Japanese politics prior to capture by militarists
Following the Meiji Restoration, Japan established a parliamentary political system headed by the Emperor. The Emperor has absolute power within the system, but actual policy was executed by a Cabinet. The Cabinet was often formed from the Diet, Japan’s parliament, but could be anyone appointed by the Emperor. The Diet was split into two houses: one elected by the male population and an upper house composed of the high nobility. The public side of politics is through civilians in the Cabinet and the political parties of the Diet.
The military is subordinated to the decisions of the Cabinet, and controlled by the Minister of War and Minister of the Navy. From the beginning of the Meiji period, however, the military received the strong support of the Emperor and there were historically tensions between the civilian government and the military, the latter backed by the Emperor. These tensions between military and civilian leadership only intensify after 1918, when more liberal and democratic political parties come to power in Japan.
Japan and the Treaty System
Japan joined the ranks of the Treaty powers following the conclusion of the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895. The Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the war, gave Japan rights in China equal to all other powers, as well as annexing Taiwan and ending Chinese rule in Korea, which later became a Japanese colony. Japanese rights in China were further extended in the Boxer Protocols, allowing Japan to station soldiers in any of its concessions in the Treaty ports or consular offices. With the exception of Manchuria, Japan held equal rights with the other Treaty powers, under a system termed the ‘Open Door Policy’.
Japan had special rights in Manchuria, secured in the 1905 Portsmouth Treaty. This treaty gave Japan control over Port Arthur (modern-day Lüshun) and established the Kwantung Army for its protection. It also gave Japan essential sovereignty over all areas of the Southern Manchurian railroad, including large portions of Mukden and Changchun, and a special railroad army to defend this territory. This treaty also established the scope of Russian/Soviet interests in Manchuria, which came to conflict with Japan ones, as they still allowed for Russian control over the North Manchurian railroad (Chita to Vladivostok). This would prove a point of concern for the Japanese until the USSR sold the railway to Manchukuo in 1935. Japanese concessions in Manchuria brought enormous economic benefit to Japan, giving it privileged access to resources scarce on the Home Islands. The core of militarism starts in Manchuria and is driven by figures within the Kwantung Army and the South Manchurian Railroad.
The conflict between the civilian government and the military over foreign policy stems from Japan’s role within the Treaty system. Even the most aggressive politicians wanted to advance Japan’s interests within the ‘Open Door Policy’, whereas the military wanted to abolish the policy and establish Japan as the predominant power in Asia. This tension appears at the beginning of Japan’s entry into the Treaty system in 1895, with the military and nationalist groups, like the Black Dragon Society (Amur River Society), accusing the civilian government of kowtowing to the Europeans and not pressing for greater concessions. In 1895, this was anger over not taking more territory; in 1905, it was anger over not demanding concessions in north Manchuria and Mongolia; in 1915, it was backing down on the last of the 21 Demands.
Tensions between Japan and China rise as a result of the resurgent nationalism in China, especially after the Xinhai Revolution and reunification in 1927. This brings China into conflict with all of the Treaty Powers, but particularly Japan, which is least willing to renounce its privileges.
Japan and the Yuan Shikai Regime
The hope of Yuan Shikai and other Chinese nationalists was that they could strengthen China and thus end the unequal treaties. This plan is totally unsuccessful, as China remains militarily weak, politically fractured, and heavily indebted and dependent on foreign finance to keep afloat. Yuan Shikai gave into more concessions to the Treaty powers, most famously to give them control over the salt monopoly, to keep his government on firm financial backing during his conflicts with the Tongmenghui. He failed to end any Treaty Rights.
Japan pursued a policy of simultaneously pressuring the Yuan government and acting as its main financial backer and weakening it by supporting dissident groups, most prominently the Tongmenghui, who, despite having led the Xinhai Revolution, became alienated from the government and tried to overthrow it in 1913.
Japan enters WWI on 23 August 1914, under the standing of its alliance with the Britain for the purpose of seizing for itself German colonial holdings in the Pacific and in China. In September and October 1914, the Japanese Navy captured the Marshall, Mariana, and Caroline islands in the Pacific and occupied them. These islands are strategically important for enabling power projection into the eastern Pacific or cutting off the USA from its colony in Philippines. Japan captured the German leased port of Qingdao in September 1914, but then marched north to Jinan under the pretext of capturing the German-built railroad. Japan maintains a stronger military and economic presence in Shandong from this point onward.
Japan issues the 21 Demands to Yuan Shikai in January 1915, following its capture of the Shandong peninsula from Germany. The demands confirm Japanese control over former German colonies and influence over Shandong; grant Japan special rights of immunity from local law, immunity from taxation, rights of settlement, and privileged status in southern Manchuria and eastern Inner Mongolia; hand over indebted mines to Japanese ownership; and bars China from giving islands to other powers. There was also a demand to hand over Fujian to Japanese control and put China’s finances under the control of Japanese advisors, but these were dropped due to fear of international outcry. China complies.
China originally declared neutrality in WWI to avoid a situation where the war is fought on its territory, ultimately declaring war on the Central Powers in 1917 and sending labor battalions to Europe, in the hopes of securing additional loans from the Entente and some kind of concession during the Paris Peace Conference. At the Paris Peace Conference, which ended WWI, all of Japan’s gains during the war were confirmed and China got nothing. The South Sea islands are mandated to Japan on the condition that they not be fortified or made into military bases. Japan violates these prerogatives by 1932 or 1933, and intensifies fortification after 1935. Germany’s concession at Qingdao and control of the Shandong railroads is transferred to Japan, over Chinese objections. The provision of the Versailles Treaty that gave control of Shandong to Japan sparked mass protests within China, leading China to refuse to sign the Treaty and inaugurating a new period of conflict between China and Japan.
Japan intervened, alongside other countries, in the Russian Civil war, occupying the eastern portion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad from Lake Baikal to Vladivostok until 1922. This action, halted due to protests in Japan against the costs of the intervention, deeply antagonized the USSR to Japan.
The Interwar economic crisis in Japan
Like the USA, Japan is much less affected by the depression beginning after 1918, although it is still impacted by the loss of European demand. Also unlike Europe, Japan does not have any destroyed infrastructure, massive casualties, or millions of veterans from the war.
The economic crisis that struck Japan in 1918 was even more class-based than in Europe, as it built on inequalities from wartime inflation, wherein the ballooning profits of industries drove up prices without similar wage increases. Communist and socialist movements organized during this period, as did fascists inspired by Italy. Both sought to end the class divide that had become so prominent and both blamed the democratic party system for being unable to do so.
Japan also experienced a form of the social crisis that struck Europe, with many Japanese angry at the abandonment of traditional religion and social norms, particularly the increased presence of women in the public sphere. Unlike in Europe, however, economic circumstances improved and the Japanese political establishment was able to adapt.
