How Japan Lost its Empire, MAPPED

Summary

このビデオ脚本は、太平洋戦線における第二次世界大戦の激しい戦いを振り返る。日本は急速に拡大し、資源を確保していたが、アメリカとの関係が悪化。珍珠湾攻撃を契機にアメリカは参戦。日本は成功を収めながらも、アメリカの反撃により太平洋での勢力を失う。最終的にアメリカの原爆投下とソ連の参戦により、日本は無条件降伏。戦争の記憶はこの地域に深く刻まれており、日本が再び軍力を拡大している現状を背景に、地域の緊張が高まっている。

Takeaways

• 🗺️ 第二次世界大战期间，日本迅速扩张，征服领土并利用资源，成为强大的帝国。
• 🛑 1940年代初，由于与纳粹德国结盟并继续扩张，美国、英国和荷兰对日本实施了资源禁运，包括石油、天然气、铁和钢。
• 💥 1941年12月，日本对珍珠港的突袭和对亚洲其他地区的攻击，是其大胆且冒险的一步，极大地推进了其战争目标。
• 🇺🇸 美国及其盟友在珍珠港事件后加入战争，太平洋舰队遭到严重破坏，同时美国也被卷入了二战的欧洲战场。
• 🔄 日本在1942年中达成了驱逐欧洲帝国主义、确保资源的目标，建立了庞大的帝国，实现了自给自足。
• 🔍 美国密码破译者破解了日本的通信，提前得知了日本对中途岛的攻击计划，这为美国海军在中途岛战役中取得胜利提供了关键优势。
• 🚤 美国采用岛屿跳跃战术，针对日本供应线，削弱了日本帝国，逐步逼近日本本土。
• 💣 1945年，美国使用B-29轰炸机对日本本土进行高空轰炸，进一步削弱了日本的战斗力。
• 🌋 冲绳战役是太平洋战争中最血腥的战役之一，美国的胜利为最终入侵日本本土铺平了道路。
• 🌌 面对盟军的无条件投降要求，日本选择不回应，美国随后在广岛和长崎投下了原子弹，导致大量平民死亡，迫使日本最终无条件投降。
• 🏝️ 战后，美国占领了日本，改革了其军事和政治体系，同时在冲绳岛保持了军事存在，以维护亚洲的利益和安全。

Q & A

日本の太平洋への拡大はどのように始まったのですか？

日本の太平洋への拡大は19世紀末に始まり、領土を征服し、資源を獲得しながら急速に拡大しました。

日本の帝国主義拡大の目的は何でしたか？

日本の帝国主義拡大の目的は、資源を抽出し、その成長を支えることでした。

アメリカが日本に対して何をしたことにより、太平洋戦争が始まったのですか？

アメリカは、日本がナチスドイツと同盟を組んだ後、フランス植民地に拡大し、中国との同盟関係を完全に遮断する脅威を感じたため、日本の石油、ガス、鉄、鋼の供給を遮断しました。

