4 ms·
They started with invading German islands in the Pacific Ocean in WW1 - this got them into the League of Nations. This was just 20 years after they invaded Kore
by stephengillie 8y ago
They started with invading German islands in the Pacific Ocean in WW1 - this got them into the League of Nations. This was just 20 years after they invaded Korea and the Liaodong peninsula, and just 50 years after the Meiji revolution ended Samurai culture. The turnabout in culture is very remarkable.
- nkoren 8y agoThey started well before then, with the Russo-Japanese war in 1904. 36 years after the Meiji restoration, they took on Russia and won. Not that military prowess should necessarily be the metric of civilisation, but Japan was/is a damned impressive culture by that metric, as well as many others.
- stephengillie 8y agoRussia was hoping to get a warm-water port in the bay between Liaodong and Korea. Too bad Japan was already there, having invaded 8 years prior.