Week 6 Keyword Analysis: Versailles-Washington system

The Cumings and Yellen readings this week center around Japan’s response to the post-WWI anti-Imperialist world order. A keyword Yellen uses to capture this is the “Versailles-Washington system.” By beating back Russia and taking control of Korea in 1905, Japan established itself as a world power in terms of military might. But this militaristic imperialism went out of fashion following WWI when Wilson’s Fourteen Points and Lenin’s Bolshevism alike took nominally anti-Imperialist stances. The Peace of Versailles and League of Nations established new rules of international conduct based on peaceful economic interactions and national self-determination. The Japanese contested the fairness of this order, Yellen points out, understanding that it simply cemented the advantages of those already with colonial territory and military gains over those without; but in the 20s Japan was able to adapt and thrive, pulling troops back from Shandong and “modernizing” Korea in a way that the U.S. and Britain approved. By the 30s, however, the great depression had hit and Japanese faith in “liberal capitalism” and the “Anglo-American power” was weakening (Yellen, 3). By 1940, Japanese acceptance of the Versailles-Washington system had been replaced by visions for a new world order, crystallized in the idea of a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.”

Key question: how did Japanese pan-Asianism and efforts to create a Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere affect relations between East Asian countries today, especially China’s heavy influence over the region?