Invasion of Manchuria

The Manchurian Incident - 1931

Newsflash 18 Sept. 1931“Sources report that Chinese terrorists have bombed of a railway line near Mukden owned by the Japanese South Manchuria Railway Company. This morning Japanese troops crossed into Manchuria in force. They have now taken up position in towns along the railway. Shots have been fired. This region, although lawless, is Chinese territory. The government in Nanking has asked the League of Nations to intervene.”

What happened?

BBC Two Curriculum Bites, International Relations, Japanese (2.26) • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KdQX7M6q0A

Japan and the Manchuria Crisis - YouTube (6.14)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D9VZH5Fi_4

• STOP AT 5.17

The facts• Japan had population and economic problems• Manchuria had raw materials• Japan had commercial interest in Manchurian railway• A section of Manchurian railway had been destroyed• Japanese said it was Chinese terrorists• Chinese suspected it was a Japanese ruse• Japanese sent troops into Manchuria • League asked for report by Lord Lytton

Options1. Full scale invasion to force Japanese to leave Manchuria2. Impose sanctions against Japanese3. Publicly Censure Japan4. Negotiate between Japan and China5. Do nothing6. Support Japanese

Tensions for the League• Don’t want war• Don’t want to condone expansionism• Don’t want to isolate Japan

The facts come out• Japanese Kwantung Army manufactured an incident• Chinese did not attack the railway• Action was initiated by militarists without consent of civilian

government

What happened at the League of Nations after the vote?• Watch final minute ofJapan and the Manchuria Crisis - YouTube (6.14)

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5D9VZH5Fi_4

In September 1931, on a pretext of local disorders, the Japanese occupied Mukden and the zone of the Manchurian Railway. …This aggressive action corresponded to the growth of Japanese power in the Far East and her new naval position on the oceans.

…Although no sanctions were imposed upon Japan, nor any other action taken, Japan, on march 27, 1933, withdrew from the League of Nations. Germany and Japan had been on opposite sides of the war; they now looked towards each other in a different mood. The moral authority of the League was shown to be devoid of any physical support at a time when its activity and strength were most needed.

Winston Churchill, The Gathering Storm