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Japan
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(371)
1895–1938
43
1939
7
1940
9
1941
31
1942
93
1943
48
1944
57
1945
83
1895
October
08
Key event
The assassination of Queen Min
At dawn on 8 October 1895 Japanese assassins broke into a Seoul palace and murdered Queen Min, wife of Gojong and Japan's chief opponent in Korea.
1905
September
05
The Treaty of Portsmouth
On 5 September 1905 Russia and Japan made peace at Portsmouth. Japan won a free hand in Korea, Port Arthur, a South Manchurian railway and half of Sakhalin.
1910
August
22
The Japanese annexation of Korea
On 22 August 1910 in Seoul, Prime Minister Yi Wan-yong and General Terauchi signed the annexation treaty. Proclaimed on 29 August, it ended the Korean Empire.
1919
February
13
The Japanese racial equality proposal
On 13 February 1919 Nobuaki Makino proposed adding racial equality to the League of Nations Covenant. Australian and American opposition buried it.
1922
February
06
The Washington Naval Treaty
On 6 February 1922 the US, Britain, Japan, France and Italy signed a naval treaty in Washington that limited their battleship fleets.
October
25
The end of the Russian Civil War
On 25 October 1922 the Japanese left Vladivostok and the Far Eastern Republic’s army marched in. The last White bastion fell and the civil war was over.
1925
January
20
The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention
On 20 January 1925 in Beijing, Japan and the USSR established relations. Japan gave up northern Sakhalin for oil concessions; Moscow recognised Portsmouth.
1926
December
25
The death of Emperor Taishō
On 25 December 1926 the gravely ill Emperor Yoshihito died at Hayama. The regent Hirohito took the throne and Japan entered the Shōwa era, which brought war.
1928
May
03
The Jinan incident
On 3 May 1928 Japanese troops clashed with Chiang Kai-shek's forces in Jinan. The Japanese took the city, and thousands of Chinese, mostly civilians, died.
June
04
The assassination of Zhang Zuolin
On 4 June 1928 Kwantung Army officers blew up Zhang Zuolin's train near Mukden. The ruler of Manchuria died, and his son went over to the Nanjing government.
1929
March
28
The end of the Jinan incident
On 28 March 1929 Japan and the Nanjing government settled the Jinan affair. Japan left Shandong in May, and the question of the victims was shelved for good.
1930
April
22
The London Naval Treaty
On 22 April 1930 five powers signed a naval treaty in London. It limited cruisers, destroyers and submarines, and set off a crisis in Japan.
1931
September
18
Key event
The Mukden incident
On 18 September 1931 Kwantung Army officers blew up a stretch of railway near Mukden, blamed the Chinese and that same night attacked the Chinese barracks.
19
The Japanese invasion of Manchuria begins
On 19 September 1931 the Kwantung Army took Mukden and the railway towns. Tokyo said it did not want the fighting to spread, but the army ignored it.
1932
January
07
The Stimson Doctrine
On 7 January 1932 the US told Japan and China it would not recognise any situation or agreement in Manchuria reached in breach of the Kellogg–Briand Pact.
28
The Shanghai incident
On 28 January 1932 Japanese naval infantry attacked the Chinese district of Zhabei in Shanghai. Five weeks of fighting ended with an armistice on 5 May.
February
27
The end of the fighting in Manchuria
By late February 1932 the Kwantung Army held every major city in Manchuria. Regular Chinese resistance had collapsed, but a guerrilla war was just beginning.
March
01
The proclamation of Manchukuo
On 1 March 1932 the “independent” state of Manchukuo was proclaimed in Japanese-occupied Manchuria. At its head stood Puyi, the last emperor of China.
November
04
The pacification of Manchukuo
In the autumn of 1932 the Kwantung Army mounted large operations against the Chinese volunteer armies. The “bandit suppression” in Manchukuo lasted until 1942.
1933
January
01
The defence of the Great Wall begins
On the night of 1 January 1933 the Japanese provoked a shoot-out at Shanhaiguan. On 3 January they took the fortress at the Great Wall's eastern end.
March
27
Japan leaves the League of Nations
On 27 March 1933 Japan gave notice that it was leaving the League of Nations, in retaliation for the adoption of a report that refused to recognise Manchukuo.
