Talk:Imperial Way Faction/Merge archive

In February 1942, while World War II was raging, the British government attempted to propose a peace agreement with Japan, due to their increasing fear of losing the most important of their overseas colonies: Australia, after their recent failure in defending Malaya and Singapore.

The Fall of Singapore and Dutch Indies had grave consequences in the British Empire in the Far East, along with the loss of the two navy ships Prince of Wales and Repulse. Furthermore, with the abandonment of Malaya and Singapore, a Crown Colony, Great Britain was receiving an extremely heavy blow on the Empire, and was placing Australia in great risk.

On 16 February 1942, the British diplomats secretly proposed a peace deal with Japan. A possible agreement was that if Great Britain formally recognised the authority of imperial Japan over Northern China and Manchuria, the Japanese would give Britain sovereignty over the Malay Peninsula and Singapore.

At the same time as this diplomatic movement, a political confrontation was in progress between the two right-wing groups in Japan: the governing Toho kai party and the Kodoha party. This was possibly the last internal political power struggle in the government before the Midway and Coral Sea defeats in 1943, which sent the Japanese military reeling.

The ultranationalist and open fascist Toho kai was led by Nakano Seigo who appeared to have some political influence at the time and expressed his outright support and confidence for Japanese Navy. He anxiously awaited the approval of the peace talks, so as to stabilize the recent conquests in Southeast Asia. Seigo also wanted to prevented any further sacrifices by the Japanese people towards the war effort, and pressured the government to halt the ambitious conquest of Asia.

On the other side was the largely pro-Imperialist faction, which represented the military interests of Japan, was led by the then Prime Minister of Japan General Hideki Tojo. They displayed a completely different perspective over the issue. They reasoned that the sucesses in recent campaigns in Southeast Asia were extremely rapid, and continuation of the conquests could lead to gaining most of Asia and Australia before the United States and the Allies could react to further develop the so-called Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere.

Prime Minister Tojo rejected any form of peace processes in the conquered lands and gave authorization for more conquests. This angered and frustrated the Toho Kai until Seigo finally committed suicide on October 27 1943. When Japan rejected such peace agreements, the imperial empire lost the opportunity to mantain their new territories in Southeast Asia in the long term. Japan was unable to reinforce the defensive infantries, which allowed the United States to launch counter-offensives by 1943.

The Japanese imperialist and militarist state was too busy celebrating their rapid victories to defend their land, and the decision by Tojo ultimately led to the downfall of Japan in World War II.