真珠湾攻撃の目的は何でしたか？

真珠湾攻撃の目的は、アメリカの太平洋艦隊を攻撃して、彼らがヨーロッパ人を救済するのを防ぐことでした。

日本はなぜアジアからの解放を主張しましたか？

日本は自らの野心的な計画を国民に販売するために、アジアをヨーロッパの支配から解放すると主張しました。

アメリカが日本艦隊に勝利したミッドウェーの戦いはどのように重要でしたか？

ミッドウェーの戦いは日本艦隊の勢いを止めて、アメリカとその同盟国が太平洋戦争の流れを変えるきっかけとなりました。

アメリカはどのようにして日本の供給路線を攻撃しましたか？

アメリカは供給路線を通過する船を攻撃することで、日本の帝国の弱さを利用し、その戦力を弱めました。

アメリカの「島跳び」戦略とは何でしたか？

「島跳び」戦略とは、最も強化された島々ではなく、供給路線に近くてまたアメリカ本土に一歩近づける島々を選択して征服する戦略でした。

オキナワの戦いはどのように太平洋戦争の最後の段階に影響を与えましたか？

オキナワの戦いはアメリカにとって最も価値のある島を掌握し、日本本土への侵略を可能にしましたが、日本の抵抗の激しさをも示しました。

原子爆弾の使用はどのように太平洋戦争の終結に寄与しましたか？

原子爆弾の使用は、アメリカが日本への無条件降伏を促し、さらに多くのアメリカ人やソビエト連邦の介入を避けるための迅速な戦争の終結をもたらしました。

戦後、アメリカはどのように日本の軍事力を管理しましたか？

戦後、アメリカは日本の軍事力を排除し、戦犯を裁判し、オキナワ島に数多くの兵士を派遣して占領権力を行使しました。

現在の太平洋地域の緊張は、第二次世界大戦の記憶とどのように関連していますか？

太平洋地域の緊張は、第二次世界大戦の記憶と密接に関連しており、特に被爆された都市や南の島々でその影響が強く感じられます。

Outlines

00:00

🌏 太平洋戦争の勃発

太平洋地域が緊張を高める中、日本が急速に領土拡大を進め、資源を確保し帝国を築いていく様子が描かれています。1940年代に入ると、日本はアメリカからの重要な資源である石油と金属に依存しており、アメリカは日本を警戒しながらも我慢しています。しかし、日本がナチスドイツと同盟を組んだ後、フランス植民地に進出し、アメリカの同盟国である中国との連絡を完全に遮ることになったため、アメリカは日本への資源供給を断ち切ります。これにより日本は2年以内に資源が枯渇すると予想し、急速に南東アジアの豊富な資源地帯へ進出し、欧州帝国主義からアジアを解放すると宣伝しながら、実際には自国の資源確保を図る計画を進めました。その一環として、1941年12月に真珠湾攻撃を仕掛け、アメリカを含む同盟国との戦争を引き起こしました。

05:02

🔍 ミッドウェー海戦の転機

アメリカの暗号解読チームが日本軍の作戦を事前に知り、日本軍の攻撃計画に対処する準備を整えています。4日間の激戦の末、アメリカは日本海軍を敗北させ、4つの貴重な空母を破壊しました。これは日本軍の勢いを大きく阻み、アメリカとその同盟国が太平洋戦争の潮流を変える契機となりました。アメリカは日本帝国の供給路線を狙い、戦略的島々を征服することで、日本の戦力を弱め、太平洋戦争の進展を好転させました。

10:02

🗺️ アメリカの「島跳び」戦略

アメリカ軍は太平洋戦線での進撃において、距離の大きな問題に直面しています。しかし、アメリカは日本の供給路線を標的にし、戦略的島々を征服することで日本の帝国を削る「島跳び」戦略を採用しました。この戦略により、アメリカは日本軍の強固な拠点を避けつつ、日本の供給路線を断つことで、日本の戦力を弱め、太平洋での支配力を回復させました。特に、南の重要な軍事拠点に対するアメリカの供給船攻撃は、日本軍の戦力を大幅に削ぎました。

15:04

💥 原子爆弾投下と終戦

1945年、アメリカ軍は日本本土への進攻を計画中ですが、オキナワ島の血痕累々の戦闘から、日本本土への侵攻が多大な犠牲を伴うことを認識しています。一方、ソ連は日本の降伏を求める同盟国共同声明に日本が返信しないことを拒絶と見なし、アメリカは新開発の原子爆弾を用いて戦争を迅速に終わらせることを決断します。ヒロシマとナガサキに原子爆弾を投下し、ソ連も日本に対して戦争を宣言。これにより、日本は無条件降伏を決定し、第二次世界大戦は終結しました。

🏝️ 戦後の沖縄と日本

戦後、アメリカは日本の軍事力を排除し、戦犯を処罰しました。オキナワ島にはアメリカの軍事基地が建設され、アメリカはアジアでの利益を守るために1970年代まで占領しました。現在も多くのアメリカ軍がオキナワに駐留し、日本の主要な安全保障の源となっています。この地域の緊張が再び高まっている中、日本は再び軍事力を拡大していますが、戦争の記憶は住民の心に深く刻まれています。

