@@mr.youtube1653 True, but the rest of the world has never fought a country with nukes. And to save Hong Kong would require a level of escalation that no one wants to entertain.
Yeah, I've always wanted to see something on the post-war Japanese military (especially since he did a video on the post-war German military before the 1950s), leave it to Mark Felton to eventually cover it. Now I wonder if he'll cover the post-war Italian military. edit: Now I wonder if he can he do the post-war Japanese navy (and perhaps the air force) as well.
@@Joshua_N-A Kinda. The early JSDF is certainly what you described, though the coast guard is the one with ships (IDK if they had fighters, given the post-war situation). After the fifties, they became the JSDF, a military in every sense besides the name.
Felton doesn't need to keep a group of K-12 children in line. With the relaxing of school discipline, teachers have become little more than baby sitters.
@@jed-henrywitkowski6470 well that's not really true. He did get word that Japan had surrendered but he and his men didn't believe it. They thought it was a trick and so they kept fighting on.
I am a retired school teacher. I suspect most people are bored by this. I taught of vocational Ed, shop. Given my conclusion that most people need not go to college most history in high school, probably in college is wasted. I only became interested later in life when I had some history behind me. I suspect Most people would be well suited just to take classes in English, Basic computation, biology civics. They could supplement this with technology and some electives, otherwise school is a waste of time for most students, sorry to say. Just a programming session, but I'm a cynic. Learning history, in reality, falls upon the citizen. All distractions from Hollywood, Sports? Not much of a chance. Bread and circuses.
@@GoodmanMIke59 when i was in middle and highschool the only subject i ever had any passing interest in was history. Funny enough in the 5 or so years since I got out of highschool I have learned exponentially more about history just from RU-vid and the internet
@@mcnudde Just because it carries Jet Fighters, has a full length flight deck, and shares a name with a WW2 aircraft carrier, does not make it an aircraft carrier. /s
Yes, that's exactly what it is. Using Owen's points, of course it shares the same name as a WW2 ancestor. A lot of Japanese ships do, like how all but one of the modern day Akuzuki-class destroyers is named after their 1942 ancestors from the same class. There's so many ships in the modern Japanese navy that share names with their WW2 ancestors that I can't name them all. So that's meaningless. No Japanese ship has a full length flight deck. Only helicopters and V/STOL aircraft can land on the Izumo and her sisters. They don't have the capability to land or launch modern non-V/STOL planes. Yes, the Izumo can carry F-35Bs. That doesn't make the ship an offensive weapon. The Japanese own both F-15Js and their own copies of the F-16.
It says great societies need to have great institutions, and leaders. Our founding fathers, men like Washington, Jefferson, etc. and created and served institutions. Trump University, Ivanka Fashions and Kushner Real Estate have replaced those institutions.
It's just the practical thing to do. Among other things, the US had a responsibility to protect occupied Japan against nearby threats, and to get Japan back on its feet so it could operate independently again. The sooner this could happen the less money the US had to spend and the fewer troops the US had to commit to Japanese security.
A lesson learned after World War 1, Imperial Germany was treated far more harshly than either Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan even though they committed atrocities that absolutely dwarfed anything done by Germany in World War I.
Seems to have worked out pretty well, so far. Japan, Germany, Italy were all rebuilt. This included the rebuilding of their national defenses. The same was true of South Korea. And 75 years later, these nations flourish. Now examine Vietnam, Lebanon, Somalia. American forces left far too soon without rebuilding those nations. They all fell into the abyss and have not risen yet. (Will Iraq and Afghanistan follow them into the abyss? Time will tell.) A nation should resist at almost all cost the option to go to war. But...if we plan for success, then we must plan to remain for three generations in order to rebuild. This is the burden of war.
No wait. I got a better one "Why did you have that tank? Are'nt tanks supposed to be military use?" "Uhh, we need that tank for breaching. "Yeah, breaching and demolishing buildings not to code."
Refreshing to hear accurate information about Japan, thank you. Would be good if you could make another one explaining how the Japanese constitution can be changed anytime by the Japanese people, but they choose not to. Few people seem to understand that.
