Japanese Empire

The state and colonial holdings ruled by Japan from the late nineteenth century until its defeat in 1945. Its expansion across East Asia and the Pacific was driven by imperial rule, military power, and resource ambitions.

Meiji Restoration: The 1868 political transformation that restored imperial rule and launched Japan’s rapid modernization. Its reforms built the centralized state and military that enabled overseas expansion.
Korea under Japanese rule: The period of Japanese colonial rule in Korea from 1910 to 1945. It shows how the empire imposed political control while reshaping Korean society and economy.
Second Sino-Japanese War: The 1937–1945 war between Japan and China, which became part of the wider Second World War. The invasion deepened Japanese occupation and turned imperial expansion into a prolonged continental war.
British Empire: A global network of territories governed or controlled by Britain over several centuries. Its older global reach contrasts with Japan’s later, concentrated expansion in Asia and the Pacific.
First Sino-Japanese War: The 1894–1895 war between Qing China and Japan over influence in Korea. Victory gave Japan Taiwan and established it as a regional imperial power.
Taiwan under Japanese rule: The period of Japanese colonial rule in Taiwan from 1895 to 1945. Taiwan illustrates the empire’s administrative and economic governance of a colony.
Nanjing Massacre: The mass killing and sexual violence committed by Japanese forces after capturing Nanjing in 1937. It is a defining atrocity of Japan’s war in China and occupation practices.
French colonial empire: The overseas territories ruled by France from the sixteenth century into the twentieth. Its colonial institutions provide a comparison for Japan’s systems of overseas rule.
Russo-Japanese War: The 1904–1905 war between Russia and Japan over control in Northeast Asia. Its outcome secured Japanese influence in Korea and southern Manchuria.
South Manchuria Railway: A Japanese-controlled railway company that operated in southern Manchuria from 1906 to 1945. Railways and company operations tied territorial control to settlement, transport, and resource development.

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