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Negotiators: The Two Ambassadors to Britain, Shigeru Yoshida and Dino Grandi

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Japan, Italy and the Road to the Tripartite Alliance

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Abstract

This chapter examines two important diplomatic negotiators of Japan and Italy, Shigeru Yoshida and Dino Grandi, who served as ambassadors to Britain. Arriving in London after political setbacks, both had every intention of returning to the power center as well as reaching an understanding with Britain. Neither of them actively opposed expansionism, nor did they think their governments should make substantial concessions. Both intentionally overestimated the readiness of their governments to accept British appeasement. While Yoshida attempted to persuade British diplomats to be conciliatory toward Japan, Grandi even sent false information to both Italy and Britain for the sake of winning the goodwill of decision makers in his home state.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Shin’ichi Kitaoka, “Yoshida Shigeru niokeru Senzen to Sengo,” in Nempo Kindai Nihon Kenkyu, No. 16: Sengo Gaiko no Keisei (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1994), pp. 107–108, 129. Tomoki Takeda, Shigemitsu Mamoru to Sengo Seiji (Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 2002), pp. 48–50.

  2. 2.

    Taichiro Mitani, “Kokusai Kin’yu Shihon to Ajia no Senso,” in Nempo Kindai Nihon Kenkyu, No. 2: Kindai Nihon to Ajia (Tokyo: Yamakawa Shuppansha, 1980), pp. 148–152. The National Archives, Kew (hereafter TNA), FO371/21040, F1472/414/23 (5/3/1937). Mori was another business-oriented expansionist and had spent ten years in Shanghai as a member of the Mitsui firm. TNA, FO371/15520, F1405/1405/23 (12/3/1931).

  3. 3.

    Tetsuya Sakai, Taisho Democracy Taisei no Hokai: Naisei to Gaiko (Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1992), pp. 80–84. Archivio Storico del Ministero degli Affari Esteri, Roma (hereafter ASMAE), Serie Affari Politici 1931–1945 (hereafter AP), Cina, B10, Telesp. 210935R (9/4/1932). Shigeru Yoshida, Kaiso Junen, Vol. 4 (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1958), p. 103.

  4. 4.

    Renzo De Felice, Mussolini il Duce, Vol. 1: Gli anni del consenso 1929–1936 (Torino: Einaudi, 1974), p. 368. Cf. Ennio Di Nolfo, Mussolini e la politica estera italiana (1919–1933) (Padova: CEDAM, 1960), p. 251. Adrian Lyttelton, The Seizure of Power: Fascism in Italy 1919–1929, 2nd ed. (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1987), p. 426. TNA, FO371/12196, C3376/80/22 (6/4/1927).

  5. 5.

    ASMAE, Carte Dino Grandi (hereafter CDG), B20, F90, SF29, 1/3/1931.

  6. 6.

    ASMAE, CDG, B21, F90, SF30, 19/3/1931.

  7. 7.

    Dino Grandi, Il mio paese. Ricordi autobiografici, a cura di Renzo De Felice (Bologna: Il Mulino, 1985), pp. 203–205, 258–259. Claudio G. Segrè, Italo Balbo: A Fascist Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987), pp. 277–279. Benito Mussolini, Opera omnia di Benito Mussolini (hereafter O. O.), a cura di Edoardo e Duilio Susmel, XXXIV (Firenze: La Fenice, 1959), p. 401. Raffaele Guariglia, Ricordi, 1922–1946 (Napoli: Edizioni Scientifiche Italiane, 1949), pp. 176–177.

  8. 8.

    ASMAE, CDG, B19, F90, SF25, December 1930; B19, F90, SF26, 1/1/1931; B19, F90, SF26, Situazione etiopica dopo l’incoronazione del Negus (December 1930); B20, F90, SF28, 28/1/1931; B23, F90, SF34, 5/6/1931.

  9. 9.

