The early 1930s
Is normally viewed through the lens of two events the Great Depression and the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany
The latter which carried a series of events that led Germany to start the Second World War
however, another nation had a similar series of events a gulf expanding its territory in the face of powerful neighbors by
Any means necessary?
for Germany
This was the OSH Luce of Austria and the occupation of Czechoslovakia for Japan
That was the Asian continent in this video. We'll be looking at the Japanese invasion of Manchuria
So normally I have a bunch of background information
That gets all of you somewhat caught up on events
However, the history surrounding this conflict and after is extremely long and somewhat complicated
So what you'll get is a much more abbreviated
Hidden, super major points list as many of the events that I'll be talking about each warrant a twenty or thirty minute video
on their own
Japanese territorial ambitions in China had been a national directive deem back many centuries
but it was until the late 19th century that Japan managed to finally get a major foothold on the continent the
1895 sino-japanese war
Was a humiliating defeat for Queen China as the no longer isolated and now modernized Japanese forces
Defeated the much longer queen armies and managed to acquire a number of territories off of them these territorial concessions
included the island of Taiwan and the shifted Korea into the Japanese sphere of influence in
1904 the russo-japanese war broke out which resulted in Japan making even more territorial gains and
Humiliating the Russians in the process. Korea was fast lysed in 1905 and annexed as in apparel territory in 1910
accomplishing a centers long goal of the Japanese nation
Following World War one. I was in the Pacific that the Germans held were granted the nation as well
However, disagreements during the actual treaty process and many of the armed and naval treaties years after put a strain on
relations between the West and Japan
Japan had also attempted to assert heavy influence in the Russian Far East during the nation's Civil War and
Revolution, they sent over 70,000 troops into the area surrounding lot of law stock over five times
What the Western Allies had put forth in the region
This attempt was to get a puppet government headed by White Russian forces to serve Japanese
Interests and allowed the island nation to use the resource rich area for their own
However, the White Russian movement fell apart in the early twenties and political differences back at home as well as pressure from the Western powers
Prevented Japan from annexing the territory for itself
this alone destroyed the unity that the government had during World War one and the military government and
Civilian government would be locked in bitter competition for years after by 1930
The civilian government had largely lost control over the military who now acted with heavy degrees of autonomy
This loss of control helping ongoing ever since the 1880s with the creation of the army and naval commanding staff
These Staz were equal in power to the Minister of War and answered directly to the Emperor
Rather than having to go through the civilian government
the Army and Navy
Also had decisive say on the formation of any civilian government
since the law require that the pose of re Minister and navy Minister be filled by active duty officers and
Since the law also required that a prime minister resign if he could not fill all of his cabinet posts both the Army and Navy
Had final say on the formation of a cabinet and can bring down the cabinet at any time
By withdrawing their mister and refusing to nominate a successor
While this only happened once the threat was loom tied when the military made any demands on the civilian leadership
Even with the military in a sense of control of the government in Japan the acquaintance army in Korea
largely ignored or acted in direct defiance of the headquarters in Japan
Many of its senior leaders advocated political change of Japan through the overthrow of the democratically elected civilian government
Denouncing it as a liberal evil and wanted to heavily strengthen the power of the Japanese emperor in its place
They also advocated a more aggressive
expansionist foreign policy regarding the Asian mainland
I am the whole of China as wipe for the taking during the same time
China had just sort of unified after the deadly war Lords period
Many factions continue to either fight against or work directly against the nationalist government
Japan had influenced northern warlords in Manchuria since the early 20s
but when the faction fell apart they were left with little in the way of powerful supporters and the provinces and
They desire to correct this wrong
The chance came in made in 1931 following two instance the first being the Juan poor Shawn incident
Which was a very minor affair between Chinese and Korean farmers in the small village of Juan post Shawn
The Koreans were building a dam and irrigation system from land that they leased from a local broker
this trench includes several miles of land that they did not lease and were owned by local Chinese a
Group of Chinese farmers drove the Koreans out and the police came in and dispersed the Chinese with no casualties
while this may seem like a very small incident public reaction was not
Anti-chinese riots erupted in many Korean cities and many anti Korean riots happened in China
however
China alleged that over 700 casualties occurred from this incident with many local firms being burnt to the ground
This led to mass murder of ethnic Koreans throughout China with a death toll reaching in the tens of thousands
This act nearly counts for between the two but calmer heads sort of prevailed and war was averted for the time
Yet the Japanese army in Korea was looking for another opportunity to invade China
they'd get this chance with the Mook tan incident on September at the 18th of
1931
Colonel Chi shirataki and Lieutenant Carl
kanji is lhara of the Quinton Army devised a plan to force a Japanese invasion on
Manchuria a rail line existed not far from in Chinese garrison under Shan truly in and
while the location had no formal name and no real military significance
They figured that by the spring a section of this line
They'd be able to garner enough support for a full-out invasion using the incident as pretext
they placed explosives near the tracks but far enough away to do no damage late on September the 18th the
Explosions were detonated the next morning two chaplains artillery batteries from the companies
opened fire on the Chinese garrison the small air force garrison was destroyed and
500 Japanese soldiers attacked the nearly 7,000 garrisoning troops
The Chinese troops were no match for the experienced Japanese soldiers and by the evening
the fighting was over and the Japanese had occupied Mook tin at the cost of
500 Chinese lives and only two lives for Japan
Julian ordered his troops to not fire upon the Japanese
Following this and to store away their arms
The Japanese proceeded to occupy the major cities of change shun and on Khan and their surrounding areas with minimal difficulty
The military governor in the region Maz named Shawn began to resist the Japanese by November
This was followed by generals ting Chou and Lee do with the professional forces
Between September the 20th and September the 25th
Japanese forces took a number of major cities in the Loudoun province essentially giving them full control over the area
Tokyo was shocked by the news of the army acting without orders from the central government
with the civilian government being thrown into disarray by the
Insubordination but as reports of one quick victory after another began to arrive
It felt powerless to oppose the army and instead sent three more divisions from Japan to aid in the effort
using the repairer of the bridge at nan river as
Pretext the Japanese send a repair party under protection
to the Chinese held location fighting eruptive between the Japanese forces and troops loyal to the Acting Governor of how long Shin
General ma han-shan masa Shana would become a hero in China for his defense at the bridge
Even though his troop suffered heavy casualties
his defense would be a main drive for many individuals to join an
anti-japanese militia in the region
this militia would go on to fight against the Japanese occupation for nearly 14 years and
Prevented the whole of Manchuria from being pacified
the Chinese government in named Jeanne largely collapsed following the invasion and when it reformed in late December of
1931 they ordered all Chinese forces to retreat behind the Great Wall
Effectively giving the whole of southern Manchuria over to the Japanese
The last major Chinese forces in northern Manchuria were led by general tin Chou who organized the defense of Harbin?
Shout managed to hold out for 17 hours with poorly equipped and largely untrained civilian. Militia
He would surrender on February the 24th
Officially ending a major Regular Army hostilities in Manchuria within days
Henry Pugh former emperor of China that was deposed in 1911
Was made emperor of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo
And Masson Shan was bribed to switch allegiances and managed to keep his post as governor
the peace wouldn't last long, however
By April of 1932 just two months following the formation of Manchu Kuo Shan Shan would revolt against the Japanese
Along with Tim Chou and General Lee Han Xin
together these men had over
300,000 under their command and they was eh major guerrilla strikes and ambushes against Japanese and mount Shu forces
What took the Japanese just three much to occupy would cause them over a decade to pacify and with that
Another chapter in forgotten history comes to an end