Win First, Fight Later
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The video starts out with Pearl Harbor.
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The film says that today, few believe that the American government could have been surprised by the attack.
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The video says that events leading up to Pearl Harbor went back almost a hundred years.
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FDR is talking about a Nazi attack on US destroyers before we entered the war.
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The video interviews someone who talks about Nazi submarine activity pre-US entry into the war. He relates this to how people didn't think Japan would attack the US.
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1853. Commodore Perry forces the opening of Japan to outside trade.
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Three years later, negotiations for a trade agreement between the two countries take place in Edo (now Tokyo.) The date was December 7, 1857.
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Japan was already thinking of conquest. “Bring all the corners of the world under one Imperial roof.” The philosophy dated from over a thousand years earlier.
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Early 20th century, the US is in a race with the rest of the world for influence in the Pacific.
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The US took Midway, Samoa, the Philippines, and the Hawaiian Islands.
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1900. The Boxer Rebellion in China. The US ordered all its holdings in the Pacific closed to foreign investment.
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1905. The Japanese defeat Russia at Port Arthur.
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The video next talks about World War I, where Japan fought on the side of the Allies.
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The treaty ending the war allowed Japan to keep the possessions it had taken. The US moved towards isolationism.
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Japan goes to war with China over Manchuria.
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The B-19.
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Numerous boats are also built by the US.
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Dec. 12, 1937, the US boat Panay is sunk by the Japanese, supposedly by accident, in China.
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Japan leaves the League of Nations.
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Another veteran of Pearl Harbor is interviewed. He says the Japanese made four mistakes. First, they didn't bomb the Navy yard. That meant the work on repairing the ships could begin almost immediately. Secondly, they didn't bomb the submarine base. Third, they didn't bomb the oil storage tanks at the harbor. Fourth, they didn't bomb the power facilities, so the base had power to work with.
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Then it's back to 1937, with the Japanese attacking Nanking.
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“Once in the city, Japanese commanders let their troops run wild through the streets in what would become known as the Rape of Nanking.”
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“Japanese soldiers raped, tortured, and murdered the citizens of the city.” the film says more than 40,000 Chinese were killed, which is one of the lowest estimates I've seen or read.
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A puppet government is installed in Manchuria, when then becomes Manchuko.
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“Chinese citizens were forced into slave labor in support of the Japanese advance into the rest of China.”
September, 1940, Japan joins into a pact with Germany and Italy.
Apparently there were numerous strikes in the US with some mob violence resulting from them.
Tear gas was used at an aviation plant in California.
Troops, not the National Guard, were brought in to restore order.
July, 1941, Japanese troops enter south Indo-China.
The US froze all Japanese assets in the US. Also, the US, England and the Netherlands put an embargo on oil shipments to Japan.
They had enough oil stockpiled for 18 months, but taking China was going to require about three years, by their estimation.
FDR and others felt that war with Japan was inevitable, so they began fortifying bases in the Pacific.
The film discusses two of the men who led the Pacific Fleet, then moves on to the draft.
The film clip talks about the draft and the construction of various weapons for war.
October, 1941: Japan plans to attack the US and training exercises get under way.
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