_iy1wntt wrote

The terms of lifting the embargo explicitly called for Japan to stop genociding China. That's what it said, and it's what I said.

Ascribing a motive to that is certainly your right, but I'd be interested to see how "stop genociding China" ties into US interest in the Philippines. Since you ascribed the motive, I'd be interested to see how you think it ties in.

16

Seienchin88 t1_iy28trd wrote

Am I going insane…? That is exactly what I wrote in my post…

Retreating would have obviously been the morally right choice (or rather not even starting at all) but nobody in the Japanese high command dared to even entertain that idea after so many losses and also politicians getting murdered for opposing the military… Of course its their fault but that doesnt change the fact that telling an imperialist country to just stop a war and give back most colonial possessions obviously isnt gonna work… And the US didnt try to stop a "genocide" using diplomatic means - thats simply dishonest. The US didnt care a whole lot in the 4 years prior (wouldn’t the Nanjing massacre be a much better reason for an embargo?). They embargoed Japan when the started seizing European colonies and because Roosevelt wanted to get the US active in Europe and Asia to stop the fascist threat to the world - and yes that is a really good motive to go to war for but its different from simply trying to help Chinese civilians… (which the US didnt have as a focus at all during WW2)

−3