Pacific Empires: Japan vs. USA - The Path to Pearl Harbor - WWII - Part 1 - Extra History 

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I wrote an essay for university on how the lead up to Pearl Harbour began with Theodore Roosevelt's arbitration of the Russo-Japanese war. I got a C because the professor disagreed, said I pulled my ideas out of context, and that I should have just focused on the Japanese invasion of China and the trade embargoes. I mentioned everything in this video, especially the Treaty of Versailles and the unequal naval treaties. After watching this, I've never felt so vindicated in my life.

You can always look at one event with all the knowledge and hindsight and say "Why didn't they just do this?" The answer is that they are not us, they don't know what's going to come out of it. And for the most part, these people either were to prideful, to naive, or to scared. Leading to the events we see. Most didn't want war, but were either in it for themself, their nation, or some other gain that put everyone else at risk.

Y'all should do a series dedicated to the annexation of Hawaii. You guys are literally the only channel who does Pacific history and I know you will do a great job of it. If extra history videos are books, the last time we saw the Kingdom of Hawaii was them signing up by the hundreds to fight in the American Civil War and in this series they are annexed.

One thing that should be mentioned off to the side is that the US Navy ran a series of Fleet Problem exercises from the 1920s until WWII. At least one of those exercises included the surprise carrier bombing of US military installations in the Hawaiian islands on a Sunday morning. There is a channel called Drachinifel that has covered these Fleet Problems in detail along with many things in naval history. It might be a good channel for those looking for more depth on these topics might want to visit. As an example, there is a 2+ hour video on the Zero. They "cut it short" to not "get into the weeds".

As time goes on, Japan's history gets more and more context through this show lol

United States forced Japan to stop being isolationist in the 1850s Japan forced the United States to stop being isolationist in the 1940s “History doesn’t repeat itself but it does rhyme”

Naval warfare is kinda crazy, two massive lumps of metal with loads of guys fire car sized shells at each other while floating around in shark infested water in basically the middle of no where.

My great Grandfather Edward nickname “Eddie” was stationed at Pearl Harbor. He was on the enterprise. Well luckily the enterprise was wide heard from my family, broke down in the middle of the ocean but later found out that they were out doing practice divebombing during the attack and I am thankful that he wasn’t currently at the harbor during the attack. He later died December 10, 2001.

Finally done pearl harbour, I’m so excited for this series.

Yeah, in most school textbooks, they only really lightly discuss embargoes and the events of December 7th when Pearl Harbor comes up. I'm glad you're giving the events a more nuanced analysis.

I love that extra credits, in around 2-3 hours, can teach me a sizable chunk of Japanese history, from the warring states all the way to WW2

6:47 Every graphics out there almost always sinks the island of Palawan.

I like that you're using assumed knowledge from previous seasons to cut down o exposition, it means you can get more in depth with the topic at hand. Please keep it up, it's a positive change and opens so many doors to revisit previously explored areas. This is a call for a look at post independence India in some manner.

Say, I know it’s a small thing but the relatively large island of Palawan seems to be missing from the Philippine map here. If the Philippines is imagined like a cat sleeping on its side, Palawan would be the front legs. The Palawan was part of it during the Spanish and US occupations.

I hope you guys mention the other attacks in the battle of Oahu. Everyone always forgets that there are multiple US Military bases and stations on the island, and that all of them received fire.

As someone who grew up not only in Hawaii but literally next to Pearl Harbor, I'm stoked you're covering this historical event with the level of detail it deserves. And btw, A++ on your Hawaiian pronunciation. I'm very impressed 👍

Great video as usual EC! I really hope you'd eventually get to the Philippine American War and how the American government betrayed a budding Philippine republic.

Always enjoy a Extra Credit video.

Glosses over how much the Japanese Navy was in favor of the arms limit because 10 to 7 is way better odds then the 20 or 30 to 7 that US and Japanese economies could sustain. The biggest problem was that it was a few percent lower than what Japan estimated they'd need to properly defend themselves.

With the Sengoku Jidai, End of the Samurai, Rise of Japanese Imperialism, and now WW2 in the Pacific, I'm loving the coverage you guys are giving to modern Japanese history! (Hopefully you'll keep it rolling with post-war Japan through to the present day. I've never understood how the "economic miracle" happened, turning Japanese from a devastated country to a modern innovative global superpower in so little time.)