@@oNovoRapido ¥¥¥. It's much, much cheaper for Japan to let the United States handle most of their defense requirements to include falling under the American nuclear umbrella in case of an attack from a hostile foreign power.
@@arcturionblade1077 This is a frequently repeated myth. Japan has a massive military. Until the rise of the Chinese navy, roughly 20 years ago, Japan had the world's second most powerful navy with only the Royal Navy as a rival for second place.
The near total recovery and changes to post war Japan is strking and inspiring. The US provided a model but without the full cooperation of the Japanese people success wouldn't have been possible. A Great story.
That's because they were terrified of getting warcrimed/nuked back to the Stone Age further by a tyranny or the fact they still illegally occupy land over 70 years since peace was declared,when in the other axis states they left in the 60's (Italy) or the 90's (Austria/Germany) or maybe it was because the British decided to leave troops there from India who had major issues against the Japanese people.......
@@richardcostello2951 Wrong, the reason was because the USA didn't kill their God Emperor Hirohito - and Emperor Hirohito, being a living GOD in the eyes of the Japanese - instructed his loyal subjects to cooperate with the USA. Hirohito became General Mc'Arthurs puppet - and he still held the Japanese people in his hands. As such the USA could control the Japanese people through Emperor Hirohito the puppet. This wouldn't have worked with Hitler or Mussolini.
@@mrnygren2 well no........it has more to do with illegal occupation forces made up of third world countries who had troops looking for some bloodletting(India, Hong Kong and Singapore) as well as a American tyrant with a itchy trigger finger (Curtis Lemay) being directed by a antagonist failure (MacArthur) then anything diplomatic relations caused ........the British Commonwealth left them be after the mid 50's but the American warcriminals STILL illegally occupy Japanese sovereign territory
@@richardcostello2951 Let's agree to disagree- my version is the one accepted by the world. Yours seem more like your own opinion.. Mine is from actual documentaries and books.
As a young Navy Brat living in Japan close to this time I remember our maid showing me a picture she proudly carried of the Emporer she then showed me a picture of MacArther . I asked her why she carried a picture of him ? She said because he brought peace and because he got the women the right to vote . Mac was much loved in Japan at that time
I heard they refer Mac the shogun since by all rights he was operating as a military dictator in japan with no one to challenge him while the emperor just plays along as a figurehead just as the old days of feudal Japan.
Mac toyed with the idea of running for President and when the Japanese got wind of this Bill Boards appeared saying in English “MacArthur for President “ I personally did not see this but there are pictures of these
MacArthur was an arrogant, egotistical, corrupt bastard. Have a read about the payments he received from the Philippines and his "distribution" of power post Japanese defeat there. Guess he didn't pass the ethics class at West Point.
Because there's not enough time to teach you *everything* in grade school and high school. Otherwise, there would be no need for undergraduate and graduate degrees.
@@Fubar684 When I was at university, I wanted to take a military history class. OTHER department administrators encouraged students to question its existence and began a letter writing campaign against it. The university had an enrollment of about 50,000. Yet, they would fight against one class taught by a former US Navy submarine officer.
High School history's main goal is to ensure you know enough about world events to not get hoodwinked by extremists: if you don't know about genocides, the crimes of authoritarians, and the dangers of fighting other people's wars, then you can end up in a very bad state of mind. But to understand all of that, you need a broad frame of reference, and it's hard to make that interesting. When schools fail with that, you end up with situations like in China and Russia, where people *still* think all of Stalin and Mao's murders were somehow "necessary" to industrialize, when the truth is just the opposite.
I find it funny the lengths the JSDF (especially the Navy) goes through to exploit technicalities in Article 9. One example is that Japan is not allowed to have aircraft carriers. So they have helicopter carriers, or more recently, they have "destroyers" that just so happen to have a flight deck that can carry fighter jets. But its not an aircraft carrier, its a destroyer!
I think russia did the same thing at one point. They modified a battleship into a carrier. _"What? That's not a carrier, don't you see those big guns at the front? That's clearly a battleship."_
Article 9 is heavily debated and controversial amongst the general public and parliament; however, the US puts so much effort into the remilitarization of Japan, that it's probably quite tough to get rid of Article 9, or enforce it on either side.
