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| 1941, Jan. 31 |
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| Under Japanese auspices an armistice was arranged to end hostilities that had broken out between Thailand and French Indochina. The Japanese obtained rice, rubber, coal, and minerals from Indochina and confirmed their military occupation. | 1 |
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| March 11 |
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| France and Thailand concluded a convention, later signed at Tokyo (May 9) whereby Thailand acquired the section of Laos province west of the Mekong River, three-fourths of the Campong-Thom province, and territory in northern Cambodia. | 2 |
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| April 13 |
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| JAPAN AND SOVIET RUSSIA CONCLUDED A NEUTRALITY PACT. | 3 |
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| July 26 |
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| All Japanese credits in the U.S. were “frozen” by a presidential decree. Great Britain took similar action regarding Japanese assets in that country. All armed forces in the Philippine Islands were placed under the control of the U.S. with Gen. Douglas MacArthur as commander in chief in East Asia. | 4 |
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| Aug. 17 |
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| President Roosevelt warned the Japanese ambassador, Adm. Kichisaburo Nomura, that any further policy of military domination in Asia by the Japanese would force the U.S. “to take immediately any and all steps necessary” to safeguard legitimate American rights and interests. Prime Minister Churchill declared a week later (Aug. 24) that Great Britain would support the U.S. if negotiations with Japan failed. | 5 |
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| Nov. 17 |
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| Ambassador Joseph C. Grew at Tokyo cabled a warning to the U.S. that the Japanese might make a sudden attack. | 6 |
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| Nov. 20 |
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| At Washington Nomura and a special Japanese envoy, Saburo Kurusu, proposed that the U.S. and Japan reopen trade relations and cooperate in securing the commodities of the Netherlands East Indies. | 7 |
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| Nov. 26 |
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| Secretary Hull proposed as a basis of agreement that the Japanese withdraw their forces from China and Indochina, recognize the territorial integrity of these countries, and accept the Chinese Nationalist government. The U.S. and Japan could then negotiate a liberal trade treaty. Kurusu declared such proposals practically “put an end to the negotiations.” Three days later (Nov. 29) Hull informed the British ambassador that diplomatic conversations between the U.S. and Japan had virtually broken down. | 8 |
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| Dec. 6 |
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| President Roosevelt cabled a personal message to the emperor of Japan urging him to use his influence to preserve peace. | 9 |
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| Dec. 7 |
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| JAPANESE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOR (below). | 10 |
| After Dec. 7, when Japan was at war with the United States and Great Britain, the conflict in China was overshadowed by developments in the Pacific and the East Indies. Japanese conquest of Burma (1942) closed the Burma Road, the last practicable route by which military supplies could reach Chongqing, for only a few tons a month could be flown in by air. Chinese armies remained in the field, and the Japanese kept an army of 1 million men as an occupying force to protect towns and railway lines. The ultimate fate of these Japanese armies in Asia, and their communications with the Japanese home islands, depended upon the outcome of the war at sea. | 11 |
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