Isolationist in the context of "Grand strategy"

The Black Ships (in Japanese: 黒船, romanized: kurofune, Edo period term) were the names given to both Portuguese merchant ships and American warships arriving in Japan in the 16th and 19th centuries respectively.

In 1543, Portuguese initiated the first contacts, establishing a trade route linking Goa to Nagasaki. The large carracks engaged in this trade had the hull painted black with pitch, and the term came to represent all Western vessels. In 1639, after suppressing a rebellion blamed on the influence of Christian thought, the ruling Tokugawa shogunate retreated into an isolationist policy, the Sakoku. During this "locked state", contact with Japan by Westerners was restricted to Dutch traders on Dejima island at Nagasaki.

Mutsuhito (睦仁; 3 November 1852 – 29 July 1912), posthumously honored as Emperor Meiji (明治天皇, Meiji Tennō), was the 122nd emperor of Japan according to the traditional order of succession, reigning from 1867 until his death in 1912. His reign is associated with the Meiji Restoration of 1868, which ended the Tokugawa shogunate and began rapid changes that transformed Japan from an isolationist, feudal state to an industrialized world power. Emperor Meiji was the first monarch of the Empire of Japan, and presided over the Meiji era.

At the time of Mutsuhito's birth, Japan was a feudal and pre-industrial country dominated by the isolationist Tokugawa shogunate and the daimyō subject to it, who ruled over Japan's 270 decentralized domains. The opening of Japan to the West from 1854 fueled domestic demands for modernization, and when Mutsuhito became emperor after the death of his father Emperor Kōmei in 1867, it triggered the Boshin War, in which samurai (mostly from the Chōshū and Satsuma Domains) defeated the shogunate and restored power in his name. Documents issued during his reign include the Charter Oath of 1868, Meiji Constitution of 1889, Imperial Rescript to Soldiers and Sailors of 1882, and Imperial Rescript on Education of 1890, in which he was advised by a group of oligarchs known as the genrō. Other major events which occurred during his reign include the establishment of the Cabinet in 1885, Privy Council in 1888, Imperial Diet in 1890, and military victories over China in the First Sino-Japanese War and over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. Taiwan and Korea were annexed in 1895 and 1910, respectively. Emperor Meiji died in 1912, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Yoshihito.

On 11 December 1941, four days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and three days after the United States declaration of war against Imperial Japan, Nazi Germany declared war against the United States, in response to what was claimed to be a "series of provocations" by the United States government when the U.S. was still officially neutral during World War II. The decision to declare war was made by Adolf Hitler, following two days of consultation. It has been referred to as Hitler's "most puzzling" decision of World War II. Publicly, the formal declaration was made to American Chargé d'affaires Leland B. Morris by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop in the latter's office. Benito Mussolini also announced Italy's declaration of war against the United States on 11 December. Later that day, the U.S. declared war on Germany, with Germany's action having eliminated any remaining meaningful domestic isolationist opposition to the U.S. joining the European war.