One of the major problems I see with a large Nazi Germany and Empire of Japan is how would foreign relationships work with them for countries that they didn’t conquer? For Nazi Germany they would control everything from Paris to Moscow plus the countries around the Mediterranean Sea and Suez Canal. For Japan they’d control basically all of the west pacific and a good chunk of China. These two countries are dictatorships that are very aggressive and oppressive.
What did the leaders of Nazi Germany and Japan think foreign relations would work with countries that they didn’t conquer? How the heck do you negotiate and do trade and work on common problems with these countries? It’s going to b their way or they’ll just kill you.
It really seems like for Japan and Nazi Germany the mission really was “Conquer the world or die trying.” Seems really silly to me and an extreme tall order to achieve. The leaders of Japan and Nazi Germany are not stupid and I would like to think they would have conversations about what does the world look like after they’ve conquered Europe and the West Pacific? How do non conquered countries work with them and not get killed doing it? How do we keep these empires that we’ve created from falling apart? They’re going to be very very large. It doesn’t seem like they even asked themselves those questions.
That is very simplified explanation of Germany and Japans aims.
Japan’s aim is to destroy the Chiang Kai Shek Regime because of a multitude of factors till 8 December (7 December for the Americans) after that it becomes to liberate asia from western colonialism and japanese lebensraum. They did grant “independence” to Burma, Philippines as you can form government, make laws, central bank yada yada. But if the japanese need you to give them more resources for war effort, they will twist your arm into making that law.
What about the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere? That is not formed till 1940. Because Germany is winning, Japan goes “Holy shit!”. “What if they take the dutch indies and malaya after they invade Britain?”. Let’s declare it and ask Germany to recognise it. The germans don’t. It is only after the Germans realise that “Hey… Maybe we can’t destroy the RAF”, they do.
The sphere does not have any cogent aims till November 1943… you know… when japan is getting it’s butt handed to it. It forms the Pacific Charter… which is a lot like the Atlantic Charter. And they will add more in April 1945, by which point The empire is pretty much dying. Also fun fact, you know how many times the nations in the Sphere hold a conference? *Two times. * November 1943 and April 1945. Compare that to the Allies.
So… getting back to your original question. No foreign relations with them at all. Nazis and the Japanese were never gonna win. Because the allies baby!!!. The allies can outproduce them at a much faster rate than they can replenish their losses. Even if they somehow were the same… The Axis don’t have a set goal, or a unified command or trust each other or tell each other what they are gonna do or work together or not sabotage each other’s efforts. You get the point. There is only one way, the war could have ended. And that is exactly how it did.
I really have a hard time believing that the Axis powers never had a plan for peace and how to conduct relationships with countries they didn’t conquer. German and Japan’s high commands are not stupid. They are educated, have lots of experience in their chosen professions and very good at them. They’re just not as good as the allies are and they don’t have the resources to do it.
They’re putting their lives and families on the line. Their country on the line. To try and create this huge empire. There has to be a way for peace after they’ve done their conquering. They can’t use force to do it. Otherwise the empires will not survive. They also have to get other nations to agree that their empires exist or they’re going to be trying anything and everything to break them up.
They had to have recognize this and had conversations about them. Yet, there’s no history that has documented these conversations. None that I know of that makes any sense to me.
The history is just lost. Which would make sense. The Allies won, they want to make the Axis sound as bad they possibly can. God forbid the Axis have rational conversations.
Ok… if you want an example of what the plans were for the Japanese during the war and after the war, read up…
“The greater east asia co-prosperity Sphere” by Jeremy A Yellen.
As for the Germans… yeah… they do have plan…(kill slavs in the east for German settlers), but how the economy would function after the war… I have no clue. I know of no such book, that talks about it. But yeah… “Wages of Destruction” would be your best bet on how the Nazis moulded their economy.
Which country ain’t doing so? The axis are, the allies are.
No… no. That is not how good Historians write history. They look at both sides and then write. Here… Johnny from Potential History explains it better than I can.
* November 1943 and April 1945. Compare that to the Allies.