East Asia in the
th
20
c
Wealth & Power
Opposite Paths
China
Japan
1800
1840
1868
1900
Central Theme

the connection between economic
conditions and government
interventions.
Post-Dynastic China
1912-1937
How would you characterize
China during this time?
China, 1912-1937
(post-dynastic system / pre-WWII)
“Phantom Republic”
1912-1927
Republic –
Nationalist control
1927-1937
China
1912-1927: the “Phantom Republic”
Early, factions vie for power :

Republican revolutionaries

Landlords

Foreign powers
China
1912-1927: the “Phantom Republic”

Republican revolutionaries

Led by Sun Yat-sen
 Western educated

“Fundamentals of National
Reconstruction”
China
1912-1927: the “Phantom Republic”

Communism
• Why now? Beliefs? Supporters?
• Led by Mao Zedong
• Aimed at peasant
reform
China
1927-1937: Republic

Nationalists establish control

Party militarizes

Led by Chiang Kai-Shek
1934



KMT’s brutal
crack down on
communists
leads to Long
March
KMT = control
coastal areas
Communists =
influential in
hinterlands
Imperial Japan
1905-1937

1910
Japan’s emerging
Asian empire
•
1894-1895: SinoJapanese War
•
1904-1905:
Russo-Japanese
War
•
Result = Korea &
Taiwan w/ eyes on
Manchuria
Japan
1905-1937: Imperial Japan
Japan expands during 20th century
for lots of reasons
And this
…is an implicit challenge to West
…leads Japan on the road to war
Japan
1905-1937: Imperial Japan
Reasons to Expand:
1. Need
• Island nation, limited resources, limited
farmland, overpopulation
2.
Anti-Western Sentiment
• Racial equality?
• Limiting of navy?
• End of emigration to U.S.?
U.S. Immigration Law of 1924


Barred Chinese
& Japanese
immigration
Reduced Italian
immigration
Washington Naval Conference
[1921-1922]
U. S.
5
Britain
5
Japan
3
France
1.67
Italy
1.67
Japan
1905-1937: Imperial Japan
1930 speech of military leader:
“We are like a great crowd of people packed into a
small narrow room, and there are only three
doors through which we might escape, namely
emigration, advance into world markets, and
expansion of territory. The first door…has been
barred to us by the anti-Japanese immigration
policies of other countries. The second door…is
being pushed shut by tariff barriers…Japan should
rush upon the last door [expansion of territory].”
Japan
1905-1937: Imperial Japan
1930’s American observation:
“In every classroom is a world-map or map of Asia
which shows Japan in red as a very small land
indeed, compared to the mainland nations of
Asia…In a perfectly bland manner some villager,
on looking at such a map, will suggest how nice it
would be to [acquire] a bit more of China.”
Japan
1905-1937: Imperial Japan
1920s & 1930s, mark further industrial
advance of Japan
• Great Depression = sparks further
militarization of Japanese government

Germany? Spain?
• Example:
 1931 – Manchurian Incident
Japan
1905-1937: Imperial Japan
Histories Intertwined
China & Japan
1937-1945
20th Cent. Japan
1937 – Japan launches invasion of
coastal China
 Imperial spirit led to control of
islands & much of SE Asia as well
• Cultural & economic imperialism

Branded as:
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere
or an
“An Asia for Asians”
WWII – Histories Intertwined

Strategy
•
•
•
Embargo →
Pearl Harbor
Defensive
perimeter →
island
hopping
Fight to the
death,
suicide
missions →
more direct
strikes
WWII – Histories Intertwined
A terrified baby after Shanghai is attacked by Japan
WWII – Histories Intertwined
August 6th & 9th, 1945

Hiroshima = 140,000
deaths by the end of 1945
(200,000 total)
•


Buildings leveled for a 1.5
miles radius
Nagasaki = 70,000 deaths
by the end of 1945
(140,000 total)
Explosion had temp
exceeding 7,000 oC (Sun’s
surface temp. = 6,000 oC).