Manchurian Crisis 1931-1933 PDF

# Why did the Japanese invade Manchuria? The first major test for the League came when the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931. ## Map of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. - Key: - 1931-32 invasion - 1933 invasion - 1932 sea attack - Japanese Empire in 1931 - The South Manchur...

# Why did the Japanese invade Manchuria? The first major test for the League came when the Japanese invaded Manchuria in 1931. ## Map of the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. - Key: - 1931-32 invasion - 1933 invasion - 1932 sea attack - Japanese Empire in 1931 - The South Manchurian Railway - Built by the Japanese and controlled by the Japanese army. - Carried Japanese goods into Manchuria, and brought food and raw materials such as iron, coal and timber back to Japan. - Chinese Eastern Railway - Manchuria - Manchukuo - Changchun - Vladivostok - Jehol Province - Mukden - Antung - Peking - Kwantung - Formerly the Liaotung Peninsula and leased by Japan from China. - Korea - Sea of Japan - Japan - Tokyo - Shanghai - Since 1900 Japan's economy and population had been growing rapidly. By the 1920s Japan was a major power. - It had a very powerful army and navy. Army leaders often dictated government policy. - It had a strong industry, exporting goods to the USA and China in particular. - It had a growing empire which included the Korean peninsula. - Most of Japan is covered by high mountains. There is little farm land to grow food. In the 1920s Japan depended on importing food from China for its growing population. - Japan did not have raw materials such as iron ore and coal. These were imported from China. ### Questions for discussion 1. Why did it take so long for the League to make a decision over Manchuria? 2. Look at Sources 7 and 8. What criticisms are the cartoonists making of: - Japan - the League? 3. Did the League fail in this incident because of the way it worked or because of the attitude of its members? ## Cartoon of the League of Nations - A cartoon by David Low, 1933. - Low was one of the most famous cartoonists of the 1930s. - He regularly criticised both the actions of dictators around the world and the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations. ## The League's attempts to deal with the Japanese invasion - The League's officials sailed round the world to assess the situation in Manchuria for themselves. - It was September 1932 - a full year after the invasion - before they presented their report. - It was detailed and balanced, but the judgement was very clear: Japan had acted unlawfully. - Manchuria should be returned to the Chinese. - However, in February 1933, instead of withdrawing from Manchuria the Japanese announced that they intended to invade more of China, claiming this was necessary for self-defence. - On February 24, 1933, the report from the League's officials was approved by 42 votes to 1 in the Assembly. - Only Japan voted against. - Smarting at the insult, Japan resigned from the League on March 27, 1933. - The next week it invaded Jehol. ## Reasons for the League's inaction - The League was powerless. - It discussed economic sanctions, but without the USA, Japan's main trading partner, they would be meaningless. - Britain seemed more interested in keeping up good relationships with Japan than in agreeing to sanctions. - The League also discussed banning arms sales to Japan, but member countries could not even agree about that. Many worried that Japan would retaliate and the war would escalate. - There was no prospect at all of Britain and France risking their navies or armies in a war with Japan. - Only the USA and the USSR would have had the resources to remove the Japanese from Manchuria by force, and they were not even members of the League. ## A French poster from 1932 - All sorts of excuses were offered for the failure of the League. - Japan was so far away. - Japan was a special case. - Japan did have a point when it said that China was itself in the grip of anarchy. - However, the significance of the Manchurian crisis was obvious. - As many of its critics had predicted, the League was powerless if a strong nation decided to pursue an aggressive policy and invade its neighbours. - Japan had committed blatant aggression and got away with it. - Back in Europe, both Hitler and Mussolini looked on with interest. - Within three years they would both follow Japan's example. ## The Japanese perspective - The Depression hit Japan badly. - Both China and the USA put up tariffs (trade barriers) against Japanese goods. - The collapse of the American market put the Japanese economy in crisis. - Without this trade Japan could not feed its people. - Army leaders in Japan were in no doubt about the solution to Japan's problems - they wanted to build up a Japanese empire by force. - In 1931 an incident in Manchuria gave them the opportunity they had been looking for to expand the Japanese Empire. - As you can see from Source 5, the Japanese army controlled the South Manchurian Railway. - In September 1931, they claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the railway. - In retaliation they overran Manchuria and threw out all Chinese forces. - In February 1932 they set up a puppet government in Manchuria - or Manchukuo, as they called it - which did exactly what the Japanese army told it to do. - Later in 1932, Japanese aeroplanes and gunships bombed Shanghai. - The civilian government in Japan told the Japanese army to withdraw, but its instructions were ignored. - It was clear that it was the army and not the government that was in control of Japanese foreign policy. - China appealed to the League. - Japan claimed it was not invading as an aggressor, but simply settling a local difficulty. - The Japanese argued that China was in such a state of anarchy that they had to invade in self-defence to keep peace in the area. - For the League of Nations this was a serious test. - Japan was a leading member of the League. - It needed careful handling. What should the League do? ## Quote from a visit to the League by Sir Austen Chamberlain, 1932 - “I was sad to find everyone [at the League] so dejected. - The Assembly was a dead thing. - The Council was without confidence in itself. - Beneš [the Czechoslovak leader], who is not given to hysterics, said [about the people at the League] They are too frightened. - I tell them we are not going to have war now; we have five years before us, perhaps six. - We must make the most of them.” ## The British view - The British elder statesman Sir Austen Chamberlain visited the League of Nations late in 1932. - This is an adapted extract from his letters.