Japan’s immediate economic recession didn’t end until at least 1924, when government stimulus loans in the aftermath of the Kanto Earthquake allowed for reconstruction and the beginning of an economic growth cycle that lasted until 1927, when the earthquake loans were set to come due. Even then, however, growth was sluggish and Japan’s economy was around the same size in 1927 than it had been in 1917.
Japan during the Warlord Period
Yuan Shikai died in 1916, shortly following on a revolt against him by a number of regional political and military leaders dissatisfied with his rule. Yuan's death left a political vacuum, resulting in infighting among various successors, dissatisfied regional leaders, and the Tongmenhui. This period of civil war and internal disorder was known as the Warlord Period and lasted until China's political reunification under Jiang Jieshi and the Guomindang in 1927.
The Nine Powers Treaty, signed in 1922, formed the fundamental basis of the European, American, and Japanese role in China. Under this Treaty — to the great anger of militarists — Japan agreed to an equal role in China with the Europeans and the USA and to respect Chinese sovereignty.
As a consequence of the chaotic civil war, European influence in China experienced a substantial decline. Britain and France refused to totally give up their Treaty rights and maintained legations and concessions, but attempts by weaker states to assert their Treaty rights were troubled by the breakdown of central authority in China, as local warlords did as they pleased and disrupted the Chinese economy. The conflict occasionally touched on Europeans, who usually withdrew rather than force a confrontation.
The European powers try to impose a general arms embargo on China to curb the civil war. This embargo is ignored by Japan and the Soviets. The fact that Japan ignores the arms embargo, respected by the USA and most Europeans, is directly related to the Soviets flouting the embargo. Japan feared that the Russian Revolution would spill over into China and threaten Japanese interests there, fears that were only intensified by Communist cooperation with the Guomindang and Soviet involvement in arming and training various warlord factions. Accordingly, Japan used its military industries and financial resources to back certain warlord factions in defense of its interests in China. It sought to protect Japanese investments, maintain Japanese privileges in China, and fight Communist influence.
Originally, Japan tries to continue the same tactic it had pursued during the Yuan government, supporting a weak Chinese government in return for economic concessions. After the death of Yuan Shikai, Japan switched support to his legal successor, Duan Qirui. Japan believed that Duan could be pressured into accepting Japanese privileges, and was a committed adversary of Communism and the nationalist Guomindang.
Japan had special interests in Manchuria that it tried to protect by supporting the warlord of Manchuria, Zhang Zuolin. Zhang became the primary recipient of Japanese support after the defeat of Duan in 1920. In exchange for Japanese support, Zhang gave Japan extensive concessions in Manchuria, including control of key sectors of industry and mines, and promised to not involve himself in national politics. Zhang ignored this last proscription, but Japan continued supporting him anyway to protect its interests in Manchuria.
Anti-foreign sentiment, already high in China in the early 20th Century, further increases during the Warlord Period. Riots intensify after the death of Sun Yatsen in 1925, when the Communists organize protests and strikes in Shanghai on 30 May. The Japanese and British respond with lethal force, further heightening anti-foreign sentiment and convincing the Communists and Guomindang of the popularity of this tactic. Much of the anti-foreign movement is coordinated by the Communists and/or the Guomindang, particularly since the boycott movement first breaks out when the Duan government is weak.
In the mind of the Japanese, the anti-foreign movement and the Communists are intrinsically linked. Japan, particularly those Japanese stationed or with economic interests in China, was extremely concerned about the rising tide of anti-foreign sentiment in China and the expansion of the Guomindang, which is backed by the USSR and allied with the Communists. This generates a call for a stronger hand in China to suppress nationalist and communist agitation, and for hostility against the Chinese government until it defeats Communism AND accepts Japanese privileges.
Although Japan had long been hostile to the Guomindang because of its nationalist aims and affiliation with the Communists, Japan initially supported Jiang Jieshi and pledged to not interfere with the Guomindang's 1927 Northern Expedition, on the condition that he purge the Communists. Jiang Jieshi complies and begins a purge of the Communists with a massacre at Shanghai in April 1927, but the anti-foreign sentiment and disruption doesn’t stop because, contrary to the dominant narrative in Japan, the Guomindang is just as deeply anti-foreign as the Communists.
The capture of Nanjing by Guomindang forces in 1927 is marked by anti-foreign riots and the looting of foreign concessions, to which the British, Americans, and Japanese respond with force. This incident, as well as unrelated riots in Wuhan, places the Japanese on high alert and makes them nervous of their politically sensitive position in Shandong, leading to the direct occupation of Jinan.
Seeing the rise of the Guomindang across China and its split into the Nanjing and Wuhan factions, Japan supports Jiang Jieshi in returning from exile to seize control of the movement in August 1927, on the condition that he respect Treaty rights. This is done on the mistaken assumption that his future government can be controlled, like that of Yuan or Duan. This position was thought to be the best solution due to Jiang Jieshi’s proven record opposing Communism.
In Spring 1928, Jiang Jieshi defeated the Wuhan faction and prepared for a final confrontation between the Guomindang and Zhang Zuolin, who controlled Beijing at the time, moving into Shandong. Guomindang forces occupied Jinan after guaranteeing to the Japanese that they would respect Japanese property in the city. They don’t and withdraw under Japanese pressure. Japan, however, is not satisfied with the withdrawal and wants to punish the Guomindang for their transgression. They demanded the punishment of commanders and a ban on all anti-Japanese propaganda. When the Chinese balked, the Japanese attacked, routing the Guomindang armies and publicly executing over 3,000 POWs and civilians in a show of force.
The Japanese had intended to show strength through this action, but it poisoned Sino-Japanese relations. Jiang Jieshi now viewed Japan as China’s main foreign threat, second only the domestic issue of Communism, and Japan believed that the Guomindang was a belligerent and untrustworthy partner that would only respond to force.
The Showa Economic Crisis
In 1927, Japan is hit by the Showa economic crisis as the 1923 earthquake loans come due, causing many banks to fail and precipitating runs on other banks. This recession is only compounded by the 1929 Great Depression, beginning in the USA, which is Japan’s largest trade partner at the time. The Japanese economy remains in recession and crisis until 1931. This weakens public support for the liberal establishment and bolsters support for fascist groups. Public opinion in the 1930s is against liberal democracy and capitalism.
The Great Depression, combined with the general breakdown in global trade since 1914, causes resource scarcity, as the Europeans enact stricter protectionist measures around trade with their colonial empires. This resource scarcity makes Manchuria even more important to the Japanese economy and heightens the resolve of nationalists and colonialists to retain Japan’s privileges there.
