Japanese+Invades+Manchuria

[[image:http://www.ww2incolor.com/d/260792-2/C__pia+de+a+Manchuria+_15_1 width="415" height="290"]]
==On September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwangtung Army attacked Chinese troops in Manchuria. This invasion was called the Manchurian Incident. The attack was an attempt for Japan to take control of East Asia, by overtaking a Chinese harbor town that would allow them to extend their empire very easily. They ruled in Korea, but they also controlled the Manchurian railway. They had claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the railway, and so they attacked the Chinese army. The civilian government of Japan told it to withdraw, but they attacked and captured the city of Shanghai in China. By February 1932, the Japanese had conquered Manchuria and set up a Japanese-controlled state called Manchukuo, run by the former Emperor of China. Thousands of Chinese soldiers had been killed, so China appealed to the League of Nations. They recommended that Manchuria be returned to China. A Special Assembly of the League was held in February 1933, where 40 nations voted that Japan was to blame for the war and should withdraw. Only the representative for Japan voted against it, so instead of pulling out of Manchuria, Japan walked out of the League. **This was one of the causes of World War II, because it became clear to everybody that treaties and efforts of the League of Nations were not strong enough to stop an aggressive nation.**==