Fix the mistake: Taishō period

World War I and Japan

In 1914, a great war broke out in Europe. Japan achieved economic development and an improvement in its international position because of this opportunity, but new problems also emerged.

Basic Knowledge

In June 1914, World War I broke out following the Sarajevo Incident (the assassination of the Austrian archduke and his wife). Japan entered the war on the side of the Allied Powers, using the Anglo-Japanese Alliance as a pretext, and occupied the German territories of the Shandong Peninsula (Qingdao) and the South Sea Islands. In 1915, Japan presented China (the Republic of China under Yuan Shikai) with the Twenty-One Demands and forcibly obtained recognition of its rights in Shandong Province and an extension of its leases on Lüshun and Dalian. This provoked strong opposition among the Chinese people and later led to the May Fourth Movement (1919).

In Depth (Background and Effects)

During the war, European exports stopped, allowing Japan to dominate Asian markets and experience a wartime economic boom. Heavy and chemical industries developed, and a new wealthy class called the narikin appeared. However, rapidly rising prices made life difficult for ordinary people. In 1918, rice prices soared because of rice hoarding in anticipation of the Siberian Intervention (the anti-Soviet intervention war), and the Rice Riots, which began among housewives in Toyama Prefecture, spread nationwide. The cabinet of Terauchi Masatake resigned after failing to suppress the riots, and Japan’s first full-scale party cabinet, led by Hara Takashi (the Rikken Seiyūkai), was formed. Hara was called the “commoner prime minister.”

Points of Caution (Easily Confused)

① The Sarajevo Incident (1914, trigger of World War I), the Manchurian Incident (1931), and the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (1937) were different events. ② Japan entered the war on the side of the Allied Powers, not the side of the Central Powers of Germany and Austria. ③ The Rice Riots (1918) and the Great Kanto Earthquake (1923) are easily confused, but the Rice Riots were a price problem, while the earthquake was a natural disaster. ④ Distinguish Hara Takashi (the commoner prime minister, Japan’s first full-scale party-cabinet prime minister who was assassinated) from Ito Hirobumi (the first prime minister, assassinated in Harbin).

Practice

1. What 1914 incident triggered World War I?
2. What was the name of the demand Japan presented to China in 1915?
3. Who was the prime minister who formed Japan’s first full-scale party cabinet in 1918?