Explain why militarists came to dominate Japan and why Japan began to expand aggressively in Asia in the 1930s

What this dot point is asking

SEAB wants you to explain why the military came to dominate the government of Japan in the 1930s and why Japan turned to aggressive expansion in Asia, beginning with the invasion of Manchuria in 1931. You should be able to explain the effects of the Great Depression on Japan, the weakness of civilian government and the prestige of the army, and the reasons expansion seemed attractive (resources, markets and a growing population). The task is explanation: link Japan's problems and ambitions to the rise of militarism and to its aggression in Asia, which would later contribute to the Second World War.

The answer

Japan before the 1930s

By the early twentieth century Japan had modernised rapidly and become a strong industrial and military power, the first in Asia to defeat a European great power when it beat Russia in 1905. In the 1920s Japan had a parliamentary government and seemed to be moving toward democracy. But there were deep tensions. The armed forces held great prestige and saw themselves as loyal servants of the Emperor, who was regarded as almost divine. Japan was also a crowded country with few natural resources, which made it heavily dependent on trade. These features would matter greatly when crisis struck.

The impact of the Great Depression

Like Germany, Japan was hit hard by the Great Depression after 1929. Because Japan depended on exporting goods such as silk and textiles, the collapse of world trade was devastating. Markets closed, factories cut back, and unemployment and rural poverty spread. Many Japanese, especially in the countryside and the army (which drew many soldiers from rural families), suffered badly and lost faith in the civilian politicians and the democratic system, which seemed unable to protect them. People increasingly looked to the army as a source of strong, decisive leadership.

The appeal of expansion

Japan's leaders, especially in the military, came to believe that the solution to the country's problems was expansion. Japan was short of vital raw materials such as coal, oil and iron, and had a growing population on limited land. By conquering territory in Asia, Japan could gain these resources, secure markets for its goods, and provide land for its people. The army argued that, rather than depending on a hostile world economy that had just collapsed, Japan should build an empire that made it self-sufficient and powerful. This idea of expansion to secure resources became central to Japanese policy.

The weakness of civilian government

A key reason militarism could grow was that Japan's civilian governments were unable to control the armed forces. The army and navy had great independence and direct access to the Emperor, and many officers held nationalist and anti-democratic views. Army leaders increasingly took matters into their own hands, acting without the government's approval. Politicians who tried to restrain the military or favoured cooperation with other powers were threatened, and some were assassinated. As a result, real power drifted away from elected politicians and toward the military, even though Japan kept the outward forms of government under the Emperor.

The invasion of Manchuria, 1931

The clearest sign of militarism in action was the invasion of Manchuria in 1931. Manchuria was a large, resource-rich region of northern China where Japan already had economic interests. Officers of the Japanese army there staged an incident as an excuse and seized the whole region, largely on their own initiative, presenting the civilian government in Tokyo with a fait accompli (a done deed it could not reverse). Japan set up a puppet state in Manchuria. The League of Nations condemned the action but could do nothing effective, and Japan simply left the League. The conquest of Manchuria showed the army's dominance and Japan's turn to aggressive expansion, and it was a step on the road to wider war in China and the Pacific.

Examples in context

Example 1. Manchuria and the failure of the League. When Japan seized Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations investigated and condemned the action, but it had no army and its members would not risk war or trade to stop Japan. Japan simply walked out of the League and kept Manchuria. This is a key example both of Japanese militarism and of how the League's weakness against a determined great power encouraged further aggression in the 1930s.

Example 2. The full invasion of China in 1937. Manchuria was only the beginning. In 1937 Japan launched a full-scale invasion of the rest of China, beginning a long and brutal war marked by atrocities such as the violence at Nanjing. This wider war showed how far Japanese expansion had gone and drew Japan into deeper conflict, eventually bringing it into confrontation with the United States and into the Second World War in the Asia-Pacific.

Try this

Q1. Which region did Japan invade in 1931? [3 marks]

• Cue. Manchuria, a resource-rich region of northern China, where Japan set up a puppet state.

Q2. Explain why expansion was attractive to Japan in the 1930s. [5 marks]

• Cue. Japan lacked raw materials such as coal, oil and iron and had a growing population; conquering territory in Asia promised resources, land and markets, especially after the Depression damaged its trade.

Q3. "Militarism rose in Japan mainly because of the Great Depression." How far do you agree? [8 marks]

• Cue. Argue the Depression discredited civilian government and pushed Japan toward the army, but weigh it against the lack of resources and the army's prestige and independence before judging.