Empire of Japan
RegionJapan/East Asia
Period1868-1947
Peak Size7.4 million km2 at peak (1942)
Founded ByEmperor Meiji
About Empire of Japan
The Japanese state from the Meiji Restoration to the postwar constitution. Japan industrialized rapidly and defeated China in 1895 and Russia in 1905. It annexed Taiwan and Korea and invaded China in 1937. Its expansion across Asia and the Pacific in World War II ended in defeat in 1945, followed by Allied occupation.
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