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The Book of

Japanese History

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The Mukden Incident1931 was a time of triumph and delight for the Japanese. The Mukden Incident, a clash between the Japanese and Chinese brought a large part of China into Japan.

The Mukden Incident started as a surprise for the Japanese. A bomb was set on the South Manchuria Railway, a Japanese owned railway in Manchuria city of Mukden, and caused a slight damage to the tracks. The railway company accused the Chinese Government for this. Though, many of the Chinese residents blamed this on the Japanese, all saying the Japanese did this just to feel superior over China. When a young officer in the Japanese army heard this, he felt severely offended, and demanded his subordinates to attack the Mukden. This lead to a massive battle, and finally ended with the Chinese Government letting go of Manchuria.

Manchuria city of Mukden was the place Japan took over. This place was not just chosen by chance, but it was chosen by

many factors considered. First of all, the Japanese wanted a strong empire in Asia, to fight off other superpowers. Secondly, Manchuria was an enormous city, almost three times the Japanese Empire of the time (excluding Korea and Formosa). Lastly, Japan already had an army base in Southern Manchuria, and they knew the city very well. The army was called the Kwantung Army, and it was known to be a powerful, aggressive group.

An American cartoon of 1937 on the Japanese invasion of China

Japanese Imperialism in China

Map of Japan and Republic of China

Area fully controlled by

Japan shown in Red

Area annexed by Japan shown in

Pink

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! Oppositions Against ! ! ! Japanese ControlAs the Manchurian Crisis completed, the Japanese army renamed Manchuria to Manchukuo. This was done to enforce Japan having massive power. When the army started control of the city, the residents created anti-Japanese huddles and made resistance movements. Due to the sudden act, the Japanese army sometimes were forced to take extreme disposals to stop them. As the number of resistance movements grew, Japan decided to put Aisin-Gioro Puyi a politician of China as the Emperor of Manchuria. This way, the residents took the Japanese orders as an order from Puyi.

There were oppositions to the Japanese control from other places also. All around China, citizens refused to buy Japanese goods. Zhang Xue Liang, warlord of Manchuria wanted to fight back, but Chiang Kaishek, the political and Military leader sensibly stopped him. This was because Kaishek knew neither himself or Liang would be even close to winning. From European countries, mainly Great Britain and France, Japan was seen as “betraying” the League of Nation, due to braking its policies and leaving.

July 7th, 1937. This day, the oppositions finally blasted into a major war between the Japan Empire and the Republic of China, which was called the Second Sino-Japanese War. At first, the Japanese army had some major victories in Shanghai, Nanking, and many other places, but China with the economic support of Germany, USSR, and the USA showed sabotage ploys, and forced the Japanese into surrender. This happened on September 2nd, 1945. Manchuria was given back to the Republic of China this day.

Questions1. a)When did the Mukden Incident Occur? b)Why did it happen?2. Why was Aisin-Gioro Puyi assigned Emperor of Manchuria?3. Do you think there was a better way to solve the dispute between Japan and China?

Photo of Japanese Kwantung Army -1935

Aisin-Gioro Puyi Emperor of Manchuria

Children in Manchukuo laughing -1936

Extra Facts:The Japanese Empire had other territories in their handsAnnexed:-Korea-Taiwan-South Karafuto-Kwantung Leased Territory-South Pacific Mandate, Shandong

Occupied:-Manchuria-Russian Far East, Baikal area and Kamchatka