Title: The Manchurian Crisis Aim: To find out how the League dealt with Japanese expansion

1
Title The Manchurian CrisisAim To find out how
the League dealt with Japanese expansion

• TRUE or FALSE???
• The League was designed in 1922.
• The League had no army but used persuasion as a
  tactic.
• The League was designed for peace and to
  encourage collective security.
• Germany joined the League in 1920.

2
Japanese expansion into Manchuria and China

• Effects of the Wall Street Crash
• In the 1920s, the world economy recovered from
  the war and was doing well. There was a boom in
  world trade, centred on the USA.
• But, in 1929, the US stock market collapsed in
  what became known as the Wall Street Crash. Many
  businesses went bankrupt. Millions of people
  lost their jobs.

3

• World trade was badly affected and the countries
  that the USA had lent money to (almost all of
  Europe) were asked for the money back. Countries
  stopped trading freely, to protect their own
  industries. The USA stopped importing goods from
  Japan Japan faced unemployment and starvation.

4
The Japanese Army

• The Japanese army leaders had not been happy
  with the way other nations treated Japan. They
  were also unhappy that Japans government had
  agreed to limit its navy to three ships to every
  five built by Britain and the USA.

5

• While Japans economy was booming, the army
  leaders got very little support from the Japanese
  people. When the Japanese government failed to
  cope with the problems caused by the Wall Street
  Crash, the army leaders said the answer was to
  take more land to grow more food and expand
  trade.
• People began to listen to them. Support for the
  army grew and it became harder for the government
  to ignore its demands.

6
Manchuria

• Manchuria was a province of China. It was
  perfect for a takeover because
• It had raw materials, like coal and iron, that
  Japan needed.
• It had farmland that Japan also needed.
• China was weak. A revolution in 1911 had meant
  that it was broken up into lots of different
  provinces led by warlords who fought each other.
• Japan had special trading rights in Manchuria.
• Japan owned the South Manchurian railway.

7
The Japanese takeover of Manchuria

• In September 1931, there was an explosion on the
  South Manchurian Railway. The Japanese blamed
  Chinese sabotage. The Chinese claimed that,
  while they had soldiers in the area, they were
  innocent. The Japanese did not accept this and,
  in February 1932, put a Chinese ruler, controlled
  by Japan, in charge of Manchuria. They renamed
  the province Manchukuo.

8
The reaction of the League of Nations

• The Chinese complained to the League of Nations.
  The Japanese told the League that Japan was
  simply protecting its interests as it had a
  trade agreement and the railway to protect.
  Japan was a leading member of the League and
  there was some truth in its arguments. On the
  other hand, it was clear that the arguments were
  a cover for an army takeover.

9

• The League told Japan to withdraw its troops from
  Manchuria.
• Instead, the Japanese army took over more land
  there.
• The League sent a commission to run an enquiry
  into the incident. It took a long time to get
  there and to collect information. The report was
  not published until September 1932. It said
  Japan should give Manchuria back to China.
• The League presented Japan with the report and
  asked it to give Manchuria back.
• Japan ignored the report, left the League in
  1933 and kept Manchuria.

10
The Japanese invade China

• Japan moved through China to gain more
  territory. In 1933, it moved into the Jehol
  province. The League did nothing.
• Japan got bolder. In 1937, it began a major
  invasion of China. Japans main trading partner,
  the USA, was not in the League. Britain traded
  with Japan, but did not want to use economic
  sanctions (controls) in case trade was harmed.
  The League did not want to raise an army and so
  was powerless against an aggressive dictator who
  wanted to invade another country.

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The Doormat by David Low - 1932