Japan — militarism, empire and defeat
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Flip to reveal answersWhat was the Mukden Incident (18 September 1931)?
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Question
What was the Mukden Incident (18 September 1931)?
Answer
A staged explosion on a Japanese-controlled railway near Mukden, blamed on Chinese saboteurs, used by the Kwantung Army as a pretext to invade Manchuria.
Question
What was Manchukuo?
Answer
The puppet state Japan created in Manchuria in 1932, nominally ruled by the last Qing emperor Puyi but actually controlled by Japanese officials.
Question
Why did the assassination of PM Inukai (May 1932) matter?
Answer
It effectively ended party-led civilian cabinets in Japan — no elected-party politician served as prime minister again until after 1945.
Question
What happened in the February 26, 1936 coup attempt?
Answer
About 1,400 radical young army officers seized central Tokyo and killed several ministers, trying to force military rule; Emperor Hirohito ordered it crushed, but it further intimidated civilian politicians.
Question
What was the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere?
Answer
Japan's 1940 plan presenting itself as liberating Asia from Western colonial rule, while in practice extracting labour and resources from occupied territories for Japan's benefit.
Question
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor (7 December 1941)?
Answer
To cripple the US Pacific Fleet in a surprise strike, buy time to seize resource-rich Southeast Asia, and force a negotiated peace before US industry could out-produce Japan.
Question
Why was the Battle of Midway (June 1942) a turning point?
Answer
The US Navy sank four Japanese aircraft carriers and killed many experienced pilots, a loss Japan's industry and training system could never replace.
Question
What happened in the Tokyo firebombing of 9-10 March 1945?
Answer
US B-29 incendiary raids destroyed much of the city and killed around 100,000 people, one of the deadliest single bombing raids of the war.
Question
What happened on 6 and 9 August 1945?
Answer
The USA dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing well over 100,000 people combined, with many more dying later from burns and radiation.
Question
What role did the Soviet Union play in Japan's surrender?
Answer
The USSR declared war and invaded Japanese-held Manchuria on 8 August 1945, destroying Japan's hope of a Soviet-mediated peace settlement.
Question
Compare the 'liberation' rhetoric of the Co-Prosperity Sphere with its reality.
Answer
Rhetoric: Japan freeing Asia from Western colonialism for shared prosperity. Reality: forced labour, requisitioned resources, and suppressed nationalism under Japanese military control.
Question
What is the key historical debate about Japan's surrender in 1945?
Answer
Whether the atomic bombs alone were decisive, or whether Soviet entry into Manchuria mattered equally by removing Japan's hope of a mediated peace — most balanced answers argue both factors combined.
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Topic 12.9 hub
Politics and economy in Japan (1912–2020)
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