in this lesson we're going to look at the manchurian crisis of 1931 when Imperial Japan invaded the province of Manchuria and China we're going to ask how did the league deal with this aggressive action let's have a little look at some Japanese history very briefly for 1,000 years Japan had been ruled by the Shogun's who were hereditary military dictators there was an emperor but real power lay with the Shogun's and the Shogun's effectively cut off japan from outside contact with the world so japan was very isolated in 1853 this gentleman you can see in the black-and-white photograph Commodore Perry he was leader of an American expedition the aim of which was to force Japan to open up to trade this was a successful expedition essentially Perry sailed for gunboats towards the past this register was the capital Edo and essentially threatened the Japanese with opening fire if they didn't accept the opening up of Japan and this was ultimately successful the Japanese recognized that Commodore Perry and the West had developed advanced military technology which they couldn't deal with is a contemporary Japanese woodblock illustrating think Commodore Perry's in the middle there and so what what happened next is that Japan made huge and very successful efforts to change its economy its infrastructure and so on along Western lines use what's been used against you and develop that strength so in 1868 the old Shogun the membership the Shogun's had kept japan isolated there kicked out and the emperor is restored in something called the meiji restoration and the economy the education the industry of japan these are developed along the lines of western models so japan as a consequence becomes industrialized country Japan shows its new power in the defeat of a Western power in the defeat of Russia in 1905 in the Russian Japanese war two thirds of the Russian fleet was sunk at the Battle of Tsushima the Japanese had modern steam ships which they communicated effectively using new wireless technology and so the Russians suffered a defeat at the hands of this new Asian power and Japan expected equality after this with those Western empires it wanted its own empire after all Britain France the Dutch they had large empires within Asia and Japan would like its own Asian empire it needed raw materials for its manufacturing for its industry Japan was very poor in terms of raw materials like coal oil iron these things that you need in a manufacturing economy Japan was very short of them so it wanted to conquer or colonize foreign territories to gain access to supplies of raw materials the Western powers now began to see Japan as something of other threat after all the Western powers had interests in Asia many of them had colonies in Asia and Japan now as a potential rival with the power to back itself up Japan did actually support the Allies in World War one it supported Britain France Russia and the United States but very much like Italy as we'll see later Japan was disappointed with what it got out of the Versailles Treaty expected more land and more territories it was disappointed with this so a little look at the Government of Japan leading up to the invasion of Manchuria during the 1920s there was a civilian democratic government in Japan however the army held the real power they kind of bossed the civilian government around told them what to do the army held the real power in Japan and in September of 1931 the army demonstrated this in something called the look dent incident essentially the Japanese army claimed that its railways and its possessions in Manchuria were under threat and it needed to march into Manchuria to restore order this was essentially an excuse for an invasion of Manchuria which is part of China so in 1931 Japan invaded Manchuria a large province of China it's after raw materials essentially within Manchuria and also a market for Japanese goods so what did the League of Nations do was collective security going to work where the countries of the League of Nations going to act together and get this aggression aggressive action make it reverse with it were they going to force Japan out of Manchuria a bit of a problem both China and Japan are members of the League of Nations so what's the league going to do this map is very helpful here just just just to see where things are so Korea had previously been colonized in 1911 1912 and Japan invaded Manchuria as you can see in 1931 Manchuria Manchu quote in Japanese Manju I believe in Korean so what did Lee do it's a picture of some Japanese troops on a troop ship did he use economic sanctions that remember it could use the force of world opinion and could use economic sanctions it could use military force did it did the league do those things well this is what the league actually did it set up something called the Litton committee led by Lord Lytton great rhythm now this committee had to make its way to Manchuria which was it took a long time so they have to travel all the way from Western Europe to Manchuria it took the committee a long time to make its report so that clearly there are some inefficiencies in the league here it takes a very long time for the Litton committee to make its report by which time the Japanese have effectively completed their conquest of Manchuria so what do the Litton Committee reports say the literal Port Said Japan should leave Manchuria but did it back this up with any threats no there was no trade ban nor was there a threat of military force so how did Japan respond to the League of Nations report saying look you should leave Manchuria well they did leave something and that was the league nations this is Matsuoka in a very dramatic moment in the League of Nations in 1933 basically max work says Japan finds it impossible to accept the report this is a life-or-death thing for us you know you've got your empires we are the new empire in the East we're going to bring order and civilization in the East and that's where we could just make a fair point but slight double standards here in the great powers of Britain and France when they already have foreign empires which they colonized previously so basically Japan leaves the League of Nations why was the League of Nations so weak so indecisive in dealing with a case of aggression between two members of the League of Nations you know why didn't it deal with Japan's invasion of Manchuria well missing powers are a factor the USSR wasn't a League member the USSR would certainly have opposed Japan's invasion of Manchuria quite strongly in fact Russia had previously had a claim on Manchuria and the Japanese invasion of Manchuria is very close to Russian strategic interest but the u.s. I wasn't a member of the league so a potential ally in opposing Japan was absent probably even more important the United States was not a member of Ally because of its policy of isolationism and this would mean that any economic sanctions that Britain and France and the league powers did wouldn't be effective because the USA could simply fill the trade gap what is also going on is the Great Depression and so any ban on trade with Japan is going to really hurt the economies of Britain and France and the other major powers time when they really they've got a lot of problems at home with depression so not only economic sanctions gonna hurt the powers themselves the USA would simply fill in the gap so that's not going to make them effective the USA could simply fill the trade gap there were also some sympathetic powers who were watching what was happening in Manchuria with great interest as a picture of Benito Mussolini the fascist dictator of Italy and Germany as well was looking on curiously remember it wanted to reverse some of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles Italy wanted to fight Empire so it's very curious seeing what's going to happen here Germany as well could you can get away with it so Italy in Germany looking on curiously seeing how this is going to play out why didn't Britain and France take a more concerted action why weren't they stronger and member Britain France they are the principally the strongest members of the league Britain's worried militarily it's not powerful enough that its Navy couldn't take on the Japanese isn't want to start a war it's also worried you know it can take on a war on two fronts it's gonna it's big priority is looking after its Empire not fighting the Japanese we've got demonstrated they've got a modern and efficient Navy it is worried if it does take on the Japanese can it defend its East Asian and Southeast Asian and South Asian colonies India Singapore and Hong Kong is one to risk its East Asian colonies and like we said it traded a lot with Japan and that was important especially during the Great Depression could you afford to lose that trade with Japan the French their principal concern from historical reasons is they were mostly worried about Germany so they didn't want to commit foreign troops to a very faraway conflict in an area Manchuria was not really of any strategic interest to either Britain or France so why would they spend money and potentially lose lives fighting Japan over this issue so to summarize the powers were weak they were worried they were focusing on the Great Depression and France was more worried about Germany Britain was worried about protecting its Empire didn't want to get involved in a war with Japan important powers the USA wasn't the league and could simply have filled any trade gap the USSR wasn't a member of the league and so a potential ally against Japan was lost there the depression we've mentioned again countries they're very wary about doing economic sanctions that are going to hurt them at home and this is the first time really they've dealt with a very aggressive power which simply ignores what the league is saying and the other factors in in collective security the league wasn't prepared to do them