The collapse of the Qing Empire was soon followed by the death of the Meiji Emperor in Japan. These events caused so much shifting of power that long simmering rivalries boiled to the surface. Japan was watchful and had been careful to avoid the financial encumbrances that China had incurred to Western powers. However, the Japanese were not immune to the years of tribute and service they had paid to China or to the threat of Western Imperialism in Asia. Japan was very nationalistic and confident after their victory over Chinese troops in the first Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895). By the end of the Meiji era and the beginning of the Taishō reign, Japan was accustomed to conducting political and military affairs in China. Because they were already were in control of the Korean peninsula, access to mainland China was easy and logical for Japanese troops. An important influence in the maneuvers of Japan during this period was the fact that the revolutionary and new preferred president of China was Sun Yat-sen, a man who had lived and worked in Japan for many years. Between 1911 and 1931, Japan engaged in many military maneuvers with an eye to eventually controlling all of China. They took Manchuria in 1931 and renamed it Manchukuo. In 1936, Chiang Kai-shek led the Nationalists in China and Mao Zedong led the Communist Party, and both Chinese leaders perceived Japan as such a threat that they banded together temporarily. By June 1937, Japanese troops and Chinese troops were both occupying a region near Beijing by the Marco Polo Bridge. Shots were fired and accusations were made by the Japanese that one of their soldiers had been taken or possibly killed by Chinese. Warmongers in Japan used this incident as an excuse to launch a full-scale battle. The incident was one that led to unrestrained combat and war. By 1937, with Nazi Germany on the rise in Europe, the pressure was on for Japan to make a move in East Asia. This road eventually engulfed the Pacific and Atlantic in World War II.
Works Cited
Perez, Louis G. History of Japan. Westport, US: Greenwood Press, 1998.
