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Rise of militaristic Japan - Coggle Diagram
Rise of militaristic Japan
Meiji restoration
Japan did not want to be colonized by modernisation
Sent academics and officials to the US and Europe
learnt how Europe ran their government, economics and arms forces
Politics
Borrowed western democracies with diet (parliament) and cabinet
In addition with privy council and Genro
Military has a say in the government
The prime minister in 1900-1912 was able to balance the power but was under the influence of the Hawkish military by the beginning of the Taisho period
The Zaibatsu opened up trades adopting western technologies
Transfer of power from the Tokugawa Shogunate back to the emperor ( 1868- 1912 )
Japan learnt about the Importance of building an empire with access to raw materials and markets - colonialism/imperialism
1894-1895, Japan defeated China and gained overseas possession of Formosa (Taiwan)
1904-1905, defeated Russia making Japan the first Asian power to defeat a western power
Gained control over Korea, Kuril Islands and Sakhalin
Japan thinks they should be treated as equals by the west
Social change
Growth in urban cities and the rise of the working and middle class who have moved from rural areas into the cities
The social status of the samurai went down and were replaced by the national army and naval personnel which were made up of civilians
Education system
Introduced new Japanese curriculum to Japanese schools
praised the military and Japan's ability to prevent itself from being colonized by modernization
Nationalism was taught in schools
Lead to a rise of nationalism and militarism
Challenges for Japan
Weakness in Japanese democracy
The new Emperor Taosho was sickly, along with it many of the old Genro also retired, leaving now strong leaders to unify the government
Division into the 3 groups (court officials, civilian politicians and military) deepened
The military did not subscribe to the politicians' internationalist policy and started to act independently
Some government collapsed because the military refused to provide members to the cabinet
Economic
1912-1932
Enjoyed the period of boom during WWI as other countries were busy with war and thus need to purchase from Japan
Recession followed when competition returned and Japanese goods were no longer in demand and Japan sunk into recession
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Uneven Urban-rural Development
The country side did not benefit from the improvement of standard of living as those city with advancement in technology availability of electricity, education, healthcare - uneven growth
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Tension in Japan
Wealth concentration in the hands of the Zaibatsu
There was a growing gap between the urban rich - urban poor and the rural rich - rural poor
Wealth was concentrated in the hands of 2 percent of the population
Rice Riots of 1918
Young women abandoning their traditional role in their families
Many were working in the cafe, restaurants and textile factories
Some traditionalist accused them of self-serving
Impact of the Banking crisis of 1927
mass withdrawals
Bank run happened in 1927 when people sensed that the banks could be over extending credits
Many banks collapsed and the people lost their money
Unhappy with the government
Things improved by 2929 but Japan was once again hit by the great drepression
Impact of the Great Depression
Wall Street Crash of OCT 1929
Protection was the order of the day for world trade
The Japanese Economy shrunk by 25%, many suffered
Anger towards the civilian government
Income fell by 435 due to lower demand
Tenant farmers tried to negotiate with landlords, formed unions, some of these disputes turned violent
Impact on small business owners
Shops, restaurants, small factories suffered with dwindling demand
Many closures, many of them joined protest movements and blamed the political parties for siding with the landlords, Zaibatsu and banks
Unemployment
15 to 20 percent of the workplace lost jobs
Japan's labour laws do not protect the worker well
Workers blamed the civilian politicians
Only 14 days of pay compensation
Fear of communism
With increasing unemployment, workers were increasingly attracted to the idea of communism which criticizes the state, promised them a fairer future
The government was worried, the big businesses were as well.The big businesses gave their support to the military
Growing distrust with the government
The laws of land were leaning more in favour of the civilian government , Zaibatsu and banks while the people were suffering
The people felt that the civilian government were in cahoots with the Zaibatsu and banks
The people's eroded trust in the civilian government weakened them paving way for the rise of the militarist Japan ruled by the military
Rise of Military Influence
Discontentment from the military
Motive to take over the civilian govt
Many military officers were from the poor and middle-class families and believed that the civilian government were colluding with the landowners, Zaibatsu and bankers for their own benefits at the expense of the ordinary folk
Dissatisfied with the civilian government handling of the London Naval Conference negotiation
The military felt that the government had let them down by agreeing to an unfavourable ratio
Challenging the Prime Minister's authority
The Japanese Kwantung Army in Chinese Manchuria was eager to take control of Manchuria to secure their resources, they assassinated the Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin and wanted to force the Japanese government to allow them to take over Manchuaria
This stopped by the emperor and the Prime Minister as the emperor told the PM to hold the the officers involved responsible, the military refused to comply
This exposed the weaknesses of the civilian government
The Kwantung army went on to stage the Mukden incident and took control over Munchuria and installing Pu Yi the last emperor of China as a puppet ruler in the new country - Manchuko
There was nothing the civilian PM could do to stop them, this is especially so when the public opinion in Japan was in favour of it
This lead to a rise of ultra nationalistic groups which wre anti-democratic
Some examples include:
The Showa Restoration Faction
The Sakurakai
Kodoho
Assassiations
November 1930
Right wing fanatic shot and killed Prime Minister Hamguchi
February 1932
Finance minster was murdered
March 1932
Head of Mitsui Coporation was assassintated
May 15
Military controlled govt
Prime minister Inukai was assassintated because he did not agree to the militarist's action in Mancuria