The Japanese Militarists
The militarists are a combination of nationalist groups who demand that Japan behave like a great power, fascists who advocate a return to direct imperial rule, and imperialists who want larger colonial holdings. All three groups are mainly drawn from civilians and soldiers in Korea and Manchuria, particularly the Southern Manchurian Railway and the Kwantung Army.
The oldest and most public of the nationalist groups is the Black Dragon Society (Amur River Society), founded to demand greater Japanese presence in the Amur River basin. It is funded by the Southern Manchurian Railway and organizes mass rallies within Japan in support of expansionism and a tough stance on China.
The militarist movement begins to incorporate more fascist and anti-capitalist ideology after Kingoro Hashimoto of the Kwantung Army returns in 1930 from a stint as military attache in Turkey. Hashimoto is directly inspired by European fascism and founds the Cherry Blossom Society, a military group dedicated to both military expansion and a ‘Showa Restoration’. The Showa Restoration is a proposed return to direct imperial rule, by which the Showa Emperor would dismantle parliamentary democracy and rule a totalitarian imperial state, presumably along fascist lines.
The common ideas of the militarists are that Japan needs to maintain a strong presence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia to gain access to the resources necessary to be a major power, that Japan should be the preeminent power in China (and perhaps all of Asia), and that the current democratic party system is weak and obstructing these aims.
Japanese militarists are deeply influenced by race theory, primarily the version promulgated by Shumei Okawa. Japanese imperialism is heavily influenced by race science. In Okawa's conception, Japan is the champion of the Asiatic race and needs to be dominant to drive the White race out of Asia. Race theory is used to justify a conflict between the Asiatic and White races, but also to explain a hierarchy within Asia. In this hierarchy, Japan was at the top and all other Asians filled different slots beneath Japan. This was used to justify a ‘special position’ for Japan in China and in East Asia as a whole that it would defend against other countries (April 1934 Amau Statement). It was a repudiation of the Nine Powers Treaty in that it neither viewed all countries as having an equal stake nor respected Chinese sovereignty
Race theory is dominant during the 1920s; it is the primary way that people view international relations and the world. The division of the world into biologically distinct and hierarchical races is viewed as scientifically proven, and society should be based on that notion. Ideas about racial equality, and especially integration, are seen as unscientific and actively dangerous.
The militarists had been further angered throughout the 1920s, as the liberal political establishment signed a series of naval limitation treaties, the 1922 Washington Treaty and the 1930 London Treaty. To the militarists, these are clear concessions to the Europeans and Americans, as they leave Japan with a permanently smaller naval force than either the USA or Britain. This is yet another example of unacceptable deference to the ‘Anglo-Saxon powers’ and shying away from Japan’s proper role in Asia.
Huanggutun Incident
The first incident of militarist aggression was the 1928 assassination of Zhang Zuolin by the Kwantung Army. A faction of Kwantung Army felt that Zhang was no longer respecting Japanese rights in Manchuria and that he was blatantly ignoring Japanese advice to not become involved in Chinese national politics. Feeling that there was nothing to be gained by cooperating with Zhang, they killed him with the intention of establishing an independent and Japan-dominated Manchurian state under his son, Zhang Xueliang.
The assassination does not turn out well, as Zhang Xueliang is more nationalist and begins organized agitation to remove Japanese privileges, especially around the railroad. Japan informs him of the expected scenario, to which he responds by joining the Guomindang in December 1928. In response to Chinese plans to build their own railway in Manchuria, illegally taxing Japanese, and refusing to lease land to Japanese, the militarists decide that more aggressive action must be taken in Manchuria.
Premier Giichi Tanaka is furious over the murder and demanded that those responsible be court martialed, but is informed by the War minister that the Army general staff believes such a court martial could uncover military secrets and essentially refuses to comply. This is the first major incident of the military disobeying civilian government.
The public scandal around the Tanaka government’s inability to control the army and the deterioration of Japan’s position in Manchuria under Zhang Xueliang angers both the liberal establishment and the militarists, the later angry at Tanaka for not taking a stronger stance in Manchuria. In 1929, amidst economic collapse, his government collapses and Osachi Hamaguchi becomes Premier.
Premiership of Osachi Hamaguchi
Osachi Hamaguchi is one of the foremost members of Japan’s liberal party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, and utterly opposed to the militarists. He and his Foreign Minister, Kijuro Shidehara, abandon the ‘positive policy’ of maintaining Japan's special position in Manchuria and replace it with the ‘friendship policy’ of reconciliation with China in the hopes of calming anti-foreign sentiment and ending the boycott. Internationally, he endorses the ‘Open Door Policy’ and further disarmament, signing the 1930 London Naval Treaty.
These policies angered the military to no end, as they were seen as sacrificing Japanese strength to appease the Europeans and Americans and being weak on China during a moment when Zhang Xueliang was directly challenging Japanese privileges in Manchuria.
On 4 November 1930, Hamaguchi is shot by a young officer at a Tokyo railway station, and died of his injuries on 26 August 1931. The assassination allegedly occurred in protest over Hamaguchi’s signing of the London Naval Treaty in April 1930. In the meantime, his cabinet is led by Shidehara.
Wait, did the military just murder the PM? Yes, they did, although it was never conclusively linked to a conspiracy, it is very likely that the assassination was orchestrated by the Cherry Blossom Society. If 1928 marks a huge step toward the military acting outside of civilian control, then 1930 marks a huge step toward the military intervening in Japanese domestic politics. This transformation is likely a result of the organization and focus on a fascist Showa Restoration that Kingoro Hashimoto brings to the militarists.
Premiership of Kijuro Shidehara
Shidehara, who has been a prominent liberal for years and is closely associated with a pacifist and internationalist foreign policy, may be the civilian figure most hated by the militarists. As a result, the militarists of the Cherry Blossom Society make plans to remove Shidehara from power in March 1931.
The plan for the March Incident was to organize the protest leading to clashes with the police and give the army the excuse to impose martial law in Japan, allowing them to replace the Shidehara government and install a premier who agreed with Japanese expansion into Manchuria, preferably Kazushige Ugaki, the War Minister. The plot was stopped only because Shumei Okawa sent a letter of intention to Ugaki, who generally opposed military rule. Ugaki called in Hashimoto and Kuniaki Koisa, Chief of Military Affairs Bureau, and told them to call off the plot, while also tipping off the imperial household.
In this aftermath, Ugaki was in disgrace with the Army for having refused to participate and having accepted a reduction in the Army budget. He retired afterward, triggering a collapse of the Shidehara government. Shidehara’s cabinet dissolves on 13 April 1931 and is replaced by a government under Reijiro Wakatsuki.
Premiership of Reijiro Wakatsuki
Wakatsuki is of the same liberal vein as Hamaguchi and Shidehara, and is dedicated to both the ‘friendship policy’ and a naval limitation policy. Wakatsuki is challenged, both in Manchuria and in Japan, through his entire term, which only lasts 9 months.
