Overview | Battle of Shanghai | Nanking Invasion

Japan’s prosperity to become a powerful nation went to a halt when the rest of the world, including the United States, suffered a global depression in the 1920’s, which had a devastating effect on the Japanese people. As their economy grew worse, businesses began to shut down and unemployment increased. Desperate poor families sold their daughters into prostitution (Chang, 25). This dissatisfaction with Japan's loss of prestige led some young military officers to oppose the government of Japan and argued that military expansion was crucial to the country’s survival. These military officials of Japan gradually put their country on a militaristic and aggressive path that would eventually lead to the invasion of China and other Asian countries (Hooker, 1).

References:

Chang, Iris. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. New York: Basic Books, 1997.

Hooker, Richard. "Modern China: The Japanese Occupation." 06Jun1999. 25 Jul 2007 <http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MODCHINA/OCCUP.HTM>.