Mukden Incident

The Mukden Incident, also known as the Manchurian Incident, was an event set up by Japanese soldiers as a reason for invading the northern part of China known as Manchuria in 1931.^[1][2][3]

Manchurian Incident
Japanese troops entering Shenyang during the Mukden Incident.
Date September 18, 1931 – February 18, 1932 Location Inner Manchuria, Republic of China Result Japanese victory
Belligerents
Republic of China	Empire of Japan
Commanders and leaders
Zhang Xueliang, Ma Zhanshan, Feng Zhanhai	Shigeru Honjō, Jirō Minami
Strength
160,000	30,000 – 66,000
Casualties and losses
?	?

On September 18, 1931, a small amount of dynamite was blown up by a Japanese soldier near Japan's South Manchuria Railway near Mukden.^[4] Although the explosion was so weak that the rail was still usable, the Japanese army, blaming the action on the Chinese people, fully invaded Manchuria, leading to its occupation. Japan set up its puppet state of Manchukuo six months later. Soon the world knew the event, leading Japan to diplomatic isolation and its withdrawal from the League of Nations.^[5]

References

1. The Cambridge History of Japan: The twentieth century, p. 294, Peter Duus, John Whitney Hall, Cambridge University Press: 1989 ISBN 978-0521223577
2. An instinct for war: scenes from the battlefields of history, p. 315, Roger J. Spiller, ISBN 978-0674019416; Harvard University Press
3. Concise dictionary of modern Japanese history, p. 120, Janet Hunter, University of California Press: 1984, ISBN 978-0520045576
4. Fenby, Jonathan. Chiang Kai-shek: China's Generalissimo and the Nation He Lost. Carroll & Graf: 2003, p. 202
5. Encyclopedia of war crimes and genocide, p. 128, Leslie Alan Horvitz & Christopher Catherwood, Facts on File (2011); ISBN 978-0816080830