Fordtunate Son

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The Pacific War (2 of ?)

Sep 1, 2023, 2:38 PM

Last time in The Pacific War we covered the 4 big players; England, America, their faithful ally Japan, and everyone’s punching-bag, China.

Japan had to be a faithful ally. Because they’re an island (or islands.) That means that short of fish, rice, bamboo, and rocks, everything they own has to come from somewhere else. That will become very important as our story continues. But for now, they’re gonna get by with a little help from their friends. Remember when I said “What good is an unarmed ally?”

Japan’s very first screw-driven steamship, the Kanrin Maru (The Unyielding).
Paid for by Japan, built and delivered by the Dutch, 1853.

The Japanese even used the Kanrin Maru to send ambassadors to ACC territory. I’m sorry, I mean to California. This whole conference re-alignment thing has me all mixed up.

Japan’s very first ironclad, the Kotetsu (The Ironclad).
Built by France. Delivered to Japan, 1869.

Japan’s very first “battleship”, the Fuso (The Japan).
Built by England, delivered to Japan, 1878.

Japan’s very first submarine fleet. Holland Boats #1-#5.
Built in Quincy, Massachusetts, delivered to Japan, 1905.

So who needs to build a military when you can just buy one? But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet. We’ve still got some cast members to meet before we start the show. Britain, France and America became big trade players in the Pacific game, but they weren’t the first ones there by a long shot.

The Portuguese were first, going around the Horn of Africa and past India into Indonesia in the 1500’s. The Spanish were next by going other way, around South America and to the Philippines.

Magellan (who was Portuguese, btw) had a heck of a journey, featuring ship-borne sodomy, mutiny, and on-board court martials. Sadly, he didn’t survive the circumnavigation that is named for him, and got hacked up by natives in Cebu.

Speaking of mutiny, a tour-de-force performance by Bogey in The Caine Mutiny

And speaking of ship-borne sodomy

The Dutch jumped into the Pacific next and wrested the Spice Islands away from the Portuguese, with all the expected massacres and brutality we’ve come to expect from any random point in history. Yes, even those nice Dutch knew how to throw a good pogrom. Sad face.

And those magic Indonesian spices that could bring a king’s ransom to the first ship to unload them back home in Europe? The ones for which even the Dutch were willing to slaughter any number of Portuguese, natives, and even Catholic native converts?

Nutmeg and Cloves.

The Banda Island Massacre. 1621. The Dutch were smart enough not to get their own hands (or legs) bloody, so they hired Japanese mercenaries to do the “meat work.”

Later the Dutch would find something much more valuable than nutmeg and cloves in the area. You can’t run a fleet on nutmeg.

Then the French went to the Pacific, in Vietnam in 1859, to protect missionaries. By 1860 they were Still in Saigon. Charlie Daniels even wrote a song about it.

Vive La France! Boom goes the cannon you heathens!

The French presence would get more attention a century later in the 1950’s. It all comes around if you wait long enough.

The Germans were the smartest of all the European visitors to the Pacific though, and they had only been a unified nation since 1871 thanks to Bismark. They simply bought some islands that the Spanish had already captured.

Remote, worthless isolated islands that no one had ever heard of, and that no one would never need in a million years. Places like Kwajalein, Truk, the Solomons, the Marshalls, and the Bismark Archipelago.

They also forced China to lease Tsingtao to them for 99 years after 2 German missionaries were killed there. And wherever there are Germans…

Not to be left out, even the Russians horned in on the Pacific game. They leased the year-round warm-water port at Port Arthur from China in 1897. Just a hop, skip, and a jump from the Germans in Tsingtao. This did not go unnoticed by Japan, at the lower right corner, btw. It’s starting to get really, really crowded in the Pacific.

So you can see that from the 1500’s on the Pacific was a grab-bag for anyone so inclined, and for those not inclined as well. Sorry, guys. Nutmeg is just too valuable for you not to share it.

Canton, China, 1890. Everybody accounted for? So many trade flags it looks like a mini-version of the United Nations.

