How did the manchurian crisis occur?

Answer 1

The Manchurian Crisis 1931-1933

The first major failure of the League, in 1930, was over the Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

Why did Japan invade?

Japan had been badly hit by the Depression. Her industrial strength depended on exports. These fell by 50% between 1929 and 1931. Without exports she could not buy the inports she needed. The country was also overcrowded. The military leaders believed that Japan should expand for more living space and raw materials. Japan chose Manchuria because:

• It belonged to China which was very weak at this time. It was spilt in two by civil war between Nationalists and Communists.
• Japan argued that Manchuria would act as a buffer against the USSR and Communism.
• Japan already claimed special interests in Manchuria. They ran the South Manchurian Railway and controlled some of the cities along its route.

The Mukden Incident

In September the Japanese army staged the Mukden incident. On the night of 18 September, there was an explosion on the South Manchurian Railway just outside the city of Mukden. The Japanese claimed this was an act of sabotage by the Chinese. The Chinese denied this, claiming that all their soldiers in the areas were in barracks at the time. This gave the Japanese the ideal excuse to take over Manchuria. The invasion was a great success. In 1932 Manchuria was renamed Manchukuo. The last Chinese Emperor, Pu Yi, who had been overthrown in 1911, was made the Japanese puppet ruler.

What did the League of Nations do?

Most countries were horrified at what Japan had done. China asked the League of Nations for help. The League:

• Condemned Japan's actions and ordered the withdrawal of Japanese troops. The Japanese government agreed but the army refused.
• Appointed the Lytton Commission to investigate the crisis. This took over a year to report, by which time the invasion and occupation was complete. The Commission found Japan guilty of forcibly seizing part of China's territory.
• Accepted the Lytton Report and instructed all of its members not to recognize Manchukuo. It invited Japan to hand Manchuria back to China.

The Japanese government kept Manchuria and then left the League in 1933. The League did not stop Japanese aggression. Indeed Japan went on to occupy the Chinese city of Jehol.

Answer 2

Background: The Mukden Incident of September 18, 1931, known in Japanese as the Manchurian Incident, occurred in southern Manchuria when a section of railroad, owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway, near Mukden (today's Shenyang) was dynamited by Japanese junior officers. Imperial Japan's military accused Chinese dissidents of the act, thus providing a pretext for the Japanese occupation of Manchuria. The incident represented an early event in the Second Sino-Japanese War, although full-scale war would not start until 1937.

Answer The Great Depression was one major factor that led to the Japanese' invasion of the north-east state of China, soon to become known as Manchukuo - an independent puppet-run state by the Japenese army. For Japan, its economy was shattered by the collapse of the American market and the subsequent trade tarrif increases by its neighbouring countries, China and the USA. This meant Japan was unable to export any of its goods. In 1931 an incident in Manchuria gave the Japanese army leaders the opportunity they had been looking for to expand its Japanese empire. Manchuria already had a section of Japan-built railway through Manchuria which army leaders claim the Chinese had sabotaged. The occupation of the state was met with little resistance as the Japanese army clearly orchestrated the attack well which suggests today that the incident was pre-empted. The civil government in Tokoyo called for the army to withdraw, but instructions were ignored. This made it clear that it was the army and not the government in control of Japan's foreign policy. Soon the Japanese had access to China's former Manchurian province's Natural Resources and materials to transport via the railway back.

Answer 3

Japan had a large army and navy. since 1905, it had controlled the territory of the South Manchurian Railway. In September 1931, it used the excuse of a disturbance to take Mukden and send its troops to overrun the rest of Manchuria. The Japanese pretended to give Manchuria independence. they put a weak leader called Puyi (who'd been the last emperor of China) on the throne so they could control him. the league of Nations sent Lord Lytton to assess the situation. He produced a report which said the Japanese had been wrong, But the league didn't do anything else- it failed to stop Japan and end the crisis

Answer 4

the main causes were that Japan wanted to seize Manchuria's good sources and needed more land as their population increased in the 1930s