Japanese Expansion

Question 1

Causes - Timeline

Answer 1

1853 - Commodore Perry
1854 - Treaty of Kanagawa
1868 - Meiji Restoration
1894 - Sino-Japanese War
1904 - Russo Japanese war
1910 - Japan annexes Korea
1915 - “21 demands”
1921 - Washington Conference

Question 2

Causes - Significance

Answer 2

1953 - “black ships”, “rich country, strong military”
1894 - Sino-Jp, “endure through hardships”
- WW1 supports allies, exports increase, sends 70k to whites in RCW
- Anger when the racial equity clause is not passed (1919)
- Meiji ambition of “a first-class country” encouraged expansion

Question 3

The Washington Naval Conferences

Answer 3

• 4 Power Treaty: replaces Anglo-Japanese, with France and USA
• 5 Power Naval Treaty: Limited tonnage of USA, Jp, GB, Fr, It (5:3:5:1.75:1.75)
• 9 Power Treaty: “sovereignty, the independence and territorial and administrative integrity of china”

Question 4

Practices - Timeline

Answer 4

1931 - Manchuria
1932 - Japan bombs Shanghai, Manchukuo established
1934 - Appeals on the Washington treaties
1936 - Anti-Cominternn
1937 - Marco-Polo
1938 - Co-prosperity proposed
1940 - Tripartite
1941 - Non-Aggression with USSR, Pearl Harbor

Question 5

Expansion in the 30s

Answer 5

• 1932, silk down 1/3 of 23 levels, unemployment at 3m
• 1937 - Bombed along the Yangtze, suggested to be the largest human exodus
• Dec 1937 - Rape of Nanjing

Question 6

PSQs +HSQS on expansion in the 30s

Answer 6

• Manchuria is “our only means of survival” - Yosuke
• “The rape of Nanking, would make it impossible for Japan … to be accepted … as a member of the international community”-Iriye
• “The female rape victims … many of whom died … were estimated at 30,000; the fugitive soldiers killed were estimated at 30,000; murdered civilians at 12,000”-Spence

Question 7

Pearl Harbour/40s

Answer 7

1941 - Dec - Pearl Harbour after USA-Jp negotiations failed
- 90% destroyed except for carriers, 2403 deaths
- Japan simultaneously attacked Singapore, Hong-kong, the Dutch Indies and the Philipines.

Question 8

PSQs +HSQs on expansion in the 40s

Answer 8

• “We will immediately… comence hostilities against the United States, Great Britain and the Netherlands”
• Musak (RW) argues Nanjing was fictional
• Boyle believes FDR knew,
• Traditionalists believe Hirohito had no choice, revisionists claim he was an aggressor(Seagrove)

Question 9

International Reaction - Timeline

Answer 9

1931 - Lytton Commission
1932 - Lytton report
1933 - Japan leaves LoN
1937 - Chinese appeal after Marco-Polo
1940 - USA embargo begins
1941 - Assets frozen, embargo in place

Question 10

Lytton Report and League of Nations Response

Answer 10

1. Japanese expansion is unjust
2. Japan should withdraw
3. Manchukuo would not be recognized
4. Manchuria should be separate under China

Question 11

Why did other League members not oppose Japan?

Answer 11

• France had no reason to fall out with Japan
• GB failed to act when there interest weren’t at stake
• They condemned Japan in 1937, but not action

Question 12

USA response

Answer 12

• 1932 - Stimson doctrine to not recognize claims violating China
• Panay sunk leading to 1937 “quarantine the aggressors speech
• FDR supplies China with $25m

Question 13

International response PSQs and HSQs

Answer 13

• “The moral obloquy of the rest of the world serve only to strengthen … their determination.”-Grew
• “If we allow our… territory to be lost, we shall be guilty of an unpardonable crime against our race.”-Jiang