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| 1931–32 |
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| THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION OF MANCHURIA (See Sept. 18). Japan's Guandong Army, engaged in night maneuvers at Mukden (Sept. 18), set off an explosion on a nearby rail line and alleged it to be the work of Chinese forces—the Manchurian Incident. With this excuse, they commenced a preconcerted seizure before morning of the arsenal as well as of Andong, Yingkou, and Changchun; Jiang Jieshi ordered his troops to withdraw, as he could not sustain a major battle with the Japanese. Amid foreign office statements of intention to localize the incident, Jilin was captured (Sept. 21) and the whole of the three eastern provinces (Manchuria) soon occupied (Feb. 5, 1932). The League of Nations sent (Nov. 1931) the Earl of Lytton (1876–1947) on a commission of inquiry into Japanese actions in Manchuria. Floods in the Yangzi River Valley and Communist pressures prevented any Chinese military efforts to save Manchuria, but an immediate and more intensive boycott cut Japanese exports to one-sixth of their usual figure. | 1 |
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| 1932, Jan. 7 |
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| U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson (1867–1950) notified all signatories to the nine-power treaty of Feb. 4, 1922, that the U.S. would recognize no gains achieved through armed force contrary to the Pact of Paris of Aug. 27, 1928. | 2 |
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| Jan. 28–March 4 |
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| To compel the Chinese to abandon their economic war against Japan, 70,000 Japanese troops landed at Shanghai and drove the Chinese 19th Route Army from the vicinity of the International Settlement, destroying Zhabei through bombardments (Jan. 29), costing many lives. The Chinese fought back well. An agreement (May 5) was reached establishing a demilitarized zone about the settlement and the termination of the boycott. | 3 |
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| Feb. 18 |
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| INDEPENDENCE FOR MANZHOUGUO (Manchukuo, the “Manchu state,” Manchuria) was proclaimed; it consisted of the former three eastern provinces and Rehe (Jehol), with a capital at Xinjing (“new capital”), formerly Changchun. Henry Puyi (1906–67), the deposed (1912) last emperor of the Qing, was installed as “chief executive” (March 9) and advanced (March 1, 1934), as he had initially insisted in negotiations going back several years, to emperor with the Kangde reign title. Japanese advisers and military men ran all important matters from the start. | 4 |
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| Sept. 15 |
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| A protocol established a close protectorate of Japan over Manzhouguo. | 5 |
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| Oct. 2 |
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| The report of the Lytton Commission found that Japanese actions on Sept. 18–19, 1931, were not self-defensive as claimed, and that the creation of Manzhouguo did not flow from a “genuine and spontaneous independence movement.” It recommended establishment in Manchuria of an autonomous administration under Chinese sovereignty with international advisers and police, and recognition of Japanese economic interests. | 6 |
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