The Unavoidable War: The War of The Pacific

I have notice the war between Japan and the United States being brought up in the comments section of various libertarian and reactionary blogs that I visit.  It is the opinion of some that this war was entirely avoidable was only the result of the machinations of President Roosevelt.  I disagree, the war, while not inevitable, had a very high likelihood of happening. I expect I may take some flak for this statement, I have in the past, but this post will explain my reasoning. Please reserve final opinions and conclusions until you have read it in it's entirety.

The Offensive That Never Was

When Nazi Germany invaded Poland the allies, The United Kingdom and France, promptly declared war on Germany and did....nothing. Well, not exactly nothing, they did manage a half hearted offensive the only succeeded in moving French forces a few miles into German territory and get 2,000 French soldiers killed. The British did nothing in terms of major military movements into German territory, and outside of some air combat, did little against the Germans. The first major ground fighting between the United Kingdom and Germany didn't occur until the Norwegian campaign.

All in all the inactivity by the Allied nations was pretty damning considering that only 23 German divisions were left to face almost 110 divisions of the Allies. Even with the military incompetence of the French generals who, despite the fact that the implementation of armored vehicles in World War I lead to their victory, failed to implement a combat strategy that effectively utilized armored units and adhered to World War I military doctrine.  The Allied nations left Poland to be ravished by the Germans, and later the Soviets, when decisive action early on could have ended the war quickly. This inaction would have tremendous consequences for decades to come as both the Allied power inaction, and the United States ignoring of the possibility of a Japanese attack, has been one of the justifications for a very aggressive foreign policy since then.  Millions of deaths could have been prevented if the United Kingdom and France had only acted more aggressively.

The phrase 'hindsight is 20/20' is often used as a response to could've, should've and would've situations.  But the fact is that the allied nations inactivity was utterly inexplicable.  Nazi Germany was very open about it's desires to establish a Greater Germany Reich, which would have included taking territory from the French, and the bloodless invasion of Czechoslovakia should have made it abundantly clear that Nazi Germany was testing the waters.  When the Germans invaded Poland there should have been no doubt between the allied nations, they were next on the agenda. It's one thing to dismiss something as bellicose rhetoric or saber rattling when a nation doesn't escalate, like North Korea, but it is entirely another matter when a nation unambiguously push the boundaries. 

While Neville Chamberlain's appeasement of Germany when it came to Czechoslovakia could be seen as a betrayal, and a gross miscalculation, it is somewhat understandable.  Britain had only recently fought a bloody, and to many British largely pointless, war and sought to avoid another bloody conflict that would exhaust an already weakened empire.  I understand the logic, though based on a faulty premise, behind appeasement on Czechoslovakia.  But once Germany had exposed its willingness to use force to achieve its ends, they should have acted decisively. The fact that they didn't was a terrible travesty with consequences that are still reverberating today.

Geopolitical Chess: The Hukbalahap Rebellion

The extent that a nation involves itself in the affairs of others is only tempered by its ability to do so.  America's early isolationist tendency had more to due with our inherent weakness than principal.  The US, even in our early founding, would intervene in the affairs of other countries, such as the overgrow of a Barbary sultan in North Africa during the early 19th century during the Barbary Wars, if it felt that such an action was in its best interest. I feel its important to remember this. Canada and Switzerland do not meddle in the affairs of nations because the nation is inherently more altruistic than others, its because they either lack the ability to due so or because there is no need due to the actions of another party.

Now I am not saying I endorse such actions.  Many of the US foreign policy actions I would say are misguided and happen because we are stuck to a paradigm that has not existed since the end of the Cold War.  The ship of state is a difficult to steer and often does things because of pure inertia. Their motives for doing so also often do not correspond to what other individuals or smaller individuals would hold as interest. This interest being geopolitics. I believe it is important that we on the right understand this. That being said I am going to write about certain historical events in history in hopes that it will bring new knowledge with which it will help shape how we view events in the world.

And so I open up to a rebellion that few Americans, Europeans, or even most Asians would be aware of. But that did exist and that the US help combat for almost a decade in the Philippines.  The rebellion was against the Filipino communists known as the Hukbalahap, a very violent insurgency that was most prominent from 1946 to 1954.

The insurgency came from political differences between different political parties in the Philippines during the 1940s. This culminated when Manual Roxas won the presidency, whom the communists accused of as Japanese collaborator during world war two, and the communists went into open rebellion against the government.  Manual Roxas heavy handed policies didn't help and from 1946 to 1949 the rebellion gained many sympathizers.  Though public opinion shifted when the wife of the 2nd president of the Philippines, who himself had fought against American occupation in his youth before decided to seek civil means to independence, and the leaders of the Huks claimed it was a renegade element that had committed the atrocity.

The Huks were incredibly savage in their dealings. So much so that even other non-affiliated guerrilla fighters, there were many in the Philippines, wanted little to do with the group. They had become almost indiscriminate in their targets. Officials, police offices, clerks, and even simple peasants were often kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. But even with the low public opinion that many held for the communist rebellion they succeeded in spreading their insurgent cells throughout many provinces. They very nearly took Manila, however, many of the leaders were arrested in a surprise raid in the capital city itself.  Even so, President Harry Truman was alarmed enough to authorize the US in sending military equipment and advisers to the country.

The amount of American involvement, specifically of the military advisers, is somewhat unknown. But the fact is that the Americans were involved and that with their help the Filipino military was able to make headway against the insurgency.  It wouldn't be until the mid-1950's that the insurgence was put down for good due to a combination of political reforms and military victories.  However, this would not spell the end for domestic troubles as insurgencies of one form or another have continued to this day. And the actions of the 7th president, suspending habeus corpus temporally, was a precursor to strongman president Ferdinand Marcos.

The reason why the Americans were involved are pretty obvious.  This was the height of the cold war, and the red scare. The US was afraid of the consequence of the Philippines falling into the communist camp, a very real fear if we take into account the importance of the South China sea today since it would severely hamper US naval capabilities in the region. It would have given the Soviets a base in the south east pacific that would act as a staging point and a buffer zone to the Indian Ocean and beyond. The defeat of the rebellion helped keep the Philippines, and the naval bases that the navy used, in the Americans courts; but as we see the actions had long term affects that the Filipino people continue to deal with to this day.