I’m not sure if this was covered in previous videos, but a significant factor was the political maneuvering of the IJN and IJA, particularly the latter, to gain and exercise more control over the Japanese Diet. Eventually this will have to be brought up, because the political atmosphere led to Admiral Yonai stepping aside for Yamamoto to become CinC of the Combined Fleet and for him to choose the decisive first strike against Pearl Harbor. As with most history, there are a LOT of interrelated people and groups. The history of the lead up to Pearl Harbor fills volumes. John Toland’s book does a thorough job explaining the Japanese government prior to the Pacific War.

I love these videos. I've been a massive fan for years! So much so that I actually made my own channel (it focuses on History as well) thank you for the inspiration!

Lions Led By Donkeys covered this subject pretty well in detail on their recent episode "The Dumb Life and Dumber Death of the Battleship Yamato"

Thanks been wanting for this

I want to do some research on the Sino-Japanese Wars sometime. I don't actually know much about them, especially when compared with many of the other events mentioned here around the same period.😅 Thank you guys for another excellent video! Merry Christmas out there everybody! ✝️🎄

The Washington Naval Treaty was actually pretty beneficial for Japan, although they couldn't have known it at the time. By restricting the UK and especially the US to a 5 to 3 ratio, Japan kept them much closer in fleet size than what they would unleash in WW2. 24 fleet carriers and 175 destroyers of a single class of each (among other things) is quite a bit more than 5 to 3 after all.

I first heard about nebula through legal eagle. I'm happy to see that this is becoming a growing trend on a lot of the interests that I subscribe to on RU-vid

A video that is beneficial to watch in the current situation.

For those of you interested in the IJN and it's perspective just before and during the war I recommend the book The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy by Masanori Ito. It's a great read, beautifully written, and by the end had me crying with it's ending message. Its a must read for those interested around this topic

Alarm ⏰ goes of: *Sleeps* Extra Credits has uploaded a video: *wakes up slightly* It’s about Naval History: *eyes Widen* It’s pearl harbour: *Jumps out of the bed*

This is off to a good start. I'm looking forward to it.

Be really cool if EC ended their Japan saga by covering America's occupation of the country following Hiroshima and Nagasaki

One thing I should point out: the Washington Naval Treaty _was not_ intended to deliberately hinder Japanese Naval armament. One of the (many) events that lead up to the First World War was the naval arms race between Britain & Germany, and the WNT was meant to limit that build up to prevent another major war. As for the allotment each navy was given in building ships, it was far more complicated than simply one side wanting an advantage. You see, while it is true that Japan was only allocated 3 ships for every 5 that was allowed for Britain & America, Japan at the time did not have the same level of industrial capacity as the other two countries. In fact, at their then-current production output rate at the treaty’s implementation (or even during the Pacific War) they actually could not build that much more than the WNT limited. If anything, the WNT was _more restrictive to the American and British Navies,_ who both had a much higher industrial output and could produce more ships. Admiral Yamamoto actually insisted on Japan abiding by the treaty since he knew that the US alone would outproduce the Empire at a far greater rate than the treaty allocated. Another reason for the treaty’s allocation rate was simply a case of geography and practical necessity for the signatories. The British still had their vast empire back then spanning several seas & oceans and would need as many ships as possible to defend her interests and distribute them accordingly. The US is right in between two major oceans and needed to have enough ships on both sides of the continent. Japan, on the other hand, only had at the time her Home Islands, Korea, Formosa, the Ryukyus, and a few smaller islands received from Germany after WWI, all of which were within the vicinity of the Northwest Pacific Ocean. These were relatively smaller holdings compared to the British and the Americans and they ultimately would not have needed as much as the other two nations.

6:47- y'all excluded Palawan Island; it's bugged me since I watched this and Nebula, and I just felt the need to point it out.

There are so many good possible topics in this episode. The fall of the Hawaiian kingdom, the Mexican-American war, the founding of the Dutch Indies and Australia, the Russo Japanese War. Honestly the next topic poll could just be a list of things in this episode that you might want to know more about.

8:30 Not said was that the Japanese economy was severely strained even trying to reach that ratio. In reality, the treaty constrained America much more (since America could afford to build a much larger Navy) than Japan, but that's not something nationalists usually care about.

Calling Pearl Harbor the start of US involvement in what would become WW2 completely forgets that the Philippines were also attacked (shortly before) Pearl Harbor on Dec 8th (remember the international dateline, making it Dec 7th still for all 48 states!)

