Japanese Expansion1853 - 1941

Feudal Japan

• From 1185 until the 1850s, Japan was ruled by a series of Shoguns (military rulers)

• The emperor, the court, and the traditional central government were left intact but were largely relegated to ceremonial functions.

• Civil, military, and judicial matters were controlled by the bushi (samuari) class, the most powerful of whom was the de facto national ruler, the shogun.

• This period in Japan differed from the old shōen system in its pervasive military emphasis.

Japanese Feudalism

Shogun

Daimyo

Samurai – lived by Bushido, the “way of the warrior” (chivalric code)

Samurai

Peasants, Merchants, etc.

Ronin – those samurai without

masters

Ninja – a warrior trained to use

unorthodox fighting methods (assassination,

espionage, martial arts)

1875

15421600

1500

Westerners are unknown in Japan

1542

Portuguese visit Japan

1600

Dutch & British traders arrive

1638

Japan isolates itself from the West

The Tokugawa Shogunate

• Tokugawa family ruled Japan from 1603 until 1868 – also known as the Edo period

• 1635 – foreign trade limited to China, Korea, and Netherlands at Nagasaki a few times per year

• Emperor (mikado) ruled in name only– Actual power held by

the shogun

1853

1638 - 1853

Japan isolates itself from the West

1853

Perry opens Japan

Perry Opens Japan

• 1853Perry visits Japan with 4 steam powered war ships

• 1854Perry returns, treaty signed

Japanese ReactionPros Cons

“Dutch Learning” (Western knowledge) became very popular among many doctors, scholars, and scientists

Western knowledge went against many traditional Japanese beliefs

Japanese entrepreneurs, merchants, and budding industrialists stood to profit from increased trade

Traditional holders of prestige and power (daimyos and samurai) did not tend to profit from increased trade

Resentment• Extraterritorial rights of Americans and Europeans• Anti-foreign uprisings (1863-1864)• Japanese ports in turn bombarded by foreign ships

Solution• “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”• Japanese could benefit from knowledge of what happened to China• Japanese felt that they would be in a better position to renegotiate the trade

treaties, and be less likely to be imposed upon, if they adopted Western ways (democracy, imperialism, industrialization, militarization, and modernization) – westernization

Imperialization of Japan

• Why?– Lack of fertile land

for agriculture

– Markets for finished products

– Need for the raw materials of industry

– Population growth

– Response to Western imperialism

1854 - 1900• 1860 Japanese delegation visits US• 1868 Boshin War finalizes rule of Emperor

Meiji• 1875 Japan occupies Kurile Islands• 1876 Japan claims Bonin Islands• 1891 Japan annexes Volcano Islands (Iwo

Jima, et al)• 1894 1st Sino-Japanese War. Japan

easily defeats China and gains Formosa, but intervention by the West denies Japan full (expected) fruits of victory

• 1898 Spanish American War: US gains Philippines

Completed Meiji Restoration

Alliance of southern and western samurai, court and young Emperor Meiji

Ordered the dissolution of the two-hundred-year-old Tokugawa Shogunate.

Tokugawa Yoshinobu launched a military campaign to seize the emperor's court at Kyoto.

Tide rapidly turned in favor of the smaller but relatively modernized imperial faction and resulted in defections of many daimyo to the Imperial side.

Yoshinobu was stripped of all his power by Emperor Meiji and most of Japan accepted the emperor's rule.

18741875

1887

1875

1895

1910

1905

1899

1920

1931

1874

154216001853

1500

Westerners are unknown in Japan

1542

Portuguese visit Japan

1600

Dutch & British traders arrive

1638

Japan isolates itself from the West

1853

Perry opens Japan1874

Japan occupies Rkukyus Island

1875

Japan occupies Bonin Islands

1875

Japan claims Kurile Islands

1887

Japan occupies Volcano Islands

1895

1st Sino-Japanese War; Japan acquires Formosa

1905

Russo-Japanese War

1899

Marcus Is

1910

Japan annexes Korea

1920

1920

1939

1940

1920

Japan acquires German colonies

1931

Japan invades Manchuria

1937/39

Japan occupies portions of China

18741874

1938/39

1938/391938/39

1940

France falls; Japan invades French IndoChina Oil Line

1st Sino-Japanese

War

1900 - 1920• 1904 Russo-Japanese War grew out of the rival imperial

ambitions of the Russia and Japan over Manchuria and Korea. Japan emerged as major world power.

