Essay On Manchurian Incident

To what extent did the Manchurian incident represent a dramatic shift in Japan’s attitudes towards overseas expansions?

Manchurian incident, also known as Mukden incident is a seizure of the Manchurian city of Mukden by Japanese Kwantung army, which was led by the Japanese invasion in September 18th, 1931. In the 1910s, Japan became the only victorious nation in Asia by World War I, and rode on a wave of prosperity. Japan was experiencing the industrial revolution and advancing to the status of great power. During which time they had improved their standard of living, consolidated their natural resources. However, such a boom did not last so long. The Great Kanto Earthquake that hit in 1923, and which had destroyed Kanto area especially Tokyo and Yokohama. The Great Depression, which occurred in 1930, worsened Japan’s already unstable economic state, and which was followed by the financial panic in 1927, known as Showa financial crisis.

One important fact

The League of Nation dispatched the group of people, called Lytton Commission to Manchuria, in an attempt to determine the causes of the Manchurian incident, which led to the Japan’s seizure of Manchuria. According to Lytton Report, the foundation of Manchukuo is illegal, and the League of Nations did not accept the Japan’s behavior. The League of Nations ordered Japan to give the Manchurian back to China, all Japanese army to withdraw from China etc., and Japan officially left the League. Japan is isolated from the world since then, and Japan then attacked the rest of China in 1937. The isolated Japan then got together with Germany, and in 1940, Japan joins hands with the Italy, both of whom aiming for fascism. However, there was not substantial benefit for Japan to form an alliance with such far off European countries. It made Japan even harder as Japan had to oppose with the United