Notes

China was known as the place for trade. All the countries used China for trade. John hay then created the Open Door policy, stating that no countries can take over China. Despite this, Japan decided to take over Manchuria. This is called Lebensraum. The Japanese believed that it was natural for their country to expand into other places. Their motive was because they were depressed over declining exports and the lack of natural resources. This was called the Manchurian Crisis of 1931On the other hand, the US was isolationist, being that we didn't expand into differnt countries. We put sanctions and embargo oil from different countries. In 1937 the Japanese attacked the USS Panay. In their defense, they claimed that the boat was unmarked, without US flag. Because of this, they had at pay an indemnity. On December 6th, 1945, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, in response to the heavy sanctions the US had earlier put on them. This was the catalyst in involving the US with WW2. The US officially declared war on Japan on December 7th. A couple months after, the US declared the Potsdam declaration, which states that Japan will surrender. The Japanese did not comply, leading to the detonation of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.