Could Japan have invaded Siberia?

Given a choice between retaining Moscow or Vladivostok, Stalin would have prioritized defending the Soviet capital, so Japan might have taken Vladivostok and the Siberian coast without too much effort. Ironically, the battlefield results of a Japanese invasion of Siberia would have been relatively minor.

Why did Japan invade Siberia?

Eager to limit tsarist influence in East Asia after the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and then to contain the spread of Bolshevism during the Russian Civil War, the Japanese deployed some 70,000 troops into Siberia from 1918 to 1922 as part of their intervention on the side of the White Movement, occupying Vladivostok …

What does Kantokuen stand for?

KANTOKUEN ( Japanese: 関特演, from 関東軍特別演習, Kantogun Tokubetsu Enshu, “Kwantung Army Special Maneuvers”) was an operational plan created by the General Staff of the Imperial Japanese Army for an invasion and occupation of the far eastern region of the Soviet Union, capitalizing on the outbreak of the Soviet-German War in June 1941.

What was the result of the Kanchazu incident?

As the Kwantung Army’s power increased, the Soviet-Japanese border conflict worsened and culminated in the Kanchazu Island incident in which a Soviet river gunboat was sunk by Japanese shore batteries, which killed 37 personnel.

Did the Japanese have a war plan against the Soviet Union?

Despite their predicament, the Japanese continued to formulate war plans against the Soviets, and their operational plan of 1937, though crude and logistically deficient, provided the basis for all subsequent developments until 1944.

Why didn’t the Japanese go to war in Siberia?

Amid a barrage of Allied economic sanctions throughout 1940 and 1941, the growing threat of war in the south and the sense of “tranquility” in the north tended to divert Japanese attention away from the long-planned campaign in Siberia. That shift was particularly welcomed by the Imperial Japanese Navy]