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Manchukuo ( pinyin Mǎnzhouguó, literally "State of Manchuria") was a nominally independent puppet state set up by the Empire of Japan in Manchuria (Northeastern China) which existed from 1931 to 1945.

1 Political history of Manchukuo

Inner Manchuria came under strong Russian influence in the 1890s with the building of the Chinese Eastern Railway through Harbin to VladivostokVladivostok ( Russian: ) is a city in Russia. It is the home port of the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai. The city's name means "controlling the East" in the Russian language. In the Chinese language, the city. JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honshese influence replaced Russian in Inner Manchuria as a result of the Russo-Japanese WarThe Russo-Japanese War ( 1904- 1905) was a conflict that grew out of the rival imperialist ambitions of Imperial Russia and Japan in Manchuria and Korea. It resulted in a surprise victory for Japan, establishing Japan as a major world power. Russian 500 p (1904 - 1905), and Japan laid the South Manchurian Railway in 1906 to Port ArthurDalian ( Traditional Chinese: , Simplified Chinese: , Hanyu Pinyin: Dalian, Wade-Giles: Ta-lien), formerly Luda or Luta is an ice-free seaport and a sub-provincial city in eastern Liaoning Province of the Northeastern People's Republic of China ( Manchuri (Japanese: Ryojun).

Between World War IWorld War I (also known as the First World War , the Great War the War of the Nations and the "War to End All Wars") was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to 1918. No previous conflict had mobilized so many soldiers, or involved so many in the field of and World War II Manchuria became a political and military battleground. Japanese influence extended into Outer Manchuria in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, but Outer Manchuria had reverted to Soviet Russian control by 1925. Japan took advantage of the disorder following the Russian Revolution to occupy Outer Manchuria but Soviet successes and American economic pressure forced Japanese withdrawal.

During the period of the warlords in China, Chang Tso-Lin established himself in Inner Manchuria but the Japanese Kwantung Army found him too independent and assassinated him (1928). After the Japanese invasion of China in 1931, Japan declared the area independent from China on February 18, 1932 as the Great Manchu State (Manchukuo, in pinyin, 'Manzhouguo')) from China. The city of Changchun, renamed Xinjing (新京) or "New capital" became the capital of the new entity.

The Japanese installed Puyi, the last Chinese emperor of the Qing Dynasty, as chief executive in 1932, and in 1934 he became emperor of Manchukuo with the reign name of "Kang Teh" or "Tranquility and Virtue". Manchukuo thus became the "Great Manchu Empire". Zheng Xiaoxu served as Manchukuo's first prime minister until 1935, when Zhang Jinghui succeeded him.

In this manner Japan formally detached Manchukuo from China in the course of the 1930s. With Japanese investment and rich natural resources, the area became an industrial powerhouse. Education focused on practical work training for boys and domestic work for girls, all based on adherence to the "Kingly Way" and stressing loyalty to the Emperor. Eventually, Japanese became the official language taught in Manchukuo schools and Shinto became the national religion.

Few nations recognized the new state, and the League of Nations declared that Manchuria remained rightfully part of China, leading Japan to resign from the League in 1934. Of the major powers only Japan, Italy, and Germany recognized Manchukuo diplomatically. In addition Manchukuo gained recognition from the Japanese collaborationist government of China under Wang Jingwei, El Salvador, Costa Rica and the Vatican City State.

Prior to World War II, the Japanese colonized Manchukuo and used it as a base from which to invade China. Japan's invasion of China proved to be a very costly war (in men, matériel and political integrity) -- as costly to Japan as Operation Barbarossa ( Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union) proved to Germany -- and for the most part for similar reasons.

In spite of the country's name, the Manchus actually consituted a minority in Manchukuo, which had Chinese as its largest ethnic group, along with large numbers of Koreans, Japanese, Mongols and smaller minorities.

The Emperor had no power at all, and all of the Manchu ministers only served as front-men for their Japanese vice-ministers, who actually made all decisions. Emperor Kang Teh lived in constant fear of his life, with some justification. The Japanese told him how to dress, how to worship and even tried to control whom he married.

On August 8, 1945 the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in accordance with the agreement at the Yalta Conference, and invaded Manchukuo from Russian Manchuria. Emperor Kang Teh had hoped to escape to Japan to surrender to the Americans, but the Soviets captured him and eventually extradited him to China, where the authorities threw him in prison as a war criminal along with all other captured Manchukuo officials.

From 1945 to 1948, Manchuria (Inner Manchuria) served as a base area for the People's Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War against the Kuomintang. With Soviet encouragement, the Chinese Communists used Manchuria as a staging ground until the end of the civil war in 1949.