Wakatsuki’s ‘friendship policy’ was severely tested in Summer 1931 by the Wanbaoshan Incident and the Nakamura Incident. Together, these incidents convince the military leadership that Zhang Xueliang needed to be removed from power and that the civilian government could not be depended upon to take the necessary action.
The Wanbaoshan incident of July 1931 started as a local conflict over Korean farmers leasing land in Manchuria and building an irrigation ditch through Chinese-owned property. They got into a dispute, leading to the Chinese farmers driving the Koreans from the land. The Japanese consular police dispersed the Chinese and reinstated the Koreans. To the militarists, the incident is another case of Zhang disrespecting Japanese rights in Manchuria, including that of Japan’s Korean subjects to settle there. The important result of this was that Koreans rioted against the Chinese in Korea, massacring at least 100 Chinese and injuring hundreds, an incident that reignited the anti-Japanese boycott movement in China. Ending the boycott movement had been the main goal of the ‘friendship policy’ and it had just failed.
On 27 June 1931, Japanese officer Shintaro Nakamura and his assistants were captured and shot by Chinese soldiers and their bodies cremated to cover up the incident. The Japanese discovered the death in July. The incident inflamed public opinion against China and made the military even more dead set against anything other than the most aggressive stance in Manchuria. In response to this incident, the Army general staff meets and decides that Zhang Xueliang must be crushed.
Having resolved to remove Zhang Xueliang from power, the militarists of the Kwantung and Joseon Armies make plans to cause an international incident and seize control of Manchuria. This plan marks the beginning of a period of almost continuous aggressive Japanese expansion into northern China.
The Kwantung Army starts aggressive military maneuvers on 14 September 1931, avoiding clashes with the Chinese only because Zhang Xueliang had confined them to barracks. On 16 September, Zhang returned to Mukden having finished his investigation of the Nakamura Incident. He announced on 18 September, an intent to arrest and punish Kuan Yuheng for the murder, thus ending the incident, but was unable to contact any representatives of the Kwantung Army. On the night of 18 September, the Japanese blew up a portion of the Southern Manchurian Railway outside of Mukden, blamed the Chinese, and used this as pretext for an immediate capture of the city of Mukden. Japanese forces across the entire railway from Changchun to Port Arthur disarmed Chinese army divisions. Zhang Xueliang tried repeatedly to contact the Japanese and resolve the incident, but the Kwantung Army refused to negotiate.
By the earliest hours of 19 September, General Honjo had ordered the general seizure of Manchuria by Japanese forces. He further announced an intent to wage punitive war against China for the falsified infraction. The Mukden Incident and the Kwantung Army’s expansion of the incident into a general war are a clear break in any civilian control over the army. The army refuses to comply with Wakatsuki’s orders and is increasingly angry at his refusal to support them.
War Minister Jiro Minami endorsed the Army’s version of events, informed the Cabinet that the Kwantung Army was responding to Chinese aggression, and generally refused to reign in the army or force them to comply with Premier Wakatsuki’s desire for the incident to be contained.
The Army is infuriated that, even having given Wakatsuki a fait accompli in Manchuria, he continues to oppose expansion and support the League of Nations’ withdrawal plan. This is perceived as their own government stabbing them in the back.
Amidst the chaos of the Mukden Incident, there was another attempted coup: the Imperial Colors Incident. Hashimoto and other members of the Cherry Blossom Society plan a coup for October 1931 that will abolish the political party system and empower a fascist military government that supports their action in Manchuria. They are angry at the Wakatsuki government’s agreement to the principle of withdrawal in Manchuria with the League of Nations. War Minister Minami is informed of the plot and reprimanded those responsible, so it never happened.
In the aftermath of the failure of the Imperial Colors Incident, militarist anger at the Cabinet grew and there were threats that the Kwantung Army would declare independence and do its own thing in Manchuria. This scared many members of the government into complying. Also, during this time the War Ministry began calling newspapers that published news they disliked and threatening them into silence.
In light of their utter failure to stop the Kwantung Army from expanding the Mukden Incident into a general conflict and the resulting failure to either maintain the ‘friendship policy’ or uphold Japan’s obligations under the Nine Powers Treaty, Wakatsuki resigned in December 1931. This also marked the end of pacifist Baron Shidehara’s time as Foreign Minister. They were replaced by the Cabinet of Tsuyoshi Inukai.
Premiership of Tsuyoshi Inukai
Inukai was also dedicated to a peaceful resolution of the Manchurian issue and the preservation of democratic governance, but faced stern opposition from the Army and the new War Minister Sadao Araki, who had been one of the principal architects of the Mukden Incident.
The appointment of Araki to the Cabinet post is significant because the coups of 1931 had been prevented only because Ugaki and Minami had been opposed to military rule. Now, there is no one holding back the militarists, as Araki is one of them. His appointment also shows how dominant the fascist ‘Kodoha’ and ‘Toseiha’ factions had become in the military, that now there is virtually no opposition to the militarists within the army.
As a side note to the conflict between civilian and military authority, Inukai also appoints Korekiyo Takahashi as Minister of Finance. The Takahashi policies, his Keynesian stimulus program, takes Japan out of the Great Recession and leads to an economic boom in the 1930s. Many of his policies will be continued under the militarist regime.
Inukai tried to negotiate terms of peace with Jiang Jieshi, and thus force an end to the expanded Mukden Incident, before this correspondence was discovered by the army and stopped. He also refused to recognize the independence of Manchukuo, stymieing the army’s plans. On 15 May 1932, naval officers broke into Inukai’s home and killed him. Several members of the Cherry Blossom Society and War Minister Araki were involved in planning the murder. After his death, a new government is formed under Makoto Saito.
Did the army just kill another Premier? Yes, they did and this one was clearly an assassination undertaken by senior leadership, not some radical faction. The message from Inukai’s assassination is clear: don’t oppose the army’s plans in Manchuria or you will be killed.
Japan's war in Manchuria
In the months after September 1931, the Kwantung Army managed to easily defeat the Chinese army in Manchuria and install collaborationist leaders to take over administration of the territory, under the guidance and oversight of the Kwantung Army. Some of these collaborators willing joined the puppet government, others were imprisoned or starved until they complied, others were bribed.
Although militarily successful against Zhang’s forces, the Kwantung Army is immediately faced with political issues over its capture of Manchuria: the population overwhelmingly supports Zhang Xueliang against the Japanese AND the Japanese government (under both Wakatsuki and Inukai) is unwilling to annex Manchuria as a colony or negotiate with the Chinese for de facto colonial control. The situation is made worse by the Japanese government allowing a League of Nations investigation and endorsing their calls to withdraw back to the railway as soon as possible.
