The+Empire+of+the+Sun,+1933-39

= = =The Empire of the Sun, 1933-1939=
 * Empire of the Sun || The process of Japan conquering East Asia making it become 'the land of the rising sun'. The name of Japan during the 1930s and 40s. ||
 * Manchuria || A name given to the geographic region in the north-eastern region which was conquered by the Japanese in 1934 and later used to launch the full-scale invasion into China. Areas surrounding Manchuria were also conquered to act as a defensive zone against the USSR. ||
 * Guomintang || A Chinese political party led by Chiang-Kai Shek and resisted the Japanese invasion. ||
 * Nanking Massacre || The Nanking Massacre or the Rape of Nanking occurred on December 13, 1937. During this period hundreds of thousands of disarmed soldiers and civilians were brutally killed and murdered with tens of thousands murdered. Death tolls claim that around 250,000-300,000 people were killed. ||

toc

= = = = = = = = = = = = =Timeline of Japanese actions from 1933-1939= March 27, 1933: Japan leaves the League of Nations March 1st, 1934: Manchuria (China) becomes Manchukuo, followed by an invasion by the Japanese. December 29th, 1934: The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922* and London Naval Treaty of 1930 are renounced by the Japanese. June 9th, 1935: The KMT (Kuomintang) gives Japan military control of North-Eastern China due to the secret agreement from the He-Umezu Agreement between the Empire of Japan and Republic of China. February 26th, 1936: A failed coup is constructed by the Imperial Way Faction (A Japanese political faction in the Imperial Japanese Army) to overthrow the Japanese government. Politicians were killed due to this incident. February 29th, 1936: 123 conspirators were arrested in the government offices located in Tokyo by the orders of Emperor Hirohito. 19 of them were later executed in July. March 9th, 1936: Extreme militarist Koki Hirota replaces Pro-democratic militarist Prime Minister Keisuke Okada. November 26th, 1936: Germany and Japan sign the Anti-Comintern Pact. July 7th, 1937: The Sino-Japanese War starts with the Battle of Lugou Bridge where Japanese forces invade China. This is seen as the start of WWII in Asia. July 8th, 1937: Beijing is occupied by the Japanese. July 25th-July 31st, 1937: A major battle called the Battle of Beiping-Tianjin occurs along the areas of Beiping and Tianjin. The battle resulted with a Japanese victory. August 26th, 1937: During a raid on Shanghai, a Japanese aircraft opens fire on the car carrying the ambassador of Great Britain. September 25th, 1937: The National Revolutionary Army defeats the Japanese at the Battle of Pingxingguan. Around 3,000 Japanese soldiers were killed while the Chinese suffered around 500 casualties. A cache of weapons and supplies were captured along with the annihilation of an entire Japanese brigade. October 3rd, 1937: The Japanese advance towards Nanking. November 9th, 1937: Shanghai is captured by the Japanese December 12th, 1937: The American gunboat, USS Panay, is sunk by a Japanese bomber. December 13th, 1937: Japanese troops slaughter over 300,000 civilians and prisoners over the next three months after the Battle of Nanjing ends... August, 1938: Chiang Kai-Shek withdraws his government to Chungking once faced with Japanese military pressure. December: 25$ million is given to Chiang Kai-Shek by President Roosevelt creating a Sino-American relationship and angering the Japanese government. August 20th, 1939: The Japanese Imperial Army is decisively defeated by Soviet General Georgi Zhukov near the Japanese-Soviet border at Inner Mongolia. September 16th, 1939: The border war between the Soviet Union and Japan ends in a ceasefire.

London Naval Treaty of 1930 was also signed by the same five countries above and limited the production of naval submarines and naval shipbuilding. Countries that joined the League of Nations were required to sign these treaties.
 * Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 limited the naval armaments of five major naval powers, America, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy.

=Background:= In 1931-32, the Chinese province of Manchuria was conquered and under control by the Japanese. This was the first step of Japan's expansion that would make them become 'land of the rising sun'. Their main goal was to dominate East Asia and mainly China since it contained a great amount of natural resources. =Japanese expansion from 1933-1936= Once the Japanese took control of Manchuria, Korea, and outer Mongolia they had to protect a 2,000 km border from the USSR. Clashes between Japan and the USSR soon broke out causing the Japanese to expand even more due to the fact that they needed other provinces to act as a wall of defense against the invading force. Other than the fact that the provinces gave a defensive frontier to the Japanese, they also contained natural resources such as coal and iron to expand the Japanese industry. Due to the fact that most of Japan's forces were needed to keep control of Manchuria and Northern China, half of its yearly income was spent on the armed forces. The armed forces of Japan at that time had a huge influence over the government causing them to be able to persuade the government to follow their more aggressive policies. There were three policies proposed by the armed forces which were to take over the islands and coasts of the Pacific Ocean to exploit the use of natural resources available there. Another group wanted to occupy more of China by taking over more cities and industrial counties. The final policy that was proposed urged the government to strengthen the provinces in China already conquered in China to greater battle readiness.