So that’s most of the cast. But what about the alliances? The turn of the last century was a busy time, with lot of muscle flexing and fighting going on.

The Japanese navy took a real liking to the British navy, and even got them sell them one and train them how to use one. And the Japanese liked what they saw in Prussia, too, so they got the Germans to train their army. That was smart, and all that training and equipment paid off immediately.

Remember when I said it was all about China?

In 1894 Japan was still an island, and so they still needed to go elsewhere if they wanted any resources. Korea was close by so they just decided to go there.

The only problem was that China felt Korea belonged to them, since they were physically attached and all. But since everyone else was already beating up on China, what was the problem with Japan just pitching in with them? Japan took a little island called Taiwan, too. That would also be important a century later.

The British and Germans watched the war from their Neutral Zones.

The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95 caught everyone’s attention. Suddenly, Japan wasn’t just a bunch of medieval Samurai warriors anymore. They had a real military. And although everyone was beating up on China at the time, Japan won that war all by itself. The Asian story of David and Goliath even made the newspapers.

At about the same time, America got a chance to expand her Pacific presence, too; from a surprise joint government/private venture.

In 1893 Hawaii had a monarchy. But that monarchy was overthrown by a consortium of American businessmen, and to make a long story short, the Hawaiian monarchy became the independent Hawaiian Republic.

Here are some of those businessmen

And here’s what it was all about. As usual, the people of the day knew exactly what was going on.

Uncle Sam tilting the scale against the Queen of Hawaii

Now, the US government didn’t invade anyone, or bum-rush any foreign forts or palaces, or even kill anybody. But those businessmen asked the US Ambassador to Hawaii if he could protect American interests (i.e., them) with US soldiers while they went to tell the Queen she was being deposed in a bloodless coup.

And the ambassador said “Sure.”

And here those soldiers are, waiting outside the Hawaiian palace while the message is being delivered inside.

And here is the first and only President of the Republic of Hawaii, Sanford Dole (second from the left), and some business associates

Then, the first thing the businessmen did was rush to Washington, offer their prize to US President Grover Cleveland, and ask to be annexed into America. Cleveland said “W T F? That’s not how democracy works.” And he rejected them. Cleveland was HOT, and told Congress:

“... the military demonstration upon the soil of Honolulu was of itself an act of war; unless made either with the consent of the government of Hawaii or for the bona fide purpose of protecting the imperiled lives and property of citizens of the United States. But there is no pretense of any such consent on the part of the government of the queen ... the existing government, instead of requesting the presence of an armed force, protested against it.”

And the average Joe knew what was up, despite the propaganda posters and postcards.

So, the US congress simply waited till Cleveland was replaced by McKinley, and then said “Oh yes this is how democracy words.” And Congress voted Hawaii to became a US territory.

There were riots, and protests, and appeals, and the even the Queen’s smoking hot daughter went to DC to appeal her case, but to no avail.

Here’s the Queen walking into captivity and house-arrest in her own palace, 1898.

But to be fair, it was a grabby time. And if America didn’t grab Hawaii, who might? So while the businessmen may have been thinking only of sugar and pineapples, Congress may have been looking down the road a bit, given the recent Sino-Japanese War of 1895.

In fact, on the day of the Hawaiian coup, in addition to the USS Boston and its US troops defending American “interests”, there was also a visiting Japanese warship in Pearl Harbor, too.

USS Boston, Pearl Harbor

IJN Naniwa, Pearl Harbor (built by the British, of course)

And every European nation recognized the new Hawaiian government. So, while they might not have been big on self-determination, they were all fully in lock-step in support of private-public imperialism.

In any event, in 1898 America got its very first, and very own, skin in the Pacific game. The Hawaiian islands. American territory. Can you see all the pieces of the puzzle coming together?

Doesn’t it sort of feel like an Agatha Christie novel where all the guests are arriving to dinner, and you know that some serious sh** is going to go down when the parlor doors are closed? 10 Little Nations, 10 Little Indians type stuff?