THE ASCENT OF THE JAPANESE EMPIRE
THE ASCENT OF THE JAPANESE EMPIRE
Steadily Gaining Territory
First Sino-Japanese War 1894-5 Treaty of Shimonoseki
The Liaodong Peninsula and the island of Taiwan was gained by Taiwan
Russo-Japanese War 1904-5 Treaty of Portmouth
Japan gains the southern half of the Sakhalin usland and mineral rights in Manchuria
Occupation of Korean 1910-1945 Begins in 1910 March 1st Movement (1919) Much harsher occupation after that
Meanwhile in China… 1800s
The Opium Wars Open Door Policy The Boxer Rebellion
The Republic of China Formed in Nanjing March 12, 1912
Sun Yat-sen is President, Yuan Shikai quickly replaced him, but not a smooth transition
May Fourth Movement, 1919 Civil War Develops
Kuomintang Party (Nationalist) – Sun Yat-sen (dies from cancer in 1925), then Chiang Kai-shek
Communist Party – Mao Zedong (Tse-tung) Most famous event occurs when the Nationalists
chase the Communists on the Long March and the Communists retreat and establish a base in a Northwestern section of China
Japan Invades China
The Manchurian Incident – September 1931 Japanese railway is attacked, Japanese claim Chinese
dissidents are to blame, use it as an excuse to invade Japanese invade Manchuria, name it Manchukuo 1933 – Japanese attack the Great Wall region July 7, 1937 - full scale invasion of China
Beijing, Shanghai, and Nanjung all fall Rape of Nanjing
China will be on the allies side in WW II Japanese will surrender their Chinese holdings in
1945, once they surrender to the US
The Rape of Nanking Death toll: at least
300.000 More than 190,000
civilians and Chinese soldiers killed with machine guns
150,000 were killed in other barbaric fashions Contest between two
soldiers to see who could kill 100 people with a sword
Japanese soldiers were later prosecuted and sentenced to death in 1947
Japan’s Empire at the Eve of World War II