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The was a Japanese name for a series of embargoes against
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
by foreign nations, including the
United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
,
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
,
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and the
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
. It was also known as the . In 1940, in an effort to discourage
Japanese militarism refers to the ideology in the Empire of Japan which advocates the belief that militarism should dominate the political and social life of the nation, and the belief that the strength of the military is equal to the strength of a nation. Histo ...
, these nations and others stopped selling
iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
,
steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
and
oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
to Japan, denying it the
raw material A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feedst ...
s needed to continue its activities in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and
French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...
. In Japan, the government and
nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...
viewed these
embargo Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they m ...
es as acts of aggression; imported oil made up about 80% of domestic consumption, without which Japan's economy, let alone its military, would grind to a halt. The Japanese media, influenced by military propagandists, began to refer to the embargoes as the "ABCD ("American-British-Chinese-Dutch") encirclement" or "ABCD line". Faced with the possibility of economic collapse and forced withdrawal from its recent conquests, the Japanese
Imperial General Headquarters The was part of the Supreme War Council and was established in 1893 to coordinate efforts between the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy during wartime. In terms of function, it was approximately equivalent to the United States ...
began planning for a war with the Western powers in April 1941. This culminated in the Japanese
invasion of Malaya The Malayan campaign, referred to by Japanese sources as the , was a military campaign fought by Allied and Axis forces in Malaya, from 8 December 1941 – 15 February 1942 during the Second World War. It was dominated by land battles betwee ...
and
Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
, and the
bombing of Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Haw ...
in December 1941.


Name

The name ABCD Line is of Japanese origin, having been disseminated by the Japanese government in propaganda and textbooks in the late 1930s. It is an example of Japanese propagandists portraying Japan as the protector of Asia, as in the name of the Japanese Empire's colonial holdings, the
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere The , also known as the GEACPS, was a concept that was developed in the Empire of Japan and propagated to Asian populations which were occupied by it from 1931 to 1945, and which officially aimed at creating a self-sufficient bloc of Asian peo ...
. This wartime narrative portrayed Japan fighting against Western Colonialists and Chinese Communists primarily, overlooking the primacy of resource rich areas of Asia in Japan's annexing of lands. Japanese historian Saburō Ienaga writes that a key aspect of the Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere as propaganda was "liberating Asians from American and British imperialism".


Political background

Japan in the early 1930s pursued an expansionist foreign policy, starting with the
Manchurian Incident The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, known in Chinese as the 9.18 Incident (九・一八), was a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria. On September 18, 1931, L ...
in 1931 and continuing with further military actions throughout the decade. In 1937, this broke out into full-scale war between Japan and China when the two nations' armies skirmished near the
Marco Polo Bridge The Marco Polo Bridge or Lugou Bridge () is a stone bridge located 15 km southwest of Beijing's city center in the Fengtai District. It bridges the Yongding River, a major tributary of Hai River. Situated at the eastern end of the bridge ...
, eventually leading to a full scale Japanese Army invasion of China. These incidents, especially the
Nanking Massacre The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Ba ...
, were heavily reported in the international media. In the United States, reporting on the Japanese bombing of Chinese cities was particularly negative. This, combined with the general perception of Japanese threats to peace in Asia, contributed to 73% of general public in the United States opposing the export of military supplies to Japan in June 1939. This would result in the United States freezing Japanese assets on July 26, 1941 (alongside England and the Dutch), effectively ending the export of raw materials and petroleum to Japan.


Economic impact

Meetings between the military leadership of Australia, Britain, and the Netherlands in Singapore, in February 1941, only reinforced Japanese fears of an ABCD encirclement. Similar meetings took place between British leadership and Chinese forces actively fighting Japan, with the eventual goal being coordinated military aid. Japan would go on to occupy islands in the South Pacific for oil after invading the Dutch East Indies, sending over 70% of Japanese petroleum workers to rehabilitate facilities destroyed by the retreating colonial powers. Through a combination of exploiting formerly Dutch oil deposits in the East Indies and making synthetic fuel domestically, the Japanese oil production was able to peak, in the first quarter of 1943, at 80% of the oil that had been imported from the "ABCD" countries in 1940. Japan was never able to fully match pre-embargo petroleum production figures while at war.


See also

*
Tripartite Pact The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive military ...
*
Economic sanctions Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they may ...
*
Hull note The Hull note, officially the Outline of Proposed Basis for Agreement Between the United States and Japan, was the final proposal delivered to the Empire of Japan by the United States of America before the attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1 ...
*
Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...


References

{{Franklin D. Roosevelt, state=collapsed International sanctions Embargoes Foreign trade of Japan Japan–United States relations Japan–United Kingdom relations China–Japan relations Japan–Netherlands relations 1940 in international relations