BRITAIN & JAPAN IN KOREAN & GULF WARS.   Term Paper ID:22959 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Compares nations' roles, political, economic & military responses, public views in conflicts of 1950s & 1990s.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Compares nations' roles, political, economic & military responses, public views in conflicts of 1950s & 1990s. Paper Introduction: Britain and Japan are both island nations and former empires. But, despite their similarities, their economic and military experiences since World War II have been shaped by their roles as victors and vanquished in that war, as well as by their divergent cultures. A comparison of their roles in the Korean War and the Gulf War more than 40 years later teaches some important lessons about national character as well as the persistence of historical memory. When the Korean War began in 1950, Great Britain's economy was rebounding but was still only in the beginning stages of recovery from five years of war-related overspending. It was also struggling to absorb the economic shock of the first stages of withdrawal from its far-flung empire. As the generally benign, Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. (1991, June 22). During his passage over the East China Sea, he was reminded stronglyof "uncanny parallels" between the British role in Korea and what was thena "still unfolding crisis" in Kuwait (Hennessy, 1993, p. No such sensitivities would have been trampled on by agreater Japanese role in the Persian Gulf conflict, although a Japanesepresence might have stirred as many fears as its absence raised complaints. receipts tripled and during 1951 they reached almost $1 billion. (1987). . After the extreme austerity of the immediatepostwar period, the British economy by 195 was beginning to take advantageof its position as a comparatively intact economy that had not suffered thedepradations of occupation. procurementneeds if it had not previously rebuilt its economic capacity. How the treasury won the war. By 1951, U.S. Of course, Japan could not have filled U.S. Economist, 56. Never again: Britain 1945-51. . Besides its altruism, the high level of Britishparticipation in this war underlined Britain's continuing aspirations as aworld leader beyond her current reduced economic and politicalcircumstances. Beginning withthe Korean War, the United States and other western powers have developedthe habit of questioning Japan's constitutionally justified refusal tocontribute to Western-sponsored military actions, the Gulf War being arecent, prominent example. Theability to maintain the level of military recruits as the population agesis a deep concern. They see Britain as the hub of a vast and complicated political, military and economic mechanism, occupying a position in the world and a relationship with us which is quite different from the other European powers. In his own recollections of the Korean War, Theodore Cohen, then anofficial in the U.S. There is a constant wonder here [in London] that we should think it in American interest for them to completely to integrate with Europe (Hennessy, 1993, p. American and British observers, at least, agreed that the Japanesereluctance to participate cast a cloud on U.S.-Japanese relations andrepresented a missed chance to shine as a member of the post-Cold Warinternational community: Japan is the biggest donor of aid to the 5 , Asians in the Gulf, but it lacks a recognized physical presence. Evidently they can survive greatreversals in economic fortune as well. It had ended by rebuilding theJapanese economy to levels that even at an early stage markedly surpassedprewar standards. 71)--whilethe war was going on--a tight money policy was expected to lead to aslowdown in growth as money regulators struggled to curb inflation. Soldiersavoid appearing in their uniforms in public. there are powerful reasons for supposing our best hope for the kind of postwar miracle enjoyed by so many western European countries was scattered in fragments in the committee rooms of Whitehall, on the hills above the Imjin . Britain's wholehearted response to the Korean War's call to arms wellrepresented its people's courage and determination to contain Communism. The people's peace: British history 1945-1989.Oxford: Oxford University Press. Over theintervening 5 years, as Japan's postwar prosperity turned into a runawayboom, pressure to assume a greater military role has alternated withinternational ambivalence whenever Japan has engaged in any saber rattling. and along the Rhine (Hennessy, 1993, p. Ironically, this new prosperity came at the price of a certain levelof rearmament. The "net effect ofthis total package will be only a blip on the screen for Japan's $3.1trillion economy," one commentator noted towards the end of the war(Knowland & Rapoport, 1991, p. the link between Washington and a newly united Germany was what mattered [for America] . Infusions of $2billion in American aid had begun by keeping a defeated enemy with aneconomy in ruins from starving to death. Neither war, of course, attained its goals. Thistally, although tragic for the families involved, compared favorably withthe 254 Britons who died in the earlier Falklands action, which representedmore direct interests of one of Britain's few remaining colonies("How theTreasury", 1991, p. The low casualties of the short, successful GulfWar also contrast sharply with heavy casualties from the Korean conflict,including the two years the Gloucestershire Regiment languished in prisonerof war camps. Japanese military schoolgraduates are not required to stay in the service, and many drop out. Harries, M., & Harries, S. But, in bothcases, expansionist aims were foiled without a breakout into a wider war.Reshuffling of alliances and reforging of bonds were secondaryconsequences. This was three-quarters as much as all other Japanese foreign exchange receipts for the year from the whole world (Cohen, 1987, p. (H. . (1987). . . Even if its recovery had been more fully advanced at theoutbreak of the Korean War, the return of Japanese troops to the Asianmainland was hardly to be thought of, certainly not in 195 , and probablynot even today. Japan's economic miracle was somewhat tarnished during the Gulf Warwinter of 1991, also a recession year, though its Gulf War contributionsapparently played little role in the slowing of its mighty engine. Nevertheless, the process was a slow one, notclearly perceived at the start. 