Matthew Miller

Mr. Palcsey

Honors English 10

April 24, 2018

A Comparison Between Germany and Japan During World War Two

After World War I, the world was burned to the ground and from the ashes arose the most

brutal totalitarian dictatorships of all time. The weakened superpowers of Britain and France

were terrified of another war. The U.S. descended into a period of isolationism, reluctant to

engage in another war overseas after the massive losses they had suffered. This set the stage for

two great evils to rise, Nazi Germany and Japan. These two countries were part of the Axis

powers of World War II. They shared many similarities in their entry into the war, their leaders,

their belief in racial superiority and their quick and mobile military tactics.

The world was changed forever after World War I. Just a few decades later, what made

Germany so eager for war once more? Germany’s motivation stemmed from a variety of factors,

the first being the ineffectiveness of the Treaty of Versailles. The Treaty of Versailles marked the

official end of World War I and the terms were discussed only between the winning alliance of

the war. Thus, Germany was not represented. Britain and France suffered immense loss of lives

and infrastructure during World War I and they wanted to crush Germany. Britain and France

dismantled the German military, took Germany’s colonies, and imposed the “War Guilt Clause”.

This Clause required Germany to pay for damages they caused the Allies, nearly thirty-three

billion dollars at the time (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica). Since the Germans were

locked out of the Treaty of Versailles, they used it as a rally point. As Murray says, in his book
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A War to Be Won, “From the first, the Germans dreamed of overturning the Treaty of Versailles,

which had codified their humiliation.” (Murray and Millett 2). With the huge debt of the War

Guilt Clause, the German economy crumbled, putting Germany in a massive depression and

causing tensions to mount. The Germans lost all military prevalence with the restrictions

imposed by the Treaty of Versailles and the economic depression kept it from importing

materials such as oil, iron, and nickel (Murray and Millett 3-4). This dramatic weakening of

Germany gave rise to one very famous man, Adolf Hitler.

During this same period, Japan was beginning its plunge once again into war. Unlike

Germany, The Japanese, who were part of the Allies during World War I, were included in the

discussion of the Treaty of Versailles. However, the Japanese were given almost none of their

promised rewards for helping the Allies. This caused deep Japanese resentment and increased

distrust of the West. Japan also suffered from an economic depression that started in 1926.

Like Germany, the embers of depression and the perceived mistreatment by the Allies created a

perfect breeding ground for Japanese Nationalists to rise. (Japan’s Quest for Power and World

War II in Asia). With the upswing of Japanese Nationalism new ideals came into place, the

biggest being the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.” The Great East Asia Co-Prosperity

Sphere was Japan’s goal for domination of the Pacific and Asia. Japan was fueled by its

weakened state to aim for expansion. The Japanese Nationalists began to take a foothold in

Japan, just like the Nazis had in Germany.

“A national mood of self-pity and self-indulgence fueled the Nazi Party Attractiveness.”

(Murray and Millett 3) Through the combination of the Treaty of Versailles restrictions and

German’s subsequent depression, Germans started to turn against their neighbors and this gave

rise to intense nationalism. This nationalism gave rise to the Nazi Party. Hitler was the
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backbone of the Nazi Party. Hitler’s intense ideals fit right in with the depraved and humiliated

German people of World War I and he used this to his advantage. As Hitler declared in one of

his earlier speeches:

In the political sphere we lost first our military prerogatives, and with that loss went the
real sovereignty of our State, and then our financial independence, for there remained
always the Reparations Commission so that practically we have no longer a politically
independent German Reich, we are already a colony of the outside world. We have
contributed to this because so far as possible we humiliated ourselves morally, we
positively destroyed our own honor and helped to befoul, to besmirch, and to deny
everything which we previously held as sacred. (Hitler Historical Museum)

After gaining power, Hitler established a brutal totalitarianism and made himself the sole head of

Germany. He united the people under his “Third Reich,” named after the two major eras in

German history: The Holy Roman Empire and the German Empire. After convincing the

German people to support his plans for a strengthened Germany, he began to carefully plan his

ascent to domination. Using the weakness of the French and British leaders and their reluctance

to enforce the weapons restrictions of the Treaty of Versailles, Hitler slowly and methodically

began to build his military (Murray and Millett 4-5). The resultant powerful German military

gave Hitler confidence to enter World War II.

Back in Japan, Emperor Hirohito was rising like the sun after which their country is

named. Japan was originally going through a democratic revolution, but the wrecked economy,

increasing tensions, and political upheavals led to the collapse of this movement (History.com

Staff). These circumstances set the stage for Emperor Hirohito to rise in power. Much like Hitler,

Emperor Hirohito was a man to be feared. Unlike Hitler, Emperor Hirohito was worshipped like

a god. Traditionally, the emperor was a symbol of Japanese culture and the head of the Shintô

religion, which fostered the belief that the emperor is a descendant of the goddess Amaterasu

(Asia for Educators). As Hirohito gained power, he began to slowly overtake the government,
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firing one prime minister after another, until only those that supported his ideas for expansion

were left in power. He eventually elected Hideki Tôjô as Prime Minister. Prime Minister Tojo

forced the policies of the government on the Japanese people using police, military, propaganda,

and brainwashing, just like Hitler in Nazi Germany. (Asia for Educators). Hirohito and his fellow

Nationalists focused on regaining the glory of ancient Japan, just as Hitler wanted to regain the

glory of the great Reichs of Germany.