Keywords

💡太平洋戦争

太平洋戦争は、第二次世界大戦におけるアジア太平洋地域での戦争を指し、日本とアメリカ合衆国をはじめとする連合国の間で起こった重要な戦闘です。このキーワードは、ビデオの主題である第二次世界大戦における太平洋地域での戦いを象徴しており、特に日本が進軍を続けた太平洋の島々や、アメリカ合衆国の反撃など、ビデオの重要な場面に登場します。

💡日本帝国

日本帝国は、19世紀末から20世紀にかけて、日本の領土や植民地を指す用語で、ビデオでは日本が急速に拡大し、多くの島々を征服し、資源を抽出することで強大な帝国を築いたことを示しています。ビデオの主題に密接に関連しており、日本の太平洋での進出や、その後のアメリカとの戦いにおいて重要な役割を果たしています。

💡資源

資源は、国や組織が発展や戦争を続けるための重要な物資を指し、ビデオでは日本が石油や金属などの資源を必要としていたことが触れられています。これらの資源の不足は、日本の戦略決定に大きな影響を与え、アメリカとの戦争につながった要因の一つです。

💡真珠湾攻撃

真珠湾攻撃は、ビデオで触れられている日本のアメリカ太平洋艦隊に対する奇襲攻撃を指し、第二次世界大戦の太平洋戦争を開始した重要な事件です。この攻撃は、日本の戦略的野心を示し、アメリカを含む連合国の参戦を引き起こしました。

💡航空母艦

航空母艦は、ビデオで強調されている第二次世界大戦における重要な軍事資源です。日本の攻撃力の中心であり、アメリカがミッドウェー戦役で日本を敗らせるための戦略的目標でした。航空母艦の損失は、日本の海軍戦力を著しく弱め、戦争の方向性を変えた重要な要素です。

💡島嶼作戦

島嶼作戦は、ビデオで説明されているアメリカ軍が太平洋戦争で使用した戦略です。アメリカ軍は、日本帝国の供給路線を切断することで、日本を弱め、太平洋の島々を一歩一歩進むことで勝利に向かいました。この戦略は、ビデオの主題に深く関わっており、アメリカの勝利への道を築いた重要な役割を果たしています。

💡オキナワ

オキナワは、ビデオで触れられている太平洋戦争の最後の大きな戦いが行われた島です。アメリカ軍はこの島を掌握することで、日本の本土への侵攻が可能となり、ビデオの重要な節点を象徴しています。オキナワ戦役は、ビデオの主題に密接に関連しており、戦争の結末を決定する重要な戦いとして描かれています。

💡原子爆弾

原子爆弾は、ビデオで強調されている第二次世界大戦の最後の段階でアメリカが使用した最終兵器です。ヒロシマとナガサキへの爆撃は、ビデオの主題に深く関わり、戦争の終結をもたらし、歴史の転換点となった出来事です。このキーワードは、ビデオのメッセージと結びつき、戦争の悲惨さと人間の愚かさを示しています。

💡無条件降伏

無条件降伏は、ビデオで触れられている日本が第二次世界大戦で行った行為で、アメリカやソビエト連邦からの要求に応じて、戦争を終わらせることを決定しました。このキーワードは、ビデオの最終段階を象徴しており、戦争の結末と平和の到来を意味しています。

💡供給路線

供給路線は、ビデオでアメリカ軍が戦略的に狙った日本の弱点のひとつで、ビデオの中ではアメリカ軍が日本の島々を征服しながら、日本の供給路線を切断し、その戦力を弱めていく戦略を用いたことを示しています。供給路線の切断は、ビデオの主題に密接に関連しており、アメリカの勝利に寄与した重要な要素です。

