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Japanese imperialism

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1895

October

08
- Key eventThe assassination of Queen MinAt 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 PortsmouthOn 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 KoreaOn 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.

1925

January

20
- The Soviet–Japanese Basic ConventionOn 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 TaishōOn 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 incidentOn 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 ZuolinOn 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 incidentOn 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.

1931

September

18
- Key eventThe Mukden incidentOn 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.

1932

January

28
- The Shanghai incidentOn 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 ManchuriaBy 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 ManchukuoOn 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 ManchukuoIn 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 beginsOn 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 NationsOn 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 TruceOn 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.

1936

February

26
- The 26 February incidentOn 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.

November

14
- The Suiyuan campaignOn 14 November 1936 Japanese-backed collaborationist troops attacked Hongort in Suiyuan. The Chinese repulsed them and took Bailingmiao on 24 November.

1937

August

08
- The Japanese take BeijingOn 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.

November

26
- The end of the Battle of ShanghaiOn 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

1938

March

06
- The Japanese reach the Yellow RiverIn 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.

July

29
- The fighting at Lake Khasan beginsOn 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 KhasanOn 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.

1939

May

11
- The Battle of Khalkhin Gol beginsOn 11 May 1939 near Nomonhan, on the disputed Mongolia–Manchukuo border, Mongolian and Manchukuo horsemen clashed. So began the Soviet–Japanese battle.

1940

February

01
- Japan’s record military budgetOn 1 February 1940 Yonai’s government put a budget of over 10 billion yen, two-thirds military, to the Diet. Next day Takao Saitō asked what the war was for.

June

29
- Arita proclaims a new order in East AsiaOn 29 June 1940 Foreign Minister Hachirō Arita declared on the radio that East Asia and the South Seas formed one sphere whose stability Japan guaranteed.

July

22
- The second Konoe cabinetOn 22 July 1940 Fumimaro Konoe became Prime Minister of Japan again. His cabinet with Matsuoka and Tōjō turned Japan towards Germany and southward expansion.

September

22
- Japan enters French IndochinaOn 22 September 1940 Vichy France agreed to Japanese troops in Tonkin. Hours later the Japanese 5th Division attacked across the border near Lạng Sơn.

1941

January

17
- The Battle of Ko ChangOn 17 January 1941 a French squadron from Indochina surprised Thai warships off Ko Chang island and routed them without loss. It did not decide the war.

March

27
- Takeo Yoshikawa in HonoluluOn 27 March 1941 Japanese naval intelligence officer Takeo Yoshikawa arrived in Honolulu. Posing as a consular clerk, he was to watch the fleet at Pearl Harbor.

July

August

01
- The United States imposes an oil embargoOn 1 August 1941 Roosevelt banned exports of aviation fuel outside countries “resisting aggression”. With the asset freeze, it cut Japan off from oil.

September

06
- The Imperial Conference of 6 SeptemberOn 6 September 1941 a conference attended by Hirohito decided that Japan would prepare for war with the US, Britain and the Netherlands if talks failed.

November

26
- Key eventThe Kidō Butai sails for HawaiiOn 26 November 1941 Vice-Admiral Chūichi Nagumo’s six carriers left Hitokappu Bay in the Kurils, sailing under radio silence to strike Pearl Harbor.

December

1942

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

1943

January

23
- The final offensive on GuadalcanalIn January 1943 Patch's XIV Corps took the Gifu on Mount Austen and, on 23 January, Kokumbona. The Japanese, already ordered to evacuate, covered their retreat.

February

09
- Key eventThe end of the fighting on GuadalcanalOn the nights of 1–8 February 1943 Japanese destroyers took some 10,600 soldiers off Guadalcanal. On 9 February the Americans declared the island secured.

May

09
- The Changjiao massacreFrom 9 to 12 May 1943 the Japanese murdered civilians and stranded Chinese soldiers at Changjiao on Lake Dongting. Chinese sources give 30,000 victims.

August

01
- Japan proclaims Burmese independenceOn 1 August 1943 Ba Maw proclaimed the independence of the State of Burma in Rangoon. Japan recognised it the same day, and Burma declared war on the Allies.

November

30
- Japanese food policy in MalayaIn late November 1943 the Japanese governor of Penang ordered families to grow their own food. Malaya, cut off from rice imports, was growing ever hungrier.

1945

March

09
- The Japanese coup in IndochinaOn 9 March 1945 the Japanese overthrew the French administration of Indochina and disarmed its army. On 11 March Emperor Bảo Đại proclaimed Vietnam independent.

August

14
- The Kyūjō incidentOn the night of 14–15 August 1945 War Ministry officers seized the Imperial Palace to stop the surrender broadcast. The coup collapsed by morning.