Anglo-American Strategic Relations and the Far East, 1933-1939: Imperial Crossroads

325 Pages·2002·5.635 MB·English

by  Greg Kennedy

ANGLO-AMERICAN STRATEGIC RELATIONS
AND THE FAR EAST
1933-1939
CassS eries:S trategya nd History
SeriesE ditors: Colin Gray and Williamson Murray
ISSN: 1473-6403
This new seriesw ill focus on the theory and practiceo f strategy.F ollowing Clausewitz,
strategyh asb eenu nderstoodto meant he use madeo f force, and the threato f the use of
force, for the endso f policy. This seriesi s as interestedin ideasa s in historical caseso f
grand strategya nd military strategyi n action. All historical periods,n eara nd past,a nd
even future, are of interest.I n addition to original monographst,h e seriesw ill from time
to time publish edited reprints of neglectedc lassicsa s well as collectionso f essays.
1. Military Logistics and StrategicP erformance,T homasM . Kane
2. Strategyf or Chaos: RMA Theory and the Evidenceo fH istory, Colin Gray
3. The Myth ofI nevitable US Defeati n Vietnam,C . Dale Walton
4. Astropolitik: Classical Geopoliticsi n the SpaceA ge, Everett C. Dolman
5. Anglo-AmericanS trategicR elationsa nd the Far East, 1933-1939:I mperial Crossroads,
Greg Kennedy
ANGLO-AMERICAN
STRATEGIC RELATIONS
AND THE FAR EAST
1933-1939
Imperial Crossroads
GREG KENNEDY
Joint ServicesC ommanda nd StaffC ollege, UK
~ ~~o~~~~n~s~;up
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First publishedi n 2002 by Frank CassP ublishers
This edition publishedb y Routledge2 011
2 Park Square,M ilton Park,A bingdon, Oxon OXI4 4RN
Simultaneouslyp ublishedi n the USA and Canadab y Routledge
711 Third Avenue,N ew York, NY 10017
Routledgeis an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2002 G. Kennedy
British Library Cataloguingi n PublicationD ata
Kennedy,G reg
Anglo-Americans trategicr elationsa nd the Far East,
1933-1939:i mperial crossroads-. (Casss eries.S trategy
andh istory; no. 5)
I. Great Britain - Foreign relations- United States
2. United States- Foreign relations- GreatB ritain 3. Great
Britain - Foreign relations- EastA sia 4. EastA sia -
Foreign relations- GreatB ritain 5. United States- Foreign
relations- EastA sia 6. EastA sia - Foreign relations-
United States 7. EastA sia - Strategica spects 8. Great
Britain - Foreignr elations- 1910-1936 9. United States-
Foreign relations- 1933-1945
I. Title
327.4'1 ' 073'09043
ISBN 0-7146-5188-5
ISSN 1473-6403
Library of CongressC ataloging-in-PublicationD ata
Kennedy,G regoryc ., 1961-
77Anglo-Americans trategicr elationsa nd the Far East, 1933-1939:i mperial crossroads/
Greg Kennedy.
p. cm. - (Casss eries-strategay nd history, ISSN 1473-6403;5 )
Includesb ibliographicalr eferences( p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-7146-5188-5( cloth)
1. United States-Foreignre lations-GreaBt ritain. 2. GreatB ritain-Foreign
relations-UnitedS tates. 3. United States-Foreignre lations-1933-1945.4 . East
Asia-Foreignr elations-UnitedS tates. 5. United States-Foreignre lations-EasAt sia. 6.
EastA sia-Foreignr elations-GreaBt ritain. 7. GreatB ritain-Foreignr elations-East
Asia. 8. EastA sia-Strategica spects.9 . EastA sia-Politics and government-20th
century. 1. Title. II. Series.
EI83.8.G7K 46 2002
327.4105'09'043-dc21
2002017529
All rights reserved.N o part of this publication may be reproduced,s tored in or introducedi nto a
retrieval systemo r transmittedi n any form or by any means,e lectronic,
mechanical,p hotocopying,r ecording or otherwise,w ithout the prior written permission
of the publishero f this book.
