WARNING SIGNS ON THE ROAD TO WAR

1905

Japan defeats Russia in Russo-Japanese War and becomes a world power.

1910

Japan annexes Korea, and begins eyeing China and other Asian nations as sources of oil, coal, iron and other materials.

1914

Japan joins Russia, Britain and France against Germany in World War I. It expands its influence by taking German territories in the Pacific.

1917

April 6: U.S. enters WW I. Nov. 2: U.S. signs pact with Japan to ease relations.

1931

Sept. 18: Japan invades Manchuria and sets up puppet regime.

1936

Feb. 26: Military extremists fail to overthrow the Japanese government, which had struggled with Japan’s flailing economy since the implosion of world markets. Military officers and conservatives press for aggressive expansion in Asia as a Japanese right. Nov. 25: Japan and Germany sign Anti-Comintern Pact, an alliance against Russia.

1937

July 7: Japan invades China across Manchuria.

Dec. 13: Rape of Nanking — mass killings and other atrocities by Japanese soldiers — begins in China.

1938

June 11: U.S. condemns Japan’s bombing of China. Later, a U.S. “moral embargo” opposes sale of aircraft to nations attacking civilians.

1939

Feb. 10: Japan occupies Hainan Island on the South China coast.

August: Adm. Isoroku Yamamoto takes command of Japan’s navy. September: Germany invades Poland. World War II begins.

December: U.S. halts exports of aviation fuel technology to Japan.

1940

May: U.S. shifts Pacific Fleet base to Pearl Harbor from San Diego. The move is not official until February 1941.

1941

January: Yamamoto consults his officers about the feasibility of an attack on Pearl Harbor.

Nov. 26: Unknown to the U.S., Japan’s naval fleet heads for Pearl Harbor. NOTE Times of attacks are estimates; sources vary on exact times