Far East
1931–1933: Japanese expansion in Manchuria and northern China
September 1931 – May 1933 · 2 battles
On 18 September 1931 officers of the Kwantung Army blew up a stretch of railway near Mukden and blamed the Chinese. Within a few months, without Tokyo’s consent and in defiance of the League of Nations, the Japanese had occupied the whole of Manchuria and set up the puppet state of Manchukuo there. In 1933 they crossed the Great Wall, seized the province of Rehe and forced the Tanggu Truce on China. Many historians regard the Mukden Incident as the beginning of the Second World War in Asia: it showed that aggression could go unpunished and that the League of Nations was powerless.
- 18 September 1931 – 27 February 1932Key battleThe Japanese invasion of ManchuriaFrom September 1931 to February 1932 the Kwantung Army, defying Tokyo, seized Manchuria. China barely fought and the League of Nations proved powerless.
- 1 January – 31 May 1933The defence of the Great WallFrom January to May 1933 Japan took Shanhaiguan and Rehe, broke through the Great Wall passes and approached Beijing. The Tanggu Truce ended the fighting.