4 4): In 199 as in 195 , a small contingent of high quality British troops and advanced equipment were first in the breach alongside the Americans; in 199 as in 195 resources were diverted to war making against the background of a shaky domestic economy; in 199 as in 195 many saw it (including me) as the price British governments have to pay for the 'special relationship' [with the United States] (Hennessy, 1993, p. Hennessy recalled that Anglo-American frictions in 1949 includednegative British reaction to the recent devaluation of the pound and anegative American reaction over British reluctance to forge closer economicand political bonds with countries on the European continent. 439). Sheathing the sword: Thedemilitarization of postwar Japan. . Commentary: Why shirkingthe burden isn't in Japan's best interests. Japan's situation at the outbreak of the Korean War was verydifferent, although equally subject to American influence. When the Korean War broke out, Japan was forced to assume itsmandated self-defense role very abruptly. New York: Macmillan. The emotions of pride and shame takemore than a generation to outlive. The institutions of the defeated country, which had justendured the destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the first atom bombs,were reshaped according to American democratic ideas. 31). Somehow, Britain had to replace this largess with morestraightforward trading relationships and national manufacturing. Worries about replacement of agingmanufacturing plants lay mostly in the future. History offers few, if any, examples of a colonizer willing to letits colonies depart in peace. British historian Peter Hennessy flew from Hong Kong to Seoul in199 . Beginning in July, 195 , lessthan two weeks after the North Koreans had crossed the 38th parallel,MacArthur sponsored the creation of a National Police Reserve, a quasi-military force. AlthoughJapan's real GNP grew at a healthy annualized 5.9 percent rate during thefirst three months of 1991 ("Japan's Money", 1991, June 22, p. 415). Business Week, 34. "They should have had cans of food labeled 'made in Japan' handed out by Japanese, and Japanese doctors in tents flying the Japanese flag," says Edward J. [This development was] . Japan's money dilemna. Imposition of a steeplyrising defense budget-- £4,7 m. A comparison of theirroles in the Korean War and the Gulf War more than 4 years later teachessome important lessons about national character as well as the persistenceof historical memory. procurement officers signed contracts with Japanese suppliers for $6 million in goods and services . And no wonder. In 195 , Japan was expected to resume defense of its own territory,not invade Korea. Morgan, K.O. But, as a well-known British weekly pointed out at the beginning of the Gulf War, deepambivalence about Japan's military role remains: The Japanese continue to maintain that they cannot send men outside the country (except to defend Japan's sea lanes up to 1, miles from its shores) and cannot contribute soldiers to UN peacekeeping operations ("Dogs-of-War", 1991, p. Japan's economic miracle may have been jumpstarted by the commercialfallout from the Korean War, while its costs may have short-circuited amore modest British revival. Fortune, 57-58. Economist, 71. occupationwas the end of a long process under the paternalistic care of GeneralDouglas MacArthur. Japan's newly minted constitution included the famous Article 9,which limited Japan's military capacity to self- defense. (1991, January 28). . 4 5). Lincoln of the Brookings Institution in Washington (Borrus & Neff, 1991, p. . . Hennessy, P.(1993). TheAmerican castoffs of 195 have been replaced by a well-equipped "self-defense" force funded by a $3 billion a year expenditure. But, 5 years after WorldWar II's end, Britain and Japan's Gulf War roles demonstrate clearly thatneither of these former empires has left behind its emotional reactions tothe role of victor and vanquished. Britain, accustomed to empire and thevictorious hero of a long and isolated struggle against Nazi Germany,expected, somewhat unrealistically, to maintain its position of importancein the world. In his book on the Japanese occupation, one authorpaints a vivid picture: In time, the Japanese brought their consumer products up to and above world standards and captured world markets. American diplomat Julius Holmes described their dismay: [The British] resent a common American attitude that they are just another European power. (1991, March 11). occupation, recalls a budget mission to the U.S.Pentagon to submit Japanese aid requirements for 1951-52: I was constantly reminded, "Now, with the war, Japan doesn't need aid any more. According to this source, Japan ultimately sent 25 medical personnelto the Gulf War, who were soon pulled out. . Knowlton, C., & Rapoport, C. A generation before, the same farmers or their parents sold their daughters into mills and brothels to buy food and only silk habutae, celluloid toys and small electric bulbs could be offered to foreign buyers from what was then normal production for the Japanese market at home (Cohen, 1987, pp. An initial $4 billion pledge tothe cost of the war was later increased to $13 billion. In the second half of 195 . (1991, January 19). 4 5). . For a time Sir Antony Acland, the British Ambassador, seemed to enjoy the kind of access to the Bush White House [experienced during the Truman administration]," an extraordinary example of continuity in postwar British history (Hennessy, 1993, p. 56). The electric juicers, rice cookers, vacuum cleaners, and "room coolers" that competed for the farm wife's eye, to say nothing of the small power cultivators the farmer bought, were all tried out on the Japanese first and then, suitably improved, sold overseas. . . But how could they have done so without enough local consumers in the first place? Japan, of course, played a major historical role in destabilizingKorea (and China) through its brutal colonization of those countries beforeWorld War II. Ironically, theink on the signatures was scarcely dry before the United States began tohave second thoughts about the wisdom of this restriction. Towards the end of the war, analysts were calculating a cost of£1.5 billion ($2.9 billion), possibly rising to £2 billion, much of whichwould be offset by contributions from other countries ("How the Treasury",1991, p. 235). 