Russo-Japanese War, 1904-1905. "victory" for the Japanese, allows them to keep Port Arthur in Korea, still not enough to support their growing population.
Japanese Expansion in East Asia 1930-1941
Causes of Japanese expansion
World War One, 1914-1918. The Japanese were promised large compensation for their involvement, including many German colonies in Oceania, they also hoped this would get them respect in the international community and hopefully racial equality would be considered. Instead, the British and Americans rejected their proposal for racial equality (due to them having to acknowledge the equality of colonies) and they were not given what they were promised.
The Chinese were very unstable, and were in a state of civil war before the Japanese invaded, it was between communists and nationalists, this was due to nearly a decade of disputing warlords, and both factions wished to unite China. This gave the perfect justification for the invasion of Manchuria, as it acted as "manifest destiny", and it seemed like they were bringing order to them.
The Japanese signed several treaties, hoping to get international prestige. The treaties they signed were:
The Four Power treaty- UK, USA, France and Japan would have to convene if there was a crisis in the Pacific.
Five Power Naval Treaty- Unfairly limited the Japanese naval tonnage with this ratio: 5:5:3, 5 and 5 for the US and UK.
Nine Power Treaty- Acknowledged the sovereignty of China.
These treaties were not followed by the Japanese, and they attempted to find loopholes in all of them, however, the Five Power treaty was unfairly discriminating towards the Japanese.
The Japanese were under economic pressure due to the great depression and several race-based embargoes placed on them by the Americans.
The Japanese wished to display their strength to the rest of the world, but after the first world war, early militarism was becoming increasingly unacceptable in the international community.
This is a cartoon from the British publication "Evening Standard." it shows several racist Japanese characters being forced by one in a military uniform into the darkness after a butterfly. The other two are labelled "Jap Politics" and "Jap industry".
The Japanese wished to show their "ethnic superiority" once again to the Chinese. Nationalism had been increasing since the first Sino-Japanese war, due to the way the children were educated about their "superiority". Enthusiasm towards militarism had also been increasing as many considered the idea of trying to negotiate with people who found you inferior to them frustrating and embarrassing. The Military had also become annoyed with democracy, and violated many treaties the government signed, negating the power the government had.
The Japanese needed Manchuria to support their large population. They had the unpredictable Kwantung Army placed there, who used the "Mukden Accident" as an excuse to blame the Chinese. The Mukden accident was an explosion on a Chinese railway that was actually more likely done by the Japanese than the Chinese.
This is a political cartoon about the Japanese and their militarism from 1931. The purpose of it is to inform its audience about the violation of the treaties Japan has signed. Its value is that it lists all the treaties and provides a commentary from an international perspective on the Japanese invasions, its limitation is that it doesn't show a Japanese perspective or justification and it doesn't much else other than that they are violating the treaties.
Quiz
What province of China did Japan want?
- Tibet
- Manchuria
- Korea
- Wales
Japanese Actions
Mukden incident, 1931
In Manchuria, the Japanese had a part of their army known as the Kwantung, who were placed there in 1906 after the Russo-Japanese war. In Manchuria, the Japanese had a railway. A minor explosion happened on it, and the Kwantung blamed it on Chinese rebels, however, there is evidence against the Chinese ever being involved. The Kwantung took this incident as justification for the annexation of Manchuria and the formation of an unrecognized puppet state, Manchukuo.
The Japanese, after forming Manchuckuo, claimed it was an act of self-determination by the Manchurians. This was not accepted by the League of Nations, and they sent an investigator to see what exactly was happening in Manchuria, and they discovered that the army was not under government control and were acting on their own accord.
East-Asian Co-prosperity sphere- a Japanese Pan-Asian ambition, created to be used in propaganda. The idea was that they were removing the western influence from Asian countries.
Second Sino-Japanese War 1937-1941
The Japanese truly desired to expand their empire into a large portion of Asia, and form a "East Asian Co-Prosperity sphere" with a few puppet states. They Slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Chinese civilians to achieve their goal of Asian conquest and if possible, the removal of western influence.
The Dark Period
The Japanese referred to this as a "Dark Period" in their history, as they murdered thousands and were ruled by a totalitarian military state.
Rape of Nanjing
The Japanese, while advancing to the then Chinese capital of the time, Nanjing, preformed wholesale slaughter of civilians and soldiers alike. This was not received well by the international community, including some high-ranking National socialist officials.
Photo of Japanese soldiers committing atrocities in Nanjing.