How did militarists gain control of Japan?

During the
1920s and 1930s, the Japanese economy relied heavily on the export of silk and cotton textiles.
Silk prices dropped dramatically because of the depression, which began in 1929. Meanwhile, the
Chinese started to boycott Japanese cotton goods for political reasons. Many people in Japan
argued for a new, aggressive foreign policy to acquire control of Manchuria, which was formally
part of China and had a substantial Chinese population, and where the Japanese army had
maintained a presence since the end of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905; in this way, Japan hoped
to retain at least the Manchurian market and Manchurias resources. The Chiang Kai Shek
nationalists reunified China in the late 1920s and wanted, on the contrary, to free China from
Japanese military and economic influence as much as possible.

Young Japanese
officers believed that the Japanese government, which had agreed to naval armaments restrictions
in negotiations with European powers at the 1924 Washington conference, was undermining the
military strength of Japan. In September, 1931, these young officers decided to use the Kwantung
army, the separate branch of the Japanese military that was stationed in Machuria, to launch an
all-out conquest of Manchuria, which they turned into the Japanese vassal state of Manchukuo.
The Japanese government made only weak and unsuccessful attempts to reassert its authority over
the popular, influential officers and to contain them as they continued to expand from their
Manchurian power base into the neighboring Chinese provinces.

The Japanese
militarists invested large sums of money into the development of industry (including steel) and
mining in Manchuria. By this time, Japan was growing increasingly dependent on the resources of
its other colonies, in particular Korea and Taiwan. This gave an additional boost to domestic
imperialist propaganda.

The inevitable confrontation with Chiang Kai Shek
forces in July 1937 quickly turned into a full-fledged war, which eventually became part of
World War II. By this time, the militarists were shaping Japanese policies and controlling the
government.