Typeseti n 1OY,112M inion by Vitaset, PaddockW ood, Kent
Contents
SeriesE ditor's Preface Vll
Acknowledgements lX
List of Abbreviations Xl
Introduction
1. Anglo-AmericanI ntelligence,W ar Planninga nd Naval 15
Cooperation,1 933-39
2. British andA mericanV iews of the Soviet Union's Role in the Far 51
East, 1933-39,I : The British
3. British andA mericanV iews of the Soviet Union's Role in the Far 91
East, 1933-39,I I: The Americans
4. The Developmento f Anglo-AmericanT rust and the 1935 London 121
Naval Conference( I)
5. The Developmento f Anglo-AmericanT rust and the 1935 London 173
Naval Conference( II)
6. The ForeignO ffice and the StateD epartment,1 937-39 211
7. Conclusion 262
Bibliography 269
Index 309
Series Editor's Preface
Historianst end to focus on greatt urning points on which to hangt heir tales.
Thus, the momentouse vents lying betweent he beginning of the German
offensivei n the west on 10 May 1940 and the surprisea ttacko n PearlH arbor
on 7 December1 941 seemt o provide the specific context for what Churchill
so eloquently termed the 'Grand Alliance'. Indeed, that terrifying descent
towardsh ell providedt he impetust o fundamentacl hangesin the relationship
betweent he two nations.W hat then seeminglys avedt he world of democratic,
liberal capitalismw as the willingnesso f two greatm en,W instonC hurchill and
Franklin D. Roosevelt,t o place the quarrelso f the past in abeyancea nd look
towards the future. It is certainly one of the great stories of the twentieth
century,a nd one of the few that has a positive connotation.
However,i n focusing on the turning point alone,h istoriansm iss the larger
contextw ithin which eventso ccur. From our perspectivea t the beginningo f
the twenty-first century,t he formation of the connectionb etweent he United
Statesa nd the United Kingdom between1 940 and 1942 seemso bvious and
natural. But from the perspectiveo f the pre-warp eriod, the creationo f such
an alliances eemedm ore problematical.A t that time, the relationshipb etween
the United Statesa ndG reatB ritain appearedfa r lessl ikely to provide the basis
for a lasting alliance or even an alliance that could standt he strain of a great
war against Nazi Germany.I t was not just the memory of America's great
revolutionary war of independence( the myths of which still echo in bad
Hollywood movies) that had provided many Americans with an abiding,
deep distrust of the British and their Empire, feelings deepenedb y the mass
migration of so many from Ireland in the nineteenthc entury; many other
Americansa lso viewed themselvesa nd their nation as the naturalr eplacement
for Britain as the leadingp ower in the world.
As such,s ince the start of the twentieth century, the US military had seen
Britain as being as natural an enemya s Japan.W hile there were US military
plans for a war againstJ apan( the so-called' ORANGE' plan), there were also
plans for a conflict with Britain. Thus, the emergenceo f a relationshipi n the
Pacific betweent he British and the Americansi n responseto an increasingly
ANGLO-AMERICAN STRATEGIC RELATIONS AND THE FAR EAST, \933-39
aggressivea nd dangerous( to the internationalo rder) Japanesere gime would
prove of enormousi mportance,w hen, in 1939, the Germans triggeredt he
secondg reat war of the twentieth century.T hat strategicr elationshipd id not
ariseo ut of somed eeps enseo f commonc ivilization or belief in the common-
ality of 'Anglo-American'i nterests.R ather,i t aroseo ut of old-fashionedc oncerns
for balancingt he rising risks to both nationsa s the Japaneseth reatenedb oth.
In other words, the relationshipr epresentedth e actual processeso f balanceo f
power at work.
