Japonská válka - Vzestup a pád Země vycházejícího slunce 1931-1945 – Skřivan Aleš (2021)

The reforms during the reign of Emperor Mutsuhito-Meiji (reigned 1867–1912) affected most areas of Japanese society and ultimately contributed significantly to Japan's emergence as a great power on the threshold of the 20th century. Modernization led to the activation of Japanese foreign policy, which focused primarily on Korea and China. After the victorious war with China from 1894 to 1895, Japanese influence in Korea was firmly established, and Tokyo annexed Korea in 1910. By signing an alliance treaty with Great Britain on January 30, 1902, Japan gained important support for its power struggle with Tsarist Russia, which, like Japan, had significant interests in Manchuria in the northeast of the Chinese Empire. Victory in the war with Russia from 1904 to 1905 catapulted Japan among the great powers, although its interests were initially limited to the Far East. After World War I, Western powers attempted to weaken Japan's new position, but it did not abandon its expansionist goals on the continent. A significant rise in nationalism in China, primarily represented by the Kuomintang, also posed an obstacle to their realization. On the threshold of the 1930s, Japan decided to assert its goals in China by force, and in 1931 the first phase began...