Evicting "Fritz": World War I in the Pacific World
Overview
World War I in the Pacific
World War I in the Pacific was a sideshow to the larger theaters of war in Europe and the Middle East. The war, however, had significant repercussions. The Allied victory over Germany meant that Germany would lose its Pacific colonies, and by extension, its status as a global empire. More significantly, the Pacific theater of war brought a new country in on the side of the Allies—Japan. Although Japan’s role was significant, the other Allies (Britain, France, and the United States) failed to see it as such in the postwar era. This oversight causes strong resentment among the Japanese people who felt that they had not received dues for their part in the war. The political slight by Western nations during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles led the Japanese to increasingly distrust Western leaders. When World War II erupted in Europe in 1939, the Japanese nation remembered the failed promises of the Allies after World War I, and they allied with Nazi Germany.
Learning Objectives
- Examine the events and significant of World War I in the Pacific.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Tsingtao: port city on China’s east coast where the Germans’ primary naval base was in World War I
The Siege of Tsingtao
War came to the Pacific in late August 1914. Even at the time, it was considered a minor war within the “Great War.” Although the Germans had naval bases throughout the Pacific, they were primarily small and insignificant to the rest of Europe. The British, Americans, and Japanese all possessed far stronger navies than the Germans. Still, Britain worried that perhaps the Germans might engage in expansion throughout the Pacific or strike British colonial possessions. Australia and New Zealand also felt poorly defended. While their troops fought for the Allies in far-flung locations, their homelands were left wide open to attack.
Aware that the navies of Australia and New Zealand were small and marginal, the British called upon their ally, Japan, to help defeat the Germans in the Pacific. The Japanese readily agreed, less because of their alliance to Britain, and more because they hoped to secure Pacific possessions and expand their influence and power through much of Oceania.
In late September, the Japanese advanced on the German naval base at Tsingtao. Combined, their army exceeded 60,000. By comparison, the Germans left to defend their base did not reach 5,000. Low on ammunition and far outnumbered, the Germans surrendered to the Japanese in November 1914. The siege of Tsingtao, the only major battle of the Pacific, was won with comparatively few casualties, and Germany lost its foothold in Asia and the Pacific forever.
Impact
Following the fall of the German naval base at Tsingtao, the Japanese continued to “mop up” the smaller German bases throughout the Pacific islands. Alarmed by Japanese expansion, the Australians and New Zealanders also sent naval vessels to German colonial possessions, namely Samoa, and were met with no resistance. Before World War I officially ended in 1918, Germany had lost all of its Pacific colonies. Little did the Japanese suspect that their success in the Pacific would largely be ignored by the Western allies, and little did the Allies suspect that this gross oversight would one day push the Japanese to side with the Germans in an even more brutal world war—World War II.
Attributions
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Willmott, H.P. World War I. DK Publishing, London: 2009. 90-91.