Japanese Expansion in East Asia Japanese Expansion Following

Japanese Expansion in East Asia

Japanese Expansion Following example of western nations, Japan went out to gain an overseas empire 1895 Japan defeated China in war and forced China to give up Korea and gained Taiwan 1904 -05 Japan fought Russian in Russo-Japanese war and won 1 st time in modern history an Asian nation defeated a European power Allowed Japan to get a foothold in Manchuria

Benefits of Expanding Equal political standing with western powers Gained scarce resources such as coal and iron

Growth of Extreme Nationalism Effects of Great Depression Japan to close factories and unemployment rose Overseas expansion stopped Gov’t failure to solve economic crisis led to domestic unrest Extreme nationalists argued that Japan should not have stooped overseas expansion

Extreme Nationalism Cont’d Military Dictatorship Backed by extreme nationalists, military leaders gained more power 1931 - Army officers created a crisis in Manchuria as an excuse to seize entire region 1930 s Japan slowly became a military dictatorship and new leaders promoted militarism Encouraged Japanese to believe they were on a mission to free Asian nations from western imperialism

Expansion into China 1930 s military continued to expand in China Source for raw materials Market for Japanese goods 1937 Japan launched a major invasion in China

WWII 1940 Japan joins Axis Powers (Germany and Italy) Japan seized French colony of Indochina U. S. responded by cutting off oil and other supplies Japan and U. S. negotiated a treaty to avoid war At the same time Japan planned a surprise attack to destroy American fleet in Pacific

War Against the U. S. December 7, 1941 Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, chief U. S. naval base

Control of East Asia Japan followed attack by conquering Honk Kong Southeast Asia Dutch East Indies Burma Philippines 1942 Japan ruled an empire from Southeast Asian to western Pacific Mid-1942 U. S. forced Japan to retreat from one Pacific island to another Pearl Harbor made America join the war and Allied forces rallied to slow Japanese advance