5:09 I’m sure that’s the only time in history we’ll hear about a naval incident at Midway.

More extra history!

This looks epic I’m into it

nice to see the actual history of this be covered

Educational and I need more

Do the Greek revolutionary war of 1821 against the ottoman empire next please. I've been requesting this since the first sengoku jidai episodes

WOW this is odd. I was literally just thinking about pearl harbor and WW2, i go to check my youtube reccomendations, and you guys release this. Great job but tell zoey to cool it on the mind reading.

1:44 "But now onto the infamy." Seemed to me like such a cool little line (obviously referencing the famous speech).

I'll admit I still try to honor on Dec 7th, as I am a US Navy veteran, but I also try to celbrate it as while not on the same year I was born on Dec 7th. My Grandfather as also there when it happened.

"Underdeveloped" the classic euphemism for "sensitive and ecologically important biome".

Hey. You guys seems to be missing the links in the descripton thats mentioned at 1:40 that has some background info that you say are important to this one.

I love how you left out the fact that there were also a lot of native Hawaiians that were also part of the 1893 coup, lol 😁

Finally you made a video on Pearl harbor

To quote Indy Neidell, talking about Pearl Harbour, "History does not happen in a vacuum" Go watch his pearl harbour in real time series if you have not already I feel the Washington naval treaty could have been expanded more, for example the negotiations being tapped by the hosting US which led them to force Japan into the weakest position they'd accept, along with Japan losing its greatest naval ally (the UK), yet forcing the concession that nobody in the western Pacific could fortify any naval bases

I'd still love to see a series on the end of the Heian period, the Genpei War, and the transition to the Kamakura shogunate. EC has a nice little run of Japanese history series now, and that particular chapter of Japanese history HEAVILY informs a lot of what they've already covered (especially the Sengoku episodes!)

DO A NAPOLEON SERIES

This episode touches on SOOOO many historical topics you already covered! The end of the XIng Empire, the aftermath of the end of the samurai and the American civil war!!

As a kid, my parents took me to the USS Arizona Memorial (spoiler alert! : o) and Museum at Pearl Harbor when my dad was stationed in Hawaii. I loved it. I couldn't get enough. I boggled my mind that things could be so different from how they were today. It started my passion for history and wondering about the world.

woo new extra history series!

I'm waiting that you're going to talk about the history of the Pacific war by the Philippines perspective

Pearl isn't the only naval sneak attack in Japanese Imperial history. They also did it to the Russians in 1904 when they attacked Port Arthur.

Please do Texas revolution

My grandfather was stationed in PH during the attack.

America: December 7th is super well known around the world The World: December 7th?

8:25 A major reason the Japanese received ratio at the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty that looks unfavorable on the surface was the fact that the USN and RN had to keep their fleet dispersed to meet their strategic commitments (Two Ocean defense in the case of the former, an international empire spread from London to Hong Kong in the latter case). Japan would be much more able to concentrate all its forces in a single spot. The ratios for all practical purposes gave Japan a seat at the head of the table in the Pacific.

Unknowingly? Yeah no. They knew damn well what was going to happen. That's why they were there.

I have been using yall as a supliment since primary school. Now in highschool, I actually have use for your videos. Thanks alot!

"FDR planned to put the Pacific Naval Fleet in Pearl Harbor to deter Imperial Japan from taking over Dutch East Indies..." Yeah nah look how well that worked out 🙃🤪💀

Damn this channel has only gotten better in the past 7 years, not just consistency but improvement at an insane speed, Very Very Well made

This made my day.

To be fair the Washington naval treaty was signed by the japenese government specifically because it would help restrain the japenese navy which was uncontrollable at the time.

Aaaah yeah yeah yeah more ww2 videos woo love your history videos

I was literally researching about what led to the Pearl Harbor attack and then this comes out lol

please tell me you didn't forgot Nancy G Fox she was the 1st woman to get a purple heart for saving injured civilians and troops after the bombardment

I thought Matthew Perry was a commodore, not an admiral. Is this a definitional issue (what were once commodores are now read admirals or something like that)?

I’m a man of simple tastes. When I see a video on WW2, I click.

Something for the "Lies" episode: it was the Japanese who broke the Washington Naval Treaty at the end of 1934. (Though they had been merrily violating the 10,000 ton limit on heavy cruisers for years already.)

