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Background
up to 1850s it was a relatively inward looking country and only traded with the dutch
1853: comodore Perry + US navy turned up with an ultimatum demanding trade with the consequence of bombing
1840s": britain had forced china to open up similarly
this encourgages Japan to militarise and “catch-up” with the west to not become a “plaything”
bring in western advisors to militarise and industrialise
1868: the Meiji Restoration - move to modernisation
comparably equal to the west by 1890 and mirror america’s Manifest Destiny doctrine believing they were destined to
lead the asian sphere
Meiji Restoration
1868
emperor restored above government
german based constituition and education system focused on militarism
civillian government called
armed forces were answerable only to the emperor (not government) - leads to problems later down the line
Treaty of Shimonoseki
1894: Sino-Japanese war = japan had a terratorial interest in Korea and manchuria which came under their economic
influence with the railways
1895: treaty signed with Quing Empire = china must trade with japan and korea falls under japanese influence,
china must give 7,500,000kg silver to japan
port arthur and manchuria contested, falls initially under japanses influence but forced to give it back by the west,
russia also has interest in it as a “warm water” port
Boxer Rebellion + Anglo-Japanese alliance
1900 boxer rebellion of young people in china against western and japanese power and influence
japan sends the most troops out of the western powers to crush the rebellion
britain recognises japan is a rising superpower and choose to ally with them instead of becoming enemies
1902: Anglo-Japanese Alliance stating:
if a single third party country attacked they would remain neutral
if two third party coutnries attacked they would support eachother and declare war
ensures britain doesnt have concerns over french russo pacts
shows japan has been accepted to “the club”
Japansese-Russo war
1904
didnt declare war on russia - not the done thing
both want manchuria
russian forces in port arthur
russian navy (sent all the way from the baltic) annihilated in battle of Tsushima 1905
racist Tzar Nicholas is proven wrong and humiliated
Japan re-annexes port arthur and futher establises status as a super power
Treaty of Portsmouth
1905
chaired by theodore roosevelt
stating:
japan could colonise korea
russia had to stop all plans for eastern expansion
japan officialy gains port arthur + the right to run a railway in south manchuria
russia doesnt need to pay reparation - japanese public very upset
Japan during WW1
allied with britain
overan german islands in the pacific
1915: 21 demands of China
china had to confirm railway and mining rights and trade in Manchuria
japanese control of chinese finacial, political and police affairs through advisors (never truly enforced)
founding member of the league
signed ToV at Paris Peace conference 1919-1920
appeasement of Japan by giving them Shantung peninsula leads to may 4th event in China
intelectual and sociopolitical reform movement by young people
territories
japan: taiwan, korea, port arthur
china: having a warlord era - no clear central government to control the army
british empire: india, malaysia, borneo, australia
france: indo china, laos, vietnam, cambodia
america: midway wake island, philipines, guam
dutch: east indies
japan is the largest military force
1920s
japan seeks to work with western powers
Shidehara Kitsuro signs washington treaties in 1921-2 and naval treaty 1922 with britain, france, us, italy
5:5:3:1-75:1-75
uk:us:japan:france:italy
lasts til early 1930s
London Naval Treaty
1930
lasts till 1935
10:10:6.975
uk:us:japan
japan doesnt stick much after 1931
nine power treaty 1922 to respect China’s open-door trade
four power treaty 1922 to talk if east territories are ever threatened (us,uk,france,japan)
leaves japan as major asian naval power and avoids arms races or Anglo-American war
china pre-manchuria crisis
Kuomintang (gmd/kmt) led by Chiang Kai Shek/Jiang Jieshi - facist
Chinese communist party Mao Zedong/Tse-Tung
1921-7: period of party cooperation and a united front
1927: GMD kill members of the CCP in Shanghai
april 1927 - dec 1936: period of White Terror
Chiang Kai Shek saw japanese as inferior threat to communism
focused on battling communist party over japanese forces and expansion
he was seen as the recognised leader
japan and the manchuria crisis
1930 Manchurian War Lord - Zhang Zuolin (Chang Tzo-Lin) - murdered by Kwandung army stationed in Manchuria
without approval from tokyo
many ultra-right secret socieites in japan: kwandung army called the “cherry blossom” society and would murder
any politician who tried to reign in the army’s power and independence
democracy is shaky - the army answers only to the emperor not the government
japan’s econonmy relies on exports
depression hits and alot of rural japan suffers from the collapse of the silk industry
many officers in the kwandung army had family in rural japan and are angered by the poor conditions
