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Taishō democracy, the turn to militarism, and Japan's road through the Pacific War to defeat.

Use the timeline below to navigate through major events and milestones.

Taishō & Early Shōwa · 1912–1945 AD
大正・昭和 · Democracy and War

Imperial Japan

From the brief liberal spring of "Taishō democracy," through the Great Kantō earthquake and the slide into militarism and army rule, to the conquest of Manchuria, the war on China, and the vast Pacific war that ended over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Slide across three fateful decades in which a modern, cultured Japan reached for empire, plunged into total war, and met catastrophe.

1918 AD
Taishō Democracy
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1918 AD

Taishō Democracy
  • Political

    Party government and rice riots

    Prime Minister Hara Takashi
    Via Wikimedia Commons

    Amid nationwide rice riots, Japan gains its first commoner prime minister, in the liberal years of Taishō democracy.

7 milestones

Meanwhile

Around 1918 AD

Full Chronicle

Imperial Japan

From the brief liberal spring of "Taishō democracy," through the Great Kantō earthquake and the slide into militarism and army rule, to the conquest of Manchuria, the war on China, and the vast Pacific war that ended over Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Slide across three fateful decades in which a modern, cultured Japan reached for empire, plunged into total war, and met catastrophe.

  1. Taishō Democracy

    • Party government and rice riots

      Amid nationwide rice riots, Japan gains its first commoner prime minister, in the liberal years of Taishō democracy.

  2. Catastrophe

    • The Great Kantō earthquake

      A colossal earthquake and firestorm devastate Tokyo and Yokohama, killing well over a hundred thousand people.

  3. The Turn to Militarism

    • The Manchurian Incident

      The army seizes Manchuria on a staged pretext, defying the government and the League of Nations.

  4. The War in China

    • The Second Sino-Japanese War

      Full-scale war engulfs China, marked by the atrocity of the Nanjing Massacre.

  5. The Pacific War

    • Pearl Harbor

      Japan attacks the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor and sweeps across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

  6. The Tide Turns

    • The Battle of Midway

      American carriers sink four Japanese flattops at Midway, turning the tide of the Pacific War.

  7. Defeat

    • Hiroshima, Nagasaki and surrender

      After atomic bombs fall on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Emperor Hirohito announces Japan's surrender.