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Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
GUNKOKUSHUGI
軍国主義
"militarism"
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The emperor wanted no part of the rebellion, and he flatly denounced them. The insurrection was quickly crushed. The ringleaders were tried in secret, and nineteen of them were shot. Seventy others were imprisoned.
One of the insurrection’s ringleaders was Kita Ikki. Kita, a former socialist, had written a manifesto called Outline Plan for the Reconstruction of Japan. The book, which was popular among many army officers, advocated the abolition of political parties and peerages, and caps on personal wealth. It predicted that Japan, as the leading industrial and military power of Asia, would lead its neighbors in vanquishing Western colonialism in the region. (Kita Ikki was among the nineteen who were shot by authorities.)
Militarism and the Path to War
Later in 1936, Japan signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. On the surface, this agreement was a pact against communism. Between the lines, however, it also contained a pledge of mutual aid in the event that any of the pact’s members went to war with the United States.
By now, Japan was already engaged in sporadic warfare in neighboring China. Japanese troops had been seizing land and skirmishing with Chinese troops since 1931. In July of 1937, the war in China expanded. Around the same time, Japanese and Russian troops began fighting along the Manchurian-Siberian border.
In April of 1938, the Japanese government passed the National General Mobilization Law. This law channeled economic and societal resources toward the war effort. Two years later, political parties were banned, and replaced by a military-controlled “Imperial Rule Assistance Association.” Japan’s militarist factions had now seized control of the country.