spike in unemployment + smoot-hawley tariff 1930 in US hit silk industry further
kwandung army lose faith in the government
Mudken Incident
18 September 1931.
Itagaki Sushiro + Ishiwara Kanji plot to overrun manchuria in order to achieve autarky and recover from depression
blow up a japanese railway to frame the chinese as precedent for taking over manchuria
PuYi is instated as a puppet emperor
Manchuria is renamed Manchukwo
by early 1932 Manchuria is entirely under japanese control
manchuria is ceded to Japan in Tanghu Treaty of May 1933
Manchurian Crisis
Henry Stimpson wanted to make a declaration against Japan’s actions with britain but Simon disagreed
led to stimpson-simon row and poisoned relations between uk and us
china takes the manchuria crisis to the league
japan is a major power in the league and france and britain want to protect their imperial self interests in the east
which could be threatened by japan
victor bulwer-lyton, former viceroy of india, leads lyton commision to investigate mudken incident and draws up the
lyton report for the league in 1932
the report found that japan was the agressor and wrongfully invaded manchuria which was not independent
from china but a japanese puppet state
recommened self-government under chinese influence
japan walks out led by Matsuoka Yosuke and quits the league in 1933 to pursue “a greater east-asia co-prosperity sphere”
stimpson doctrine stated any areas gained by force would not be recognised - the only international consequence
kwandung army inflitrates more of China
chinsese civil war comes to a head
the dark valley
years of military and political split
army wants to strike north at the USSR and expand into Siberia - the imperial way faction
navy wants to strike south to expand into Malaya - the control faction
feb 1936: General Hideki Tojo leads a failed military coup on Tokyo with 1500 officers
second sino-japanse war
Marco-Pollo Bridge incident 7th july 1937 starts the conflict between china’s national revolutionary army
and the japanese imperial army
Rape of Nanjing - GMD government had moved to nanjing - 100 thousands were murdered and the japanese army
commited horrific attrocities
Mao + Chiang Kai Shek formed an alliance and backed the conventional army, using guerilla tactics to undermine
Japan’s military
ends 1945
western powers did nothing but morally condemn the actions of japan to ensure the safety of their eastern colonies
ultimately china was too big for japan to conquer fully
Russo-Japanese conflicts
1938 Changkufen Battle: 29th july - 11th august, peak of the Czech crisis
conquest from Manchukwo
ussr had 23,000 soldiers - 792 killed
japan had 7,000 soldiers - 526 killed
ultimately led to a japanese defeat
1939 Nomohan Battle: aims to invade siberia
ultimate japanese defeat again and discredicts Imperial Way Faction
1941: japan and ussr sign a neutrality pact in april enabling stalin to pull forces out of siberia and focus on the german front
japan’s involvement in WW2
navy uses failed attempts at invading ussr as reason to focus efforts south
summer 1940 france has surrendered - their colonies are unprotected
Matsuoka Yosuke is the foreign minister - pursuing a “great co-prosperity sphere” in east-asia
septmeber 1940: japan’s forces move into nothern Indo-China where the french authorities can’t stop them
and then southern Indo-China in 1941
1941: as retaliation the US places an embargo on all fuels and scrap metals to japan with the aims of
forcing Japan into negotiations
instead Japan sees this as a threat and begins to expand further
britain, france and canada also introduce embargos but Indo-China is rich in raw materials and
Japan has two years worth of oil reserves
Tripartite Axis Pact of September 1940: a defensive military pact with Italy and Germany to deter US
from joining the war (doesnt work)
Pearl Harbour
Nov 1940: Britain launches attack on the Italian navy stationed in medditeranean port and knocks out 3 battleships
japan is very impressed and begins to plan a similar attack on the US - especially after the emabargos placed
on trade and threat to expansion
Tojo Hideki is prime minister from october 1941 and greenlights the attack (faced execution for war crimes after the war)
December 7th 1941: Sunday Morning attack on Pearl Harbour
US radars did pick up the japanese forces but dismissed them as Japan had not declared war against the US
4/8 US battleships sunk
353 japanese aircrafts deployed from from 6 carriers - lost 29 aircrafts and 64 soldiers
2403 american soldiers were killed
harbour didnt close and aircraft carriers were out at sea on training drills
US declares war on Japan the next day and Germany and Italy declare war the day after thinking the US wouldn’t
be able to fight a war on 2 fronts - this was a severe underestimation
International Responses to Manhcurian Crisis
Manchuria
1931: the US and USSR were not league members and ignored sanctions
the league had no army to enforce any legislations
british army was teeny
no one wants to fight a war after recovering from the depression
no one wants to risk their eastern colonies by angering japan
japan continually vetoed santions as a member of the league
lytton report took a year
Chang Kai Shek was following a policy of non-resitance until 1937, instead focusing on fighting the CCP
the US was pursuing an isolationist approach, they also did more trade with Japan than China and didnt want to lose that
Stimpson Doctrine witheld diplomatic recognition of Manchukwo
Neutrality Acts
1935 and 1937
US banks couldnt lend oney to countries at war
dissaded British and French action against Italy, Germany and Japan
Roosevelt bypasses these acts with the Lend Lease Act