World History – Kelemen
Notebook Assignment #1: The Rise of Fascism in Japan Before World War II
Read Article Below & Watch Video clip before filling in Note Taking Guide
The rise of militarism, extreme nationalism and aggressive expansionism in Japan by the 1930s was the
outgrowth of a long historical process. In simple terms, the roots of militarism laid with events of the earlier
Meiji Era (mid 1800s to early 20th Century), along with the failure of parliamentary democracy leading to
Japan becoming a fascist state by the 1930s.
The rise of militarism in Japan can be traced back in the ancient military tradition of the samurai. Hundreds
of years of feudal rule by these men-of-the-sword had made the Japanese people ready to accept the claims
of militarists to national leadership. Fundamentally, Japan had a strong tradition of unquestioned obedience
to authority. The spirit of honor and discipline known as bushido had existed in the hearts of the average
Japanese person for many generations. This “samurai code” or “way of the warrior” ideology stressed the
importance of loyalty, honor, self-sacrifice, duty and obedience in traditional Japanese society. Militarists of
the 1920s and 30s glorified the samurai history and bushido code from Japans past to strengthen their power.
Foreign threats to Japan also encouraged the rise of Japanese militarism. Japan in the 1850s had been forced
to sign unequal trade treaties with European powers, and her independence was threatened in an age of
imperialism by the European powers. These facts taught the Japanese the realities of power politics — that
“Might Makes Right.” As such, Japanese Meiji era political leaders, mostly ex-samurai, learned the necessity
of industrialization and a strong modern military force as keys to power. In time, they carried out important
military reforms and created an army second in size only to Germany in the world by 1910. Not surprisingly,
these military leaders wanted to have decisive influence in the nation’s political affairs.
Political loopholes that weakened democracy further helped to increase the influence of the militarists. The
Meiji Constitution of 1889 gave total independence to the armed forces. It stated that the military had the
right of direct access to the Emperor, and thus bypassing the elected parliamentary government. A second
loophole was the 1900 Decree establishing that only army generals and navy admirals could become military
advisors to the emperor. This eliminated any civilian control of the military allowing army and navy
commanders to overrule actions of the democratically elected government. The lack of a tradition of civilian
oversight and weak democratically elected government encouraged the growth of military influence in Japan
by the early 20th Century.
Another factor that strengthened the tradition of militarism was Japan’s victories in the China-Japanese War
(1895) and Russia-Japanese War (1905). These two victories brought great benefits to Japan - in terms of
money, territorial gains as well as international status. The victories occurred largely due to Japan’s rapid
industrialization and population growth during the Meiji period. However, these military and economic
advances stretched the natural resources of the island nation and encouraged the search for additional living
space, raw materials and markets abroad. The Asian mainland, in particular, costal China and Korea, became
Japan’s primary target for expansion by the 1910s and 1920s.
Meiji leaders, for the sake of national unity, strongly encouraged an extreme form of Emperor-centered
nationalism among the Japanese population. The Emperor was revered as a god like figure by the Japanese
public. This form of hyper-patriotism placed the Emperor in an unchallenged position of power and
influence. Therefore, whoever acted in the name of the Emperor could control the destiny of Japan. In theory,
the armed forces were controlled directly by the Emperor, but military leaders were qualified to speak for the
Emperor. By making use of this absolute obedience to the Emperor, the militarists started to carry out
aggression against neighboring peoples in Korea and China in the early 1930s, stating that expansion served
the will of the Emperor and the nation’s interest.
Despite some achievements in the earlier years, the failure of democratically elected parliamentary
government became apparent by the late 1920s as Japan fell into an economic crisis. This failure of
popularly elected political parties to provide effective national leadership during the crisis gave the
militarists their chance to rise to power. The failure of elected political parties derived partly from their own
weaknesses: internal disunity, corruption, weak popular support, and economic failures during their
leadership.
Also, there was strong reaction among the army officers against the “weak” diplomacy of the democratically
elected government. The military men resented any plan by the elected government to limit the size of the
armed forces and regarded the government policy of trying to improve relations with China as a sign of
weakness. Militarists were especially unhappy with the 1930 London Naval Disarmament Conference in
which the Japanese government agreed to naval inferiority in the Pacific compared to Britain and the United
States. Shortly after this meeting, the Japanese Prime Minister was assassinated by an extremist militarist.
By the early 1930s, a number of diplomatic and economic developments accelerated the rise of militarism in
Japan. First, China was on the verge of being unified under the leadership of nationalist Chiang Kai-Shek. A
unified and stronger China could threaten Japan’s position in Manchuria and Korea. The Chinese nationalist
government located in the city of Nanking was trying to bring the region of Manchuria back into China’s
control. In the eyes of the militarists, Japan had to act fast in order to safeguard its interests and protect what
they saw as their ethnic superiority over neighboring Asian peoples. Consequently, beginning in September
1931, the Japanese Army seized control of the Chinese province of Manchuria. Later in 1937 following final
victory in the 2nd China-Japanese War, Japanese military force wanting to assert their dominance over the
newly captured Chinese territory systematically killed or raped tens of thousands of civilians– an event
known as the “Rape of Nanking”.
Another significant factor that eventually helped the cause of the militarists were the lingering effects of the
worldwide Great Depression of the mid 1930s on Japan’s economy. This world-wide depression led to a
collapse of international trade. This development was very detrimental to Japan’s economy which depended
heavily on export trade. Thus, between 1929 and 1931, Japan’s exports dropped 50%, unemployment
reached 3 million, and peasants’ real income dropped one-third as a result of falling prices for silk. Then,
there was a failure of rice crop in 1932. Such rural distresses intensified the discontents of the army officers,
many of whom had connections with the rural population. Militarists blamed the democratically elected
political parties in power and believed that parliamentary policies were ruining Japan. Consequently, there
was growing popular support for military control and expansion in the face of the economic crisis. Many
Japanese people came to believe that overseas expansion was an effective solution to economic problems and
made the nation desperate for greater military expansion across Asia to areas controlled by Europeans and
Americans.
Japan’s expansionism was not an isolated event. In Europe during this same period, Germany and Italy also
undertook territorial expansion in Europe and North Africa. Theses aggressive actions echoed and reinforced
each other’s, thereby drawing these three countries closer together. By 1940, the so-called Rome-BerlinTokyo Axis alliance took shape and this became an important factor for the outbreak of the Second World
War.
Watch video summary of Japanese expansionism leading up to attack on Pearl Harbor:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=it3nIEcpClw
Notebook Assignment #1: The Rise of Fascism in Japan Before World War II
Take notes below on how each of the factors contributed to Militarists (Japanese Fascists) takeover in Japan
Ideological Factors (Philosophy & Beliefs influencing people in Japan):
Political Factors (Government Policies & Laws in Japan):
Military Factors (Military Actions toward other countries):
Economic Factors (Trade, Jobs and Finance):