    TNA, FO371/14440, C9363/141/92 (18/12/1930); FO371/12195, C888/80/22 (27/1/1927); FO371/15987, C6752/6225/22 (27/7/1932).

  10. 10.

    Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889–1936: Hubris (London: Penguin Books, 1998), p. 537. Douglas Glen, Von Ribbentrop is Still Dangerous (London: Rich & Cowan, 1941), pp. 110–111.

  11. 11.

    Manchester Guardian, 17/12/1936.

  12. 12.

    News Chronicle, 24/4/1934; Daily Herald, 12/11/1934; Daily Express, 3/12/1934. Michael Bloch, Ribbentrop (New York: Crown Publishers, 1992), pp. 54–58. Kershaw, op. cit., p. 756.

  13. 13.

    Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939 (hereafter DBFP), 2-XIII (London: HMSO, 1973), No. 290.

  14. 14.

    DBFP, 2-XIII, No. 289. Cf. Akten zur Deutschen Auswärtigen Politik (hereafter ADAP), C-IV (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975), Nr. 253, n. 2.

  15. 15.

    Ibid., No. 318.

  16. 16.

    Bundesarchiv, Berlin-Lichterfelde (hereafter BA), NS 43/362, Eigentum des Deutschen Nachrichtenbüros, Nr. 172 (23/6/1935).

  17. 17.

    TNA, CAB29/149, Japan No. 672 (30/10/1934). DBFP, 2-XIII, No. 67. Chihiro Hosoya, “Gaikokan Yoshida Shigeru no Yume to Zasetsu,” Chuo Koron. Vol. 92, No. 8 (1977), 249–250. Sumio Hatano, “Heisei Kaikaku eno Ugoki to Nihon no Tai-Chu Seisaku,” in Chugoku no Heisei Kaikaku to Kokusai Kankei, ed. Yutaka Nozawa (Tokyo: Tokyo Daigaku Shuppankai, 1981), pp. 273–274. Stephen Lyon Endicott, Diplomacy and Enterprise: British China Policy 1933–1937 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1975), p. 74.

  18. 18.

    Hirota Koki Denki Kankokai, ed., Hirota Koki (hereafter Hirota) (1966; rpt. Fukuoka: Ashi Shobo, 1992), pp. 180–182. TNA, FO371/15520, F1405/1405/23 (12/3/1931); FO371/20277, F4808/3390/10 (7/8/1936); FO371/20287, F7427/553/23 (23/11/1936). Endicott, op. cit., p. 146.

  19. 19.

    TNA, FO371/21040, F1472/414/23 (5/3/1937).

  20. 20.

    Japanese Foreign Ministry Archives, Tokyo (hereafter JFMA), A. 2. 1. 0. C6, No. 354 (24/6/1936); No. 366 (30/6/1936). Ann Trotter, Britain and East Asia 1933–1937 (London: Cambridge University Press, 1975), pp. 189–192.

  21. 21.

    TNA, T188/45, C3789/58/62 (6/5/1932).

  22. 22.

    ASMAE, CDG, B39, F93, SF1, Ins. 1, 17/8/1935. See also Galeazzo Ciano, Diario 1937–1943 (hereafter Ciano, Diario), a cura di Renzo De Felice (Milano: Rizzoli, 1980), pp. 96, 254.

  23. 23.

    DBFP, 2-XV, Nos. 264, 279.

  24. 24.

    Guariglia, Ricordi, pp. 327–328. Grandi, op. cit., pp. 413–414. De Felice, Mussolini il Duce, Vol. 1, p. 341.

  25. 25.

    DBFP, 2-XV, No. 258; 2-XVII, Nos. 363, 393, 415. Paola Brundu Olla, L’equilibrio difficile: Gran Bretagna, Italia e Francia nel Mediterraneo, 1930–1937 (Milano: Giuffrè, 1980), pp. 177–178, 184–185. FO371/20412, R7037/226/22 (27/11/1936); R7085/226/22 (1/12/1936); R7189/226/22 (27/11/1936). Peter Bell, Chamberlain, Germany and Japan, 1933–4 (London: Macmillan, 1996), p. 39.

