Trace the origins for the rise of militarism in Japan in the 1930s.

The rise of militarism in Japan in the 1930s was the outgrowth of a long historical process. In simple terms, the roots of militarism laid with developments of the Meiji era, and the fruits blossomed with the failure of party politics by the end of the 1920s.

Legacies of the Meiji era - the rise of militarism in Japan can be traced back in the century-old military tradition of the samurai. Hundreds of years of rule by men-of-sword had made the 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 Bushido had existed in the hearts of the Japanese and it permeated into all social strata through the nation-wide conscription army.

Furthermore, foreign threats emphasized the importance of militarism. Japan in the 1850s had been forced to sign unequal treaties, and her independence was threatened in an age of imperialism. These facts taught the Japanese the realities of power politics — that “Might is Right.” As such, the Meiji leaders, mostly ex-samurai, learnt the necessity of a strong military force. In time, they carried out important military reforms and created an army second only to Germany in the world. Inevitably, the military services were to have decisive influence in the nation’s affairs.

Institutional loopholes helped to increase the influence of the militarists. The Meiji Constitution 1889 gave autonomy to the armed services. It stated that the services had the right of direct access to the emperor, and thus bypassing the government should it become necessary to do so. A second loophole was the 1900 decree. In that decree, it established the rule that only serving generals and admirals could become Ministers of War and of the Navy. As such, the army and navy could wreck a government which was against their interests by refusing to supply it with army or navy ministers. These institutional loopholes, no doubt, encouraged the growth of military influence and autonomy.

Another factor that strengthened the tradition of militarism was Japan’s victories in the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese Wars. These two victories brought great benefits to Japan - in terms of money and territorial gains as well as international status. These gave great prestige to the militarists and taught the Japanese a lesson that war was the best instrument to further national interest and it paid high dividends. In short, victories justified the advocates of militarism and expansion.

Japan’s overseas expansion became necessary with the successful Meiji modernization. Significant economic advances were made, especially in industrialization and population growth. These developments pointed to the search for living space, raw materials, markets and the like from abroad. The Asian mainland, in particular, China and Korea, became Japan’s primary target for expansion.
Meiji leaders, for the sake of national unity, ardently cultivated an emperor-centered nationalism among Japanese minds. It placed the Emperor in an unchallenged position. Thus, whoever acted in the name of the emperor could control the destiny of Japan. In theory, the armed forces were the personal army and navy of the emperor, and therefore were qualified to speak for the emperor. By making use of this absolute obedience to the emperor and the nation, the army started to carry out aggression in the 1930s, believing that this served the will of the emperor and the nation’s interest. A side-effect of this fanatical devotion to the emperor was the growth of ultra-nationalism. A number of extremist societies such as the Black Dragon Society fanned up the sentiment of Japan’s superiority in the world by virtue of its divine origins. They strongly advocated militarism and imperialism.

All the above were underlying factors that enabled the rise of militarism in the 1930s. For the time being, the Meiji oligarchs as a group could hold the militarists at bay. With the fading out of the oligarchs, however, no political group was strong enough to play a similar role. As a matter of fact, party politicians failed disastrously to stop the rise of militarist influence by the early 1930s.

Failure of party government - despite its achievements in the earlier years, the failure of party government became apparent by the late 1920s. This failure of the parties to provide national leadership gave the militarists their chance to rise to power. As we have seen in earlier section, the failure of party governments derived partly from its own weaknesses: internal disunity, corruption, no mass support, and economic failures.

There was another side of the story. In foreign affairs, there was strong reaction among the army officers against the “weak-kneed” diplomacy of the party governments. The military men resented the reduction in size of the armed forces and regarded Foreign Minister Shidehara’s policy of improving relations with China as a sign of weakness. They were especially unhappy with the 1930 London Naval Disarmament Conference in which Japan agreed to a naval inferiority relative to Britain and the United States. On this account, the Prime Minister was assassinated by an extremist. One of the most influential nationalist extremists was Kita Ikki who advocated an economic and social revolution led by the militarists. He also advocated the conquest of such areas as Manchuria and Siberia because Japan lacked natural resources and living space. His ideas provided a programme of action for the militarists. The influence of Kita was acknowledged in the Showa Restoration movement in the early 1930s. The concept of Showa Restoration envisaged the return of power from the parties and zaibatsu to the emperor and militiarists who served better the nation’s interests.

Circumstances favourable to the rise of militarism - by the late 1920s., a number of developments accelerated the rise of militarism in Japan. In the first place, China by 1928 was on the verge of being unified by Chiang Kai-shek. A unified and strong China could threaten Japan’s position in Manchuria where the Kwangtung Army was stationed. Apparently, the Nanking government was trying to bring Manchuria back into China’s control. The Manchurian warlord, Chang Hsueh-liang defied Japan by associating himself with the Nanking government. In the eye of the militarists, Japan had to act fast in order to safeguard her vested interests. Consequently, in September 1931, the Kwangtung Army took independent action and seized control of Manchuria.

Another significant factor was the effects of the Great Depression on Japan’s economy. This world-wide depression led to a collapse of international trade because each country raised protective tariffs to protect her own interests. This development was fatal 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. They blamed the party governments in power and believed that parliamentary policies were ruining Japan. Consequently, there was a popular support for military adventures. Many Japanese believed that overseas expansion was an effective solution to economic problems. In short, the economic crisis made the nation desperate for military expansion. Thus took place the Manchurian Incident in 1931.

Japan’s expansionism was not an isolated event. In Europe, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy also undertook such a course in the 1930s. Their aggressive actions echoed and reinforced each other’s, thereby drawing these three countries closer together. By 1940, the Axis Alliance took shape and this became an important factor for the outbreak of the Second World War.