KEY DATES OF THE JAPANESE EMPIRE

1868: Tokugawa shogunate overthrown by radicals; Meiji period begins
1875: Japan invades Korea and establishes trade supremacy
1879: Japan annexes Ryukyu Islands
1895: Control of Formosa (Taiwan) following victory in Sino-Japanese War
1900: Japan aids China in ending Boxer Rebellion; establishes military outposts in China
1905: Japan wins Russo-Japanese War and gains more control of Asian mainland
1910: Japan annexes Korea and begins Japanese enculturation
1912: Yoshihiro succeeds to throne, Taish o period begins
1914: Japan declares war on Germany and enters World War I
1915: Japan presents China with 21 Demands
1917: Lansing-Ishi Agreement reinforces Japanese interests in China
1918: Japan launches Siberian Expedition to gain foothold in Russia; World War I ends
1919: Korean colony displays nationalism in March 1st Movement; Japan counted among ‘‘Big Five’’ at Treaty of Versailles
1921: Prime Minister Hara Takashi is assassinated; Japan signs disarmament agreements at Washington Conference, relinquishing claims to Chinese territory
1922: Agrees to naval limits in Pacific in Nine-Power Treaty
1923: Kant o earthquake levels Tokyo in September
1925: Japan becomes last Allied nation to withdraw from Russia
1928: Taish o dies and Hirohito becomes emperor
1929: Great Depression affects Japanese economy
1931: Japanese Prime Minister Rikken Minseit o is assassinated; Japanese Guandong Army occupies Manchuria, which is renamed Manchukuo
1933: Japan withdraws from League of Nations
1936: Japan signs Anti-Comintern Pact with Nazi Germany
1937: Italy joins Japan and Germany to form Axis Powers; Japan begins invasion of China, triggering  second Sino-Japanese War
1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7
1943: Cairo Conference plans return of Manchuria, Taiwan, and Pescadores Islands to China
1944: Japan gains control of Dutch, French, American, and British interests in Asia 1945:  U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6th and 9th; Defeat in World War II leads Hirohito to surrender to Allies on August 14
1946: U.S. General Douglas MacArthur drafts model Japanese constitution

In the book 'Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450' Thomas Benjamin, editor in chief, Thomsom Gale, Farmington Hills,U.S.A, 2007. p. 406. Edited to be posted  by Leopoldo Costa.