Highlights

日本在太平洋地区的扩张和对资源的控制导致了与美国的紧张关系。

1940年代初，日本帝国的版图包括太平洋中的数百个偏远岛屿。

日本依赖美国提供的石油和金属等关键资源。

日本与纳粹德国结盟，进一步扩张，威胁到美国与中国的联系。

美国、英国和荷兰对日本实施资源禁运，导致日本资源短缺。

日本计划向南扩张，夺取石油和金属资源，减少对外界的依赖。

1941年12月，日本对珍珠港的突袭标志着其更广泛攻势的开始。

珍珠港事件后，美国及其盟友对日本宣战，太平洋战争爆发。

日本在接下来的七个月中占领了更多领土，但美国的太平洋舰队遭到重创。

1942年中，日本成功驱逐欧洲帝国，确保了资源丰富的帝国。

日本计划继续东扩至澳大利亚，目标是中途岛。

美国密码破译者破解了日本的通信，预知了中途岛的攻击计划。

中途岛海战中，美国海军击败了日本，摧毁了四艘航空母舰。

美国开始采用跳跃式战略，逐步削弱日本的供应线。

美国潜艇在战争中击沉了大量日本商船和军舰。

1945年，美国继续推进，夺回菲律宾，并部署B-29轰炸机。

日本在战争中采取了神风特攻队的自杀式攻击战术。

美国在冲绳岛的战斗中取得了胜利，但付出了巨大的代价。

美国在考虑是否使用原子弹或苏联的参与来结束战争。

1945年8月，美国在广岛和长崎投下原子弹，迫使日本无条件投降。

战后，美国占领日本，改革其军事和政治体系。

美国在冲绳岛保持军事存在，作为在亚洲的利益和日本的安全保障。

战争的记忆仍然影响着当地人民，特别是在被轰炸的城市和被入侵的南部岛屿。

随着地区紧张局势的再次升级，日本正在重新扩大其军事力量。

Transcripts

- [Reporter] It is no joke. It is a real war.

(tense music)

Japan has made a very severe attack.

- [Johnny] This region, the Pacific,

recently, it's heating up.

And now is probably a good time to rewind

and remember what this region looked like,

back when there was a war happening out here

on these islands.

A war between great powers.

Let's start right here, at the end of the 1800s,

when Japan is expanding.

Fast.

(reflective music)

Conquering territory, taking the resources,

becoming a powerful empire.

By 1940, their empire looks like this.

It includes hundreds of remote islands out here

in the Pacific.

And Japan uses these colonies to extract resources

that fed this growing conquest.

But they don't have everything they need yet.

They still rely on the US for the most vital of resources:

oil and metal.

Now, the US doesn't necessarily like

how aggressive Japan is being in their region,

but they tolerate it.

That is, until Japan allies itself with Nazi Germany

and then continues its expansion into a French colony

and threatens to completely cut off the US

from its ally, China.

So the US, along with Britain and the Netherlands,

cut Japan off of oil, gas, iron, and steel.

These are vital resources, so this is a major blow to Japan.

They calculate that they only have two more years

before they run out of this vital energy.

They must act quickly.

So they start looking further south

to land that is known to have a lot of oil.

The problem for Japan is that this is all controlled

by European empires.

Japan makes a plan to kick out all of these Europeans

and establish their own access to oil and metal

so they aren't reliant on outsiders.

And they sell this ambitious plan to their people

by saying that they actually want to liberate Asia

from European domination.

So in December 1941, they initiate this plan,

sending ships and planes to drop bombs all over the region

that they want to conquer.

And to stop the Americans

from coming to the Europeans' rescue,

Japan has already sent a large chunk of its Navy

to surprise the Americans

by bombing their Navy in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

It was their first step

for kicking off this larger offensive.

- [Reporter] A severe bombing of Pearl Harbor by-

- [Johnny] The attacks on Pearl Harbor

and all over Asia were a huge, bold,

and risky move for Japan.

No one thought they would do it;

it came as a massive surprise.

And as a result,

it was incredibly successful for Japan's goals:

the US and its allies are now at war.

But beating back Japan will not be easy.

Japan has a powerful Navy.

And not only is America's Pacific fleet severely damaged

because of the attack on Pearl Harbor,

but around this same time,

Hitler has taken the moment to declare war on the US,

dragging them into the European theater of World War II.

Over the next seven months, Japan takes even more territory.

- [President Roosevelt] Powerful and resourceful gangsters

have banded together to make war upon the whole human race.

Their challenge has now been flung

at the United States of America.

Together with other free peoples,

we are now fighting to maintain our right to live,

among our world neighbors, in freedom, in common decency,

without fear of assault.