With the support of neither the local population, the international community, or their own government, the Kwantung Army has to come up with another way to retain some kind of control in Manchuria. Diplomacy also isn’t an option because that would require the cooperation of the Japanese government. Faced with the issue of an unpopular and unsupported occupation, the Kwantung Army leadership decides that the best solution would be to find the last Qing Emperor, Puyi, and install him as the puppet ruler of an independent Manchu state.
Kenji Doihara, the leading intelligence officer of the Japanese Army, visited Puyi at his private residence in Tianjin and told him (falsely) that the Manchus wanted him to return to the throne and (correctly) that the Japanese favored his return and would protect him. Puyi was nervous about the proposition and took no immediate action. Not wanting to wait for Puyi to make up his mind, Doihara had paid agents instigate a riot in Tianjin and sent threatening notes to Puyi, finally smuggling him out of the city under armed guard. Puyi thus travelled to Yingkou in November 1931.
On 16 February 1932, the Japanese met with the puppet governors of Jilin, Liaoning, and Heilongjiang to establish a new Manchurian government that would eventually be led by Puyi. The independence of Manchukuo was announced on 18 February 1932. Puyi accepted the offer to rule Manchukuo, at least a little reluctantly it seems, in March 1932.
From the beginning, Puyi had little real power compared to the Kwantung Army and Japanese administrators, who truly governed Manchuria. The Kwantung Army decreed that Manchukuo should be a one-party state under the control of the Concordia Society, whose leadership composed both Manchuria’s official leadership and the Kwantung Army leadership.
Manchukuo served as a testing ground for fascist economics and politics, many of which will later be adopted in Japan itself once the Army gains more influence there. Manchukuo’s leadership and the Concordia Society spoke openly of forming a new power bloc with Japan to fight the Comintern and the ‘Anglo-Saxon powers’, again echoing the ideas of the militarists.
The riots instigated by the Japanese in November 1931 to scare Puyi out of Tianjin also had the positive effect of creating an excuse for Japanese intervention to protect their concession. Japan thus decided to march soldiers from Manchuria to Tianjin, passing through Jinzhou on the way, the last center of Zhang Xueliang’s control anywhere in Manchuria. Japanese soldiers took the city, attacking even as Zhang Xueliang withdrew south of the Great wall. By January 1932, the Japanese occupied Manchuria all the way up to the Great wall at Shanhaiguan.
Japan tried to get the governor of Rehe, Tang Yulin, to declare independence from China and join Manchukuo, but to no avail. The Japanese always included Rehe in their declarations about Manchuria and many Mongols in Rehe actually pledged loyalty to Manchuria, but Tang Yulin refused to budge. On the pretext of the kidnapping of a Japanese official, Mr. Ishimoto, who had actually gone into hiding as part of the plan, the Japanese blamed Tang Yulin and started skirmishing attacks and air raids on 17 July 1932, demanding the return of Mr. Ishimoto, who, of course, was not in Rehe.
Japanese military activity in Hebei after January 1933 increased the pressure to establish Japanese control over Rehe and, on 22 February, Japan issued an ultimatum to China to evacuate Rehe within 24 hours because it was not Chinese territory. China refused and the Japanese army invaded Rehe, capturing the entire province by 2 March 1933 and annexing it into Manchukuo.
The expanded conflict in northern China begun with the Mukden Incident ends in 1933, with the conclusion of the Shanhaiguan Incident. The Shanhaiguan Incident occurred on 1 January 1933, which Japan alleged that Chinese troops at a joint railroad station had thrown a grenade at Japanese soldiers. They thus started an attack on Shanhaiguan, which escalated into general fighting along the North China Plain, killing thousands of civilians in the crossfire as trenches were dug. Japan captured Shanhaiguan and other key points in northern China during the fighting.
The fighting finally ended with the Tanggu Truce of 31 May 1933. It mandated that Chinese forces must withdraw 100km south of the Great Wall and leave a demilitarized zone in that area. Then Japanese forces would withdraw to the Great Wall and enforce the demilitarized zone.
The conduct of the Japanese Army is telling for two reasons: the total disregard for any kind of civil authority and their continued loyalty to the Emperor. This entire conflict is fought against the wishes of Japan’s civilian government. In some cases this is extremely explicit without any room for ‘military necessity’ or ‘misinterpreting orders’. Not only does the Japanese Army disobey the civilian government, they actively intervene in Japanese domestic politics to silence opposition and assassinate those who oppose their designs in China, including Premier Inukai. Militarily, there is no clear reason for the Japanese to have stopped their advance into northern China. The only reason that they stopped was because of an injunction by the Emperor, whose level of knowledge about the situation and origins of the conflict in Manchuria is contested, to not proceed south of the Great Wall. The Army obeys, resulting in the 1933 Tanggu Truce.
January 28 Incident
So, while that the stuff in northern China and the turmoil in Japan has been going on, Japan gets involved in another international incident with China in Shanghai. Anti-Japanese sentiment in Shanghai, especially the boycott movement that resumed following the Wanbaoshan Incident, intensified during the extended Mukden Incident and residents of the Japanese concession in Shanghai requested Japanese troops for protection in January 1932.
Despite the Mayor of Chinese Shanghai agreeing to all Japanese demands for cooperation, Japan sent troops to occupy the head of the Shanghai-Wusong railway on 28 January. Chinese troops were not given warning and fired at the Japanese soldiers, starting a conflict in Shanghai. Fighting continued in Shanghai into February, with Japan sending reinforcements into the city and taking over most of central and coastal Shanghai. During the fighting, Japan deliberately bombed civilian areas and killed unarmed civilians to send a message to China about the cost of opposing Japan.
The League of Nations tried to mediate the conflict, but Japan insisted that the Chinese retreat to 20km beyond the Japanese concession, which China refused to do. Japan just kept attacking throughout and only agreed to peace after driving the Chinese to that line. Fighting stopped on 4 March 1932, without much actual help from the League. China forces were kept outside of this 20km zone for several years, until the months immediately preceding the Second World War in Asia.
The Premiership of Makoto Saito
The Saito Cabinet that comes to power in May 1932 immediately cuts a deal with the Army: the Cabinet will retain civilian control and the Army will agree to a budget reduction (this is a demand of Takahashi’s fiscal policies) and, in exchange, the Army will get full reign over military and economic policy in Manchuria and receive the diplomatic support of the government. As part of this, Japan officially recognized Manchukuo in September 1932. In deferral to the Army, the Ambassador to Manchukuo would also be the head of the Kwantung Army.
Because of this deal, the Saito government remains in power for a full 2 years, longer than most recent Japanese governments, and only resigns due to an unrelated bribery scandal. Keisuke Okada replaces him as Premier in July 1934.
