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The Black Ships
1853: The black ships as the japanese described them at the time, had come to trade with other nations. The Japanese was threatened by the black ships into signing a treaty with the U.S. -
Japan: A strong and Independent nation
1860: In the 1860s the ruling shogun was overthrown, and a 15 year old emperor named Mutsuhito took the throne. -
America becomes a pacific power
1898: America becomes a pacific power. In 1898, the U.S. and Spain fought a brief war. The U.S. won that war and took over the Spain’s pacific possessions, including the Philippine Islands. -
The Great Depression
1929: The great depression. The 1929 New York Stock Exchange Crash and the failure of the important European banks plunged the entire world into an economic depression. This hit japan really hard, they had no natural resources, the nation had to import oil,iron, steel and other commodities to keep its industry and military forces alive. -
China in Flames
1937: In 1937, China and Japan went into war, China retaliate but Japan kept advancing further and further. In December the Japanese troops captured the city of Nanking. In the months to follow they massacred over 300,000 chinese civilians.
1940: Japan responds to America’s actions by joining the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the Tripartite pact. -
The tripartite pact
1940: Japan responds to America’s actions by joining the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy in the Tripartite pact. -
War Warning
Fall.1941: In late 1941 Japanese army general Hideki Tojo became the prime minister. Tojo was not afraid to challenge Britain and the U.S. for power in East Asia. Japan started planning surprise attacks all across the pacific. -
Japan Bombs Pearl Harbor
December 7, 1941: On December 6, the japanese government began sending long messages to tits diplomats in Washington. The last part of the message arrived in the early morning hours of december 7. about to break off further negotiations with the U.S. They did not know that the message was already decoded. The U.S knew Japan was going to bomb somewhere in the pacific but the warning did not reach Pearl Harbor until 8am. -
Martial Law
Martial Law: In Hawaii, martial law was declared within hours of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7., 1941.