  26. 26.

    Daily Telegraph, 12/3/1937. Cf. Daily Mail, 20/3/1936; News Chronicle, 11/2/1937. Paul Schwarz, This Man Ribbentrop: His Life and Times (New York: Julian Messner, 1943), p. 126. Glen, op. cit., pp. 135, 140, 147.

  27. 27.

    Ibid., pp. 133–136, 141, 173. The Times, 12/8/1936.

  28. 28.

    DBFP, 2-XIII, No. 305.

  29. 29.

    Wolfgang Michalka, Ribbentrop und Die Deutsche Weltpolitik 1933–1940 (München: Fink, 1980), S. 104–105. Cf. Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, Nationalsozialistische Außenpolitik 1933–1938 (Frankfurt am Main and Berlin: Metzner, 1968), S. 414. Schwarz, op. cit., p. 134. According to Michalka, Ribbentrop realized the naval agreement would be turned to German advantage and he had a clearer grasp of foreign policy than Hitler himself. Michalka, op. cit., S. 103–105. However, as far as Ribbentrop’s attitude to Britain is concerned, he often seemed to overlook the context of foreign policy in order to win Hitler’s favor.

  30. 30.

    DBFP, 2-XXI, No. 14. Grandi, op. cit., pp. 413–414. Ivan Maisky, Spanish Notebooks, trans. Ruth Kisch (London: Hutchinson, 1966), p. 35. John L. Heineman, Hitler’s First Foreign Minister: Constantin Freiherr von Neurath, Diplomat and Statesman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979), pp. 130–133.

  31. 31.

    TNA, FO371/20277, F4625/3390/10 (30/7/1936); F4808/3390/10 (7/8/1936); FO371/20285, F7043/303/23 (16/11/1936).

  32. 32.

    Shigeru Yoshida, Kaiso Junen, Vol. 1 (Tokyo: Shinchosha, 1958), pp. 42, 44–46. DBFP, 2-XXI, No. 19.

  33. 33.

    Yutaka Yoshida, Showa Ten’no no Shusen-shi (Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho, 1992), pp. 21–22.

  34. 34.

    ASMAE, Fondo Gabinetto, Carte Lancelotti (hereafter FGCL), F28-32, G31, Verbali di Colloq. e Appunti di Sottoseg. Bastianini (9/10/1936). Maisky, op. cit., pp. 85–86.

  35. 35.

    Ibid., p. 90.

  36. 36.

    Joachim von Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, aus dem Nachlaß herausg. von Annelies von Ribbentrop (Leoni am Starnberger See: Druffel, 1954), S. 105.

  37. 37.

    Maisky, op. cit., pp. 85, 87. ASMAE, CDG, B40, F93, SF2, Ins. 2, N. 3445 (6/11/1936).

  38. 38.

    ADAP, C-V, Nr. 161. Francis P. Walters, A History of the League of Nations (London: Oxford University Press, 1952), pp. 695–698. Grandi, op. cit., pp. 402–403. Pompeo Aloisi, Journal (Paris: Plon, 1957), pp. 358, 361. Manfred Funke, Sanktionen und Kanonnen. Hitler, Mussolini und der internationale Abessinienkonflikt 1934–36 (Düsseldorf: Droste, 1970), S. 139–140. ASMAE, CDG, B40, F93, SF2, Ins. 2, N. 3445 (6/11/1936). DBFP, 2-XVII, No. 356.

  39. 39.

    Paolo Nello, Dino Grandi: La formazione di un leader fascista (Bologna: Mulino, 1987), pp. 391–408. Bosworth, Mussolini, pp. 399–401. Ray Moseley, Mussolini’s Shadow: The Double Life of Count Galeazzo Ciano (New Heaven: Yale University Press, 1999), pp. 168–175.

