History from

HISTORY FROM 1929 TO THE PRESENT Pledged to a policy of economy and retrenchment, the new Cabinet did much to improve the financial condition of the coun try. Its policy, however, brought the Government into conflict with the Army, since it necessitated the rejection of the demand for increased military expenditure.

For some time past, the Army had been considering the need of bringing its equipment up to date ; but, as there seemed no imme diate prospect of Japan having to face a first-class army in the field, modernization had been postponed pending more favourable financial circumstances. The Sino-Soviet operations in North Manchuria in the summer of 1929, however, revealed the fact that the Soviet land and air forces had been developed to an unex pectedly high standard of up-to-date efficiency. It was felt, there fore, that the modernization of the Japanese Army should be de layed no further. Military circles were consequently angered by the Government's refusal to sanction the necessary appropriations.

Naval dissatisfaction, too, began to manifest itself, this being the result of the Premier's action in securing the Emperor's ap proval of the London Naval Treaty against the advice of the Naval Staff. By this treaty, Japan accepted a 70% ratio in aux iliary vessels, thereby agreeing to a naval inferiority which, the Navy contended, not only endangered national defence but also lowered Japan's prestige in the eyes of the Chinese. Admiral Kanji Kato, Chief of the Japanese Naval Staff, resigned accord ingly in the summer of 1930 by way of protest.

In the meantime, however, the Government had strengthened its position by dissolving the Diet in January 1930 and holding a general election a month later. The position of the two principal parties was thereby reversed, the Seiyukai's (Opposition) 240 seats in the Lower House being reduced to 174, while the Govern ment party (Minseito), which had previously held but i7o, se cured an absolute majority in the Diet with 273.

The two weeks' special session called at the end of April was marked by interpellations on the London Naval Treaty. It was some two months after this that Admiral Kato resigned, a further significant repercussion being witnessed a few months later when, on November 14, a youthful "patriot" fired a pistol at Mr. Hama guchi and inflicted wounds which were to prove fatal nearly a year later. Like Kato's resignation, this assault was intended as a pro test against the Premier's alleged usurpation of the Chief of the Naval Staff's prerogative to act as highest adviser to the Throne on matters concerning naval defence.

In the Diet session held after the New Year recess, Baron Shid ehara, the Acting Premier, had to face strong attacks on the naval treaty and on the Government's policy toward China, which was one of conciliation. The opponents of this policy maintained that it was interpreted as a sign of weakness by the Chinese.

The disorderly scenes marking this Diet session did much to hasten the discredit into which party politics had been falling for some years past. They served also to increase the apprehensions of the more conservative elements in the country, which were becoming greatly perturbed, not only at the irresponsible behav iour and self-interested motives of so many of the country's rep resentatives in the Diet, but also at the rapid spread of social unrest and subversive doctrines and at what they regarded as a growing deterioration in the national spirit.

The Diet session closed after sanctioning the first naval re plenishment programme to be put forward since the signing of the London Naval Treaty, and a week or two later the Cabinet resigned when it became evident that Mr. Hamaguchi would never recover from his wounds. The wounded Premier was succeeded by Baron Wakatsuki, and all but three members of the former Cabinet received portfolios in the new ministry.

Manchuria.

During the months that followed, attention be came increasingly directed towards Manchuria, where a tense situation was developing. Emboldened by the support of the Nan king Government, to which he had formally tendered his alle giance in January 1929, Chang Hstieh-liang, the Mukden War Lord, had adopted a policy of obstruction towards Japan and her plans for railway development in Manchuria. With the backing of Nanking, a movement for recovering from Japan the rights she had obtained in Manchuria since her victory over Russia in 1905 had likewise sprung up and was a cause of growing annoy ance to Japan.

Taken in conjunction with the visible signs of Soviet military development and the spread of Soviet political influence in Eastern and Central Asia, the Japanese military authorities were therefore becoming increasingly apprehensive of the threat thus offered to the safety of Japan's interests and of her railway com munications on the mainland. Criticism of the Government's al leged "weak-kneed" policy towards China increased and a grow ing demand for a firm hand with China was voiced by the mili tary leaders of Japan. Finally, as the culmination of a number of disturbing incidents during the summer of 1931, an armed clash occurred on the night of September 18, and during the next few days the Japanese troops made themselves masters of all the principal strategic points in South Manchuria. In November the area of active operations was extended as far north as Tsitsi har, which, up to that time, had been regarded as being within the Soviet zone of interest, and early in 1932 Harbin too came into the sphere of active operations, while the Chinchow opera tions led to a thrust south-westward to the Chinese border.

Political and Social Unrest.

In the meantime, political de velopments in Japan itself had led to the resignation of the Wa katsuki Cabinet on December 11. Mr. Inukai, leader of the Op position Party, was thereupon summoned to form a Seiyukai Cabinet. Its first action on coming into being was to reimpose the gold embargo which Mr. Hamaguchi had lifted two years previously.

