The Imperial General Headquarters ( 大本営 , Daihon'ei ) was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equivalent to the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff and the British Chiefs of Staff Committee .
48-831: The Imperial General Headquarters was established by Imperial Decree 52 on 22 May 1893 under the auspices of creating a central command for both the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff . The Emperor of Japan who was defined as both Head of State and the Generalissimo of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces according to the Meiji Constitution of 1889 to 1945,
96-735: The Bonin Islands and Taiwan into the Japanese Empire can be viewed as first steps in implementation of the "Southern Expansion Doctrine" in concrete terms. However, World War I had a profound impact on the "Southern Expansion Doctrine" since Japan occupied vast areas in the Pacific that had been controlled by the German Empire : the Caroline Islands , Mariana Islands , Marshall Islands and Palau . In 1919,
144-762: The First Sino-Japanese War . However, Prime Minister Katsura Taro , despite his military background, was denied entry to meetings during the subsequent Russo-Japanese War . After the Lugouqiao Incident in July 1937, Imperial Decree 658 of 18 November 1937 abolished the original Imperial General Headquarters, which was then immediately re-constituted under Military Decree 1, which gave the new Imperial General Headquarters command authority over all military operations during peacetime situations as well as wartime situations. In November 1937, to bring
192-713: The Meiji oligarchs of the superiority of the Prussian military model and in February 1872, Yamagata Aritomo and Oyama Iwao proposed that the Japanese military be remodeled along Prussian lines. In December 1878, at the urging of Katsura Taro , who had formerly served as a military attaché to Prussia, the Meiji government fully adopted the Prussian/German general staff system ( Großer Generalstab ) which included
240-561: The Philippines , the Dutch East Indies and French Indochina . Nanshin-ron was advocated as a national policy by a group of Japanese ideologues during the 1880s and the 1890s. Writings of the time often presented areas of Micronesia and Southeast Asia as uninhabited or uncivilised and suitable for Japanese colonisation and cultivation. In its initial stages Nanshin-ron focused primarily on Southeast Asia, and until
288-790: The Tokyo Imperial Palace . During the Pacific War , and after the firebombing of Tokyo , the Imperial General Headquarters relocated to an underground facility in the mountains outside Nagano . With the surrender of Japan , the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers ordered the Imperial General Headquarters abolished on 13 September 1945. Imperial General Headquarters comprised Army and Navy Sections. The Army Section comprised
336-592: The 1920s, Japan had already begun the secret construction of fortifications in Palau, Tinian and Saipan . To evade monitoring by the Western powers, they were camouflaged as places to dry fishing nets or coconut, rice, or sugar-cane farms, and Nan'yō Kohatsu Kaisha (South Seas Development Company) in co-operation with the Japanese Navy, assumed responsibility for construction. The construction increased after
384-559: The Army General Staff Office underwent a number of changes during its history. Immediately before the start of the Pacific War , it was divided into four operational bureaus and a number of supporting organs: Chief of the Army General Staff (general or Field Marshal) Vice Chief of the Army General Staff (lieutenant general) Note: The given rank for each person is the rank the person held at last, not
432-714: The Army General Staff, was one of the two principal agencies charged with overseeing the Imperial Japanese Army . The Army Ministry ( 陸軍省 , Rikugunshō ) was created in April 1872, along with the Navy Ministry , to replace the Ministry of Military Affairs ( Hyōbushō ) of the early Meiji government . Initially, the Army Ministry was in charge of both administration and operational command of
480-658: The Army and Navy were directly under the personal command of the emperor, and not under the civilian leadership or Cabinet . Yamagata became the first chief of the Army General Staff in 1878. Thanks to Yamagata's influence, the Chief of the Army General Staff became far more powerful than the War Minister. Furthermore, a 1900 imperial ordinance ( Military Ministers to be Active-Duty Officers Law [ zh ] ( 軍部大臣現役武官制 , Gumbu daijin gen'eki bukan sei ) ) decreed that
528-1068: The Chief of Army General Staff and his chief of Army Operations, and the Army Minister . The Navy Section comprised Chief of Navy General Staff, his chief of Navy Operations, and the Navy Minister . In addition, the Inspector-General of Military Training , whose rank was almost on-par with that of the Chiefs of the General Staff, and the Aide-de-camp to the Emperor of Japan were also members. Middle-ranking officers of Army and Navy General Staff, and Army and Navy Ministry, met from time to time at middle-level liaison or study conferences to discuss Japan's strategic war plans, and especially, plans requiring cooperation between
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#1732772705993576-685: The Empire for economic and territorial expansion was greater than elsewhere. The opposing political doctrine was Hokushin-ron ( 北進論 , "Northern Expansion Doctrine") , largely supported by the Imperial Japanese Army , which stated the same but for Manchuria and Siberia . After military setbacks at Nomonhan , Mongolia ; the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War tying down millions of Japanese troops in China; and negative Western attitudes towards Japanese expansionist tendencies,
