Declaration of War
Declaration of War
We, by grace of heaven, Emperor of Japan, seated on the Throne of a line unbroken for ages eternal, enjoin upon ye, Our loyal and brave subjects:We hereby declare war on the United States of America and the British Empire. The men and officers of Our Army and Navy shall do their utmost in prosecuting the war. Our public servants of various departments shall perform faithfully and diligently their appointed tasks, and all other subjects of Ours shall pursue their respective duties; the entire nation with a united will shall mobilize their total strength so that nothing will miscarry in attainment of our war aims.
To insure the stability of East Asia and to contribute to world peace is the farsighted policy which was formulated by Our Great Illustrious Imperial Grandsire and Our Great Imperial Sire succeeding Him, and which We lay constantly to heart.
To cultivate friendship among nations and to enjoy prosperity in common with all nations has always been the guiding principle of Our Empire’s foreign policy. It has been truly unavoidable and far from Our wishes that Our Empire has now been brought to cross swords with America and Britain.
More than four years have passed since China, failing to comprehend the true intentions of Our Empire, and recklessly courting trouble, disturbed the peace of East Asia and compelled Our Empire to take up arms. Although there has been reestablished the National Government of China, with which Japan has effected neighborly intercourse and cooperation, the regime which has survived at Chungking, relying upon American and British protection, still continues its fratricidal opposition.
Eager for the realization of their inordinate ambition to dominate the Orient, both America and Britain, giving support to the Chungking regime, have aggravated the disturbances in East Asia.
Moreover, these two Powers, inducing other countries to follow suit, increased military preparations on all sides of Our Empire to challenge us. They have obstructed by every means our peaceful commerce, and finally resorted to a direct severance of economic relations, menacing gravely the existence of Our Empire.
Patiently have We waited and long have We endured in the hope that Our Government might retrieve the situation in peace, but Our adversaries, showing not the least spirit of conciliation, have unduly delayed a settlement; and in the meantime, they have intensified the economic and political pressure to compel there Our Empire to submission.
This trend of affairs would, if left unchecked, not only nullify Our Empire’s efforts of many years for the sake of the stabilization of East Asia, but also endanger the very existence of Our nation. The situation being such as it is, Our Empire for its existence and self-defense has no other recourse but to appeal to arms and to crush every obstacle in its path.
The hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors guarding Us from above, We rely upon the loyalty and courage of Our subjects in Our confident expectation that the task bequeathed by Our Forefathers will be carried forward, and that the source of evil will be speedily eradicated and an enduring peace immutably established in East Asia, preserving thereby the glory of Our Empire.
Context.
Japan’s 1941 declaration of war against the United States came after more than four years of bitter fighting in China and a full decade of conflict in Manchuria—a time in which Japan had established the puppet state of Manchukuo in Manchuria and moved aggressively into China, and then into Southeast Asia, attempting to secure the resources necessary to make its colonial empire secure politically and independent economically. The negotiations with the United States in the summer and fall of 1941 had been intense, with Japan indicating a willingness to withdraw from Southeast Asia and even to cease hostilities in China proper but demanding, at the least, American recognition of its control over Manchuria. When the United States refused to budge on that issue, even as it froze Japanese assets and cut off all sales of iron, petroleum, and other resources, the Japanese concluded that war was inevitable and decided to attack Pearl Harbor by stealth on December 7, launching what they called the Great Pacific War. The rhetoric of the emperor’s war declaration, couched in rhetoric much like that of all nations that go to war, revealed much about how both the Japanese and their Western enemies saw the world then.
Questions.
1. List Japan’s reasons for going to war, as stated in this declaration. What historical events lay behind each of the points the declaration made?
2. How would an American citizen have responded to each of these reasons? What would a Japanese citizen have thought of them?
3. What do your answers to No. 2 tell you about how to read declarations of war more generally?
Terms.
Grandsire and Sire. These are references to the father and grandfather of Japan’s reigning ruler, the Emperors Taishō (r. 1912-1926) and Meiji (r. 1868-1912), respectively.
National government of China. After driving China’s government from the capital of Nanjing in 1937, Japan sponsored an ineffective, pro-Japanese puppet regime headed by a one-time leader in China’s national government Wang Jingwei. President Chiang Kaishek, meanwhile, removed the official—and generally recognized—Chinese government to the inland highlands of Chungking (Zhongqing in today’s Romanization system).
Source: Comuniques Issued by the Imperial General Headquarters (Since the Outbreak of the Greater East Asian War). Tokyo: Mainichi Publishing Company, 1943, front matter.
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