  40. 40.

    TNA, FO371/20279, F4320/89/23 (17/7/1936); F5842/89/23 (23/9/1936).

  41. 41.

    DBFP, 2-XXI, No. 1. TNA, FO371/20279, F6724/89/23 (3/11/1936). DBFP, 2-XX, No. 593. After the high-level delegation from the Federation of British Industries to Japan and Manchukuo had published its reassuring impressions, Yoshida unsuccessfully requested of his home government that either Manchukuo or Japan should offer some kind of commercial favors to Britain. JFMA, E. 3. 1. 1. 2-3, Vol. 5, No. 739 (26/12/1936). Cf. Endicott, op. cit., p. 78.

  42. 42.

    TNA, FO371/20286, F7596/303/23 (4/12/1936). DBFP, 2-XX, No. 593. Cf. TNA, FO371/20279, F7922/89/23 (11/12/1936).

  43. 43.

    TNA, FO371/21029, F417/28/23 (21/1/1937).

  44. 44.

    TNA, FO371/20286, F7926/303/23 (17/12/1936).

  45. 45.

    John W. Dower, Empire and Aftermath: Yoshida Shigeru and the Japanese Experience, 1878–1954 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1979), pp. 124–125, 147–149. Yoichi Kibata, “Nicchu Senso Zenya niokeru Igirisu no Tai-Nichi Seisaku,” Tokyo Gaikokugo Daigaku Ronshu, No. 29 (1979), 181–188.

  46. 46.

    John F. Coverdale, Italian Intervention in the Spanish Civil War (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1975), pp. 165–166, 186–187. ASMAE, Ufficio Spagna, B1, Allegato 3 (8/12/1936). Roberto Cantalupo , Fu la Spagna (Milano: Mondadori, 1948), p. 67.

  47. 47.

    DBFP, 2-XVII, Nos. 363, 483, 499, 514. TNA, FO371/20412, R7037/226/22 (20/11/1936).

  48. 48.

    Keith Feiling, The Life of Neville Chamberlain (London: Macmillan, 1946), pp. 329–330. Grandi, op. cit., pp. 429, 432. Renzo De Felice, Mussolini il Duce, Vol. 2: Lo Stato totalitario 1936–1940 (Torino: Einaudi, 1981), pp. 423–424.

  49. 49.

    Feiling, op. cit., p. 330. DBFP, 2-XIX, Nos. 64, 65. Anthony Eden, The Eden Memoirs: Facing the Dictators (London: Cassell, 1962), pp. 451–453. TNA, FO371/21157, R1981/1/22 (16/3/1937); R1991/1/22 (20/3/1937); R2047/1/22 (20/3/1937); FO371/21158, R2838/1/22 (26/4/1937). Cantalupo, op. cit., pp. 244–248.

  50. 50.

    Ribbentrop, op. cit., S. 106.

  51. 51.

    Galeazzo Ciano (verbalizzati da), L’Europa verso la catastrofe (hereafter L’Europa) (Verona: Mondodori, 1948), p. 251 (13/2/1938, sic 19/2/1938). De Felice, Mussolini il Duce, Vol. 2, pp. 452–453. ASMAE, AP, Gran Bretagna, B24, F2, SF3, Telegr. 667 (6/2/1938). Feiling, op. cit., pp. 335–336. L.W. Fuchser, Neville Chamberlain and Appeasement: A Study in the Politics of History (New York, London: Norton, 1982), p. 103. Eden, op. cit., pp. 574–575.

  52. 52.

    ASMAE, AP, Gran Bretagna, B24, F2, SF3, Telegr. A. 727 (9/2/1938); Telegr. A. 778 (12/2/1938); Telegr. A. 783 (12/2/1938); Telegr. A. 787 (12/2/1938); Telegr. A. 788 (12/2/1938); Telegr. P. 2360 (14/2/1938).

  53. 53.