My Grandmother was with the Japanese Red Cross during the war and attached to the Imperial Army in Singapore. She was there when it surrendered to the British and Aussies and spent some time in Malaya as a prisoner-of-war treating patients. She was full of stories, one time they allowed patients to go out and hunt for food and they came back with delicious meat one day. After she ate it, she asked what it was. 'Snake!' a patient replied. She often said that the British and Aussies were gentlemen, treating her as a commissioned officer. Sentries would salute her and their officers would open the door for her say, "Good morning, Ms. Mogami." That was a common thing with her, "THE BRITISH WERE GENTLEMEN!" But she married an American soldier.
Japanese "Red Cross", is the most hypocritical, and deceptive thing i've heard, considering the japanese executed and actively shot at medics and non-combatants. that's like saying the concentration camps were part of the german red cross. and what is this talk of "treating prisoner of war patients...", the japanese literally decapitated and tortures australian and british POW's. the idea of these people being saluted and treated by the "gentlemen british and aussies" who but a few months prior were being used as slave labor, being sent on death marches, starved, beaten, tortured, decapitated, and massacred, makes me sick to the core.
I'm actually about to write a term paper on Japans rebound following the second World War and this gave me a lot of insight and inspiration as to more topics to cover. Thank you Dr. Felton!
Good luck on that term paper. I'm still a junior at my high school. But I've learned more history from Dr. Felton than what school taught me. I've been subbed since his 2nd Korean War video.
@@lonniebailey4989 well, Mark has many published books on WWII and was known as a WWII researcher and historian before his RU-vid channel. So, in reality, you are learning from a real WWII historian!
Dr. Mark Felton is a well-known British historian, the author of 22 non-fiction books, including bestsellers 'Zero Night' and 'Castle of the Eagles', both currently being developed into movies in Hollywood. In addition to writing, Mark also appears regularly in television documentaries around the world, including on The History Channel, Netflix, National Geographic, Quest, American Heroes Channel and RMC Decouverte. His books have formed the background to several TV and radio documentaries.
yeah, that's gotta be some mood whiplash right there. but hey, in a couple of years, that same soldier might have a chance to drive tanks of Japanese origin once again.
The British and Japanese fought along side one another against Indonesian revolutionairies. One Japanese soldier was even decorated for this. Great video once again, Mark!
I was ran into a retired Japanese professor (some years ago now) who spoke very good english. He told me that the best thing that that had ever happened to Japan was the American occupation. Watching this video made me realize what he meant.
A friend of mine is Japanese. Her father was too old and sick to travel to her U.S. wedding and I was asked by phone to stand in for him. Her sister translated. Among other things he thanked me as an American for everything the U.S. had done for Japan.
Please watch Moziguchi's movie 'Sansho the Bailif'. Although it is based on prior literature he is subtly calling out pre-war Japan as a slave state. Another early good post-war film is 'Stray Dog' by Kurosawa.
My Aunt's father had a Japanese sword he took from a Japanese soldier on Iwo Jima... The crazy part was, the swords scabbard had a bullet hole in it, and when you took the sword out, you could still see the powder burns on the metal! Was absolutely fascinating
I’m convinced that mark puts pictures of himself at the start of videos now because he knows we all adore him and want to recognize him in person should we ever see him so we can properly thank him for his outstanding content
You are what the History Channel was when I was a kid and it actually had history about interesting stuff, not Pawn Stars or Ice Road Truckers. Thank you for this channel! My uncle grew up in Japan, some of his cherished memories were of his dad going onto base and talking with the American GIs and getting a Whopper from BK. He later served in the JSDF.
I like your comment and I genuinely like the Japanese and I am glad they are our allies today. But in 1952? Let's face it. When you're Japanese in 1952 and your dad and uncles spent the war terrorizing the Philippines, China or Singapore, and decapitating US and British POWs, only to have your fleets sunk, your cities nuked and your nation brought to it's knees, well, you better play nice with your new masters!
@@kallelaur1762 British ex pows testified, ''Korean soldiers were far more brutal than the Japanese.'' POW station masters were Korean Generals. (Telegraph)
@@GhostRanger5060 What about British invasion in China, Indian genocide, Burmese massacre by the British Army? and centuries of atrocities by the Western colonizers in Asia and other continents? Oh, please don't forget that the Allies nations did more war crimes for the last 80 years. Shameful.
