ABCD line

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The ABCD line (ABCDライン, Ēbīshīdī rain) was a Japanese name for a series of embargoes against

embargoes as acts of aggression; imported oil made up about 80% of domestic consumption, without which Japan's economy, let alone its military, would grind to a halt. The Japanese media, influenced by military propagandists,[1]
began to refer to the embargoes as the "ABCD ("American-British-Chinese-Dutch") encirclement" or "ABCD line".

Faced with the possibility of economic collapse and forced withdrawal from its recent conquests, the Japanese

bombing of Pearl Harbor
in December 1941.

Name

The name ABCD Line is of Japanese origin, having been disseminated by the Japanese government in propaganda and textbooks in the late 1930s. It is an example of Japanese propagandists portraying Japan as the protector of Asia, as in the name of the Japanese Empire's colonial holdings, the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.[2] This wartime narrative portrayed Japan fighting against Western Colonialists and Chinese Communists primarily, overlooking the primacy of resource rich areas of Asia in Japan's annexing of lands. Japanese historian Saburō Ienaga writes that a key aspect of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere as propaganda was "liberating Asians from American and British imperialism".[3]

Political background

Japan in the early 1930s pursued an expansionist foreign policy, starting with the

Nanking Massacre, were heavily reported in the international media. In the United States, reporting on the Japanese bombing of Chinese cities was particularly negative. This, combined with the general perception of Japanese threats to peace in Asia, contributed to 73% of general public in the United States opposing the export of military supplies to Japan in June 1939.[5] This would result in the United States freezing Japanese assets on July 26, 1941 (alongside England and the Dutch), effectively ending the export of raw materials and petroleum to Japan.[3]

Economic impact

Meetings between the military leadership of Australia, Britain, and the Netherlands in Singapore, in February 1941, only reinforced Japanese fears of an ABCD encirclement.[6] Similar meetings took place between British leadership and Chinese forces actively fighting Japan, with the eventual goal being coordinated military aid. Japan would go on to occupy islands in the South Pacific for oil after invading the Dutch East Indies, sending over 70% of Japanese petroleum workers to rehabilitate facilities destroyed by the retreating colonial powers.[5] Through a combination of exploiting formerly Dutch oil deposits in the East Indies and making synthetic fuel domestically, the Japanese oil production was able to peak, in the first quarter of 1943, at 80% of the oil that had been imported from the "ABCD" countries in 1940.[5] Japan was never able to fully match pre-embargo petroleum production figures while at war.

See also

References

  1. ^ Kokushi Daijiten ja:国史大辞典 (昭和時代) ("Historical Dictionary"), 1980: "It was not an official term, but a term of incitement used by the Japanese media, under the guidance of the military, in order to stir up the Japanese people's sense of crisis..." (Cited by Christopher Barnard, 2003, Language, Ideology and Japanese History Textbooks, London & New York, Routledge Curzon, p.85.)
  2. JSTOR 2383934
    .
  3. ^
    ISBN 0394734963
    .
  4. ^ Remembering the Rape of Nanking. p. 15.
  5. ^
    OCLC 893110574
    .
  6. ISBN 0521240611
    .
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