May
31
The Tanggu Truce
On 31 May 1933 China and Japan signed a truce at Tanggu. Chinese troops left the zone between the Great Wall and Beijing, and Japan kept Rehe.
1934
December
29
Japan renounces the naval treaties
On 29 December 1934 Japan gave the US notice that it was renouncing the Washington Treaty. Fleet limits expired at the end of 1936 and a new arms race began.
1936
February
26
The 26 February incident
On 26 February 1936 young officers killed three statesmen in Tokyo and seized the city centre. The Emperor ordered the revolt crushed; it ended on 29 February.
March
25
The Second London Naval Treaty
On 25 March 1936 the US, Britain and France signed the Second London Treaty. Without Japan and Italy, it limited only the size of warships, not of fleets.
November
14
The Suiyuan campaign
On 14 November 1936 Japanese-backed collaborationist troops attacked Hongort in Suiyuan. The Chinese repulsed them and took Bailingmiao on 24 November.
25
The Anti-Comintern Pact
On 25 November 1936 Germany and Japan signed an agreement against the Comintern in Berlin. A secret protocol aimed at the USSR did not bind them to a joint war.
1937
July
07
Key event
The Marco Polo Bridge incident
On the night of 7–8 July 1937 shots near the Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing sparked a Sino-Japanese clash that grew into an eight-year war.
August
08
The Japanese take Beijing
On 8 August 1937 the Japanese made a ceremonial entry into Beijing, abandoned by the Chinese 29th Army on 28–29 July. The occupation lasted until 1945.
13
The Battle of Shanghai begins
On 13 August 1937 fighting broke out in Shanghai between the Chinese army and Japanese naval infantry. The war spread from northern China to its heart.
October
05
The Quarantine Speech
On 5 October 1937 in Chicago, Roosevelt called for a “quarantine” of states spreading an “epidemic of lawlessness”. No action followed; isolationists protested.
November
06
Italy joins the Anti-Comintern Pact
On 6 November 1937 in Rome, Ciano, Ribbentrop and Japan's ambassador signed Italy's accession to the pact, creating the Berlin–Rome–Tokyo triangle.
26
The end of the Battle of Shanghai
On 26 November 1937 the Chinese abandoned the Wuxi–Jiangyin line. The Battle of Shanghai ended in defeat for China, and the Japanese moved on Nanjing.
December
01
The Battle of Nanjing begins
On 1 December 1937 Imperial GHQ in Tokyo ordered the capture of Nanjing, China's capital, defended by General Tang Shengzhi with troops bled white at Shanghai.
08
The creation of Mengjiang
In autumn 1937 Japan set up three puppet governments in Inner Mongolia and on 22 November joined them in the Mengjiang committee. The state came in 1939.
12
The Panay incident
On 12 December 1937 Japanese aircraft sank the US gunboat Panay and three tankers on the Yangtze near Nanjing. Tokyo apologised and paid compensation.
13
Key event
The Nanjing massacre
On 13 December 1937 the Japanese took Nanjing, China's capital. For weeks they murdered prisoners and civilians, raped women, looted and burned the city.
1938
January
26
The Allison incident
On 26 January 1938 a Japanese soldier in Nanjing slapped the US diplomat John M. Allison, who was investigating a rape. Japan apologised.
March
06
The Japanese reach the Yellow River
In early March 1938 Japanese troops from North China reached the middle Yellow River in Shanxi and Henan. For years the river became a front line.
24
The Battle of Taierzhuang begins
On 24 March 1938 the Japanese attacked the small town of Taierzhuang on the Grand Canal. After two weeks of fighting China won its first major victory.
May
19
The fall of Xuzhou
On 19 May 1938 the Japanese entered the abandoned city of Xuzhou. They took a key railway junction, but the main Chinese forces escaped encirclement.
July
29
The fighting at Lake Khasan begins
On 29 July 1938 the Japanese attacked a Soviet post on Bezymyannaya Hill by Lake Khasan. A dispute over two hills became a two-week battle.
August
11
The end of the fighting at Lake Khasan
On 11 August 1938 a ceasefire took effect at Lake Khasan. The USSR regained the disputed hills at great cost; Japan judged them not worth fighting for.