Japan Invades Manchuria

In 1931, Japan invades Manchuria, a region of China, the nearby neighbor to Japan. This attack was planned for several years according to the United States Minister to China. Though this was a power move, the League of Nations did nothing to stop Japan, they looked upon the invasion with disapproval but overall did not do anything. In a matter of a few days time, the Japanese army had taken control of several military bases and cities. “He aid that an arms embargo would not be an effective means of restoring peace in this instance; that Japan was an important producer of arms with industries sufficiently developed to supply its own needs; that China was dependent upon her importation of these commodities; that an arms embargo applied to both China and Japan would, therefore, militate against China and in favor of Japan; that an embargo directed against Japan alone would probably result in the seizure by the Japanese of arms intended for China, thus ultimately decreasing China’s supply of arms and increasing Japan’s supply. (Secretary Hull)” Japan had decided that basically they want to be allies with China, but are going to take the right to take territory as they please.