Japanese security fears under the treaty system

The Anglo-Japanese Alliance and victory at Tsushima had helped Japan feel secure and recognized as a strong power. The treaty era then allowed the United States to finish Colorados, Britain to build Nelson and Rodney, and France to build Dunkerques while Japan received no comparable capital-ship construction. The argument links the resulting insecurity to Japanese memories of the Spanish-American War and earlier coercion by Western powers, which suggested that strength determined how states could treat one another. The passage does not excuse Japanese violence in China and Korea, but explains how Japanese leaders could interpret imperial aggression as the behavior expected of a strong state.