This splendidb ook by Greg Kennedyc hroniclest he establishmenot f con-
nectionsa nd, abovea ll, a level of trust betweent hosec hargedw ith defending
the interestso f the Anglo-Americann ationsi n the Pacific. It beginsi n the early
1930s,n ot at the end of the decade.A s Kennedys uggestsin his Introduction,
the strategicp olicy-making elites of the two nations were able to construct
mentalm apso f eacho ther,o n which so much was to be built by Churchill and
Roosevelti n their creationo f the 'GrandA lliance'. Thosem ental mapsr ested
on an understandingo f the parametersw ithin which eachn ation was reacting
to the emergings trategice nvironmenti n the Pacific. And we must not forget
that strategicp olicy-makers,t hen, as always,c astt heir work in an atmosphere
of enormousu ncertaintya nda mbiguity,a n atmospherem adet hat much more
uncertain by the nature of the Japanesep olity. As the years passed,t he
understandingo f eacho ther'sn ationalp ositionsd eepeneda mongt hosew ho
dealt with the day-to-dayp roblemso f policy-making.W hen the dark eventso f
the late 1930sb roke on strategicp olicy-makers,t here alreadye xisteda depth
of understandinga mongt hosew ho madep olicy that had not beent herea t the
beginning of the decade. Kennedy has managedi n clear, understandable
fashion to unravel the actual processeso f strategicp olicy-making at the level
of day-to-day,m onth-to-monthr elations.I n everyr espectt,h is book is a major
contributiont o our understandingo f how strategyi s madei n the real world -
in this case,t he establishmenot f trust and perceptionso n which the eventual
Anglo-Americans pecialr elationshipw ould be createdin the early yearso f the
SecondW orld War.
WILLIAMSON MURRAY
SeriesC o-Editor
Vlll
Acknowledgements
In the courseo f eventst hat surroundst he constructiono f such a work there
are always manyd ebtsi ncurred.I apologizen ow to any who readt his andf eel
I have slighted them becauset hey have not beenm entioned,f or it is not my
intention to do so.
My first debto f gratitudeg oest o thosep eoplew ho believedi n my work and
abilities and offered freely and fully their companyo n this journey. Professors
Keith Neilson,D onaldM . SchurmanJ, ohnF erris andD avid Frenchh aveg iven
moret hant heir fair shareo f time, patience,k nowledgea nd,m osti mportantly,
their friendship,o ver the years.A ll were instrumentailn anythingo f worth that
is producedh erea ndr esponsiblefo r nonet hat is wrong or in error. lowe them
all much more than I can do justice to in this short space.I n particular,K eith
Neilsonh ast ravelledt he interwary earsw ith me, sharingh is vast knowledgeo f
British imperiald efencer, eadingv ariationso f this manuscript,o ffering honest,
informed advice, and providing a constanti nspiration upon which I could
depend.T o him I give specialt hanks.
Without adequatef unding no serious investigation of this nature can be
undertakenT. herefore,I would like to thankt he University of Alberta for their
grantsa ndf ellowships; the HerbertH ooverP residentiaLl ibrary Associationi n
West Branch, Iowa; the Franklin and EleanorR ooseveltI nstitute, Hyde Park,
New York; andt he CanadianD epartmenot f National Defencef or their invest-
menti n my work. In particular,I would like to thankt he History andW ar Studies
Departmentso f the Royal Military College of Canada( RMC) for the oppor-
tunity to gain accesst o their outstandingr esourcesI. would also like to extend
my thankst o the staff at the MasseyL ibrary at the RMC, as well as thosea t the
Hoovera ndR ooseveltP residentiaLl ibraries,H ooverI nstitute,N aval Historical
Center, Nimitz Library, US Army Military History ResearchC ollection, the
Library of Congresst, he National Archives in Washington,t he Public Record
Office, University of Birmingham Library, Roskill Archives Churchill College
Cambridge,U niversityL ibrary CambridgeN, ationalM aritime Museum,B ritish
Library, Bodleian Library Oxford, Middle East Studies Centre, St Antony's
College Oxford, andS OAS Library University CollegeL ondon.
ANGLO-AMERICAN STRATEGIC RELATIONS AND THE FAR EAST, 1933-39
Finally, but by no meansl east,I would like to thank my lovely wife Frankie
and our daughtersM egan and Jennaf or their inspirationa nd patience.T here
is nothing as wonderful as coming home to them after a day of researcho r
writing. They make it all worth while. Thanky ou for your understandinga nd
sacrifice.
As always, the final responsibilityf or what has been written here and any
errors and omissionst hat have beenm adea re the author's,a nd his alone.
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