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L of N : Manchuria 1931-33 - Coggle Diagram
L of N : Manchuria 1931-33
background
Japan economy and population growing
strong industry and exports to the USA in particular
it was hit hard by the depression when the tariffs were created by the USA
couldn't feed their people
thought the answer lay in a Japanese empire
weak navy and army
growing but weak empire
Causes and first events
the Japanese were in control of the south Manchurian railway. In September 1931 an explosion on this railway was used to claim that the Chinese were sabotaging the railway
this sabotage was actually carried out by Japanese soldiers, although there were Chinese soldiers in the area
they used this as a pretext to invade Manchuria and by February 1923 they had a puppet leader in place
China and the leagues response
china appealed for help to the league, claiming that they had been aggressively invaded
Japan said that they weren't invading as a aggressor, but settling a local difficulty and for self defence
Japan was a key member of the league so they had to be careful
the league sent officials by boat to investigate the situation, which took a painfully long time
in September 1932 they presented their report, the judgement was that
Japan had invaded unlawfully
Manchuria should be returned to the Chinese
Instead of withdrawing, in Feb 1933 they announced they intended to invade more of china
pretext of self defence
a few days later the report was approved and Japan left the league, meaning they needed to take action
they discussed economic sanctions with the USA, and arms sales restriction but countries were more interested in maintaining good relations than punishing them
No-one was going to send a navy or army force to war with Japan, only the USSR and USA had enough power to do that without using all their forces, and they weren't members of the league
Excuses for failure
Japan was too far away
Japan was a special case
Significance of this crisis
the league had failed to do what it was set up to do
Japan had committed an aggressive invasion and had got away with it
mussolini and hitler looked on with great interest