Japanese+Militarism+-+Invasion+of+Manchuria+and+China

media type="custom" key="2974550"email me at 11bschmitz@gmail.com Ben SChmitz Email me at mjmulay@gmail.com mulay sarbaens Japan was becoming increasingly crowded due to its limited size as a nation and its rapidly increasing population. Manchuria offered nearly 200,000 square kilometres which, as part of a Japanese empire, would easily accommodate any over-spilling population. The Japanese people had a very low opinion of the Chinese - a Japanese form of "untermenschen" - and, therefore, would have given no thought to the Manchurian people whatsoever. It was also believed in Japan that Manchuria was rich in minerals, forestry and rich agricultural land. With the problems that Japan was experiencing at home, Manchuria seemed an obvious solution to these problems. By 1931, Japan had invested vast sums of money into the economy of Manchuria effectively controlled by the South Manchuria Railway Company. To guard all of its investments, Japan kept a large army in southern Manchuria. The 1929 Depression hit Japan hard. The civilian government found that it had no solutions to the problems presented by the world-wide depression and to the army the civilian government looked weak. Many people admired the more robust response of the army. The unemployed of Japan looked to the strength of the army to assist their plight rather than to what weak politicians were doing. The voices of senior army generals were heard and they argued for a campaign to win new colonies abroad so that the industries there could be exploited for Japan. The most obvious target was a full-scale invasion of Manchuria. An explosion on a section of the South Manchuria Railway, gave the army the excuse it needed to blame the local population of sabotage and to occupy the nearest Manchurian town of Shenyang. The [|League] at China’s request immediately ordered the Japanese army to withdraw. Japan’s delegates at the [|League’s] headquarters in Geneva, agreed to this demand and blamed the event on army "hot-heads"
 * __Japanese Militarism Invasion of Manchuria and China__**

.[|__http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/manchuria.htm__]

n September 1931 the Japanese took advantage of the confusion in China to invade and occupy Manchuria, setting up a puppet state with the last Chinese emperor, Puyi, as the symbolic head. Chiang, still obsessed with the threat of the Communists, went ahead with his fifth extermination drive; 'pacification first, resistance later' was his slogan.

The Communists had other plans. In late 1936 in Xi'an they convinced Chiang's own generals to take him hostage, and an anti-Japanese alliance was formed after negotiations with Zhou Enlai. But it did little to halt the advance of the Japanese, who in 1937 launched an all-out invasion; by 1939 they had overrun most of eastern China, forcing the Kuomintang to retreat west to Chongqing.

In 1941 the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor brought the Americans into the conflict. Hoping to use Chiang's troops to tie down as many Japanese as possible, the Americans instead found Chiang actively avoiding conflict, saving his troops for renewed attacks on the Communists once the Americans had defeated the Japanese.

[|__http://www.chinavoc.com/history/public/japaninvasion.htm__]

The Japanese invasion of Manchuria by the Kwantung Army of the Empire of Japan, beginning on September 19, 1931, immediately followed the Mukden Incident. The Japanese occupation of Manchuria lasted until the end of World War II.

On September 19, 1931, the day after the Mukden Incident, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, which had decided upon a policy of localizing the incident, communicated its decision to the Kwantung Army command. Violating orders from Tokyo, commander Shigeru Honjo chief General of the Kwantung Army ordered his forces proceeded to expand operations all along the South Manchurian Railway. Lieutenant General Jirō Tamon ordered the 2nd Division to moved up the rail line and captured mostly every city along its 693 mile length in a matter of days. Anshan, Haicheng, Kaiyuan, Tiehling, Fushun, Szeping-chieh, Changchun, Kuanchengtzu, Yingkou, Antung, and Penhsihu. On September 19, in response to General Honjō's request, the Chosun Army in Korea under General Senjuro Hayashi ordered the 20th Division to split its force, forming the 39th Mixed Brigade, without authorization from the emperor. Between September 20- 25 Japanese forces took Hsiungyueh, Changtu, Liaoyang, Tungliao, Tiaonan, Kirin, Chiaoho, Huangkutun and Hsin-min. This effectively secured control of these provinces and the line of rail communications to Korea. The Japanese civilian government was thrown into disarray by this massive act of insubordination, but as reports of one quick victory after another began to pour in, was powerless to oppose the Army, and its decision to immediately send three more infantry divisions from Japan, beginning with the 14th Mixed Brigade of the IJA 7th Division. Eventually the Emperor did approve of the occupation of Manchuria. By the beginning of October the total strength of Kwangtung Army was about 35,400 men. Of the 160,000 troops of the Northeastern Army at the beginning of the Manchurian Incident about 60,000 defected over to the Japanese side. Of the remainder, some 40,000 men of Manchurian warlord Zhang Xueliang's army retreated without much resistance to Chinchow on the orders from Kuomingtang Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek to adhere to a nonresistance policy. The remaining loyal Chinese troops were in Heilongjiang Province, mainly around Tsitsihar and around Harbin in Kirin Province under command of General Ting Chao.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Manchuria

·  Japan’s power and influence was in a continues state of growth. ·  They owned railroads and coal mines in Manchuria and controlled the area’s economic policies. o  Soldiers were located in Manchuria to keep and protect their economic interests ·  In 1931 without the governments permission, seized Manchuria. ·  Fought against China in a short war o  Japanese troops burned villages, shot Chinese civilians and raped Chinese women ·  Japanese army established a new country names Manchukuo as an “independent” nation with a Chinese emperor and it is own government. o  The government under the control of the commander of the Japanese troops ·  The attack on Manchuria was evidence of the increasing power of the army and the military. ·  Young military officers were playing a significant role in Japanese politics by helping organize secret patriotic societies without the Emperor o  These private societies opposed a democratic political system §  wanted Japan to increase its military and naval forces in order to seize a larger empire. ·  In order to get their way they would assassinate opposioiners ·  The government was promoting policies similar to those of the Fascist regimes in Italy and Germany ·  The creation of Manchukuo created conflict with many countries including the united states. o  Helped strengthen Chine’s military §  Gave weapons and bank loans and plans ·  In 1936 Japan signed the Anti- Comintern treaty "The Holocaust and World War II Almanac Pg. 113