Militarism and Foreign Policy in Japan by E E N Causton

Author:E E N Causton [Causton, E E N]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Asia, Japan, Reference, General, Social Science, Ethnic Studies, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781136927911
Google: iAXHBQAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2010-11-01T15:53:29+00:00

problems of political progress. By one stroke the work of the advocates of peace in the two preceding decades was undone by one who had been a champion of reform. That Ito was never convinced that Japan had a militarist mission to perform was proved by his subsequent attitude, but his action in 1894 destroyed the supremacy which Kido, Okubo and he himself had established in 1873 and the four following years. For, though those who advocated for Japan a programme of immediate expansion had been compelled to take a second place, their ideas had never been eradicated, and if given the chance there were supporters of those ideas who were ready to put them into practice. Their chance came when Ito, to distract attention from other matters, plunged the country Into war with China, and by his action lost the supremacy which the advocates of peaceful reconstruction had established for themselves twenty years previously.1

It is then impossible to declare that the Sino-Japanese War was caused by the intrigue of chauvinistic groups. Undoubtedly they were keenly interested, but the Government, had it been willing, was in a strong enough position to avoid foreign conflict. In the years preceding the declaration of war there had, indeed, been dissatisfaction with the foreign policy of the Government, for its signature of the 1885 treaties with China and Korea and for its attitude toward the revision of treaties. Yet the chauvinistic groups had not obtained strength enough to force the hand of the Government, and there had been no insistent demand for

1 W.W.McLaren, A Political History of Japan, London: George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1916, p. 229.

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