Military Expansion Quotes
Most Americans do not realize that our naval forces were disbanded after the Revolution and even the Constitution did not require a navy. We had some Federal revenue cutters to interdict smugglers but no warships and no permanent sailors or officers. The Barbary Pirates had an incredible extortion racket going in the Mediterranean. If nations would pay them an annual sum each year, they would not attack and seize merchant ships of that country and sell the ships and goods while holding the sailors for ransom. See {640850},86703,{640846} & {640848}
When the American troops invaded Okinawa, the individual Japanese soldiers and civilians would not surrender, even when completely surrounded and out numbered. Surrender was culturally dishonorable and the Japanese had been told by their leadership that if they did surrender the Americans would kill them anyway. Almost all the Japanese died and the United States forces had an astoundingly high casualty rate—37%. Truman was fearful that there might be hundreds of thousands American casualties in the subduing of the Japanese mainland. The atomic bomb solved that problem.
Note the importance placed on stability even in ancient China. This value even in the 21st Century preoccupied the Chinese government. Next to independence, it is probably the most important Chinese objective because China has seen so many periods of instability some of which killed more Chinese than the Germans did in WWII.
In retrospect Marshall was prescient and if his advice had been followed, the country would have been much better off at the beginning of WWII. The nation was isolated politically and militarily with Republicans and southern Democrats often opposing President Roosevelt’s attempts to help them defend themselves. There was of yet no political will for military preparedness.
America, England, Germany and France Many Japanese leaders predicted war between the Great Powers while America and its European Allies did not see the danger as clearly. Shortly after 1936, Hitler began the Second World War. Japan was indeed prepared. Hiranuma became one of the Japanese extremists and after WWII was convicted of war crimes and given a life sentence.
