Why did the Japanese invade China and why did they ultimately fail to conquer it?

SINO-JAPANESE WAR

Summary

Japan as a nation was founded on turbulent history under the rule of the Samurai class and the powerful Shogun . It was only during the Meiji Period that Japan was finally reunited .1 During this period , Japan 's economy flourished and cultivated the idea of intense protectionism for its bs against foreign aggressors particularly Korea , which served as a dagger pointing at the heart of Japan . This was the context of their foreign policy statement or fukoku kyohei in Japanese . Due to its limited natural resources for oil

, mineral ores and timber , raw materials needed to be imported to feed the growing industries . Thus there was really a need to expand and secure pertinent raw materials for production and the most likely place to start with is its neighboring country which is China . 2

As this developed , China was also beset with problems in unifying its territories because of the rag-tag divisions of areas into warlord domains .3 Political tensions between Korea and Manchuria led Japan to stage the first Sino-Japanese War with China in 1894-95 and the Russo-Japanese War in 1904-1905 .4 Both wars strengthened Japan to become the first Eastern country to hold modern military machinery and proved to the world that it can defeat any western incursion . Thus Japan became a dominant power in the Far East and finally annexed Korea and Manchuria in 1910 .5

In 1912 the Republic of China was born following the Xinhai Revolution and the demise of the Qing Dynasty . The divisions into clans under warlords further weakened the country , while Japan continued its rise a regional power base and likewise served as the number one threat to China 's stability . Ensuing events further strained relations between the two countries and the second Sino-Japan War erupted on July 7 , 1937 to last until September 9 , 1945 , with the official surrender of Japan as an aftermath of the atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki

Overview : The First Japan-China Wars

The history of Japan and China as neighbors has been mired in conflict a war that started during the Tokugawa Shogunate in 1592 due to incursions into Korea that was then a part of the mainland .6 The first Sino-Japanese War was in 1894-95 resulted from a dispute over the control of Korea which cemented the superiority of the Japanese war machinery compared to the preparations made by China 's Qing Dynasty Since 1875 Korea has been recognized as an independent State . However rivalry ensued when China tried to reassert its authority over its former province , putting pressure between the Japanese inspired modernist reformist and China 's laid back conservatives . The war started with the assassination of a Japanese Korean reformist in Shanghai and the ultimate rise in arms of a Korean religious sect , the Tonghak . China came in to aid upon the requests of Korea while Japan , in the guise of encouraging China , sent troops to aid Korean reformists and captured the royal palace in Seoul .7

Land and...