Within a month of the coming into office of the new Cabinet it tendered its resignation. This it did in order to mark its sense of responsibility for an attempt made by a Korean on the life of the Emperor on January 8, 1932. Owing, however, to the critical situation at home and abroad, it was ordered to remain in office, and on January 2 1 , the Diet reassembled. It was promptly dis solved and, in the General Election, the Government party was re turned with an absolute majority of 303 as against 145 seats secured by the principal opposition party.

Shortly before the election, Mr. Inouye, former Finance Min ister, was assassinated (February 9), and on March 5 Baron Takuma Dan, an outstanding figure in financial and industrial circles, suffered a similar fate. Their tragic deaths marked the opening of an ultra-nationalist campaign to exterminate leading figures among the political and capitalist groups and brought to light the existence of a number of fanatical organizations, imbued with the belief that the existing capitalist and parliamentary systems were responsible for the poverty-stricken condition of the peasantry and for the signing of the increasingly unpopular London Naval Treaty. This campaign reached its climax on the evening of May 15, when parties of young military cadets, naval officers and farmers carried out a series of outrages, which in cluded the assassination of the Premier, Mr. Inukai. The Cabinet promptly tendered its resignation, but was ordered to remain in office for the time being, while Mr. Takahashi, the Finance Min ister, was installed as Premier, pro tem. A week later, Admiral Viscount Saito was summoned to form a new Cabinet and on May 26 the new ministry, national in character, was installed.

Late in February 1936, junior army officers in Tokyo revolted. Assassins visited the home of the Prime Minister, Admiral Okada, but killed a relative by mistake, the Admiral escaping in disguise. Admiral Saito, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, General Watanabe, Director General of Military Training, and Takahashi, Minister of Finance, were murdered. The rebels were animated by hostility to liberalism and restraints on military expenditure and by jeal ousy of the navy. At the command of the Emperor, the rebels surrendered and a Cabinet was formed with Koki Hirota (for merly foreign minister) as premier. On July 7, 1936 a special court martial sentenced 17 of the rebel leaders to death. There were numerous sentences to imprisonment.

Events on the Continent.—Towards the end of January 1932, Shanghai had become the scene of active Sino-Japanese operations, and in Manchuria a movement in favour of separation from China had culminated on March i in the transformation of this loosely held dependency into an independent State. At its head, as Chief Executive, was Pu Yi, the former "Boy Emperor" of China who the previous November, had fled to Manchuria, where he had been living in the Japanese Concession since shortly after his expulsion from Peking in 1924.

The Shanghai operations, which had been precipitated by an unsuccessful attempt on the part of Japan to compel the Chinese, by means of a naval demonstration, to put a stop to the anti Japanese agitation and boycott, were brought to a successful con clusion towards the end of March. Having ensured, by signed

agreement, that Chinese troops would not again come within twenty kilometres of the city, the Japanese withdrew, part of the Japanese forces engaged in these operations being sent to Man churia, where reinforcements were required. In September, 1932, Japan formally recognized Manchoukuo as an independent State.

Early the following month (Oct. 2), the Lytton Commission, which had been appointed by the League of Nations to carry out a first-hand investigation of the Manchurian dispute, issued the report on its findings. In reply to the criticisms and recommen dations in it, Japan countered on November 20 with a detailed document containing her own "observations." Two weeks later, Japan launched the last of her main military operations for 1932 and drove the anti-Manchoukuo forces under Su Ping-wen and Ma Chan-shan west across the Soviet border near Manchuli.

The year 1933 opened with a Japanese occupation of Shan haikwan on January 2, to be followed a few weeks later by the Jehol operations. In conjunction with Manchoukuo troops, the Japanese on February 25 launched an offensive with the object of driving out the remnants of Chang Hsiieh-liang's troops from that province, which the MaLchoukuo Government claimed as their own territory. After a brief but spectacular campaign, the prov ince was brought under control of the allied forces. Heavy fighting continued, however, for some weeks longer for possession of the principal passes into North China, and there being no other means of dislodging the Chinese from these important points, the Japa nese finally crossed the Great Wall into China. By thus threaten ing the Chinese line of retreat, they forced the Chinese to fall back and chased them almost to the gates of Peking. To prevent the occupation of the ancient capital, the Chinese sued for peace and, under the Tangku Truce Agreement concluded May 31, a demilitarized zone was established in the border districts to the south of the Great Wall and the Japanese withdrew into Jehol.

The Tangku Agreement marked the close of the Sino-Japanese operations after 20 months of armed conflict. Minor affrays in Manchuria continued, but these were primarily concerned with the restoration of peace and order and with quelling banditry, which had become greatly aggravated as a result of political malcon tents and others combining with the regular bandits in order to cause trouble to the Japanese and their allies of the new regime.

