The roots of Japanese Militarism can be found in the Meiji Restoration (late 1860s). In brief, the Restoration ended the rule of the Shoguns which had dominated Japan for centuries. The leaders of the Meiji Restoration started to reform the system of the country, acting in the name of Japan’s emperor with the goal to restore the emperor’s powers and position – in government and in the identity of Japan. But, the leaders also kept to themselves a number of powers. Even after the Meiji Restoration a small group had the real power and ruled in the name of the emperor. While the governmental form was a constitutional monarchy with the Emperor as leader of the nation, the real power lay in the hands of the military.

Japan rapidly industrialized and modernized its military in response to Western colonial ambitions in the Western Pacific and Asia region. While the process and history is far more complex than this article can describe, it is ironic that Japan’s ambitions – apart from leadership of the Asiatic sphere – was to establish colonies of its own. Japan lacked natural resources (oil, rubber, iron), making it vulnerable to embargoes by western powers and so expansion into Asia was seen as essential for economic security, survival, and growth as Japan took its place among world powers. At the same time rising population in the Japanese home islands led to calls for “living space” for its people. Colonies were viewed as necessary to settle Japanese farmers and laborers – or simply as sources to supply natural resources, including food. One result was the development of an ideology of the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” which promoted pan-Asian unity under Japanese leadership. This became the justification for imperial rule as a way to liberate Asia from Western colonialism, though the result would be a different form of colonialism.

As part of its own colonial ambitions, the military adopted western military models, particularly German army and British naval doctrines. Intrinsic to the evolving military was the rise in ultranationalism, with the military held up to the people as the guardian of the emperor and national destiny. The military adopted a Samurai ethics (Bushidō) reinterpreted to support self-sacrifice, loyalty, and aggression. Over time this ethic was instilled in the people with indoctrination programs beginning in primary education.

Along the way, from the late 1920s to the 1930s, military officers increasingly dominated Japanese politics. A radical faction of young army officers (the Kōdōha faction) sought to establish an even more aggressive military posture and an overthrow of the civilian government. There were assassinations of civilian and military leaders deemed to be obstacles. This led to the “February 26 Incident” which was an attempted military coup in 1936. The coup was defeated, its leaders executed, but now the military, free from infighting, increased its control over the civilian government, which had been severely weakened by the assassination of key moderate and liberal-minded leaders. An end result was that the military held 2/3rds of the cabinet positions with veto power over any proposition.

Image credit: various photographs from Naval Aviation Museum, National World War II Museum, and US Navy Archives.