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Japan was not a major actor in World War 1, but it did play a role.
Right as war broke in August of 1914, the Japanese were interested in taking control of German posessions
and they were already allies with the British
so they communicated with the British
and they came to an agreement that
if Japan were to attack German posessions
in the Pacific and in China
then Japan could take control of them
and so Japan proceeded to do this
in particular it took a siege of Sing Tao
which, we already talked about, was a German posession
these are Japanese boats landing there
Japanese troops
and this was of technological significance
it was the first time that you had a naval based aerial assault
this wasn't really using
what we would consider aircraft carriers
although they did carry the aircraft
but they would place them into the water
and the aircraft would take off from the water
as they tried to take the town of Sing Tao
which they were eventually able to do
by the end of 1914
On top of that they were able to take control
of many of Germany's other posessions
in the Pacific
specifically the Pacific islands
And on top of that Japan did send
some aspects, or some parts of it's navy
to help protect allied fleets
as far away as the Mediterranean
Japan did play a role here
The other interesting historical note
because of Japan's involvement in World War 1
is what came out of the negotiations
First of all, by being involved
kind of put Japan at the seat of major powers
and as we will see in World War 2
Japan ends up being one of the major players
in World War 2
and it's essentially going on the other side
by that point
But because of it's help of the Allies
Japan does have a seat at the table
of the Paris Peace Conference
And as they are negotiating the treaty of Versailles
and coming up with the Leauge of Nations
Japan is eager to, kind of, have an equal
footing with all the other European powers
and so it attempts to place this
in the charter for the Leauge of Nations
the equality of nations being a basic principle
of the League of Nations
the high contracting parties agree to accord
as soon as possible to all alien nationals
of states members of the League
equal and just treatment in every respect
let me underline that
equal and just treatment in every respect
making no distinction either in law or in fact
on account of their race or nationality
essentially the Japanese were saying
hey look, you Europeans, you guys have to view us
and based on the way this is phrased
other people as equals
And just to get a sense of what the world was like then
this was not passed
even though the Leauge of Nations was the product of these very idealistic thoughts
by Woodrow Wilson
it did not get passed
obviously the British may have subjugated many people in their empires
Woodrow Wilson was afraid that if this were to be included in the Leauge of Nations
it would have trouble passing
getting ratified in the segregated South
we now know later that the League of Nations
was not ratified anyway
and so this essentially does not happen
And even the Japanese themselves
they were eager for equality for themselves
but as we will see as we enter the World War 2
they themselves had a sense of racial superiority
and they subjugated many of the other people in Asia
especially the Chinese and the Koreans
This is an interesting quote for the Chinese delegation
We are not too proud to fight, but we are to proud to accept a place of admitted inferiority
in dealing with one of more of the associated nations
We want nothing but simple justice
So tells you how different the world was
this is not even a hundred years ago
and the real relevance of World War 1
for Japan
was it elevated it to becoming one of the powers of the world