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VICModern HistoryQuick questions
Unit 1: Change and conflict (Ideologies and conflict 1918-1945)
Quick questions on Japan and the origins of the Pacific War 1931-1941 (VCE Modern History Unit 1)
7short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is mukden Incident?Show answer
Junior Japanese army officers (Kwantung Army) staged a bombing on the South Manchurian Railway, then used it as pretext to invade Manchuria. The civilian government in Tokyo had no advance knowledge.
What is league of Nations response?Show answer
The Lytton Report (1932) condemned Japanese action. The League's failure to act decisively (no sanctions imposed) damaged its credibility, especially among other revisionist powers (Italy, Germany). Japan withdrew from the League in March 1933.
What is stalemate and brutality?Show answer
Japan controlled major cities and coastal areas; Nationalist (Chiang Kai-shek) and Communist (Mao Zedong) Chinese forces resisted from the interior. The war absorbed million Japanese troops by 1941.
What is yamamoto plan?Show answer
Strike US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Seize the Dutch East Indies (oil) and Malaya (rubber, tin) before the US could mobilise.
What is q1?Show answer
"The attack on Pearl Harbor was a rational response to an impossible situation." To what extent do you agree? [10 marks]
What is q2?Show answer
Explain how the Manchurian Incident (1931) damaged the League of Nations. [6 marks]
What is q3?Show answer
Analyse the significance of the Second Sino-Japanese War (from 1937) in Japan's path to the Pacific War. [6 marks]
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