@@risaizm1659 What the heck does that have to do with being a US Marine on occupation duty in Japan in 1952? Take a chill pill, social justice warrior.
I really cannot comprehend how you can produce this material with the frequency but also the detail you manage to achieve. You really must have an incredible collection of footage and information to start with. I am really envious of your mind. Thank you Mark for your craftsmanship. As other have suggested you really do deserve a knighthood for your collection and dissemination of history. Thank you.
You provide so much information about the world wars and beyond that was never taught in schools here in America. I find it all interesting. Thank you Dr. Felton!
I’ve been listening to Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History and he’s been talking about WW2 Japan and I’ve been wondering how everything worked out after the war was over. Perfect timing for me! Thanks Mark
As a soldier of 28 years service n the ADF and a massive interest in modern military history- I am reading 20 books at once ATM- on my tablet, true story, my wife thinks I'm mad- but every time I watch one of your vids I learn something. Keep them coming Mark, brilliant drills
Thank you for another fabulous video! The post war / early cold war period is an incredibly fascinating time to me and probably my second favorite topic to learn about side from WW2. The era combines economic, geopolitical, intelligence games, and real war strategies on an epic scale. Hope you and your family are staying well Dr. Felton.
History lessons at school delivered with this excellent, interesting and informative content, would have been amazing to me as a kid. This channel is amazing!!!
I like Mark’s videos so much, that I have developed this internal voice that tells me when Mark posts his videos. This one I caught 13 mins after posting. I am subscribed, but I don’t have alerts. Love every one of these vids!
say what you want about big mac macarthur, whether he was a bad commander or a warmonger but he did a damn well good job on reshaping the japanese society to a more democratic society.
@@brucewelty7684 Wow edgy boomer over here LMAO. Japan is one of our best allies these days you dipshit and I guarantee you have never seen a day of actual combat.
Rigged or fixed. As this video contains anti-Chinese propaganda. Mark Felton substitute China for "Manchuria". Doesn't even have the integrity to mention the MANCHUKO, Far East Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chemical and Biological weapons + live Human experiments!
@@peekaboopeekaboo1165 "Rigged or fixed. As this video contains anti-Chinese propaganda." -- It's a normal RU-vid algorithm, moron. To show a view it has to take a certain number of minutes. Likes show up immediately. Shove your "anti-Chinese propaganda" where the sun don't shine. Shove the whole China there while you're at it.
It's amazing to think that after literally writing the book on how to demilitarize a country, the US then went on to create the situation in Iraq by demobilizing the Iraqi army and then just leaving them unemployed (and virtually unemployable if you had Ba'ath party membership - which everyone had if they were of some sort of management/leadership position).
Your comment is well-stated. I am dumbfounded by the errors we made in Iraq when we had so much experience doing this sort of thing in Germany and Japan and as recently as the 1990s in helping former Eastern Bloc countries get up to speed. Our leaders clearly did not understand that being a baathist in Iraq was like being a communist in East Germany -- it was the only option for upward mobility and success in those one-party societies.
Unfortunately is a set of sharp teeth to show only. Japan is forbidden to use the military as an extension of diplomacy as seen from other nations with armed forces. This severely limits Japan on the geopolitical stage.
@@jinngeechia9715 I am still surprised a political party in Japan has not talked about at least altering article nine of the Japanese Constitution to make it a more offensive Force. If they did that that would easily put fear in both China and Russia
However, individual Japanese do not want to join it in large enough numbers. This Self Defense Force is not sufficiently morally supported by its nation.
@@MottyGlix The bombing by a foreign force would change that. How long you think before Xi bomb Yokohama to shore up his domestic ratings, just like Argentina junta did to Falkland?
There are some really excellent photos of Japanese Army Nurses in U.S. women’s H.B.T. uniforms during the mid-1950s. Lots of neat photos of Sherman tanks in Japanese service as well. What a change a decade can make. Awesome topic. Thanks for covering it, Mark!
