Case study 1: Japanese expansion in East Asia (1931–1941)
Causes of expansion
The impact of Japanese nationalism and militarism on foreign policy
Events
Japanese invasion of Manchuria and northern China (1931)
Sino-Japanese War (1937–1941)
The Three Power/Tripartite Pact; the outbreak of war; Pearl Harbor (1941)
Responses
League of Nations and the Lytton report
Political developments within China—the Second United Front
International response, including US initiatives and increasing tensions between the US and Japan
Background
1854 Kanagawa Treaty: Agreed to open ports for US
Causes of nationalism/militarism
Victory in Sino-Japan/Russo-Japan Wars
Need resources
Need security
Desire to be equal as europeans
Revanchism: aim to revenge humiliation of triple intervention (臥薪嘗胆)
Failure to introduce racial equality in LoN
1925 Public Security Preservation Law, even during Taisho Democracy
China
21 Demands: 1915, Japan to China, Demands to control Chinese territory and infrastructure, decreased to 13 and accepted
Boxer Rebellion: anti-colonial,
Resources