The Japanese Army had seized control over Manchuria and declared it an independent state,

without the knowledge or approval of the civilian leadership in Tokyo.

Civilian leaders who opposed the army's actions had a way of ending up dead,

at the hands of junior military officers who were members of various

secret organizations that were in fact directed by their military superiors.

The world community was overwhelmingly opposed to this move, but in Japan, in the throes of the

Great Depression, where unemployment soared as Japanese exports

collapsed and Japanese children ate wheat bran intended for cattle, the public welcomed the

seizure of Manchuria as an economic lifeline that would save the country.

As one Japanese observer wrote in 1932, it has now become common sense even to

men of the street that without Manchuria, Japan, isolated from the world, would be helpless,

while with it she can not only endure any emergency, but can ward off any conspiracy.

Without Manchuria, Japan cannot but be restless,

but with it she will be about as secure as the United States of America.

Welcome to the history of the 20th century. Episode 265. Foreign commentary changes nothing.

We already talked about the events leading up to the Japanese online commentary changes nothing.

We already talked about the events leading up to the Japanese Army's seizure of Manchuria.

The short version is that rogue officers in the Kuantung Army, the force that occupied

Japanese-controlled territory in southern Manjuria, occupied the whole of the region,

and declared an independent state of Manchuria that occupied the whole of the region and declared an independent state of

Manchuria that would be a protectorate of Japan.

The occupation was never authorized by the elected civilian government in Tokyo, but it was

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