Japan and the Rise of the Military

Contextual Issues

• Pseudo-colonization of China.

• Threats of unequal treaties.

• Unstable democracy.

• Independent military.

• Limited resources and weakened economy.

• Rising nationalism and militarism.

Pseudo-colonization of China

• Forced spheres of influence created fears
  of similar foreign influence in Japan.

• Growing unification of China presents
  threat to Japanese interests.

  • Repeated conflicts over Manchuria.

Threats of Unequal Treaties

• Trade barriers enforced by Great Depression.

• Unpopular reduction in military forces under foreign treaties and League of Nations.

Unstable Democracy

• New emperor in 1931.

• Assassination attempts.

• Assassination of Prime Minister by military extremists.

Independent Military

• Separately appointed staff with equal power to war ministry.

• Reported directly to emperor.

• Ministry appointments granted undue influence over civilian governments.

Japanese Domestic Unrest after 1932

Two main groups/factions developed:

• Imperial Way Faction - Koda Ha

• Control Faction - Tosei Ha

Imperial Way Faction - Koda Ha

• Radical.

• Believed in military dictatorship that would deliver state socialism.

• Soviet Union seen as main enemy.

• War with USSR seen as inevitable.

• “Strike North” – expand into Siberia and beyond.

• Conquest of Manchuria necessary.

• National spirit over material force.

Control Faction - Tosei Ha

• Moderate.

• Against terrorism to remove the government.

• Wanted good relations with USSR.

• Objective - they supported conquest in China, but that required modernization of army and military.

Limited Resources and Weakening of Economy

• Japan was small.

• Increased expansionism focused attention on Manchuria.

• Manchurian incident would lead to invasion and takeover of region.

• Condemnation would lead to withdrawal from
  League of Nations.

• Great Depression and foreign tariffs tank silk trade.

• Divide between cities and rural areas

After Japan established the state of Manchukuo, how did the League of Nations respond?

• Difficult situation for LoN: both China and Japan were members of the League.

• Also Britain and France – most powerful members of the League- had colonies in Asia.

  • Most notable was French Indochina that led France to want a weaker China so as not to threaten their hold.

• Japan claimed that their initial military actions were to protect their interests and investments from attacks by “bandits”.

  • It was clear this wasn’t true and didn’t justify expanded military expedition.

• Japan actually was the one to suggest Commission of Inquiry.

  • They clearly had a plan to get favorable findings.

The Lytton Commission

• The Lytton Commission was headed by the 2nd Earl of Lytton of the U K,and included members from the US, Germany, Italy, and France.

  • US had a member observing the LoN Council meeting about the Chinese complaint, and subsequently was asked to be on the commission, despite the fact that the US was not a member of the LoN

• The group spent six weeks in Manchuria in spring 1932 investigating the“incident”.

• Japan continued to expand their holdings during the commission, and actually declared the state of Manchukuo while the commission was there.

The Lytton Report- Issued 1 year after “incident”

1. Japan did have valid interests in Manchuria– but the use of the army was unjustified.

   • Report completely ignores the actual “incident” and just states that China was responsible.

   • Japanese actions seen as “not self-defense”.

2. China was partially to blame due to anti-Japanese propaganda and boycotting of Japanese goods.

3. Japan should give up territory and withdraw.

4. Manchukuo was not a state.

5. Manchuria should become independent under Chinese sovereignty.

Japanese Response & Implications

• Japan gave formal notice of its withdrawal from the League of Nations on March 27, 1933.

  • They then ignored the whole of the Lytton Report, and claimed Britain and France were hypocrites for issuing it.

  • They also claimed racial prejudice influenced the report.

  • The League did nothing in response.

  • This contextually set the stage for German and Italian expansion, as well.

• Kenneth Pyle, a historian, said that Manchurian crisis was a turning point for Japan.

  • It led to Japanese isolation because Japan abandoned Washington Treaty System.

  • Japan perceived West as holding back the legitimate needs of Japan for racist reasons.

• Japan benefited economically from the occupation of Manchuria.

  • Cost of sending troops to China was high, which forced them to increase taxes, which lessened public support for government.

• Following the Manchurian crisis, there was little hope that Japanese government would gain upper hand in controlling the military, and there was a huge public support for the Kwantung Army’s actions in China.

Rising Nationalism and Militarism

• Growing problems come to a head with assassination of Prime Minister.

• Military takes advantage of situation.

• Repeated attempts at military coup.

• Manchurian incident mostly independent military action.

• Invasion of China.

• Rape of Nanking.

Domestic Unrest

• As part of this struggle for power within the Japanese military, assassination plots destabilized the government between 1932 and 1936.

• In May of 1932, army and navy officers attacked banks, party offices and the police headquarters in Tokyo. They assassinated Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi in what became known just as the May 15 Incident.

  • The trials of conspirators showed that there was wide public support for their actions.

  • This public support only emboldened the military.

• For the next 4 years, the government was ran by Admirals favoring one military faction or the other, but not keeping either in check.

• In February 1936, 1500 Koda-ha officers marched into Tokyo, took over the parliament buildings, policeheadquarters and Prime Minister’s residence and brutally murdered many officers.

  • Martial law was proclaimed and the plotters surrendered after emperor stated he would not support thecoup d'état.

  • Tosei-Ha emerge as dominant faction.

• Japanese political leaders became wary of opposing the military, so although the coupdid not succeed in establishing a military state, the result of the attempted coup was to greatly increase army influence over the government.

MiliTary Take-Over

• Hirota Koki became PM after the attempted coup.

  • He was weak, and made many compromises with the military including adopting an aggressive foreign policy.

  • In May 1936 he agreed that ministers of army and navy have to be serving officers, and gave most PM decision making powers to the military.

  • He also signed Anti-Comintern Pact with Hitler -If attacked by USSR, Germany and Japan will consult each other for protection.

    • Japanese became “Honorary Aryans”

• The Japanese parliament (Diet) was alarmed and removed Hirota “in order to restrain the army”.

  • Not necessarily because the Diet was against expansion.

  • It became apparent that the Diet was divided with strong Tosei-Ha ties, and the subsequent leaders the Diet placed could not stop the power of the Tosei-Ha.

• In July 1937, Tosei-Ha General Tojo Hideki, became chief of staff of Kwantung Army, and he ordered the invasion of China without any approval of the Japanese PM or Diet.

  • Historically debated as to whether sitting PM Prince Konoye even wanted to restrain Tojo.

Similarities

• Weakened economy.

• Unstable government.

• Growing nationalism.

  • With a populace primed to embrace it.

• Strong military with too much power.