624-596: The Imperial Japanese Army however, from December 1878, the Imperial Army General Staff Office took over all operational control of the Army, leaving the Army Ministry only with administrative functions. The Imperial Army General Staff was thus responsible for the preparation of war plans ; the military training and employment of combined arms military intelligence ; the direction of troop maneuvers; troop deployments; and
672-650: The Navy in the economic development of Taiwan and the South Seas Mandate through alliances among military officers , bureaucrats , capitalists , and right-wing and left-wing intellectuals contrasted sharply with Army failures in the Chinese mainland. The Washington Naval Treaty had restricted the size of the Japanese Navy and also stipulated that new military bases and fortifications could not be established in overseas territories or colonies. However, in
720-775: The Pacific Ocean and saw the United States as the greatest threat, and for the most part supported the Nanshin-ron (Strike South concept) that Japan's strategic interests were in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands. Hirohito , the Emperor of Japan, was defined as the Head of State and the Generalissimo of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces according to the constitution of 1889. During World War II,
768-637: The Pacific region from the 17th-century red seal ship trading voyages, and Japanese immigration and settlement in Nihonmachi during the period before the Tokugawa shogunate 's national seclusion policies. Some researchers attempted to find archeological or anthropological evidence of a racial link between the Japanese of southern Kyūshū (the Kumaso ) and the peoples of the Pacific islands. Nanshin-ron appeared in Japanese political discourse around
816-679: The Pacific. In November 1937, the headquarters started radioing news on the war to the public. They were fairly accurate at first, but their accuracy quickly deteriorated after the severe defeat at Midway and became worse and worse toward the end of the war. As a result, after the war, the phrase "daihon'ei happyou" (大本営発表, the General Headquarters' announcement) came to mean "dubious official announcements by authorities" in general to this day. Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office The Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office ( 参謀本部 , Sanbō Honbu ) , also called
864-876: The South Seas" ( Tai Nan'yō Hōsaku Kenkyū-kai ) to explore military and economic expansion strategies and cooperated with the Ministry of Colonial Affairs ( Takumu-sho ) to emphasize the military role of Taiwan and Micronesia as advanced bases for further southern expansion. In 1920 the Foreign Ministry convened the Nan-yo Boeki Kaigi (South Seas Trade Conference), to promote South Seas commerce and published in 1928 Boeki, Kigyo oyobi imin yori mitaru Nan'yo ("The South Seas in View of Trade and Emigration"). The term Nan-yo kokusaku (National Policy towards
912-848: The South Seas) first appeared. The Japanese government sponsored several companies, including the Nan'yō Takushoku Kabushiki Kaisha (South Seas Colonization Company), the Nan'yō Kōhatsu Kabushiki Kaisha (South Seas Development Company), and the Nan'yō Kyōkai (South Seas Society) with a mixture of private and government funds for development of phosphate mining, sugarcane and coconut industries in islands and to sponsor emigrants. Japanese Societies were established in Rabaul , New Caledonia , Fiji and New Hebrides in 1932 and in Tonga in 1935. The success of
960-543: The Southern Expansion Doctrine became predominant. Its focus was to procure resources from European Southeast Asian colonies, eliminate supply routes to China, and neutralize the Allied military presence in the Pacific. The Army favored a "counterclockwise strike", while the Navy favored a "clockwise strike". In Japanese historiography , the term nanshin-ron is used to describe Japanese writings on
1008-637: The West, as European powers were laying claim to territories ever closer to Japan. After the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the nanshin-ron policy came to be advanced with the southern regions as a focus for trade and emigration. During the early Meiji period , Japan derived economic benefits from Japanese emigrants to Southeast Asia, among which there were prostitutes ( Karayuki-san ) who worked in brothels in British Malaya , Singapore ,
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#17327727059931056-429: The administrative, supply, and mobilization agency of the army, and an independent Army General Staff had responsibility for strategic planning and command functions. The Chief of the Army General Staff, with direct access to the emperor could operate independently of the civilian government. This complete independence of the military from civilian oversight was codified in the 1889 Meiji Constitution which designated that
1104-487: The army section of the Imperial General Headquarters , an ad hoc body under the supervision of the emperor created to assist in coordinating overall command. Following the overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate in 1867 and the "restoration" of direct imperial rule, the leaders of the new Meiji government sought to reduce Japan's vulnerability to Western imperialism by systematically emulating