Japanese aggression and the international community
Although the original terms of their cooperation were that the Army would only exercise authority over policy in China, the repercussions of that policy force Japan down a path of international isolation and confrontation with the Allied powers.
The League of Nations reads the Lytton report, named for Victor Lytton, in November 1932 and endorses it on 24 February 1933. The report condemns Japanese aggression in Manchuria and denounces Japanese actions as unlawful. Ultimately, this does jackshit. Japan withdraws from the League of Nations on 27 March 1933 in protest at the Lytton Report and the 1932 condemnation of Japanese action in Shanghai. The withdrawal from the League of Nations sets Japan on a trajectory of conflict with the other Treaty powers. In the next couple of years, Japan withdraws from international agreements and prepares for conflict in Asia and the Pacific.
In 1933, Japan expels foreigners from its Pacific colonies so it can make war preparations without foreign oversight. From this point onward, it begins constructing fortifications, airports, and harbors on these islands so it can control access to the western Pacific and project power into the eastern Pacific in a potential future war against the USA.
In 1934, Japan decides to break from the Washington Naval Treaty, declaring this intention in December 1934, and breaks from the London Naval Treaty the following year. The Washington Naval Treaty and subsequent 1930 London Naval Treaty had been largely successful at limited conflict with the USA and preventing an extremely costly arms race. Members of the Navy object to limitations imposed by these treaties, arguing that Japan’s only guarantee of global influence is its military strength. The opposition to the treaties is particularly strong because both arms limitation treaties grant Japan a lower allotment of tonnage than Britain or America. Japan demanded a common upper limit on tonnage from Britain and the USA at a follow up to the London treaty in 1935, but was rejected. Japan then withdrew from the London Naval Treaty as well. From this point onward, Japan is preparing for a naval conflict against the USA in the Pacific.
The Premiership of Keisuke Okada
The general feeling of the Okada Cabinet is that if the Army cannot be effectively resisted, it is better to cooperate and carry out their policies. The Okada government gives its support in coordinating the economic exploitation of regions subjected by Japan and trying to legitimize Japanese actions to the rest of the world. The militarists also get their way in domestic policy, as militarist influence becomes dominant in society. After 1935, newspapers begin to be heavily censored and stricter military education and training is introduced into schools and universities to prepare the population for war.
In July 1935, a soldier shot Tetsuzan Nagata, the Chief of the Military Affairs Bureau, for having removed the Inspector General of Military Education. Nagata was head of the Toseiha faction and known for pursuing militarism in collaboration with conservative politicians and oligarchs, as opposed to the hardline fascist and anti-capitalist idea of the Showa Restoration pursued by his Kodoha rivals. The assassination further emphasizes the environment of fear in Japan and the power wielded by the radical militarists and fascists. The trial itself also is used as a soapbox by the assassin and his Kodoha allies to pronounce their fascist ideology.
On 26 February 1936, the Kodoha faction of the Japanese Army staged an attempted coup and captures Tokyo for 3 days with the goal of overthrowing the Okada government, staging the Showa Restoration, and setting the government on the path for immediate war against the USSR.
Okada is kill because some elements of the Army consider Okada to be a tool of the Navy propped up to control and limit the militarists because, back in 1934, he had been the Navy Minister in the Saito Cabinet and had tried to cut the Army’s budget. Also, because muh Showa Restoration. The soldiers fail to find and kill Okada, but they do kill Takahashi and Saito for their past support for naval arms limitation.
Emperor Hirohito is furious at the murder of senior government figures and demands that the rebellious soldiers surrender. They refused to do so, not believing that the Emperor himself has issued such an order. Without imperial support, the majority of the Army refuses to join in the uprising and negotiations continue from 26 to 29 February over the terms of the surrender of the rebellious soldiers. Once informed of the Emperor’s demand to surrender via flyer and radio, the vast majority of the rebellious soldiers deserted. Most senior ringleaders committed suicide and the remainder were arrested on 29 February.
The 17 officers who had been the ringleaders of the 26 February Incident are sentenced to death by a court and executed by firing squad. Unlike previous trials, these proceedings are closed with no chance to rally public support. Although only relatively junior officers are tried and punished, there is a general purge from leadership of Kodoha figures who had supported this and previous coups. The Cherry Blossom Society is disbanded and most overt fascists are removed from positions of power, with the Toseiha faction now in control of the Army. Despite this, key fascists like Hashimoto or Terauchi remain in positions of influence; however, the faction as a whole has to reconcile itself to abandoning its full vision of the Showa Restoration.
Although Okada is not killed in the 26 February Incident, he resigns on 4 March 1936. He is replaced as Premier by Koki Hirota.
Manchukuo prior to the Second World War
Over the next couple of years following Japan's 1932 enthronement of Puyi as a puppet emperor, Manchukuo was run as a Japanese colony and had its economy restructured along fascist lines in preparation for war against the USSR. Although officially ruled by Puyi and a group of collaborationist generals and administrators, real power in Manchukuo resided in the Concordia Society. Through the one-party state, Japanese advisors shadow all Manchukuo officials and make all decisions of consequence.
A large part of the rationale for Japanese control of Manchuria, and later Mongolia, was securing Japan’s privileged access to the natural resources there. Japan implements policies that will:
1) secure access to critical resources,
2) provide opportunities for settlement to relieve population pressures on the Home Islands, and 3) provide a cheap and docile labor force.
Nationalization of key sectors of the Manchurian economy begins in 1933, but rapidly expands after 1935, when Manchukuo’s economy is placed under the control of a joint committee of Manchurians and Japanese, with the Kwantung Army overseeing most of the economic activity. By 1937, the Manchurian economy is almost entirely nationalized. This total nationalization of the economy, and the subsequent refocusing of the economy to prioritize war industries, is a test run of what the militarists will later implement in Japan itself. Manchurian oil reserves are particularly critical, as almost all modern industries runs on oil and this is Japan’s only direct supply, and Japan immediately establishes a monopoly on their exploitation.
Colonial exploitation of Manchukuo also intensified after 1935; in November of that year it officially adopted the yen. In 1936, a law is passed giving Japanese citizens full rights in Manchukuo, but being exempt from local laws and given special economic rights. Natives were dispossessed to give the best lands to Japanese colonists, of whom over 390k arrived in following years.
Manchukuo is also used as a labor reservoir for Japan. State monopolies on cotton and rice shoot up prices for most civilians and drive them into poverty, while businessmen are discriminated against and go bankrupt and peasants are dispossessed and their lands sold to Japanese or Korean immigrants. All this created a pool of proletariat labor whom the Japanese employed on public projects and mines and keep in internment camps, as a permanent pool of semi-slave labor. This is the blueprint of what will eventually become one of the largest slave labor systems in the world.