Japan wanted to keep Japan for herself so the Amau Declaration was made in 1934 which made China a protectorate of Japan. Japan then had complete control of the areas conquered since they declared in the declaration that they would have 'responsibility for maintaining peace in East Asia'.

=The Anti-Comintern Pact= The International Communist Organization 'Comintern' ordered that all communist parties all over the world merge and cooperate together to help stop the spread of fascism. This caused China's communist political party 'The Chinese Communist Party to join China's largest party, the Nationalists. Both of the parties aims were to drive the Japanese out of Northern China. This caused the Japanese government to retaliate by signing an agreement with Germany to oppose communism and to help each other if they were attacked by the USSR in 1936. In 1937, Italy later joined the pact causing the three most aggressive nations of the 1930's to unite with each other under this pact.



= = =Japan invades China, 1937= The full-scale invasion of Japan in China started in July 1937 when the Japanese claimed that they were being fired up at Marco-Polo Bridge near Beijing. Using this as an excuse, the Japanese army then committed a full-scale invasion on Beijing and China. The army swept southward and conquered cities and the fertile land near the Yangzi River which was densely populated. Where ever the Japanese army went, inhumane killings, torture, rape, and destruction was done. In November 1937, Shanghai and Nanjing (Nanking) was conquered by the Japanese. After the city of Nanjing was conquered the senior officers of the army allowed the army in Nanjing to loot and kill in Nanjing resulting in one of history's most shocking incidents known as the Nanjing Massacre. Tens of thousands were brutally murdered and the final death toll of Nanjing has been placed as high as 250,000 people with most being the death of civilians." The onslaught of the Japanese was relentless. Within 5 months, 1 million Chinese people were under Japanese control. All of the major cities in China were captured by the Japanese by the end of 1937 – so were the major communication systems of the nation. "







media type="youtube" key="Ux74kJLv7KY?fs=1" height="385" width="480" align="center"

The Japanese committed the highest amount of inhumane and savage crimes in World War II. It is undeniable. Rìběn gǒu

Once the cities and areas of most strategic importance were conquered by the Japanese. The army didn't advance much further and the Japanese never conquered the whole of China since China is a big country and the Japanese army didn't have enough manpower to execute the operation. Cities conquered by the Japanese were also never under their complete control causing the Chinese to slowly undermine their authority.

=The Reactions of other Countries= The League of Nations condemned the Japanese for their actions and advised members of the League of nations to cut their trade with Japan. However most of the countries didn't listen to the League of Nations after the failure in the 1935-1936 Ethiopian crisis. This meant that the League of Nations commanded little respect and authority causing most members to ignore the advice. Britain wanted to stop the invasion of the Japanese because of valuable trading done with China however the nearest battle fleet of Britain was 10 weeks from the port of Singapore causing them to be able to do nothing. Britain hoped that America would help defend China because the Americans also had valuable trade assets in East Asia. However during that time the Americans were neutral in their foreign policies causing them not to respond much to the Japanese threat. The USSR helped out China the most by signing a non-aggression pact with China in 1937 and strengthened their forces on the Manchurian border. Battles along the border were fought in 1938 and 1939 with a major battle in Nomonhan in 1939. The actions of the nations around the world caused Japan to realize that they could act aggressively with no nation caring except the USSR.

=Analysis Question: What factors caused the Japanese expansion?= The Japanese expansion was caused by many factors such as the fact that Japan was a very strong power in Asia at that time. Japan's naval army was also one of the world's most advanced and well supplied. Despite the fact that Japan was a major Asian power at that time, there is evidence that also suggests other factors such as that during that time Japan's population had doubled since 1935 and was in need of natural resources and cheap labor. Religious factors such as Japan's earliest records, the Kojiki, has also enforced the need to use force in order to conquer Asia. When the first world war ended Japan emerged as the 'Big Five' countries with the biggest industrial and military power. Japan was also the most industrially developed country in Asia. After that Japan's military and industrial might rose quickly and the army was further developed. Japan has also believed in making itself a powerful state causing them to change their government into an empire. Doing this was against what was agreed when being a member of the League of Nations which caused them to leave the LON in 1932. When the Great Depression hit Japan, the country went into a period of nationalism and traditional values were emphasized. The Great Depression caused Japan to need resources and labor even more which later caused them to invade Manchuria in 1931. They violated the Treaty of Versailles doing this which shows that they were ready to make there move in conquering Asia and gaining more resources. Another factor which has been mention on many sources is the religious factors. The Kojiki (an ancient text) stated that, "the Sun Goddess had – through Ninigi – commanded the Emperor of Japan to rule the world beneath heaven. This became Japan’s rationale for invasion of and domination over China (“all under heaven”) – **its proponents declared invasion of** **China** **to be “seisen” (Holy War) because it was a divine commandment**." This statement is a reason and factor for the Japanese expansion into China. Bad blood and disputes between China and Japan were also one of the reasons that caused the brutality displayed during the invasion. Overall the factors that caused the Japanese expansion was because they were the most advanced in Asia, they needed more resources (land and labor), the Great Depression, and because of religious influence.

Home

Unit Three