jul 26, 1941 - The US Oil Embargo
Description:
President Franklin Roosevelt seizes all Japanese assets in the United States in retaliation for the Japanese occupation of French Indo-China. Given that France had long occupied parts of the region, and Germany, a Japanese ally, now controlled most of France through Petain’s puppet government, France “agreed” to the occupation of its Indo-China colonies. Japan followed up by occupying Cam Ranh naval base, 800 miles from the Philippines, where Americans had troops, and the British base at Singapore. In response to this, and also the Japanese’s general increasing aggression (USS Panay, Tripartite Pact, Chinese Invasion), the US imposed an Oil Embargo on Japan. Japan lost 88 percent of its imported oil. Japan’s oil reserves were only sufficient to last three years, and only half that time if it went to war and consumed fuel at a more frenzied pace. Japan was now faced with a dilemma: back off of its occupation of Southeast Asia and hope the oil embargo and would be eased—or seize the oil and further antagonize the West, even into war. This would eventually lead to Japan attacking Pearl Harbor.
Added to timeline:
Japanese Expansionism in the East
Created by Oaan Rana, Joel Tabapssi, Tara Thompson, Aschiech...
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