The Premiership of Koki Hirota
The Hirota government sees the total breakdown of civilian control and becomes a tool of the militarists and their expansionist aims. Complete military autonomy is guaranteed by a law passed on 18 May 1936 that War and Navy ministers have to be at least lieutenant generals and be in active service.
Building on discussions with Nazi Germany in 1935, the Japanese are in agreement about the threat posed by the USSR and the need for military action against it. At this point, the Nazi leadership believes they can secure an alliance with Poland and invade the USSR soon. This diplomatic position is then changed in 1938 with Poland’s refusal to ally with the Nazis in invading the USSR, ultimately resulting in the Nazis temporarily allying with the Soviets in 1939. Eventually, this will throw off Japan’s strategic calculus, but in 1935 the treaty makes total sense.
The Pact demonstrates the clear intent of Japan to invade the Soviet Union and is best seen as Japan seeking allies in that endeavor. At the time, Germany seemed most willing. The Anti-Comintern Pact is the first major association between Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany. Although the Pact itself is abandoned in 1939, it paved the way for the 1940 Tripartite Pact and the alliance between the Axis Powers.
Under the Hirota Cabinet, Japan undertakes a massive campaign of naval expansions and begins restructuring the Japanese economy to support war industries. To prepare for a massive war against the USSR, Japan sponsors and subsidizes the emergence of entirely new economic sectors, like car manufacturing, that are viewed as necessary for the war effort, but which are entirely dependent upon government assistance. To enhance production and promote efficient use of resources, beginning in 1936, monopolies are encouraged to form in capital-intensive industries.This eventually results in the consolidation of the Japanese economy in the hands of a small number of huge conglomerates, known as the zaibatsu.
On 20 January 1937, the Seiyukai party protests against the domination of the Hirota Cabinet by militarists and warns that Japan is at risk of becoming a military autocracy. The military responded by rebuking political parties and recommending the abolition of the Diet for advocating policies that threatened to restrict Japan to the Home Islands.
On 22 January 1937, War Minister Hisaichi Terauchi announces that he cannot work with Cabinet members who disagree with the Army and resigns from his post. The government is unable to find any military figure of appropriate rank willing to fill the post, forcing the government to dissolve on 2 February 1937. A new government is formed under Senjuro Hayashi. This incident shows the full power of the military within Japan and marks a turning point after which the militarists also have untrampled power over domestic politics. Since only a limited number of senior military officials can serve as War Minister or Navy Minister, the cooperation of those officials is needed to form a government. This gives the military veto power over all decisions and policies.
The Premiership of Senjuro Hayashi
The position of the Hayashi Cabinet is complete subordination to the military. There is not any substantial difference between the Hirota and Hayashi governments, only that now the paramount role of the militarists has been demonstrated to everyone. Hayashi will actually resign in June 1937 and be replaced by Fumimaro Konoe, but it does not matter at this point.
Japanese economic planning still officially keeps capitalism, but severely disrupts markets by setting price controls, having government control over allocation of finance, and government control over labor markets to direct labor to key industries and sectors. From 1937 onward, the government demands cooperation among blocs of industries and manages the merger or comanagement of smaller companies. Essentially, this restructures the economy into massive monopoly industries that are then controlled by the government. In 1937, Japan made the final transition away from capitalism and toward a planned economy, when it subordinated all production to military planning. This same economic structure was implemented in Manchuria from 1935 onward, with the state being given full control of the allocation of labor, finance, and materials within the economy.
In February 1938, the General Mobilisation Law completes the short circuit of civilian authority in Japan. The government can now make wide ranging decrees involving the war without the approval of the Diet. Since the Cabinet is controlled by the military, this gives the military total dictatorial power to rule Japan.
Japanese expansionist ambitions
From at least 1932, the start of the Saito Cabinet, the Army had been preparing for further war with China and an invasion of the USSR. In addition to its active preparations for an aggressive war with China and the Soviet Union, the Army also viewed war against the USA or Britain as possible, although something to be avoided.
War with Soviets was seen as inevitable due to conflicting interests in Manchuria and the political threat that Communism posed to Japan and Japanese interests in Asia. The defeat of the USSR would both eliminate Japan’s largest rival in northeast Asia and allow Japanese economic exploitation of Siberia. War with China was seen necessary to secure Japanese interests in the face of an increasingly uppity and anti-foreign Chinese government.
The Army undergoes a massive increase in the manpower during the 1930s in preparation for war, from 250k in 1930 to over 400k by 1935. There is a similarly massive expansion of the Navy after 1935, in preparation for a potential war with the USA.
By 1934, Japanese Army has developed plans to invade most of mainland Asia and the USSR. The first step in this plan is to invade Inner Mongolia and establish puppet governments in the 5 provinces of northern China (Shanxi, Hebei, Chahar, Shandong, and Suiyuan). The hope is that these northern provinces can be turned into a buffer state against China and Chinese Communist partisans, protecting the Japanese rear during an invasion of the USSR. The northern provinces will also be economically exploited by Japan in a similar fashion to Manchukuo, providing materials and labor needed for the war effort. This plan is put into action in 1935, with China sparking incidents in Chahar and Hebei.
Japanese aggression in northern China between 1935 and the outbreak of the Second World War
Conflict between China and Japan resumes in 1935 in Chahar (now Inner Mongolia) and Hebei. In June 1935, four Japanese soldiers entered Zhangbei, in Chahar, where they were briefly detained before being released due to fear of sparking another incident. Despite being released, this did start an incident, as Japan claimed that the detention had impinged on the honor of Japan.
The Kwantung Army forced the local commander to sign the Qin-Doihara agreement, which, in addition to the dismissal and punishment of the officers involved, mandated that China withdraw its army south of Zhangbei, that no Chinese settlement would be permitted north of this region, that all anti-Japanese agitation was banned in Chahar, that the Guomindang could no longer operate in Chahar, and that order in northern Chahar was to be handled by the ‘peace preservation corps’.
In May 1935, two Chinese journalists were murdered in the Japanese concession in Tianjin. Japan alleges that the journalists were pro-Japanese and were murdered due to nationalist agitation by the Chinese. The commander of the North China Garrison, Yoshijiro Umezu, demanded that China take action, resulting in the Ho-Umezu agreement of 10 June 1935, under which China withdrew all military forces from Hebei and banned all Guomindang activity in the province, as well as any other anti-Japanese agitation. The Japanese government itself seems to have limited awareness of Umezu’s demands and was surprised at the massive Chinese concession.