I'm about to take a military history class for my first semester in college at the age of 41, and I would pay more tuition if you taught it. Well, the VA is paying for it, but you get the idea lol.
Congratulations! As a former adult student myself, I had pleasure of being a student advisor to many veterans. I was a returning student working on a master's degree from 2004-2006.
@@HateTheIRS I didn't retire. I was HYT'D at 14 years as an E5 in the Navy. this was a few years before they raised the E5 HYT to 16. I've been out for 8 years now.
It was very wise to keep Japan's former soldiers occupied rebuilding infrastructure - as opposed to the completely idiotic decision to leave Saddam Hussein's huge army unemployed and pissed off in 2003!
Dr Felton, I saw what you did there - now many if not most of us will be patiently waiting for your video(s) on the creation of the Maritime and Air Self-Defence Forces.
Technically speaking they still don't have an Army, and WWII is still ongoing. This is due to the fact that Russia and Japan are still at war with each other. Also China did not go red entirely, Taiwan is still Chiang Kai Shek's Republic.
American colonel reading a former general’s resume to become “Senior Superintendent” “War crimes” “War crimes” “War Crimes” “Bridge on the River Kwai” “War Crimes” “War Crimes” “Implemented bingo night on Thursdays.” “War Crimes”
Hey I'll let a few war crime officers pass if he was a colonel. Sure we'll have to unfortunately look passed the fact he cut off one US soldier's head while he was in captivity.
Fascinating look at the origins of the JGSDF and early equipment. I was surprised to see that communism had some inroads into Japan early on. Probably makes sense given the state of Japan at the end of the war. Wonder if any of those advisors went on to found Special Forces with Aaron Bank later? Thank you for sharing.
As a Japanese, I'm stunned such accurate history of post war Japan is being described in English. BTW it is true we did love General Douglas McArthur. I believe US occupation of Japan was the most successful post war occupation in the history of the world and that was possible under the General's command. Also, General Robert Eichelberger and Admiral Arleigh Burke helped Japan to establish JSDF. All those American generals and admirals who fought most hard during WW2 against Japan helped us to, at this time, stand on the freedom side of the world. Bottom line is I'm so happy Japan didn't become a communist country after WW2 which was realistic fear, and for that I'm so thankful to US leaders of that time.
This is one of the great achievements of the US military -- the reformation of the Japanese Imperial Army into a genuine democratic institution. Having worked with the JGSDF on several occasions I can tell you they are a very professional force... and really good soldiers. The former victims of the Imperial Japanese should be thankful for the US.
Its impressive how japan managed to change its country entirely. From literally supporting nazis, to one of the most polite and techonologically advanced countries in the world trying to improve themselves constantly
@Guy Incognito if "accordingly" means applying exaggeratíng carícaťure into obvíous propagánda then that says somethíng about ýou, but then again yóur aćcount is days oId with "incogníto" in its name, along with the not so subtIe yet paťhetíc animosíty towards Jàpanese peopIe. its not hard to imagine that yóu're either an uģly, appropíatíng cūnt with no lífe or creativity, or worse.
Chiang deserved his lost. He pissed off too many people while the CCP won over the peasants. Mao Zedong made disastrous policies and I'm glad he is gone (wish he went sooner). However, Chiang isn't innocent either.
China was the Soviets ally, which was no longer any ally of the US, and the west needed a way to at least have a bit of a defense in case everything fell apart while dealing with whatever altercations were upcoming...in this case Korea. The world was changing so fast at that time, everyone was lining up on one side or the other, and WW2 issues were basically wrapped up asap to get on with the "new enemies".
GOOD point. I read a fascinating book on the West German intelligence service (BND) and Reinhard Gehlen; from the 3rd Reich's Abwehr to West Germany's BND. SORRY can't remember the author, year of publication, nor publisher. I read it over 30 years ago!
Goods manufactured in Japan at that time were generally rated the worst in the world. Dr Edward Demming was soon brought in to assist the country emphasizing production quality. His Total Quality Management techniques transformed Japanese industry and he is the only foreigner to receive Japans highest civilian award.
Amazing that Japan is such a great ally now. What a flexible, resilient nation. The best thing that ever happened to them was losing to us. Imagine if the USSR had been in charge...
