Apush Dbq 22

Improved Essays
During the late 1930's, the Japanese crossed the border into the Soviet Union and the border with Mongolia, a Soviet ally, several times. Each time, the Soviets threw the Japanese back. The final salvo of this undeclared war was the Nomonhan Incident or Battles of Khalkhin Gol,[1] which occurred in 1939. The Soviet-Mongolian force, led by Georgy Zhukov, who would later go on to command troops at Stalingrad, Leningrad, Kursk and Berlin, threw the Japanese back. The Soviets then kept the border heavily armed.

Two years later, the situation hadn't really changed much. The Japanese were even more bogged down in the war in China than they'd been two years earlier[2] and were running into serious issues with regards to resupply, oil and rubber in
…show more content…
In 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army had 51 divisions. 27 were engaged in fighting the Chinese. That would have left 24 to spare going against the Soviets. The Soviets would have been able to detect a troop build-up that large and wouldn't have moved their own forces. The Russians had 31 divisions in Siberia at the time and would have had considerable depth in defense, not to mention a very bitter winter for which the Japanese would not have been prepared.

Even if the Japanese had managed to push past the border with the Soviets - something that they had not successfully done to that point - they would have been in trouble very quickly. Siberia was, and still remains, underdeveloped in infrastructure, including roads. Making speedy progress would have been impossible, and making slow progress would have chewed up a massive amount of oil and rubber, things that the Japanese were already running low on thanks to an embargo. Sure, there's oil in Siberia, but that was a barely tapped resource in the early 1940's. The Japanese couldn't have relied on
…show more content…
One would have thought that, in the event of a war with the Soviet Union, the IJA would have shared trucks and other such logistical support vehicles with the Imperial Japanese Navy. In truth, the IJA and the IJN were engaged in a near constant pissing competition and rarely cooperated on such matters. The IJA could not have gotten very far into Siberia without running out of ammunition and food.

And again, that's if they didn't get beaten back at the border.

This leaves the question of the pincer: would a Japanese attack have allowed the Nazis to successfully complete Operation Barbarossa's objectives? Well, probably not. While it's certainly true that being able to transfer troops out of Siberia helped the Soviet war effort, the Nazis only made it to Moscow in October of 1941 and weren't doing well by that point. Most of their motor vehicles - trucks, tanks and the like - were out of commission and there had been substantial casualties to that point. The German war effort was largely reliant on horse-drawn supply lines by that point, so that the Nazis were on the very edge of their non-winter operational abilities in the Battle of Moscow. When winter hit, the Germans weren't prepared and couldn't get winter supplies to their troops. It's therefore unlikely that Moscow would have fallen. The Soviets likely would have taken longer in pushing the Nazis away from Moscow, but it still probably would have

Related Documents

  • Great Essays

    The Russo-Japanese War

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages

    One of the reason is the transportation problem from Russia. Before the war, in late 19th century, Russia launched to build railway on Chinese territory for commercial exploitation. But this was a bad news for Japan. “The potential of the railway as an instrument of economic control, colonisation and military policy caused alarm among Japanese leaders.” But, later on, as the war begins, Russia used the railway, the Trans-Siberian Railroad, as the military transportation.…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The next reason Japan might have attack the US, because US was trying to control Japan. In document E, Japan is trying to take China…

    • 302 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Through industrialization and colonization, Japan became an economically established participant of global competition over trade. To withstand Western pressure, Japan felt the need to industrialize because “Japan as an agricultural country cannot stand against Russia, Australia, Canada, or America.” (Doc 7) However, since Japan consists of numerous disconnected smaller islands, and it lacks valuable resources, except silk and coal, Japan struggled to meet the high demands of the Western consumers. As a result, Japan utilized its exceptional army to gain resourceful puppet states Manchuria and Korea, where gold, coal, iron ore, petroleum, copper and bauxite were abundant.…

