The Great Empire of Japan

Dai Nippon Teikoku

Dai Nippon Teikoku

• Dai "Great"• Nippon "Japan"• Teikoku "Empire"

Great Empire of Japan


The Empire of Japan


The Empire of Japan

• 1868 to 1947– Meiji era (1868 to 1912)– Taishō era (1912 – 1926)– Early Shōwa (1926 – 1937)– Late Shōwa (1937 – 1947)

Sakoku

• Seclusion policy 1633-1854• No foreigner could enter nor could any

Japanese leave on penalty of death

Convention of Kanagawa - 1854

• Treaty between Japan and United States• Opened ports to US trade• Commodore Matthew Perry





Order to Expel Barbarians

• Emperor Kōmei gives the order– First time an emperor gets involved

• The Shogunate didn’t want to enforce it– Begins the weakening of the shogun

• Bombardment of Shimonoseki– Shows Japan is weak compared to Western

powers

Meiji Era

• Modernization (Westernization)• End of the shogun• Rise of industry

Satsuma Rebellion

• Revolt of the samurai against the new imperial government

First Sino-Japanese War

• 1894-95• Japan vs. China – mostly for control of Korea• Japan shows its new industrial strength

Russo-Japanese War

• 1904-05• Japan vs. Russia – mostly for control of Korea• Japan shows its new industrial strength– Shows lack of Russia industrial strength

Korea

• Occupied by Japan in 1905• Annexed by Japan in 1910• Held until Sep 2, 1945

Taishō Era

• Emperor Taishō (Yoshihito)

Manchuria

World War I

• Saw this as an opportunity to expand its Empire

• Declared war on the Germans• Presented the Twenty-One Demands on China– Weakened their position with Britain and US

League of Nations

• The Racial Equality Proposal• Japan demanded equal representation within

the League• Opposed by the British and US

Japanese Exclusion Act

• Dropped Japanese immigrants to the level of other Asians – meaning none

• Practically ends Japanese-American relations

Shōwa Era

• Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito)

Great Depression

• Japan hit like the US and Europe• Required raw materials from overseas– iron, rubber, oil

• Looked to Manchuria– Invaded and conquered in 1931

• Appeasement

Second Sino-Japanese War

• Fighting sporadic after Japan captured Manchuria

• Marco Polo Bridge Incident, July 7, 1937• Japanese capture Beijing• Nanking Massacre– “Rape of Nanking”– Mass Murder of 300,000 Chinese

USS Pinay incident

• December 12, 1937• American gunboat Pinay anchored in the

Yangtze River• Japanese claimed they didn’t see the

American flags; apologized

Second Sino-Japanese War

• Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union aided China

• By 1940, the US was China’s main supporter• September 1940 – Tripartite Pact

Toward WWII

• July 21, 1941 – Japan completes occupation of Indochina (present day Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)

• July 24, 1941 – Roosevelt requests Japanese withdrawal of Indochina

• Two days later, Britain and US begin oil embargo

Pearl Harbor

• December 7, 1941

Bugs Bunny

Superman

The Pacific

Nothing to do with anything

Documents

The Great Empire of Japan