We are now in this war.

- [Johnny] The US has to surrender the Philippines,

its foothold in the Pacific.

And Japan forces capture

and kill tens of thousands of American and Filipino troops

in just one of what would become many horrific war crimes

they commit during this war.

By the middle of 1942,

Japan has achieved its goals of kicking out European empires

and securing for itself a massive empire full of resources.

They're now self-sufficient, and they're growing.

And they're not done.

They're drunk on all of this success,

and some military leaders want to keep pushing east.

All the way to here,

which would cut the US off from its big ally, Australia.

So they set their sights on this American base,

located on a small atoll called Midway.

If they could take Midway, the US would be so weak,

Japan calculates, that they would be forced

to settle this conflict,

leaving Japan with all of this newly conquered territory.

Alas, that's not what happened.

In May of 1942,

Japan sends a massive fleet of hundreds of planes,

accompanied by battleships, cruisers,

destroyers, and submarines,

as well as four of their precious aircraft carriers.

Now remember, this is World War II,

and you can't really fight a war out here in the ocean

without aircraft carriers,

which enabled Japan's planes to land

and refuel while fighting deep out in this ocean.

Aircraft carriers are vital.

So Japan is preparing to conquer Midway.

But what they don't know is that American code breakers

in Hawaii have cracked Japan's encrypted communication

and are aware of their battle plans days before the attack.

This makes all the difference,

and in a four-day battle,

the US defeats Japan's Navy at Midway,

destroying all four of their precious aircraft carriers

in the process.

- [Reporter] The odds looked impossible,

but when it was all over,

the Japanese had suffered their greatest naval defeat

in history.

- It's a huge blow to Japan's momentum,

and from here, the US and its allies start

to turn the tide on this war in the Pacific.

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Let's dive back into this map of World War II.

(tense music)

So here's a problem for both sides: distance.

It's sort of hard to fathom the distances out here.

Like, you could fit the mainland United States

in just one small part of the Japanese empire.

And remember that the US military has

to travel thousands of kilometers just to get here.

Distance is also a problem for Japan,

who, yes, just conquered all of this territory,

but that means that it now has to ship resources

back to the mainland.

It has to get men, doctors, food,

and supplies out to all of this land,

thousands of kilometers away,

creating brand-new supply routes.

We found this old Japanese map drawn up during the war

that shows all of these colonies,

shaded with a red marker,

and showing this dizzying web of supply lines needed

to keep the war going.

This was a logistical nightmare for Japan,

but it was also a key vulnerability

that the US would exploit in this conflict.

So the US begins cutting into the Japanese empire.

It's off to a slow start,

but eventually they settle onto a strategy

of targeting certain islands.

Not the ones that were the most fortified,

but the ones that would get them one step closer

to the Japanese mainland,

but also give them proximity to these supply lines.

The supply lines that keep Japan's war machine running.

The US starts conquering these lesser-fortified islands,

and using them to target the ships that carry food

and weapons and supplies throughout the Japanese empire.

I found this dataset that shows every merchant vessel

that the US and its allies sunk during these years.

It's a lot.

American submarines alone would go on to sink 5 million tons

of Japanese shipping and naval vessels.

This strategy of targeting the supply lines was

a game changer for the US,

allowing them to weaken the Japanese empire

by targeting its cargo, like they did down here

in this key Japanese military stronghold

in the south of the empire.

The US and its allies first conquered nearby islands

and then used these islands as a jumping-off point

to target the supply lines.

But instead of mounting an attack on this stronghold,

the US focused on the supply ships

that were bringing food, ammunition, reinforcements,

and medical supplies to this stronghold.

This left tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers stranded

to die of starvation and disease.

The US was able to take out a key Japanese base

without having to fight a battle.

The island hopping strategy was really working.

And if you look closely at this map,

you'll see that it allowed the US

to bypass these heavily fortified Japanese islands,

focusing more on cutting them off

than trying to conquer them,

while also getting the US closer and closer to the mainland.

As 1945 rolls around, the US continues to beat Japan back.

The two US forces converge to retake the Philippines.

All these newly captured islands allow the US

to deploy their new high-tech plane:

the B-29 bomber.

