The Japanese Navy And Political Changes (1922-1936)

In the interaction of modern western civilization and the traditional Baku-han system, the modern Japan was established and then quickly absorbed and accepted the advanced western systems of politic, economy, military and culture. By and after the Qing-Japan War in 1894 and Russo-Japanese War in 1904, Japan established its quasi-powers status on world. The battles in the Yellow Sea and the Japan Sea were two key ones for Japan to win the wars which were all adventures and in which Japanese navy proved its importance. Modern Japanese navy was initially found in the late Tokugawa Shogunate period, developed in the late Meiji period and early Taisho period, and matured in the early Showa period. By the independent commandership system, direct appeal to the throne by the military and Military Ministers to Be Active-Duty Officers Law,Japanese navy pursuit equal powers actively in political arena with Japanese army. The Washington Conference in 1922 established the World "Naval holiday", a period to 1936 during which core battleships were banned. But at the same time, the conflicts and fractions between the Treaty Faction and the Fleet Faction within Japanese navy emerged and intensified. After the Geneva Conference in 1927 and the London Naval Conference in 1930, the conflicts between fractions within Japanese navy became acute and began to affect the governmental administration and political changes of Japan. Since then, in the two-side offensive and defensive struggles between the Treaty Faction and the Fleet Faction, the majority of the Treaty Faction were incorporated into the reserve and the authority of Military-Order Ministry were expanded. Military-order Ministry, which was controlled by the Fleet Fractions, stayed at the helm. In 1936, the Japan Government completely withdrawn from the international naval disarmament system under the overwhelming influences of Military-Order Ministry. Through the analysis in the relationship between Japan Government, the Navy Department and the Military-Order Ministry in 1922-1936, the measures and tactics adopted by Japanese navy to influence and interfere in politics would be seen, and the roles that the Japanese navy played during Japan's aggression would be explained.Base on the researches in Japan's political history, military history and international relations theories, the author in this thesis studied the original Japanese documents and archives, analyzed the four naval disarmament conferences that Japan participated during 1922-1936, and explained the relationships between Japan Government, the Navy Department and the Military-Order Ministry in both macro and micro perspectives. In the macro level, independent commandership system, which was promulgated by The Constitution of the Great Japanese Empire in 1889, intended to make military decision-making power independent of the Government and cut off the Government's constraints in military development. In the micro level, the author made objective and impartial analysis and evaluation to the Navy's changing process through analysis on four naval conferences that Japan participated.This thesis attempted to explain the following questions by studying the four naval disarmament conferences. Firstly, the changing process of relationships between Japan navy and Government before and after the formation of the navy factions was explained. Namely, reconcile stage, struggle stage, balance stage, politic-interfering stage involved in the political fight for the leading national leadership. Secondly, through a review of the relationship between Navy Department, Military-Order Ministry and the political changes during the "Naval Holiday" era, the struggle of nation power between the Navy and the Government and its substance were explored. Thirdly, the establishment of the independent supreme command authority and the Military Ministers to Be Active-Duty Officers Law, which made the military ministry possess some special powers out the limit of constitution and become indispensable to the Minister, were the crux of the relationship between the Navy and the Government. In the end, Japanese Navy that was controlled by the Military-Order Ministry established a relation of"ultra-law domination by brutal-force"with Government.Undoubtedly, the roles and status of the Japanese Army in the national fascist were of the most importance. At the same time, the Navy's roles and status in this particular political structure would not be ignored.