Road to Infamy: Interwar Pacific Under the Washington Naval Treaty

Towards the end of the 19th century, internal weakness of China and heightened worldwide imperialism led western powers in China to carve out respective spheres of influence in which they exerted de facto political power and gained exclusive privileges to commerce and resources, such as the rights to banking, mining, and railroad construction. German initiated the “scramble for China” when it coerced Chinese government to accept a list of demands, including major concessions in Shantung province.[1] Britain followed by establishing its own influences along the Yangtze River; Russia then gained control of Manchuria; Japan annexed Korea and Fukien; France acquired authority in Kwangtung, Guangxi, and Yunnan provinces.