1931–1945Reputable sourceWell documented
Imperial Japan and the Second World War
On the timeline · around 1931–1945 · Modern Japan
What happened
Pursuing an empire in Asia, Japan seized Manchuria in 1931 and invaded China in 1937. On 7 December 1941 it attacked the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor, opening the Pacific War. After years of brutal fighting, Japan surrendered in 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Why it matters
Imperial expansion brought Japan to catastrophe — devastating much of Asia, ending in the only wartime use of nuclear weapons, and closing the era of Japanese militarism with total defeat and foreign occupation.
Sources
Related timelines
- World War II → — Japan in the Pacific War