U.S. Commodore Matthew Perry opened American trade relations with Japan in 1854. President Theodore Roosevelt brokered a 1905 peace treaty in the Russo-Japanese War that was favorable to Japan. The two signed a Commerce and Navigation Treaty in 1911. Japan had also sided with the U.S., Great Britain, and France during World War I.
During that time, Japan also embarked on forming an empire modeled after the British Empire. Japan made no secret that it wanted economic control of the Asia-Pacific region.
By 1931, however, U.S.-Japanese relations had soured. Japan's civilian government, unable to cope with the strains of the global Great Depression, had given way to a militarist government. The new regime was prepared to strengthen Japan by forcibly annexing areas in the Asia-Pacific. It started with China.
World War II really began when the Japanese army seized Manchuria in 1931. But that was not the starting point of Japanese aggression. Japan started in business as a land-grabbing power in a small way. Twelve years later the Japanese began carving out sections of China, starting with Manchuria in 1931.
a philosophical movement that dominated in Europe during the 18th century, was centered around the idea that reason is the primary source of authority and legitimacy, and advocated such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.
