Mukden Incident / Välikohtaus / Russo-Japan war / 3-osa

The Mukden Incident, or Manchurian Incident, was a staged event engineered by Japanese military personnel as a pretext for the Japanese invasion in 1931 of northeastern China, known as Manchuria.

On September 18, 1931, Lt. Suemori Kawamoto detonated a small quantity of dynamite close to a railway line owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway near Mukden (now Shenyang). 

The explosion was so weak that it failed to destroy the track and a train passed over it minutes later, but the Imperial Japanese Army accused Chinese dissidents of the act and responded with a full invasion that led to the occupation of Manchuria, in which Japan established its puppet state of Manchukuo six months later. 

The ruse of war was soon exposed to the international community, leading Japan to diplomatic isolation and its March 1933 withdrawal from the League of Nations.

The bombing act is known as the "Liutiaohu Incident" (simplified Chinese: 柳条湖事变; traditional Chinese: 柳條湖事變; pinyin: Liǔtiáohú Shìbiàn, Japanese: 柳条湖事件, Ryūjōko-jiken), and the entire episode of events is known in Japan as the "Manchurian Incident" (Kyūjitai: 滿洲事變, Shinjitai: 満州事変, Manshū-jihen) and in China as the "September 18 Incident" (simplified Chinese: 九一八事变; traditional Chinese: 九一八事變; pinyin: Jiǔyībā Shìbiàn).

Japanese economic presence and political interest in Manchuria had been growing ever since the end of the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905). The Treaty of Portsmouth that ended the war had granted Japan the lease of the South Manchuria Railway branch (from Changchun to Lüshun) of the China Far East Railway. The Japanese government, however, claimed that this control included all the rights and privileges that China granted to Russia in the 1896 Li-Lobanov Treaty, as enlarged by the Kwantung Lease Agreement of 1898. 

This included absolute and exclusive administration within the South Manchuria Railway Zone. Japanese railway guards were stationed within the zone to provide security for the trains and tracks; however, these were regular Japanese soldiers, and they frequently carried out maneuvers outside the railway areas. There were many reports of raids on local Chinese villages by bored Japanese soldiers, and all complaints from the Chinese government were ignored.

In Nanjing in April 1931, a national leadership conference of the Republic of China was held between Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang; the Muslim General Ma Fuxiang, along with his vaunted personal guard, also attended. 
They agreed to assert China's sovereignty in Manchuria strongly.

                   
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On the morning of the following day (September 19), two artillery pieces installed at the Mukden officers' club opened fire on the Chinese garrison nearby, in response to the alleged Chinese attack on the railway. Zhang Xueliang's small air force was destroyed, and his soldiers fled their destroyed Beidaying barracks, as five hundred Japanese troops attacked the Chinese garrison of around seven thousand. 
The Chinese troops were no match for the experienced Japanese troops. By the evening, the fighting was over, and the Japanese had occupied Mukden at the cost of five hundred Chinese lives and two hundred Japanese lives.

At Dalian in the Kwantung Leased Territory, Commander-in-Chief of the Kwantung Army General Shigeru Honjō was at first appalled that the invasion plan was enacted without his permission, but he was eventually convinced by Ishiwara to give his approval after the fact. 

Honjō moved the Kwantung Army headquarters to Mukden and ordered General Senjuro Hayashi of the Chosen Army of Japan in Korea to send in reinforcements. At 04:00 on 19 September, Mukden was declared secure.


Having recently lost a major military conflict against the USSR, Zhang Xueliang, falsely claiming to be under implicit instructions from Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government (KMT) to adhere to a non-resistance policy, had already urged his men not to put up a fight and to store away any weapons in case the Japanese invaded (a piece of information that the Japanese advisors to Zhang's army knew ahead of time, hence facilitating the planning). 

Therefore, the Japanese soldiers proceeded to occupy and garrison the major cities of Changchun and Antung and their surrounding areas with minimal difficulty. However, in November, Muslim General Ma Zhanshan, the acting governor of Heilongjiang, began resistance with his provincial army, followed in January by Generals Ting Chao and Li Du with their local Jilin provincial forces. Despite this resistance, within five months of the Mukden Incident, the Imperial Japanese Army had overrun all major towns and cities in the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang.

                   
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Mantšukuo (jap. 満州国, Manshūkoku ”Mantšurian valtio”) oli Japanin alainen nukkevaltio Mantšuriassa vuosina 1932–1945. Mantšukuo perustettiin helmikuussa 1932 turvaamaan Japanin Kwantungin armeijan suorittama Mantšurian miehitys. 

Mantšukuon itsenäisyyden tunnustivat useat Euroopan valtiot, mukaan lukien Suomi, Saksa ja Neuvostoliitto, sekä muutamat Aasian ja latinalaisen Amerikan valtiot.

Mantšukuo käsitti Kiinan nykyiset Heilongjiangin, Jilinin ja Liaoningin provinssit sekä itäisimmän osan nykyistä Sisä-Mongoliaa.

                                          Venäjän joukkoja perääntymässä 1905

Japani oli Venäjän kustannuksella vahvistanut vaikutusvaltaansa Koillis-Kiinassa eli Mantšuriassa voittamastaan Venäjän-Japanin sodasta (1904–1905) alkaen. 

Guomindangin yrittäessä 1920-luvulla saada Kiinan keskushallintoa toimimaan japanilaiset alkoivat entistä voimakkaammin pelätä Mantšuriassa hankkimansa valta-aseman menettämistä.

Mantšurialainen kenraali Zhang Xueliang kieltäytyi pysäyttämästä Japanin Kwantungin armeijan vartioiman Etelä-Mantšurian rautatieyhtiön kanssa kilpailevaa rautatie- ja satamahanketta.

Lähellä Shenjangia (silloin Mukden) räjähti pommi rautatiellä, mikä tarjosi Kwantungin armeijalle syyn valloittaa hallussaan olevan rautatievyöhykkeen lisäksi Etelä-Mantšuria 18. syyskuuta 1931 alkaen muutamassa päivässä.

Pommiräjähdyksestä vastuullisiksi japanilaiset epäilivät kiinalaisia sotilaita. Kwantungin armeija hyökkäsi kiinalaisia vastaan, jotka olivat juuri teloittaneet japanilaiseksi vakoilijaksi epäilemänsä henkilön. Kiinan armeija ei vastustanut aktiivisesti japanilaisia ymmärtäen välikohtauksen olevan syy Mantšurian haltuun ottamiseen. 

Japanilainen kenraali Kenji Doihara hirtettiin sotarikollisena 1948 tuomittuna hyökkäyssodan suunnittelusta Mantšurian valtaamiseksi. 
Hänen epäillään everstinä toimiessaan järjestäneen Mukdenin välikohtauksen.


Yhdysvaltain Kiinan asianhoitaja Johnson ilmoitti 22. syyskuuta 1931 Yhdysvaltain ulkoministeri Stimsonille, että Japanin menettely oli 27. elokuuta 1928 solmitun Kellogg–Briand-sopimuksen vastainen. Sopimus kielsi hyökkäyssodan kansainvälisen politiikan keinona.