Figure 1.--Here we see Muslim chikldren, probably in the Dutch East Indies cheering at some kind of Japanese event. We know it was a staged event, because of the Japanese flags the children have. The children would only have them if the Japanese had passed them out. Indonesian natioinalists cooperated wjith the Japanese to a greater extent than any of the conquered proole.

The Pacific War moved the War far outside of China. This changed the charaacter of the War. China was an independent country. The Japanese invasion of China was simikar to German invasions of indepedent countries jn Europe. Outide of China the Japanese was targetting European colonies with the excepotion of Siam (thialnd). And this could pretend to be liberating them. This was a little different in the Philippines as the United States had already instituted a substantial degree of hiome rule. And had scheduled full indepdence in 1946. Thus independence was delayed by the Japanese invasion. None of the European powers were giving any comsideration of indepence, except for India where a degree of home rule had beem achieved and had a strong indepedence movement. As a result, attitides toward the japanese varied widely. The Muslim colonies (Dutch East Indies and Malaya) seem the most inclined to accept the Japanese claims that they were liberating Asian peoople at face value. There was a substantial degree of collabioration in the Dutch bEast Indies. The Burmese were at first favorably disposed. The Indian Natioanl Congress when Britain refused to offer independence launched a Quit India campaign--but did not lend anb=ny support for Japan. A splinter group was formed by Subhas Chandra Bose (1897 – 1945). He formed the Inadian Natiional Army (INA) to fight first with the Europoean Axis and than after Pearl Harbor with the Japanese. Bose seems unconcerned about NAZI racist doctrine.

Created: 11:21 AM 10/9/2020
Last updated: 11:21 AM 10/9/2020