    • 319 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Pearl Harbor Dbq Analysis

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Quite a few of Japan’s resources were acquired through trade with the United States. However, the U.S. started to cease trade with Japan. In 1939, the United States began “an embargo of aircraft and aircraft parts against Japan,” (Doc C). Later, in 1941, the U.S. froze “all Japanese assets and bank accounts,” and imposed “an embargo on oil shipments to Japan,” (Doc C). Japan needed these assets to continue expanding their empire.…

    • 425 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    After Japan occupied Manchuria they ran low on supplies and that led to their attack on Pearl Harbor. As relations with the US “sank” (BBC News) Japan’s main supplier of…

    • 225 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The most important being the higher echelons of the Japanese government setting aside their pride and coming to their senses. In a world where this occurred, they would have seen the blatant truth that Japan was absolutely no match for the United States military and economic power. In the event of Japan…

    • 2182 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Guadalcanal Campaign

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Japan after Guadalcanal no longer had any hope of withstanding the offensive of the increasing powerful United…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Turning Point in World War Two Plan of the Investigation Why did Operation Barbarossa fail to meet its objectives in 1941? This topic is important as codename Barbarossa was the largest campaign in terms of manpower ever launched , and its failure started the turn of the tides that would ultimately cause Hitler and Nazi Germany 's destruction. A brief overview on the causes and objectives of the operation will be given, referencing Hitler 's Mein Kampf, and then the reasons for failure will be examined: underestimating Soviet forces, fighting a two-front war, setbacks due to Soviet partisan brigades, Hitler 's indecisiveness, and the Russian weather and terrain. The evidence will be collected from a variety of secondary sources…

    • 1703 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Atomic Bomb Dbq Essay

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Japan had already been militarily defeated by June, 1945. Japan’s Air Force had been almost completely destroyed. Also, almost nothing was left of the Imperial…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Time was on Russia 's side. Strike sooner than later.(North pg.8A)This supports my reason Germany couldn’t fight a two front war so instead the germans still decided to attack even earlier than before causing even more weakness in the army. North also quotes While the initial success of Barbarossa had been significant, the Germans failed to subdue the Soviet Union by the time the first snows fell in November 1941. The worsening weather made combat operations difficult for the German soldiers struggling to reach Moscow (North pg.8A)The Germans should have waited after the winter months to begin Operation Barbarossa but they decided to push thinking the russians could be easily defeated but they were…

    • 1525 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    They didn’t like what the Japanese was doing so they said they would even fight against…

    • 779 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Despite the best efforts of the Japanese Ambassadors and American Secretary during negotiations, it seems the path to war had been set. The Japanese believed East Asia would crumble without their support, that they were the stabilizing force. Even while in talks with the Americans, Japan was preparing their Army and Navy for open hostilities. Undeterred by four years of hardship, they took for granted the support of their people in this endeavor. They posited that their demands were weak and should not be met with opposition and supposed the United States had an ulterior motive in regard to China, a key piece in the negotiations.…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Stalin ignored no fewer than eighty warnings of Hitler's intentions of Operation Barbarossa over eight month.” Stalin had plenty of time to prepare for the war with this warning. He had no excuses for not having weapons made or having the Red Army prepared to fight. Instead, he had them build a new line: “The Red Army had spent more time building fortification than training.” Building this new line took time out of training so when the Germans attacked they were not ready to fight.…

    • 838 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    How Did Hitler Lose Ww2

    • 2060 Words
    • 9 Pages

    In the first day of the attack over 40% of the USSR 's bombers were wiped out. But the Germans had grossly underestimated the true size of the Russian…

    • 2060 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    In 1932, the Japanese army invaded Manchuria, threw out the Chinese, and set up their own government there. China asked the League to help. The League sent officials to study the problem (this took a year). In February 1933 it ordered Japan to leave Manchuria, Japan refused to leave Manchuria. Instead, Japan left the League.…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays