Amaya wrote:Something else to consider, it's not like Japan even suffered after the war. Korea got cut in half, went through a war, and now half of their country is under the control of the world's craziest dictator. Germany got cut in half and half of it was controlled by 'communists' for 5 decades. China enjoyed the wonders of Mau's lovely purges. Japan was occupied by the US for 7 years. Big freaking whoop.
You can thank the Soviets for leaving lunatics in charge of North Korea, and you can thank those lunatics for starting the Korean war.
Similarly, you can thank the cruelty and corruption of the the KMT for communists taking over China. And you can consider the idea that communists would have won with or without Japanese intervention, as communists will almost certainly defeat corrupt military dictatorships sooner or later.
Really, all those things were outside Japanese control.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Frazzled wrote:Not the fault of Japan? Korea was occupied by Japan and brutalized for absolute decades. If it werent' for Japan there would have been no North and South Korea, no Korean War, and no 60 years of cold war.
If the typically expansionist nature of the communist government in Russia hadn't been tempered by the Great War, they would have almost certainly rolled over most of mainland Asia. They would likely only have left China alone because it was going to go communist by itself.
Of all the uncertainties of history, I think one thing we can guarantee is that no matter what we change, in the 20th C in Asia loads of people would have died.
China was invaded by Japan as well. How China would have turned out without the war will not be known, but hundreds of thousands died, if not millions. Would Mao had the support he did after the War? Who knows.
Given the woeful state of the KMT and the reality that they wouldn't have received US aid without Japanese invasion, it would still have happened
Seriously, now you're just obfiscating for a killer regime that rampaged for decades before messing with the wrong country. [/qote]
No-one is doing that. You can say 'Japanese expansion was wrong, and carried out in the most inhumane way' without believing everything would have been sunshine and lollypops without them.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Frazzled wrote:Mmm so now you're equating some petty crimes with industrial sized rape and murder of an entire continent?
It wasn't industrial (I'm not sure 'industrial sized' has a meaning...) That's a really important thing when it comes to understanding what the Japanese did in China, it wasn't planned by government. Unlike Germany, where the atrocities were largely instigated by the Nazi government, the Japanese warcrimes in China were the response of government giving little oversight and very little funding. Coupled with incredibly brutal training regimes, well you get Nanking.
That said, I agree with you that the Japanese leadership got off lightly. Thing there is that justice is a very dangerous thing to demand when the priority needs to be getting the world working again. In the long run of history the world should be grateful, and Americans very proud, of what they did to get Japan back up on its feet. If that meant some of the Japanese leaders got away with their crimes then so be it.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Amaya wrote:EF. The only reason Korea was ever split up was because it was CONTROLLED BY JAPAN and thus a target for the Soviet invasion. Had Korea not been controlled by Japan, the Soviets never would have invaded it. So yes, at the very least, Japan is indirectly responsible for the existance of North Korea and the suffering of its people.
The idea that absent Japan the Soviets wouldn't have ever invaded any Asian countries isn't really supported by history. They'd already engaged in land grabs across Northern China, and had they not suffered so badly in the Great War then expansion would only have increased.
Automatically Appended Next Post: Frazzled wrote:Do you have any instances of that with US troops? I don't know about Australia-I thought they just shot antiaircraft crocodiles and am hesitant to ask where they fought.
And this is why we're so very, very happy to be your allies, and will continue to send our troops to fight alongside you, happy in the knowledge you remain ever grateful of our close fighting relationship.
Catachan LIX "Lords Of Destruction" 
