Explain how economic crisis, nationalism and the power of the army led to military domination of Japan in the 1930s

What this dot point is asking

This dot point asks you to explain why the military came to dominate Japan during the 1930s and led the country toward aggression and war. You should be able to explain the main reasons: the effects of the Great Depression, Japan's need for resources and land, the strength of nationalism, and the weakness of the civilian government against a bold army. The key idea, shared with the other authoritarian regimes, is that economic hardship and wounded national pride pushed people to support strong, aggressive leadership, in Japan's case the army.

The answer

Japan before the crisis

In the 1920s Japan was a modern, industrial country with an emperor and an elected government. But Japan had important weaknesses. It was crowded, with a fast-growing population, and it was poor in natural resources such as oil, coal and iron, which it needed to import to keep its factories running. This dependence on trade and imported resources made Japan very vulnerable when world conditions turned bad. Many army officers and nationalists believed Japan could only be truly safe and great if it controlled its own supplies of resources and land.

The blow of the Great Depression

The Great Depression of the early 1930s hit Japan hard. As world trade collapsed, other countries raised trade barriers and bought fewer Japanese goods, so Japanese exports fell sharply. Factories closed, workers lost their jobs, and farmers suffered terribly as prices fell. This economic misery caused great anger and made many Japanese lose faith in their civilian politicians, who seemed unable to solve the crisis. People began to look for a stronger and bolder kind of leadership.

The appeal of expansion

The army offered a clear answer to Japan's problems: expansion. Army leaders and nationalists argued that Japan should seize territory on the Asian mainland, especially areas rich in the resources Japan lacked. Controlling such land would give Japan raw materials, room for its growing population, and the status of a great empire. To a country suffering from the Depression and dependent on imports, this promise of resources and greatness through conquest was very attractive. Nationalism, the belief in Japan's special destiny and superiority, made the idea even more powerful.

The army acts: the invasion of Manchuria

The decisive step was the army's invasion of Manchuria, a resource-rich region of China, in 1931. Importantly, the army largely acted on its own, without proper permission from the civilian government. The invasion succeeded, and the conquest was popular at home because it seemed to provide the land and resources Japan wanted. This had two effects. It showed that the army, not the elected government, was really directing the country, and it taught the army that bold action abroad would be rewarded with success and public approval. The civilian government, unable to control the army, was fatally weakened.

The drift to military rule and war

After Manchuria, the army's power grew steadily. Politicians who opposed the military were threatened or even assassinated, and governments became increasingly dominated by military leaders. Japan pulled out of the League of Nations when it was criticised over Manchuria, and pushed further into China later in the decade. Step by step, the military came to control the government and set Japan on a path of aggression that would eventually lead to war across Asia and the Pacific.

Examples in context

Example 1. Trade barriers and Japanese exports. As the Depression spread, many countries protected their own industries by placing high taxes on imported goods. This hit Japan especially hard because it depended on selling exports to buy the resources it lacked. The collapse of trade made the army's argument, that Japan must control its own resources by conquest, sound convincing to many ordinary Japanese.

Example 2. Violence against politicians. During the 1930s, nationalist officers and extremists threatened and even killed politicians who stood in the way of the military. This violence frightened civilian leaders into giving the army what it wanted. It shows how the army came to dominate not only through popularity but also through fear, much as other authoritarian movements used force against their opponents.

Try this

• Cue. Explain why Japan's lack of natural resources and growing population made the idea of expansion attractive in the 1930s.

• Cue. Describe how the Great Depression affected Japan and explain why it caused people to lose faith in the civilian government.

• Cue. Explain why the invasion of Manchuria in 1931 was a turning point that increased the power of the army.