Manchurian Incident

The Manchurian Incident, also known as the Mukden Incident, occurred in September 1931 when Japanese soldiers secretly set off a small explosion on a railway in Manchuria (northeastern China). Japan blamed Chinese dissidents for the act and used it as a pretext to invade and occupy the region. The incident marked Japan’s aggressive expansion into China, leading to increased tensions that contributed to the broader conflict of the Second Sino-Japanese War and escalating tensions leading up to World War II. It was a strategic move by Japan to justify military aggression and control over resource-rich Manchuria.