入侵满洲

The Empire of Japan's Kwantung Army invaded the Manchuria region of China on 18 September 1931, immediately following the Mukden incident, a false flag event staged by Japanese military personnel as a pretext to invade. At the war's end in February 1932, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo. The occupation lasted until mid-August 1945, towards the end of the Second World War, in the face of an onslaught by the Soviet Union and Mongolia during the Manchurian Strategic Offensive Operation.

With the invasion having attracted great international attention, the League of Nations produced the Lytton Commission (headed by British politician Victor Bulwer-Lytton) to evaluate the situation, with the organization delivering its findings in October 1932. Its findings and recommendations, namely that the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo was not to be recognized, and Manchuria had to be returned to Chinese sovereignty, prompted the Japanese government to withdraw from the League entirely.

Background

Since the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, the Liaodong peninsula was a leased territory of Japan. Thus, Tokyo exercised informal rule over Manchuria. Under Japanese control, economic gains increased; by the end of the 1920s, 39.4 percent of all colonial financial investments went into Manchuria.……

Prelude

There were two pivotal events that eventually led up to the invasion of Manchuria. In July 1931, near Changchun in the Wanpaoshan region, a dispute over the construction of an irrigation system by Korean farmers on Chinese-owned land escalated into violence.……

Initial annexation

On September 18, 1931, the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters, which had decided upon a policy of localizing the incident, communicated its decision to the Kwantung Army command.……

Secession movements

After the Liaoning Provincial government fled Mukden, it was replaced by a "Peoples Preservation Committee" which declared the secession of Liaoning province from the Republic of China.……

Resistance to the Japanese invasion

Using the repair of the Nen River Bridge as the pretext, the Japanese sent a repair party in early November under the protection of Japanese troops.……

Operations in southern Northeast China

In late November 1931, General Honjō dispatched 10,000 soldiers in 13 armored trains, escorted by a squadron of bombers, in an advance on Chinchow from Mukden. This force had advanced to within 30 kilometres (19 mi) of Chinchow when it received an order to withdraw.……

Occupation of Northeast China

With southern Manchuria secure, the Japanese turned north to complete the occupation of Manchuria. As negotiations with Generals Ma Zhanshan and Ding Chao to defect to the pro-Japanese side had failed, in early January Colonel Kenji Doihara requested collaborationist General Qia Xi to advance his forces and take Harbin.……

Effect on Japanese homefront

The conquest of Manchuria, a land rich in natural resources, was widely seen as an economic "lifeline" to save Japan from the effects of the Great Depression, generating much public support.……

External effect

The Western media reported on the events with accounts of atrocities such as bombing civilians or firing upon shell-shocked survivors. It aroused considerable antipathy to Japan, which lasted until the end of World War II.……