IB History The Three Power/tripartite Pact (1940); the Outbreak of War; Pearl Harbor (1941) - Events and Responses Notes

The Anti-Comintern Pact: Japan, Germany, and the Drive to Isolate the USSR

1. The army in Japan was a key actor in its expansion. While they were fighting the Second Sino-Japanese War, there were plans to expand further.
   1. With that aim in mind, in 1936 Japan and Germany signed the Anti-Comintern Pact.
   2. In 1937, Italy joined the same pact.
   3. The Anti-Comintern Pact was an agreement against the USSR.
      1. It stated that the signatories would conduct mutual consultation on measures against Communist "subversion" and commit not to sign agreements with the USSR.
2. The main aim was geopolitical: Germany and Japan wanted to isolate the USSR.
   1. Germany wanted to avoid the possibility of a two-front war as Hitler planned further expansion.
   2. Japan wanted to cement their control over Manchuria, which bordered Soviet territory.

1. In August 1939, Hitler and Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact (also called the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact).
   1. Japan felt betrayed by Germany, and withdrew from the Anti-Comintern Pact.
   2. Japanese foreign policy became more independent, and they declared their intention to create a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, pooling together Asian nations to rid them of "Western influence".

The Tripartite Pact (September 1940)

1. In September 1940, Japan expanded further into Indochina and began building military bases. In parallel, they signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy.
2. The Tripartite Pact established that the signatories would assist one another with military and economic means if one party was attacked by a country not already involved in the European War or the Sino-Japanese conflict.
3. It also established spheres of influence: Europe for Germany and Italy, East Asia for Japan. Germany renounced its claim to former Pacific colonies it had lost after the First World War, which Japan had subsequently acquired.
4. The pact's primary strategic purpose was to deter the United States from aiding Britain or China by threatening a two-ocean war that Washington could not easily sustain.
5. Despite its intimidating language, the pact had significant limitations. It did not require signatories to launch offensive wars on behalf of each other, and coordination between the three powers remained weak throughout the war.

Japanese Expansion into Indochina