The japanese diplomatic corps is also part of the same wonky division of power that lets the army and navy (and the Manchuria army, and even little groups of colonels) have their own foreign policy.

Claiming that the declaration of the Stimson doctrine in 1932 was used an excuse for for the United States to not recognize the Washington and London naval treaties is pretty misleading bordering on an outright lie. The Stimson Doctrine was a declaration that the United States did not recognize the territory Japan had illegally annexed when it invaded China. It had nothing at all to do with the naval treaties. In fact the United States continued to adhere to the Washington and London naval treaties longer than any of the other signatories like Great Britain, France, and Italy who often seemed to violate on a whim This stands in stark contrast to Japan who had denounced the Washington Naval Treaty in 1934 and let it expire in 1936 when they outright withdrew from the Second London Naval Conference.

The series is gonna be sick

I hope you touch on the Nanjing massacre. To this day people don't acknowledge it.

Finally, after seen the events of both superpowers in Extra Credits it is time for the diplomatic dance between these giants. It's a facinating concept. You have talked about Japan's expansionism, its militarism and also US racial depates and their expansionism. All of those things are playing a role for the coming events. It's like you are tying the nods together for the big event.

Mentions Wake Island. *Battlefield 1942/3 theme intensifies*

Japan had been violating the Washington Treaty in major ways long before the treaty was officially ended. While the US and British had launched some ships that broke the treaty, they did so in rather small ways and the US and British both kinda looked the other way so long as the violations were small (500 or a 1000 extra tons on a cruiser or something). Japan on the other hand did it in a big way and had done it for a long time. sm

I love your videos 🎉👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Cool

And you finally gave credit to the Americans who pissed off my homeland. PS: I'm a Filipino after all.

Small correction, Perry was only a commodore.

You missed the fact that a major part of US Pacific expansion was the an act in 1856 called the Guano Islands Act that allowed US citizens to claim any island they found in the pacific that was not under the government of another country. This was because the US really really loved bird poop as it was still very agriculturally based. It was extremely high in nitrogen and thus made fantastic fertilizer in an age before synthetic fertilizers. Pacific Islands were caked in the stuff as birds migrating through would just densely pack these islands/atolls for thousands of years. The US would claim several places that werent even above water until the tides receded. At least when I took a class on the US expansion in the Pacific when I was in college (a long time ago), the whaling industry was never really brought up as a reason for expansion. I could be misremembering that aspect though, it's a lot easier to remember that the US claimed large swaths of the pacific hunting for bird poo.

Isn't London Naval Treaty even more controversial for Japan, I mean WNT limit the capital ship tonnage like battleship and battlecruiser but didn't limit the tonnage for Heavy Cruiser that Japan now called "super mini battleship" Or something

I hope you remember that ships were supposed to be safe in Pearl Harbor. After all it was shallow port. No torpedo could work in such conditions. Also engineers do like a challenge.

I hope you don't forget to include the Internment of Japanese Americans/Canadians in this series. Those camps were one of the worst hate crimes in history!

IJN: Well Hawaii is nearer than California so thanks

The Immigration Acts of 1917 and 1924 also played a role in worsening US-Japanese retaliations.

Sir just for info sir you forgot to add the island of Palawan on the photo of the map of the Philippines

6:49 So I guess Palawan just doesn't exist in the Philippine map of Extra History? Palawan bros got Atlantis'd

It should be noted that at Versailles, while Japan's racial equality proposal was struck down by the US, the japanese in reality held a "equality for me, not for thee," attitude towards the Koreans and Chinese.

I loved your Extra History Series but I can't stand it anymore that the last 3 minutes are just an ad-read. Be it Nebula or some other company. I was happy to see you making 10+ minutes videos but a whole third or forth of it being ads or sponsors or whatever ruined it for me.

Can’t wait to hear the rest of Pearl Harbor’s story

Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States sent weapons to China and sent fighter planes and soldiers to fight the Japanese army. Under international law at the time, this was synonymous with the United States declaring war on Japan. I think that this is also present in the documents in the United States.

a message was sent to america a day before the attack. the messenger got to pearl 1 day late, the day the attack came

3:48 That map isn't really accurate. Texas historically comprised the lands north and east of the Nueces River and didn't extend into New Mexico (which included much of western Texas including El Paso) or other modern states as Texans or Texas-published textbooks will claim. The Mexican-American War gave the U.S. that land as well, since it was never Texas' to give.