Japan's Quest for Empire 1931 - 1945

Page 1 of 9

• 1. Unleashing force
• 2. Chasing power
• 3. Seaborne empire
• 4. Deadlock
• 5. Political crises
• 6. Deterrent diplomacy: Germany
• 7. Deterrent diplomacy: Russia and US
• 8. Awakening the sleeping giant
• 9. Find out more
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Unleashing force

When the Japanese Kwantung Army (also known as the Guandong Army) contrived to invade Manchuria on 18 September 1931, it unleashed military and political forces which led ultimately to the attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

'... a minor engagement between Chinese and Japanese troops ... led to undeclared war between the two nations.'

First, the post-invasion 'Manchurian Crisis' ended with the dramatic walk-out of Japanese delegates from the League of Nations in 1933. This was in reaction to the findings of the Lytton Commission, which had upheld China's appeal against Japanese aggression, thus leaving Japan effectively isolated in the world. By this time, however, the Japanese had successfully detached Manchuria from the rest of China, creating the puppet state of Manchukuo under the deposed Qing emperor Pu Yi.

Then in 1937 a minor engagement between Chinese and Japanese troops at the Marco-Polo Bridge, near Peking, led to undeclared war between the two nations. The 'China Incident' and the creation of a 'New Order' in East Asia in 1938 dominated Japanese military thinking until the summer of 1940, when the declaration of the Greater East Asia Co-prosperity Sphere anticipated the expansion of Japan's empire into south-east Asia.

What were the forces that had pushed Japan down this road of military conquest in the east, leading ultimately to war with the west and catastrophic defeat?

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Published: 2004-06-09