Japan
Showa Period 1926-89
1926
Hirohito ascends the throne. 1927
Prime minister Tanaka calls for the domination of Asia by Japan.
Invasion of Manchuria
Sept. 18, 1931
Considered by some historians to be the beginning of WW II.
1932
Establishment of a Manchuko Puppet State in Manchuria.
1933
Japan invades Chinese province of Jehol. Japan withdraws from the League of Nations.
1936
Japan joins Anti-Comintern Pact.
Sino-Japanese War
1937-45
Japanese seize Peking, Nanking and Shanghai. 1937/38
The massacre of Nanking.
Over 250,000 people massacred 1938
Proclamation of the
Co-prosperity Sphere Map: East Asia
www link :
 The Rape of Nanking
1938-9
Japanese and Russian armies clash in two battles along the border of Manchuko. Japan suffers a first defeat at the hands of Russia in the Far East, resulting in a Reversal of Japan's strategy
Towards World War II
1940
3-Power Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan to reorder Europe and the Far East. Dissolution of all political parties. Establ. of one 'Unity Party'. 1941
Non-agression Pact with the USSR.
Occupation of  French Indo-China.
Hideki Tojo prime minister. (Oct.)

Japanese offensives (1941-42) Attack on  Pearl Harbour (Dec. 7)
Germany and Italy declare war on the USA. 1941-2
Japanese offensives against the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) with the aim of attaining economic autarchy.
Fall of Hongkong and Singapore. Burma occupied. India threathened.
See map World War II 1942
Seizure of the  Philippines. Fall of Manila (2.Jan.) Indonesia occupied. Dutch capitulate (8. March)

The Allied Offensive (1942-45) 1942 Battle of the Coral Sea (May 1942): termination of Japanese advances
Naval b. of  Midway (June 42) -
weakened the Jap. navy through the loss of 4 aircraft carriers - and the Amer. landing on Guadalcanal (7.Aug 42) signified the Allied counter-offensive. 1943
Allied offensive in the SW. Pacific
('island-hopping') Landings in New Georgia, New Guinea, Bougainville. 1944-5
Amer. advances in the Cen.Pacific
Saipan and Guam occupied. Philippines retaken, Manila (4.Feb.) Burma regained by Brit., Amer. and Chin. troops. 1945
Landing of Americans in Japan (Iwo Jima) American air raids on Japanese cities. Atomic bombs on Hiroshima (6 Aug.) and Nagasaki (9 Aug.) Declaration of war by the USSR
(8 Aug) The Red army invades Manchuria and Korea. 2 Sept. 1945 Capitualtion of Japan

Back to the War in Europe