    Ciano, L’Europa, pp. 249–278. Feiling, op. cit., p. 338. Lord Templewood, Nine Troubled Years (London: Collins, 1954), p. 279. Eden, op. cit., pp. 582, 592. ASMAE, Fondo Gabinetto, Carte Lancelotti, Ufficio di Coordinamento (hereafter FGCLUC), F87-90, B14, G89, Telegr. A. 966 (21/2/1938). De Felice, Mussolini il Duce, Vol. 2, pp. 460–461.

  54. 54.

    DBFP, 2-XIX, Nos. 660, 662. De Felice, Mussolini il Duce, Vol. 2, p. 477. ASMAE, FGCLUC, F87-90, B14, G89, no. 1023/466 (19/2/1938); FGCL, F16-27, B24, F1, Minuta autografa di telegr. relativi alla questione spagnola (22/2/1938). Grandi, op. cit., pp. 436, 445, 449.

  55. 55.

    Morning Post, 5/3/1937. Cf. The Times, 3/3/1937. Daily Telegraph, 5/3/1937.

  56. 56.

    Glen, op. cit., pp. 147, 150–151.

  57. 57.

    Ibid., p. 151. News Chronicle, 5/2/1937; Daily Mail, 6/2/1937; Morning Post, 8/2/1937. BA, NS 43/362, Ribbentrop in der Auslandspresse. Heineman, op. cit., p. 155.

  58. 58.

    Dower, op. cit., pp. 124–126. Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1936–IV (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1954), pp. 220–222. DBFP, 2-XXI, No. 14. TNA, FO371/20277, F3390/3390/10 (9/6/1936).

  59. 59.

    DBFP, 2-XX, No. 561. Yoshida also admitted that the Chinese excelled over the Japanese in diplomatic methods. DBFP, 2-XXI, No. 1.

  60. 60.

    DBFP, 2-XX, Nos. 454, 543, 561. TNA, FO371/20279, F6511/89/23 (26/10/1936).

  61. 61.

    TNA, FO371/20277, F4808/3390/3390 (7/8/1936).

  62. 62.

    Renzo De Felice, Intervista sul fascismo, a cura di Michael A. Ledeen, 2 ed. (Roma-Bari: Laterza, 1999), pp. 70–71. Id., Mussolini il Duce, Vol. 1, pp. 373, 412–413, 465–467. Grandi, op. cit., pp. 290, 352, 378. Paola Brundu Olla, op. cit., pp. 3–7. R.J.B. Bosworth, Italy, the Least of the Great Powers: Italian Foreign Policy before the First World War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979).

  63. 63.

    De Felice, Intervista sul fascismo, pp. 71–73.

  64. 64.

    De Felice, Mussolini il Duce, Vol. 2, pp. 544–545, 550–552, 560–561. Ciano, Diario, p. 203.

  65. 65.

    Ciano, Diario, pp. 266–271. DBFP, 3-IV, Nos. 377, 448. Mario Toscano, The Origins of the Pact of Steel (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1967), pp. 174, 196–197. Ciano, L’Europa, pp. 419–420. Giuseppe Bottai, Diario, 1935–1944, a cura di Giordano Bruno Guerri (Milano: Rizzoli, 1983), pp. 142–144. Grandi, op. cit., p. 463.

  66. 66.

    ASMAE, CDG, B40, F93, SF2, Ins. 5, N. 2363 (20/5/1939); B56, F153, Discorso di Grandi (25/5/1939).

  67. 67.

    De Felice, Intervista sul fascismo, p. 73.

  68. 68.

    Heineman, op. cit., pp. 127, 129, 159–166. BA, NS 43/49, Aufgaben eines Aussenpolitischen Amtes der NSDAP.

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    Ken Ishida

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Ishida, K. (2018). Negotiators: The Two Ambassadors to Britain, Shigeru Yoshida and Dino Grandi. In: Japan, Italy and the Road to the Tripartite Alliance. Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96223-8_5

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