Japan1923-1937

Kanto Earthquake

1923DisastrousShowed

Japanese Vulnerability

End of Taisho Period1925 – Universal Suffrage

3.3 Million – 12.5 Million Voters

1925 – Peace Preservation LawAimed at CommunistsDiscouraged Change

1926 – Taisho Emperor diesSucceeded by Hirohito

Rise of Ultra-NationalismPrideMass Education System1929 Depression

Exposed Japanese weakness

Anti-CommunistViolent

1930 - PM Hamaguchi

Japanese ExpansionSeptember 1931 - Mukden/Manchurian

IncidentRailway explosionBlamed on Chinese Insurgents

Army took advantage and invaded ManchuriaSet up Puppet-State Manchukuo

1932 - Withdrew from League of Nations

Increased ViolenceUltra-Nationalist plots

League of BloodMilitary Involvement

Assassinations of prominent Zaibatsu/PoliticiansMitsuiPM Inukai Tsuyoshi

Effectively ended Party Rule

Military Rule

1932 – 1936Became overt in February 1936

PM Okada Assassination AttemptNationalist Coup de tat

Western outrage did little to change Japanese actions

The Rape of NankingJuly 1937 – Marco-Polo

Bridge incidentShots/Explosions heardJapanese used as

pretext to attackAtrocities Followed

Rape/Murder/PillageChemical weapons

The Rape of Nanking is rarely acknowledged

A Japanese Officer poses with his civilian victims.

It is a horrible story to relate; I know not where to begin nor to end. Never have I heard or

read of such brutality. Rape: We estimate at least 1,000 cases a night and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like

disapproval there is a bayonet stab or a bullet.

—James McCallum, letter to his family, 19 December 1937

Bibliographywww.wikipedia.orgwww.cartoonstock.

comFewster, Stuart &

Gorton, Tony. “Japan: From Shogun to Superstate” Brooks Waterloo, Victoria,1988.

Questions

What was one consequence of the Kanto Earthquake?

What was the Peace Preservation Law?What was the Mukden/Manchurian Incident?Who did Ultra-Nationalists target for

Assassination?What was the Marco-Polo Bridge Incident?