Japanese Imperialism (and other countries) in the 1920s
Uploaded by lucifer1343 on Mar 06, 2004
After World War I, Japan began watching China with interest. Japan’s military leaders hoped to gain some of China’s lands and resources if it should become weak. Soon, problems overseas such as the Great Depression and poor trade helped put that plan into action. Other countries at the same time were also experiencing the kinds of changes that Japan was. Nationalism and imperialism were becoming important ideas in the East.
In the 1920s, Japan began to industrialize and democracy was put into place. Men earned the right to vote, unions formed, and women gained more freedom. Japan also began cooperating with the West in an attempt to prevent future war.
As the Great Depression began in the 1930s in America, trade declined in Japan. It’s silk market went down by seventy percent and the rice market was astronomically low. Many people had lost their jobs and Japan felt like they needed to buy resources overseas in order to survive.
Japan’s military leaders saw this series of events as an opportunity to gain foreign lands. They believed that by expanding they would bring back Japan’s wealth and could also gain new resources. To achieve this, Japan faked a train crash in Manchuria and blamed the incident on the Chinese. They then defeated the Chinese warlords with their troops and set up a place called Manchuko. Resources such as coal and iron became available and Japan also set up factories and military bases there.
Greece was also hoping to take over Turkey by taking advantage of weakness around the same time period. Turkish nationalists fought against the invading Greeks under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal. The nationalists managed to get the Greeks to withdraw in 1922 and then overthrew the Turkish sultan who had encouraged the Turks to obey the Greeks. Turkey soon became a republic with Kemal as its Prime Minister. Kemal’s goals were to separate church and state, modernize, and to develop the country economically.
In Persia, nationalist revolts were taking place against the British. The leader of Persia, Reza Shah, hoped to modernize Persia (now Iran) by introducing Western customs and laws. He was met with opposition by several ethnic groups who sought self-rule. Reza Shah fought back with repression and threats.
Arabia also faced problems. After the Muslim Empire broke up, political disunity followed in Arabia. A man named Ibn Saud hoped to restore unity in his country and began a campaign to...