The first signs of war were seen eight years prior, far away from Europe, in the east, with the Japanese. Japan had no major holdings in the Treaty of Versailles as the Italians or French did, but in the years to come, the Great Depression greatly affected them, causing them to act quickly and brashly. Military men, separate from the Tokyo government gained influence and began attacking China in hopes to gain land holdings there (Edgar, Civilizations Past & Present,866-867). Their firsts acts against the Chinese people was the bombing of a railway in Manchuria and establishing a puppet state there. After this, the League of Nations, angered with the Japanese disturbing the peace cautioned them to stop. However, rather than withdraw from their Imperialism on the continent, the Japanese withdrew from the League all together. There were different groups of military men that made advancements on the continent and in China, but they were not united until 1937 when Prince Konoe Fumimaro became the prime minister after a coup. (Edgar, Civilizations Past & Present, 936) Eventually a full out war would break out with the Chinese, leading to major step in the direction of other nations becoming involved with the war in the Pacific, this war also brought about a mass slaughter of Chinese people, the Rape of Nanking, further angering peace seeking nations. In addition to militaristic and imperialistic advancements, the Japanese …show more content…
It is undoubtedly a scar on human history. The events that led up to this war are also tragic in of itself as well since WWI underlie the causes of WWII due to how the post war negotiations were handled. And in many ways, WWII was just a continuation of WWI. True there were new countries joined the fray and new stakes that were present, however, these countries continued to fight due to impacts that the Treaty of Versailles and its effects brought onto them. With Germany rallying to take back what once was theirs and build itself back up, Italy attempting to get justice for what was not given to them, England and France, attempting to keep the peace they fought to keep, the Soviets also attempted to get back territory lost instead and Japan joining for attempting to fix its economy in a time of financial