1152-646: The basis of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere , which was proclaimed by Japanese Prime Minister Konoe Fumimaro from July 1940. Resource-rich areas of Southeast Asia were earmarked to provide raw materials for Japan's industry, and the Pacific Ocean was to become a "Japanese lake." In September 1940, Japan occupied northern French Indochina, and in November, the Pacific Islands Bureau ( Nan'yō Kyoku )
1200-531: The chiefs of Army and Navy into closer consultation with his government, Emperor Hirohito established a body known as the Imperial General Headquarters-Government Liaison Conference within Imperial General Headquarters. The Liaison Conferences were intended to assist in integrating the decisions and needs of the two military sections of Imperial General Headquarters with the resources and policies of
1248-716: The compilation of field service military regulations, military histories, and cartography . The Chief of the Army General Staff was the senior ranking uniformed officer in the Imperial Japanese Army and enjoyed, along with the War Minister , the Navy Minister , and the Chief of the Navy General Staff , direct access to the Emperor . In wartime, the Imperial Army General Staff formed part of
1296-400: The even more restrictive London Naval Treaty of 1930, and the growing importance of military aviation led Japan to view Micronesia to be of strategic importance as a chain of " unsinkable aircraft carriers " protecting Japan and as a base of operations for operations in south-west Pacific. The Navy also began examining the strategic importance of Papua and New Guinea to Australia since it
1344-805: The importance to Japan of the South Seas region in the Pacific Ocean . Japanese interest in Southeast Asia can be observed in writings of the Edo period (17th–19th centuries). During the final years of the Edo period, the leaders of the Meiji Restoration determined that Japan needed to pursue a course of imperialism in emulation of the European nations to attain equality in status with
1392-411: The independence of the military from civilian organs of government, thus ensuring that the military would stay above political party maneuvering, and would be loyal directly to the emperor rather than to a Prime Minister who might attempt to usurp the emperor's authority. The administrative and operational functions of the army were divided between two agencies. A reorganized Ministry of War served as
1440-506: The island groups officially became a League of Nations mandate of Japan and came under the administration of the Imperial Japanese Navy. The focus of the "Southern Expansion Doctrine" expanded to include the island groups (the South Seas Mandate ), whose economic and military development came to be viewed as essential to Japan's security. Meiji-period nationalistic researchers and writers pointed to Japan's relations with
1488-700: The late 1920s, it concentrated on gradual and peaceful Japanese advances into the region to address what the Japanese saw as the twin problems of underdevelopment and Western colonialism . During the first decade of the 20th century, private Japanese companies became active in trade in Southeast Asia. Communities of emigrant Japanese merchants arose in many areas and sold sundry goods to local customers, and Japanese imports of rubber and hemp increased. Large-scale Japanese investment occurred especially in rubber, copra , and hemp plantations in Malaya and in Mindanao in
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1536-607: The leadership of the Imperial General Headquarters consisting of the following: The majority of these troops were stationed in China, Indochina , Japan, Taiwan , and Korea . This includes some 61 divisions , 59 brigades , and 51 air squadrons . Only a fraction of Japan's military, 11 to 14 divisions and the South Seas Detachment , were available for the December 1941 operations in South-East Asia and
1584-424: The mid-1880s. In the late 19th century, the policy focused on China, with an emphasis on securing control of Korea and expanding Japanese interests in Fujian . Russian involvement in Manchuria at the turn of the century led to the policy being eclipsed by hokushin-ron (the "Northern Expansion Doctrine"). The resulting Russo-Japanese War (1904–05) produced territorial gains for Japan in South Manchuria . After
1632-451: The rank the person held at the time of their post as Chief of the Army General Staff. For example, the rank of Field Marshal existed only in 1872/73 and from 1898 onward. Nanshin-ron Nanshin-ron ( 南進論 , "Southern Expansion Doctrine" or "Southern Road") was a political doctrine in the Empire of Japan that stated that Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands were Japan's sphere of interest and that their potential value to
1680-478: The rest of the government. Reaching agreement between the Army and Navy on strategic planning was often difficult. When agreement was finally reached on an important strategic issue, the agreement was reduced to writing in a document called a Central Agreement and signed by both Chiefs of Army and Navy General Staffs. The final decisions of Liaison Conferences were formally disclosed and approved at Imperial Conferences over which Emperor Hirohito presided in person at
1728-416: The seventeen officers who served as Chief of the Army General Staff between 1879 and 1945, three were members of the Imperial Family ( Prince Arisugawa Taruhito , Prince Komatsu Akihito , and Prince Kan'in Kotohito ) and thus enjoyed great prestige by virtue of their ties to the Emperor. The American Occupation authorities abolished the Imperial Army General Staff in September 1945. The Organization of
