Lytton Report
The Lytton Report ( リ ッ ト ン 調査 団 , Ritton Chōsandan ) is the name of the report presented on October 2, 1932 by the Lytton Commission set up by the League of Nations on November 21, 1931 . The commission was appointed at the suggestion of the Japanese representative of the League of Nations, Yoshizawa Kenkichi , to investigate the Mukden incident two months earlier .
The Commission
The name Lytton Commission is derived from the name of the chairman, the former Viceroy of India , Victor Bulwer-Lytton . Other members were the French General Henri Claudel, the Italian Count Luigi Aldrovandi Marescotti , the American General Frank Ross McCoy and the German Heinrich Schnee .
The report
In order to clarify the question of guilt, the commission was to be given unrestricted freedom of movement, but had no authority to issue instructions to the Japanese troops stationed in the region and therefore did not get enough information. Japan deliberately proposed the establishment of a commission in order to further promote the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo in the meanwhile occupied Manchuria . Japan's hopes came true, as the report was not finalized until September 1932, about a year after the first incident. In the meantime, the Japanese had completed the establishment of Manchukuo (proclamation of the state of Manchukuo on February 18, 1932). Due to the limited scope of investigation by the commission, the report was worded very vaguely, leaving room for interpretation and avoiding open blame for the Mukden incident. The Japanese continued to claim that the attack came from the Chinese side and that they had only acted in self-defense when they attacked Chinese garrisons that night. Although the unlawfulness of Japan's further action was noted, the report suggested that Manchuria should be autonomous within the Republic of China , while recognizing Japan's "special rights and interests".
The Lytton report led to great disappointment in China, as no League of Nations sanctions against Japan were possible on its basis. According to the current state of research, it is assumed that the attack in Mukden was a staging by the Japanese Kwantung army in order to have an excuse to occupy Manchuria.
Aftermath
As early as September 1932, before the report was officially presented, Japan was building official diplomatic relations with Manchukuo, which suggests that the Japanese were already familiar with the content of the report and were satisfied with it. When the report was presented to the League of Nations in February 1933, several states filed a motion to blame Japan for the Mukden incident despite the report. Thereupon the Japanese envoy to the League of Nations, Matsuoka Yosuke, left the hall and Japan announced on March 27, 1933 that it was leaving the League of Nations. In the following years, Japan used the internal instability of China to expand its position in the north of the country through further military campaigns until the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 .
See also
literature
- Conferences and contracts. Contract Ploetz. Handbook of Historically Significant Meetings and Agreements. Part II. 4th volume: Most recent times, 1914-1959 . 2nd expanded and changed edition. Edited by Helmuth KG Rönnefahrt and Heinrich Euler. Würzburg: AG Ploetz Verlag, 1959, pp. 115-119.
- David Bergamini: Japan's Imperial Conspiracy ; William Heinemann Ltd, London 1971.
- Ian Nish: Japan's struggle with internationalism: Japan, China, and the League of Nations, 1931–3. London / New York 2000, ISBN 0-7103-0437-4 .
- Heinrich Schnee: Peoples and Powers in the Far East. Impressions from the trip with the Manchuria Commission , Berlin 1933.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Summary of "Lyttonberichtes" see conferences and treaties. Contract Ploetz. Handbook of Historically Significant Meetings and Agreements. Part II. 4th volume: Most recent times, 1914-1959 . 2nd expanded and changed edition. Edited by Helmuth KG Rönnefahrt and Heinrich Euler. Würzburg: AG Ploetz Verlag, 1959, pp. 115-119.