(02) Why We Fight: "Prelude to War" (ca. 1943) 2/6

Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II.
World War II is introduced in black and white terms, with Henry Wallace's quote "This is a fight between a free world and a slave world" pictorialized with the "free world" of the Allies as a brightly-illuminated planet and the "slave world" of the Axis Powers as a planet deep in shadow.
It examines the differences between democratic and fascist states, using footage from Axis propaganda films including Triumph of the Will, but with different narration designed to support the Allied cause.
It is mentioned that after the Nazis smashed opposing political parties and labor unions, they turned their attention to persecution of Christians - in one scene a stained glass window is shattered by a brick to reveal a "Heil Hitler!" poster behind


The Axis aim of total world conquest, as shown in Prelude to War.
The Axis is depicted as seeking total world conquest. An animated map first shows Mussolini's ambition to re-create the Roman Empire, complete with the Mediterranean as "Our (the Italians') Sea", then Japan's ambition - described in the Tanaka Memorial (Its authenticity is still a matter of dispute) - to conquer Manchuria, China, Indochina, Siam, Burma, the East Indies, India, Australia, New Zealand and Russia east of Lake Baikal, before moving east to crush the United States. The Nazis are shown as first claiming Europe, then moving east through Iraq and Iran into India, then south to conquer Africa. Once this is accomplished, the Nazis would cross the Atlantic Ocean from Dakar to Brazil - meeting up with the Japanese who have crossed the South Pacific. Simultaneously, the Nazis would cross the North Atlantic Ocean from Scandinavia into Canada, meeting the Japanese forces (pejoratively referred to as Germany's "buck-toothed pals") crossing from Siberia. The combined Axis armies then overrun the United States.
Isoroku Yamamoto, commander-in-chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy is shown making a speech which is deliberately mistranslated (as in other US World War II propaganda) as "When war comes between Japan and the United States, I shall not be content to merely occupying Guam, the Philippines, Hawaii, and San Francisco. I look forward to dictating the peace to the United States in the White House at Washington." - this is followed by a scene showing the "conquering Jap army" marching down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC, as the narration alludes to Japanese atrocities in Nanking, Hong Kong and Manila.
The film exposes the mendacity of Axis claims that they need living space due to their overpopulation, by showing that they deliberately encouraged a high birth rate in order to increase their military manpower. It also points out that while they claimed to lack raw materials, they were able to build enormous war machines. The Nazi Wehrmacht is mentioned to have "30 Panzer divisions, 70 motorized divisions and 140 infantry divisions".
The film notably takes the position that the war started on September 18, 1931 with Japan's invasion of Manchuria, which is covered towards the end of the film along with Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia. The animation showing a Japanese dagger plunging into Manchuria is re-used in The Battle of Russia, The Battle of China and War Comes To America.
Prelude to War won the 1942 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Category:

Education

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• Why
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• D.C.

[snakes3425]

How much power Hirohito had during the war and the events leading upto it is up for debate, since absolute power rested with Prime Minster Hiedeki Tojo and the army, and at the time the Army could do what ever it wanted, and was known to use the Emperor's name or Japan's honor as an excuse for starting the war

[2bn442RCT]

@snakes3425 It can be a little confusing but your correct. If the Emperor announced to the people "I'm against war", it might not have happened. However, the army controlled the information that was presented to him. In Japan the Emperor is like above politics really like a god than a king. The army had absolute control over the politics in Japan.

[snakes3425]

@2bn442RCT

The Army also controled what information was released to the Japanese people, there was an attempted coup by militartists to keep the war going after the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only reason it fell threw was that a group of B-29s on their way to bomb an oil storage depot flew over head while the coup was going on

[2bn442RCT]

@snakes3425 that's true too. It went too. The lies went to extreme lengths. Far worse than Nazi Germany.

[leegeorgeson]

@2bn442RCT The Japanese Emperor was willing to allow an empire to be carved out in his name but he wanted nothing to do with the responsibility and hard work. Remember this is a man that loved marine biology, flowers and was the first Emperor to refuse concubines, he was not about confrontation but he knew that its easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, also he did not think that war crimes were an unnecessary precept to war. He authorized the gassing of Chinese over 300 times.

[2bn442RCT]

@leegeorgeson That's true he did authorize the use of chemical weapons which is a war crime. However, I'm not sure how many times he authorized the non-military use of chemical weapons.

[elbuggo]

I can see some similarities with the Obama Youth.

[YouT00ber]

interesting to see the kids singing the hitler songs.

[CoryThe411]

Pay close attention AMERICA!!! Our leaders are doing the same thing as Hitler!

The Truth shall set you free

[Pre114]

lol, finally, some genuine anti axis propaganda.

[snakes3425]

@2bn442RCT

When it comes to Japanese War Crimes responsibility it's hard to decern who ordered what. According the consitution at the time the military was answerable only to the Emperor, not the civilian government, and it was a common practice for a low ranking officers and field generals to override the orders of their superiors, the government or the Emperor if they felt the orders violated Japan's honor

[ChrisMathers3501]

@elbuggo Tell that to someone who doesn't have a job because the last President used our tax dollars to light his cigar, wipe his ass, and indebt us to China in exchange for letting them use our country as a dumping ground for their crappiest products because he wants to start a war for oil with a country that didn't attack us, costing us victory in the country that DID, and we still have to pay the same price at the pump as always. I ain't even a liberal, I just have this odd ability to think.

[leegeorgeson]

The last obstacle? HA! Moderate religious groups opposed Hitler because they were moderates. Not because they were religious.

Don't forget, the Pope was one of the first to endorse Hitler and Mussolini. And many Lutherans liked Hitler's emphasis on homophobia and "traditional" family values. Sound Familiar Texas?

[leegeorgeson]

Meiji had more personal charismatic power but the office of the Emperor is still created by Japanese cultural paradigms and those in charge of them. The Imperial house is non-belligerent NOW because Japanese people are so embarassed and longing to forget the atrocities they committed. But back then? They were warmongering much like other cultures that go to war.

[leegeorgeson]

@2bn442RCT About 300 times

[GCarty80]

@renno103

Actually, the Japanese DID use chemical weapons in China. It was BIOLOGICAL weapons which they attempted (and failed) to develop at the infamous Unit 731.

[renno103]

@2bn442RCT Chemical weapons aren't war atrocities, The U.S used them in Vietnam, the Japanese didn't even manage to develop chemical weapons in the end anyway.