Japanese Invasion of Manchuria and the Mukden Incident
- Date
- 18 September 1931 (Manchukuo declared 1932)
- Category
- Military & conflict
- Region
- East Asia (Manchuria / Japan)
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
On 18 September 1931, officers of Japan's Kwantung Army detonated explosives on a Japanese-owned railway near Mukden (Shenyang) and blamed Chinese forces, staging the false-flag Mukden Incident as a pretext for invasion.
Japanese troops rapidly overran Manchuria, and in February 1932 Japan established the puppet state of Manchukuo, installing the last Qing emperor, Puyi, as nominal ruler. The conquest exposed the weakness of the post-war international order: the League of Nations dispatched the Lytton Commission, whose 1932 report rejected Japan's self-defence claims and refused to recognise Manchukuo. Rather than withdraw, Japan resigned from the League in March 1933. The episode marked the collapse of the system of collective security in Asia, emboldened Japanese militarists who increasingly dominated civilian government, and is often described as an early step on the road to the Second World War in the Pacific.
One piece of history in your inbox, weekly
New empires, events and features as they land — one good email a week. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Empires active in 18 September 1931 (Manchukuo declared 1932)
- Empire of Japan1868 CE – 1947 CE
- Soviet Union1922 CE – 1991 CE
- French Colonial Empire (Second)1830 CE – 1962 CE
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
Related military & conflict events
- Italy Invades Ethiopia1935–1936
- Second Sino-Japanese War and the Nanjing Massacre7 July 1937 – 2 September 1945
- German invasion of Poland and outbreak of World War II1 September 1939
- Attack on Pearl Harbor7 December 1941
- Operation Barbarossa: German invasion of the Soviet Union22 June 1941
- Battle of Stalingrad23 August 1942 – 2 February 1943
Further reading
The wider story
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan
Pulitzer-winning life of the emperor and his empire.
Get it on Amazon →As an Amazon Associate, Human Saga earns from qualifying purchases.