and as the German offensive began in the spring their situation became truly desperate. Instead they urged Japan to take the initiative. And there were certainly expansionists in Japan who hoped that the Terauchi government would strike.7 In March 1918 as Germany imposed its will at Brest, the fiercely aggressive Interior Minister Goto Shinpei demanded that Japan should seize the opportunity to force its way into Siberia with an army of 1 million men, enough to deter any future attempt by the West to compete with Japan in East Asia.