This thing could fly super high

and deep into the Japanese mainland

and drop 20,000 pounds worth of bombs.

(tense music)

Japan is clearly losing by now,

so they start to resort to more brutal tactics,

like having their pilots fly their planes

into US ships in suicide attacks.

A deadly tactic that not only led to immense damage

to the US Navy, but also had a psychological element.

A realization that the enemy was willing to go

to great lengths to fight back.

But even so, Japan's empire continued to shrink,

almost as quickly as it had expanded.

But the closer the US gets to the mainland,

the more brutal the fighting is becoming.

For a variety of reasons,

there's really only one path to invade the mainland.

You have to hop along this southern island chain

and invade from the south.

So the US sets their sights

on perhaps the most important island in the Pacific:

Okinawa.

Japan knows that the US is coming for Okinawa,

so they recruit around 40,000 local men,

giving some of them only spears to defend themselves.

Together with the army,

they dig tunnels and caves and trenches and bunkers.

The army gives out hand grenades to civilians,

telling them to commit suicide instead of surrender,

warning them that the Americans will be brutal

and violent to anyone they capture.

Japan wants this battle to convince the Americans

that invading the mainland is a bad idea.

It's their last-ditch effort to avoid defeat.

The US hits the beach at Okinawa,

starting one of the bloodiest battles of the entire war.

82 days of violence that leaves a third

of the population dead.

A total of around 100,000 Japanese

in addition to 12,000 American soldiers.

And the US wins.

They now control the most valuable island of them all,

the island that will enable them to invade the mainland.

But they're also left with a horrifying clarity of

how serious Japan is about not surrendering,

about fighting until the very end.

Invading the mainland will be costly.

Meanwhile, in Europe,

Hitler and his allies have been defeated.

The winners get together and issue a statement to Japan:

unconditional surrender,

or face prompt and utter destruction.

Now that Hitler is defeated,

the Soviet Union is also preparing to join the US

to deal the final blow to Japan.

But Japan doesn't reply to the demand for surrender,

and the Allies see this as a rejection.

Back in the US, in the deserts of the Southwest,

the US has just successfully tested an atomic bomb.

So now they have a decision to make.

They either continue their momentum

and invade the mainland of Japan

and face not only Japanese soldiers,

but civilian militias of potentially tens

of millions of citizens ready to fight.

And it would also involve the Soviet Union participating,

which means if they won the war with the Soviet's help,

they would have to split control

and influence over Japan's empire after the war.

Or the second option was to use their new powerful bomb

to swiftly end the war,

with no more loss of American lives

and much less Soviet influence in post-war Japan.

They could do it on their own

while also sending a message to the Soviets

that they were the most powerful.

On August 6th, 1945, they chose the second plan.

(otherworldly music)

They dropped this unfathomably powerful bomb

on the city of Hiroshima,

releasing a hellfire the world had never seen

and killing 140,000 people,

almost all of them civilians,

forever altering the course of history.

Two days later, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan

and began rapidly taking their territory.

When Japan still doesn't surrender,

the US drops another bomb.

This one on the city of Nagasaki.

The Soviets continue to rapidly take territory,

and it's more clear than ever that it is over for Japan.

While some factions of the Japanese army still don't want

to surrender, the emperor goes around them

and tells the nation that it's over.

Japan is unconditionally surrendering.

The Americans moved in,

took away Japan's powerful military,

prosecuted the war criminals,

and sent tens of thousands of troops

to the vital island of Okinawa,

where the US stayed as the occupying power until the 1970s,

and where they still have tens of thousands of troops

that serve American interests in Asia,

while also being Japan's main source of security.

The memory of this war is still

in the minds of the people here,

especially for those in the cities that were bombed

and the southern islands that were invaded.

And as this region becomes tense again,

Japan is now expanding its military once again.

Mostly down here on these vital islands.

I traveled here to see what that looks like

and to talk to the people about what this feels like,

what they're worried about.

And I'll be sharing that story in an upcoming video.

- Let's pray that peace be now restored

to the world,

and that God will preserve it always.

These proceedings are closed.

(somber music)