War and Conflict Journal

Diaoyu-Senkaku Islands Dispute

Diaoyu-Senkaku Islands Dispute (2010)–While Japan and China have not fought a war since 1945, they really do not like each other. This is partially evidenced by the ongoing dispute over a group of uninhabited islands between Japan and Taiwarn (which China also claims, by the way). China calls them the Diaoyu Islands, while Japan calls them the Senkaku Islands (see map below). Both nations claim the islands as their territory, and this dispute escalated in September, 2010, when Japanese authorities seized a Chinese fishing trawler that collided with Japanese patrol boats and arrested the boat’s captain.
Nationalist-minded Chinese activists previously have landed on the rocky islands in order to raise the Chinese flag, but the boat incident is the most serious diplomatic dispute over these islands in decades.  For more historical information on the past wars and conflicts between Japan and China, go to  http://www.historyguy.com/sino-japanese_wars.html

December 7, 2009, marks the 68^th anniversary of the surprise Japanese attack on the U.S. military bases in and around Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  This attack launched America into World War Two and literally changed the course of history.  Without being attacked first, it is highly unlikely that the U.S. would have entered World War Two.  By attacking the United States, Japan thought it would cripple or destroy the U.S. Pacific fleet, thereby preventing American forces from stopping Japan’s Asian blitzkrieg.  In the days and weeks following the Pearl Harbor attack, Japanese forces attacked American, British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealander, and Dutch forces as Japan seized the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaya, the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), and New Guinea.  American islands at Wake and Guam were also attacked and occupied. 

Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941

Believing that America had suffered a crippling blow, Hitler and Mussolini also declared war on the United States, thereby bringing American power into the war against the Nazis and the Fascists.  As history now shows, America’s entry into World War Two ensured Allied victory, as the Nazis and Fascists were destroyed in Europe, and Japan fell under the power of two atomic bombs some four years after their ill-fated and ill-advised assault on Pearl Harbor.

For more information, go to: http://www.historyguy.com/battle_of_pearl_harbor.html