56). It was hype according to one British diplomat to say it was the Second World War all over again but "Having said that, there is an undoubted closeness . army bases: At the start, the NPSR was patently an American puppet force, dressed in American cast-off uniforms, housed in the barracks the American divisions had evacuated (where new Japanese troops had to cope with uncongenial American-style showers and lavatories (Harries, 1987, p. The political cost of failing to line up with the Western communityin its Gulf War efforts was seen to be more substantial than anything thatshowed up on a balance sheet, however. . The economicrecovery and political transformation of Japan during the U.S. . . Britain's enthusiastic support,including the deployment of troops, in contrast, was undertaken atsubstantial risk during a recession war but ended up costing relativelylittle. Historian Peter Hennessy isone of a number of experts who believe that the Korean War overstrained theBritish economy by turning what would have been a surplus into a severebalance of payments deficit: The dramatic turnaround, from a payments surplus of £3 7 million in 195 to a deficit of £369 million in 1951 was especially tragic as this was the golden opportunity in the entire postwar period for a sustained export-led boom which, with luck might have put the British economy on to a higher and sustainable trajectory before Germany, in particular, recovered to the point where our export markets were once more highly vulnerable . Korea stayed divided,and, despite the glamour of the bombing of Baghdad and the destruction ofthe Iraqi tank column, Saddam Hussein remained in power. 34). 458-459). Remaking Japan: The American occupation as NewDeal. . A dogs-of-war house for Japan. . over the 195 -54 period (Morgan, 199 ,p.88)--under American pressure was only one of a number of doubtfulconsequences of the Anglo-American alliance. to collect their payments for the harvest . At the beginning, so swift was the U.S. 4 5). . Eighth Army's withdrawal forKorean service, National Police Reserve recruits were quartered inabandoned U.S. New York: Macmillan. The war in the Gulf changed all that . References Borrus, A., & Neff, R. . Passin, Ed.). The human costs paid by Britain (but not by Japan) were also low bymost combat standards, including 12 RAF airmen missing in action, 1 soldiers killed during the ground war and 1 wounded in action. when the farmers and their wives arrived . Germany & Japan:Missing in action. Then, in the spring of 195 , just before the outbreakof the Korean War, French and German diplomats, backed by the Trumanadministration, proposed the Schuman plan, a European coal and steelconsortium that was to lay the foundations of the Common Market. 58). 393). Although nominally under civilian control, it was not longbefore Japanese army veterans were recruited for training and leadershiproles. Cohen, T. (199 ). Ofseveral celebrated engagements, the best known is the struggle at Hill 235,above the Imjin north of Seoul, where in the spring of 1951 theGloucestershire Regiment held back a vastly superior force for several days(Hennesy, 1993, p. In the single month of August 195 , U.S. The Labour government that swept into office after the war,in addition to presiding over recovery, laid the foundations for a vastlyexpanded network of social services, including nationalization of majorindustries and the institution of the National Health Service. New York: Pantheon. But,despite their similarities, their economic and military experiences sinceWorld War II have been shaped by their roles as victors and vanquished inthat war, as well as by their divergent cultures. Not that the saber was much in evidence during the Gulf War. Economist, 31-32. . It was also struggling to absorb theeconomic shock of the first stages of withdrawal from its far-flung empire.As the generally benign, but often self-righteous mistress of the BritishEmpire, for more than 2 years Britain had enjoyed the economic cushion of trading opportunities, employment for soldiers and administrators, marketsand raw materials. Theprospect of being, as they perceived it, merely part of a Europeanfederations, was a bit much for British politicians and economic experts toswallow. . demonstrated [by] the hordes of electric appliance salesmen squatting in the village street across from the local food corporation office . (1991, March 2). Britain and Japan are both island nations and former empires. Occasional reports of right-wing resurgence in Japan raiseinternational hackles, but after 5 years a deep urge to avoid militarismappears to be ingrained in the Japanese themselves. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles wasurging Japan to contribute to an overall East Asia defense scheme. Neither country paid a significant price forthe Gulf War in terms of its overall economy. . Anotherpsychological blow was struck by the devaluation of the pound in 1949,which pleased economists but seemed the end of a cherished institution tonearly everyone else. When the Korean War began in 195 , Great Britain's economy wasrebounding but was still only in the beginning stages of recovery from fiveyears of war-related overspending. The glow of recognition, unfortunately, was not accompanied bypositive economic rewards. One observer, writingin 1992, notes that avoidance surrounds even Japan's limited military role.For example, Japanese military reviews are conducted privately. The war inthe Gulf re-forged U.S.-British bonds that had been strained by recentevents: According to the new conventional wisdom . . If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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