• 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth ends Russo-Japanese War. Japan awarded half of Sakhalin Island and major leases/control

of railroads in Manchuria; but much less than Japan was expecting. Major turning point in US / Japanese

relationship • 1905 Taft-Katsura Memorandum:

• US recognized Japan’s special interest in Korea• Japan agreed to not challenge US oversight of Philippines

• 1910 Japan annexes Korea• WWI Japan seizes Germany’s Pacific possessions

21 Demands on China attempts to make China a protectorate of Japan

• 1919 Treaty of Versailles: German possessions in Asia are awarded to Japan

18741875

1887

1875

1895

1910

1905

1899

1920

1905

Russo-Japanese War

1910

Japan annexes Korea

1920

1920

1920

Japan acquires German colonies

Japan & China: 2nd half 19th Century

• In 50 years China continued her downward spiral from what might have been the world’s most powerful nation to a nation unable to manage her affairs

• In 50 years Japan emerged from a feudal state to a modern world power

1921 - 1931

• 1922 Washington Naval Conference limits size of Japanese Navy

• 1924 Immigration Act of 1924 eliminated “undesirable” immigration including Japanese

• 1930 London Naval Treaty further controls size and scope of navies

• 1931 Invasion of Manchuria

American & European Opposition

• Washington Conference (1922)– Size limits on navies

• 5:5:3 ratio for Great Britain, United States, and Japan

• Japanese resented these limitations– Nine Power Treaty

• China’s independence and territory guaranteed• Open Door Policy reaffirmed

– Four Power Pact• France, Great Britain, Japan, United States• One another’s colonial possessions would be respected

• U.S. Japanese Exclusion Act (1924)

Imperial Flag of the Japanese Navy

Japanese Expansion 1853 - 1931

1932 - 1939• 1933 Japan leaves the League of Nations

after censure over its 1932 shelling of Shanghai

• 1934 Japan withdraws from the Washington and London Naval Treaties

• 1937 Skirmishes escalates into 2nd Sino-Japanese War

• 1937 Rape of Nanking; • 1937 Shanghai and Hongchow fall to

Japanese• 1938 Canton, Hankow, and Amoy fall to

Japanese• 1938/39 Soviet-Japanese Border War• 1939 Hainan occupied by Japan

Japanese Expansion 1853 - 1939

1940 - 1941

• 1940 Fall of France; Japan occupies French Indochina

• 1940 Tripartite Pact formally creates Axis: Japan, Italy and Germany

• 1941 Soviet - Japanese Neutrality Pact

Comparison: New York to LA = 2,450 miles

Pacific Scope

• New York to LA = 2,450 miles

• London to Berlin = 580 miles

• Berlin to Moscow = 1,000 miles

• Entire European War fought inside an area ~1600 miles wide by ~1200 miles tall

• Pacific War fought over a scope 3x as wide and 3x as tall

Japanese Expansion 1853 - 1941

1940

18741875

1887

1875

1895

1910

1905

1899

1920

1931

1874

154216001853

1500

Westerners are unknown in Japan

1542

Portuguese visit Japan

1600

Dutch & British traders arrive

1638

Japan isolates itself from the West

1853

Perry opens Japan1874

Japan occupies Rkukyus Island

1875

Japan occupies Bonin Islands

1875

Japan claims Kurile Islands

1887

Japan occupies Volcano Islands

1895

1st Sino-Japanese War; Japan acquires Formosa

1905

Russo-Japanese War

1899

Marcus Is

1910

Japan annexes Korea

1920

1920

1939

1940

1920

Japan acquires German colonies

1931

Japan invades Manchuria

1937/39

Japan occupies portions of China

18741874

1938/39

1938/391938/39

1940

France falls; Japan invades French IndoChina Oil Line

“Oil Line”