Japanese Empire: A History from Beginning to End by History Hourly

Author:History, Hourly
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hourly History
Published: 2023-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Coups and Political Violence

“Asia for the Asians.”

—Japanese slogan

During the late 1920s and the 1930s, the actions of some army and Japanese navy officers became increasingly violent and aimed at replacing the civilian administration with some form of military rule. Successive governments seemed powerless to curtail this violence. Members of the Kwantung Army had murdered a Chinese warlord, Chang Tso-lin, in 1929, but neither the Diet nor the military High Command seemed willing to risk pressing for the identification and arrest of those responsible. The government fell as a result, and the prime minister of the succeeding government, Hamaguchi Osachi, was assassinated by a young nationalist supporter in 1930 when he attempted to curtail the power of the Japanese military.

After the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, a new government was formed in December 1931, led by Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi. Inukai was completely opposed to the growing power of the military and attempted to curtail further military advances in Manchuria and planned to send a Japanese envoy to China to negotiate the withdrawal of Japanese troops in the area. In May 1932, after just six months in office, Inukai was murdered by a group of ultranationalist officers from the Imperial Japanese Army.

Political murder became almost commonplace, with not just politicians but prominent business leaders being killed by various military factions. The Japanese army announced that it would no longer take orders from any party cabinet, and anyone voicing opposition to the army or navy risked attack or assassination. In an effort to restore order, a retired admiral of the navy, Saitō Makoto, was appointed prime minister. Yet even this did not appease the followers of Kōdōha.

In February 1936, military members of the Kōdōha faction attempted a coup. Saitō Makoto and several leading political figures were assassinated, and the plotters were able to seize control of many government buildings in Tokyo, but critically, not the imperial palace. Emperor Hirohito soon made clear his displeasure at this latest attempt at the military to take power. Faced with the condemnation of the emperor, the remainder of the army felt it had no choice but to act against the rebels. Government buildings were retaken, and the leaders of the rebellion were rounded up, tried, and quickly executed. Supporters of the Kōdōha faction were removed from senior military positions and were replaced by members of the more moderate Tōseiha faction.

While political violence diminished following the failed coup in 1936, even members of the Tōseiha were dedicated to expanding the Japanese Empire. All were committed to the creation of a “New Order” in Asia that would see the colonial possessions of European nations replaced by what would later become known as the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, a new confederation of Asian states controlled by Japan. In Asia, there was growing feeling against colonial rule, and the creation by Japan of what appeared to be a pan-Asian group that supported independence and freedom found many supporters in other countries. Only too late would those countries understand that this new group simply replaced colonial rule with rule by Japan.

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