Back in Germany, Hitler was speaking about a glorious Aryan race to which all pure-

blooded Germans were a part. Through relentless propaganda, the people of Germany believed

that they were the superior people. Those who were not part of this Aryan Race, were seen as

lesser people to be either conquered or eliminated. (Beevor 18). Hitler spoke of wanting to

establish a “New Order” in Germany, which he cleverly disguised as a movement towards

cultural and social enrichment. Hitler’s New Order was actually a plan to take over Europe and

use its resources to support the German “supermen” (Hoobler 10). When Germany took over a

country, they had special SS Officers to overtake the “inferior” peoples (Hoobler 10). When

Poland was captured, Jews were taken out of their home and sent to slums by these SS Officers.

The Jewish people were ultimately sent off to the infamous death camps by these same officers.

This perceived racial superiority was a defining feature of Germany during the war, but Germany

was not the only country to embrace these ideals.

Japan also adopted racial superiority. Their Emperor followed the German’s lead and

focused on ancient Japan and their glorious history to spark the belief in the reverent, samurai-

like honor code that Japan used during the war. War was conducted as “seisen” or a sacred war.

(Cook 26). The propaganda from Prime Minster Hideki Tôjô taught Japanese children from an

early age that other Asian races were inferior to them, especially the Chinese (Beevor 56).
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Similar to Hitler’s New Order, the Japanese had a plan for a united continent, The Greater East

Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. Just like the New Order, it cloaked itself in an intent to unify the

Asian people, but was really a ploy to gain support for domination over Asia and the Pacific by

the Japanese. This fanatic belief was most prevalent during the Rape of Nanking, a sort of

Holocaust led by the Japanese. After taking Nanking, China, the Japanese slaughtered soldiers as

well as civilians. They killed over 16,000 Chinese civilians by firing squads, bayonets, and even

beheading with samurai swords. The emotions of the Japanese are reflected in the words of

Shimada Toshido, a private second class who witnessed a Chinese prisoner being used for

bayonet practice. “My emotions must have been paralyzed. I felt no mercy on him,” (Beevor 60-

61). This fanatic behavior came from the belief that the Japanese were superior. This underlying

belief and the Japanese desire for expansion parallel the beliefs and desires that propelled Nazi

Germany into war.

The Germans and Japanese were also similar in their military tactics. The German

military was incredibly successful early on due to their famous Blitzkrieg tactics. Blitzkrieg

relied on heavy aerial bombardment and then a swift movement of troops to quickly secure an

area. The German Airforce was fearsome, but once confronted with the sheer number of planes

and pilots the U.S. could pump out, the offensive oriented Blitzkrieg ground to a halt (Hoobler

60). The Germans also used another effective weapon, U-Boats. German U-Boats were

submarines which were used to drive away supply ships. These submarines were greatly feared

by the Allies, especially the British with their huge navy. The U-Boats cut Allied supply

shipping by half and caused the British Merchant Seamen to take the most casualties of any other

branch of military (Hoobler 57). The Germans were brutal in their treatment of those they

conquered, particularly the Jewish people. The Holocaust is a prime example of this brutality.
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Like the Germans, the Japanese used quick offensive strikes to conquer islands in the

Pacific. The Japanese were heavily reliant on aerial warfare and used the latest in technology to

crush opposition. They used swift aerial bombardment to soften opposing ground troops and

advance quickly, much like the Blitzkrieg tactics used by the Germans (Hoobler 60). The

Japanese were also intensely brutal in warfare. The Japanese routinely killed civilians en masse,

raped women and children, and even committed suicide rather than face the shame of loss. The

Japanese were a horrifying force to go up against. These atrocities can be best demonstrated in

the Rape of Nanking, where thousands of Chinese civilians were brutally massacred and tortured

(Beevor 59). Their willingness to die was demonstrated in famous tactics, such as kamikaze

missions, wherein they flew their war planes directly into enemy ships. The brutality and tactics

of the Germans and the Japanese in World War II is strikingly similar and stand out on the pages

of history.

In conclusion, World War II gave birth to two incredibly similar evils in the Germans and

Japanese. Both experienced injustices at the hand of the Allies after the conclusion of World War

I under the Treaty of Versailles and suffered economic depression. They both also saw the rise of

nationalist movements which allowed powerful dictators to rise up and control their countries

with propaganda to create powerful totalitarian states bent on expansion. These countries also

shared a common belief of ethnic superiority in their own race, believing others were inferior and

meant to be conquered. Even their tactics were immensely similar, using quick offensive strikes

with airplanes to soften opponents up, they could follow up with the immense brutality of their

troops to inspire fear in the opposing side. All these factors shared between them cannot be a

coincidence. Using these factors one could assume that the rise in nationalists was a common key

factor in beginning World War II.

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Works Cited

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Treaty of Versailles.” Encyclopædia Britannica,

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 Apr. 2018, www.britannica.com/event/Treaty-of-

Versailles-1919.

Churchill, Winston, and Antony Beevor. The Second World War. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2015.

Cook, Haruko Taya., and Theodore Failor. Cook. Japan at War: an Oral History. Phoenix, 2000.

History.com Staff. “Hirohito.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009,

www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/hirohito.

Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. An Album of World War II. F. Watts, 1977.

“Japan's Quest for Power and World War II in Asia.” Asia for Educators, Columbia University,

2009, afe.easia.columbia.edu/special/japan_1900_power.htm.

Messenger, Charles. The Illustrated Book of World War II. Salamander, 1999.

“Munich: Speech of April 12, 1922.” Hitler.org, Hitler Historical Museum, 1999,

www.hitler.org/speeches/04-12-22.html.

Murray, Williamson, and Allan Reed. Millett. A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World

War, 1937-1945. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2000.