1776-548: The southern Philippines. The Japanese Foreign Ministry established consulates in Manila (1888), Singapore (1889), and Batavia (1909). With increasing Japanese industrialization came the realization that Japan was dependent on the supply of many raw materials from overseas locations outside its direct control and was hence vulnerable to that supply's disruption. The Japanese need for the promotion of trade, developing and protecting sea routes, and official encouragement of emigration to ease overpopulation arose simultaneously with
1824-415: The strengthening of the Imperial Japanese Navy , which gave Japan the military strength to protect its overseas interests if diplomacy failed. The Japanese government began pursuing a policy of overseas migration in the late 19th century as a result of Japan's limited resources and increasing population. In 1875, Japan declared its control over the Bonin Islands . The formal annexation and incorporation of
1872-410: The technological, governing, social, and military practices of the Western European great powers. Initially, under Ōmura Masujirō and his newly created Ministry of the Military Affairs ( Hyōbu-shō ), the Japanese military was patterned after that of France . However, the stunning victory of Prussia and the other members of the North German Confederation in the 1870/71 Franco-Prussian War convinced
1920-406: The two armed services, outside of the formal meeting in the presence of the Emperor. Relations between the Japanese Army and Navy were never cordial, and often marked by deep hostility. The Army saw the Soviet Union as Japan's greatest threat and for the most part supported the Hokushin-ron (Strike North concept) that Japan's strategic interests were on the Asian continent. The Navy looked across
1968-399: The two service ministers had to be chosen from among the generals or lieutenant generals ( admirals or vice admirals ) on the active duty roster. By ordering the incumbent War Minister to resign or by ordering generals to refuse an appointment as War Minister, the Chief of the General Staff could effectively force the resignation of the cabinet or forestall the formation of a new one. Of
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2016-423: The university were either active or former Navy officers, with direct experience in the territories in question. The university published numerous reports promoting the advantages of investment and settlement in the territories under Navy control. In the Navy, the Anti-Treaty Faction ( han-joyaku ha ) opposed the Washington Treaty, unlike the Treaty Faction . The former set up a "Study Committee for Policies towards
2064-425: The war, the expansionist aspects of nanshin-ron became more developed, and the policy was incorporated into the national defense strategy in 1907. In the 1920s and 1930s, the "Southern Expansion Doctrine" gradually came to be formalized, largely through the efforts of the Imperial Japanese Navy's "South Strike Group," a strategic think tank based at the Taihoku Imperial University in Taiwan . Many professors at
2112-431: Was aware that the Australian annexation of those territories had been motivated in large part in an attempt to secure an important defense line. In 1931, the "Five Ministers Meeting" defined the Japanese objective of extending its influence in the Pacific but excluded areas such as the Philippines , the Dutch East Indies and Java , which might provoke other countries. Nanshin-ron became official policy after 1935 and
2160-506: Was brought to an end by the Japanese surrender at the end of the war. After the attack on Pearl Harbor , Japan expected to capture the strategic islands across the Pacific to make it more challenging for the US to invade. Highly fortified islands would aim to inflict heavy casualties on the US troops and force America into signing a peace treaty. The Japanese strategy failed to consider island hopping , in which US marines would skip heavily defended islands and capture easier targets, which left
2208-419: Was established by the Foreign Ministry. The events of the Pacific War from December 1941 overshadowed further development of the "Southern Expansion Doctrine", but the Greater East Asia Ministry was created in November 1942, and a Greater East Asia Conference was held in Tokyo in 1943. During the war, the bulk of Japan's diplomatic efforts remained directed at Southeast Asia. The "Southern Expansion Doctrine"
2256-441: Was officially adopted as national policy with the promulgation of the Toa shin Chitsujo (New Order in East Asia) in 1936 at the "Five Ministers Conference" (attended by the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Finance Minister, Army Minister and the Navy Minister), with the resolution to advance south peacefully. By the start of World War II , the policy had evolved in scope to include Southeast Asia. The doctrine also formed part of
2304-440: Was the head of the Imperial General Headquarters, and was assisted by staff appointed from the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy. The Imperial General Staff Headquarters was completely independent of the civilian government of the Empire of Japan , including the Cabinet and even the Prime Minister of Japan . Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi was allowed to attend meetings by the express order of Emperor Meiji during
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