Japan and The League of Nations.

Japan and The League of Nations

3ai) Japan is shown in the cartoon walking over the figure of the League of Nations because the cartoonist believes that it was because of Japan-Manchuria crisis of1931 that the League of Nations started to fail, and he is probably right, for this was the first major problem that the League had to solve and it didn’t solve it, for Japan defied the League in staying in Manchuria.

3aii) Japan left the League of Nations in 1933.

3aiii) The agreement signed between Japan and Germany in 1936 was called the Anti – Comintern Pact. It was signed in April 1936

3b) Japan followed an aggressive policy in the 1930’s because it needed money to pull them out of the economic depression, because of the economic crisis that began with the Wall Street crash of 1929. Additionally, they were worried that they would be excluded from Manchuria, (which they had been involved in since the 1890s), by the new Chinese emperor, who was continuously gaining strength all the time. The Japanese had invested much time and money into the Manchurian railway system and by 1930 controlled it’s finances, and Manchuria provided a large proportion of the Japanese economy, and offered new land for what was Japans already over-crowded isle. Another reason was that between 1920 and the early 1930s Japan was undergoing a change in governing. Japan was transforming from a democracy into a military dictatorship, and the army controlled Japan for a while, and it was the Japanese army that really wanted an aggressive policy, ad was able to kill the Prime Ministers if they disagreed with them, (the army). For roughly 13 years, the army controlled Japan, adopting a German or Italian method of leadership, suppressing all other political parties but favouring the nationalists. Then, later on in 1937, the Japanese repeated this, however this time they tried to invade all of China, not just Manchuria.

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3c) I agree in part, because had Japan not adopted a policy of aggressive nationalism, and especially in her invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the League of Nations would have still been in operation, (for the Manchuria crisis did play a large part in the League’s downfall), and it is most likely that (i) the Japanese would never have tried to invade all of China in 1937 and (ii) although unlikely, it is possible that the Italians would never have invaded Abyssinia in 1935 to 1936, for Mussolini was most likely spurred on by Japan’s defiance of the League and thought that if Japan could defy the League, then so could he. However, there are other factors. Factors such as the annexing of Austria and Germany, and that of half of Czechoslovakia with Germany, however both of these things were done perfectly legally, or at least that is what everyone who needed to see saw, for even though Hitler appeared to be breaking the Versailles Treaty by annexing Germany with Austria, it appeared that the Austrians were asking to be annexed, for they were having troubles with their own country and her governing. However, in fact the only reason that the annexation between Germany and Austria ever happened was because Austrian Nazis were purposefully stirring up riots on secret orders from Hitler, so that he could offer help to the Austrians from Germany in the form of annexation. The annexation of half of Czechoslovakia with Germany was done very cleverly, as initially it appeared to be a flagrant breach of the Locarno Treaties, for Hitler first asked only for a few bits of Czechoslovakia – the parts of the Sudetenland to be precise, claiming that the Germans there were being unfairly treated by the Czechs. Later on, however, Hitler asked for an all of the Sudetenland – roughly half of Czechoslovakia, and Chamberlain, the British Prime Minister, agreed to it, which is yet another reason which made world war inevitable : appeasement. Both Britain and France believed that by appeasing Hitler and giving him whatever he wanted, world war would be prevented, however Hitler would never have been appeased and this policy of appeasement led Hitler to believe that he could do anything he wanted without interference. Even when Britain signed an agreement with Poland in which it was stated that they would help defend Poland if Germany attacked her, Hitler went ahead and invaded Poland with military force, as opposed to treaties and words. He gambled on the fact that the British were not wholly serious when they said that they would go to war over Poland. Unfortunately, his gamble proved to be wrong, and led to the Second World War. So I believe that there were many factors, overall that mad world war inevitable, however the aggressive nationalism of Japan, especially the Manchurian invasion, played a part in it.

Richard Moore, 4/3 GTD History

21.01.04