Russian Relations.—Meantime Japan, on March 27, 1933, had notified her intention to withdraw from the League of Na tions, this being due to her dissatisfaction with the censure di rected against her at Geneva and with the resolutions and recom mendations passed by the League Assembly on February 24. In the meantime, too, her relations with Soviet Russia and the United States were becoming strained and, as the year advanced, tension increased. Soviet Russia, fearing that Japanese actions in Man churia' were but the prelude to an attack on Vladivostok and the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Siberia, had poured troops and war material into the frontier districts and had hurriedly erected a vast chain of fortifications and defence-works along the line of the Amur. These preparations for defence having been completed, the Soviet launched a campaign of violent and challenging abuse against Japan, accusing her unequivocally of aggressive intentions towards Russian territory and of planning to seize the Soviet controlled Chinese Eastern Railway. Denying these accusations, Japan countered by drawing attention to the threatening attitude of the Soviet in maintaining such large concentrations of troops and material in the Manchurian frontier districts.

These mutual recriminations, combined with frequent frontier incidents for which each blamed the other, served to create a serious state of tension for a time. America's action in entering into diplomatic relations with the Soviet in November 1933 served to aggravate the situation still further, as Washington's frequent denunciations of Japan during the Manchurian contro versy and the statement of American naval policy issued by Mr. Swanson in June 1933 had already created a strong anti-American feeling in Japan and had aroused Japanese apprehensions in re gard to America's intentions.

As a result of the British Government's action in announcing the termination of the Indo-Japanese Trade Agreement in May the same year, Anglo-Japanese relations had likewise undergone a change for the worse. The ill feeling against Great Britain aroused by this step—and by the steps taken to check the entry of Japanese manufactured goods into the British Isles and into British possessions over-seas—was, moreover, exploited by Pan Asiatic enthusiasts in Japan.

Foreign Relations.—Japan's foreign relations were therefore becoming increasingly embittered when, in September 1933, Mr. Hirota succeeded Count Uchida as Japanese Foreign Minister. The new Minister of Foreign Affairs accordingly set himself strenuously to the task of remedying this unfortunate state of affairs. Making a bid for a more friendly understanding with the two great English-speaking nations and with Soviet Russia, he strove also to improve relations with China and proclaimed his desire for friendly co-operation between Japan, China, and Man choukuo as a basis for the peace and stability of East Asia.

His efforts met with considerable success, although they en countered a temporary set-back in the Spring of 1934 as the re sult of a statement issued on April 17 by Mr. Amau, the official spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Office. Exception was taken to this statement abroad, as, in effect, it enunciated a Japanese Monroe Doctrine for East Asia and warned the Powers against actions adverse to Japanese interests in China.

Shortly before this, a significant development had taken place in Manchoukuo, the newly created state adopting the monarchical system on March r when Pu Yi was enthroned as the Emperor Kang Teh. March 1934 also witnessed the passage of a bill pro viding for the Japanese Navy to be brought up to full treaty strength, this being in effect the Japanese answer to Mr. Swan son's statement on American naval policy in June the previous year. A race in naval armament seemed clearly foreshadowed and, although conversations between the three principal naval Powers were held in London in the autumn of 1934 with a view to seeking out a fresh agreement, these talks proved abortive. On December 29, therefore, Japan formally denounced the Washington and Lon don naval treaties. This she did in order to leave herself free to construct a fleet, more in keeping with her requirements, in the event of failure to reach a satisfactory agreement before the expiry of the existing treaties two years later.

A few months before the opening of the naval talks in London, Viscount Saito, assuming responsibility for a member of his Cabi net becoming implicated in a financial scandal, resigned and was succeeded by Admiral Okada as Premier. Mr. Hirota retained the portfolio of Foreign Affairs, and his efforts to improve rela tions with the Soviet did much towards bringing the long-drawn negotiations for the sale of the Soviet share in the Chinese Eastern Railway to a successful conclusion. On March 23, 1935, the railway, renamed North Manchurian Railway, was formally transferred to the Manchoukuo Government. His efforts to restore Sino-Japanese friendship likewise achieved a certain measure of success and by February 1935 rumours of a rapprochement be tween Japan and China were being widely circulated. These re ports, however, proved premature; and although a further ges ture of good will towards China was made in May (when Japan raised her legation in Peking to the status of an embassy), Mr. Hirota was handicapped by the independent and coercive action of the military authorities. On Dec. 9, 1935, Japan attended the naval conference in London. In March 1936, following an abortive military rebellion, Mr. Hirota formed a new cabinet. No improve ment was apparent in Japanese relations with Russia or China; and in July 1937 fighting between Chinese and Japanese forces began in North China. (M. D. K.) Bibliography of the Japanese Empire contains the names of all important books about Japan, both ancient and modern. Vol. ii., published in 1907, deals with literature which appeared from 1894-1906. The most important recent work on Japanese history is Murdoch, A History of Japan, 3 vols. Other recent works are Sir E. Satow, A Diplomat in Japan (1922) ; J. H. Gubbins, The Making of New Japan; J. L. Longford, "Japan" in the series, Nations of To-day (1923).