IB History 12- Unit 2- Japanese Expansion 1931-1941

Treaty of Kanagawa

1854 agreement between Japan and the US. Japan agreed to open two ports to American ships

Treaty of Portsmouth

1905 agreement ended the Russo-Japanese War. It was negotiated by Theodore Roosevelt. Japan had dominated the war and received an indemnity, the Liaodong Peninsula in Manchuria, and half of Sakhalin Island, but the treaty was widely condemned in Japan because the public had expected more.

Washington Treaty System

These were pacts such as the Four-Power, Five-Power, and Nine-Power agreements beginning in the 1920s that dictated that Pacific crises would be stopped if the amount of naval arms was reduced and an "open-door" policy was enacted.

Hirohito

Emperor of Japan leading up to and through WWII

Kuomintang (KMT)

(AKA Guomindang [GMD]) Chinese Nationalist Party under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek.

Kwantung Army

The Japanese forces posted in Manchuria to guard the South Manchurian Railway and other Japanese interests. It increasingly acted without authorization from the government.

Lytton Commission

When Japan took over Manchuria in 1931, China protested to the League of Nations. This is the name of the investigation into the matter. It finally reported in 1933 and recommended that Japan be obliged to give up Manchuria. Japan responded by walking out of the League of Nations. The League took no further action.

Manchukuo

Japanese puppet state established in northern China in 1931

Anti-Comintern Pact

treaty between Germany and Japan promising a common defense from communism

Stimson Doctrine

U.S. policy calling for the non-recognition of international territorial changes that were executed by force.

Tripartite Pact

1940 alliance between Japan, Germany, and Italy.

Opium Wars

Armed conflict between Britain and the Qing Empire (mid-1800s), caused by the Qing government's refusal to trade with Britain. China lost and Britain and most other European powers were able to develop a strong trade presence throughout China against their wishes.

Meiji Restoration

A Japanese state-sponsored industrialization and westernization effort that also involved power being centralized in the Japanese Emperor

First Sino-Japanese War

Japan's 1894-95 war against China to gain control of natural resources and markets for their goods. It ended when China granted Japan a large payment, control of Taiwan and the Liaodong Peninsula, access to Chinese markets, and Korean independence.

Anglo-Japanese Alliance

An agreement for an initial period of five years, in which the British and Japan agreed to remain neutral if either was involved in a war with a third power. If either was involved in a war with two other countries, then the other would assist.

Port Arthur

A natural harbor located at the southern tip of the Liaodong Peninsula. The harbor contributed to the start of the Russo-Japanese War.

Triple Intervention

the combination of Russia, France, and Germany that pressured Japan to renounce the Liaodong peninsula in Manchuria in 1895

Manchuria

A northern industrial province in China, invaded by the Japanese in 1931. From here the Japanese would launch an invasion of mainland China beginning in 1937.

Russo-Japanese War

A 1904-1905 conflict between Russia and Japan, sparked by the two countries' efforts to dominate Manchuria and Korea

Conscription

Mandatory enlistment for state service, typically into the armed forces

League of Nations

an international organization formed in 1920 to promote cooperation and peace among nations

Mandates

A nation governed by another nation on behalf of the League of Nations

Internationalism

A country's policy of actively trading with foreign countries to foster peace and prosperity

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)

Political organization formed in 1923. Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, it emerged victorious in a civil war in 1949

warlord

a military commander exercising civil power by force, usually in a limited area outside of a central government's control

The "Dark Valley"

The time period in the 1920s and 1930s when Japan's domestic and international relations deteriorated with their expansion into China

Rape of Nanjing (Nanking)

The Japanese invasion of the Chinese capital that demonstrated the horrors of the war, including the rape of thousands of women, the murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians, and the burning of homes over the course of 2 months

Isolationism

a policy of remaining separate from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other countries.

"Open Door" Policy

An international approach proposed by the US in 1899, under which all nations would have equal opportunities to trade in China.

Pearl Harbor

The United States military base in Hawaii that was bombed by Japan, bringing the United States into World War II. It was attacked on December 7, 1941.