In September 1935, Minami, now head of the Kwantung Army, gave orders to set up an autonomous government in northern China and the Japanese began actively looking for a figure willing to collaborate as the puppet leader. Threats of another invasion if someone didn’t agree to head an autonomous government and also give the Japanese economic concessions led to Japanese success in November 1935 and the formation of the East Hebei Anti-Communist Autonomous government in the eastern part of the demilitarized zone under Yin Rugeng, that area’s commander; and the Hebei-Chahar Political Council, an organ of the Chinese government established in western Hebei and southern Chahar with the responsibility of mediating relations with Japan.
Japan hoped to stoke northern Chinese resentment against the Nanjing government and fear of Communist takeover into support for a separate northern Chinese state under Japanese control. Japan intended to include Shanxi, Hebei, Chahar, Shandong, and Suiyuan in this new state after driving the Chinese military out of many of these provinces. The cooperation of both puppet governments was ultimately unsatisfactory and in April 1937, Japan resolved to fully break off part of northern China that would be politically and economically subservient to Japan.
After successfully demilitarizing much of north China, the Kwantung Army set its sights on Mongolia (at this point, a Soviet client state), the capture of which would enable Japan to cut off the Trans-Siberian railway and isolate the Soviet Far East. Under Japanese oversight, Mongolians from Outer and Inner Mongolia attended a conference in April 1936 to organize a Mongolian government under Japanese influence covering all of Mongolia and Qinghai. In July 1936, the Mengjiang government was established, with close ties to both Japan and Manchukuo.
Prince De, Demchugdongrub, the leader of the Mongols desired his own kingdom and was willing to cooperate with the Japanese in Summer 1935 in establishing an independent Inner Mongolia as a Japanese client. He moved to northern Chahar in February 1936 after Japanese army units moved to the area to help him secure the basis for a future autonomous government. This Mengjiang government under Prince Demchugdongrub then initiated hostilities with Guomindang forces in Suiyuan in Fall 1936, although it failed to seize any territory without Japanese assistance.
Mongolia, like Manchuria, is resource rich. Japan hoped to repeat its success in Manchukuo with the new state of Mengjiang, whose borders it plans to extend to include almost all of northwestern China, including Qinghai and Gansu.
On 18 September 1936, Japanese soldiers carrying out exercises in Fengtai provoked a clash with Chinese forces, resulting in Japanese victory and Japan occupying the strategic rail hub and controlling the Beijing-Wuhan railway. This is the last Japanese aggression before the outbreak of WWII, as the next aggression, the Lugou Bridge Incident, will result in the Second World War.
Explaining China's appeasement policy
Jiang Jieshi is a Chinese nationalist and genuinely committed to fighting Japanese imperialism, specifically, and foreign imperialism, generally. However, he thinks that China cannot successfully resist the Japanese until they are internally unified. He thus attempts to appease Japan until he believes China is strong enough to resist. Jiang believes that the primary threat to the internal unity and strength of China are the Communists, as expressed in his famous quote that, “The Japanese are like a disease of the skin, but the Communists are like a disease of the heart.”
China is disunited after Jiang takes power in 1927. Although all of China outside of Tibet and Mongolia is officially loyal, the government lacks actual authority outside of the Yangtze Valley and the Central Plain. The rest of the country is still controlled by warlords who refuse to obey government directives. This disunity is only ended in Summer 1936, when Jiang finally brings the warlords of Guangdong and Jiangxi to heel.
Jiang is fighting Communists the entire time that he is in power, but this conflict intensifies after 1933, when he sends nearly 1 million soldiers to fight Communists in ‘encirclement campaigns'. These campaigns are largely successful because of the assistance of German and Japanese advisors, who are much better trained than most Chinese officers. Japan is willing to supply any aid to hurt the Communists.
In 1934, the Communists decide to flee from their traditional base in rural southern China and flee north. Jiang and the Guomindang army follows them, occupying key areas as it marches. Jiang uses the excuse of the encirclement campaigns to install loyal troops across China and successfully brings the country under his de facto, rather than de jure, control by 1936.
Jiang Jieshi launches the supposedly final encirclement campaign in November 1936 to destroy the Communist base in northern Shaanxi. The Manchurian army assigned to the task are pissed, however, since they have lost their country to the Japanese (who Jiang Jieshi has done jackshit about) and sympathize with the Communists as the only force fighting Japan. In December 1936, the Manchurian soldiers in Shaanxi mutiny and refuse to continue fighting the Communists. On 4 December, Jiang flies to Xi’an to personally oversee the resumption of the operation. After a week of fruitless negotiations with the Manchurian soldiers, on 12 December a group of soldiers overpowers Jiang’s bodyguard and kidnaps him. Jiang is held by mutinous soldiers for 2 weeks and only released after Zhang Xueliang convinces them to release him in exchange for a public promise to end operations against the Communists and start actively resisting the Japanese. In the aftermath of Jiang’s release on 25 December, he meet with Zhou Enlai, the representative of the CCP, and agrees to terms of peace and mutual resistance to the Japanese.
The major difference between China’s response to Japanese aggression in 1936 versus 1937 can be explained by Jiang’s increased confidence in the unity and strength of his government after Summer 1936 and intense pressure from within the military to stand up to the Japanese after the Xi’an Incident.
The Lugou Bridge Incident
After negotiations with China had failed to convince them to accept the independence of the northern provinces or the demilitarization of further provinces, and since the two puppet states in Chahar and Hebei were proving unsatisfactory, Japan decides it has to use force against China to achieve its goal of a northern Chinese buffer state/colony.
There was a dispute within the Army about whether to first invade China or the USSR, with some worried that China would attack the Army’s rear if they invaded the USSR. Hideki Tojo, Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, advocated for first invading China and got his way in June 1937 upon the approval of the Army General Staff. The Japanese General Staff generally, and incorrectly, believed that a war against China would be relatively easy and quick, giving them the resources to conduct a successful campaign against the USSR without too much effort or cost.
To completely control access to Beijing, the Japanese now needed only to capture the Lugou Bridge and Changsintien. Japan reinforced its nearby positions in preparation in 1936. On 7 July 1937, Japan alleged that a Japanese soldier had been fired upon by Chinese troops and gone missing and demanded access to Wanping to search for him. The commander offered to search on their behalf but denied the Japanese access to the city, in response the Japanese began an attack on the city and Chinese positions around Lugou Bridge. Japan secures the surrender of the Wanping garrison.
Japan then escalates the incident, seeking to strengthen its hold on the surroundings of Beijing as a bargaining chip in future negotiations, sending reinforcements from the Kwantung Army and demanding that China evacuate their army from Beijing. China refuses and fighting resumes on 14 July 1937. This is generally considered to be the start of the Second World War in Asia.
What makes this conflict different that previous incidences in China is that China says no and resists Japan. This fundamental shift in China’s response to Japanese aggression is a result of the pressure placed on Jiang Jieshi in the aftermath of the Xi’an Incident.
— Eunice Noh, July 2020
