Empire of Japan

State · 1868–1945 CE · at its largest around 1943 CE

Meiji Japan transformed itself in a single generation from a samurai society into an industrial power with railways, schools and a modern army. Its ambitions turned into militarism and brutal conquest across Asia, ending in the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

On its lands while it lasted

Joseon (1392–1897 CE): Dynasty founded by Yi Seong-gye with its capital at Hanseong (Seoul); it ruled Korea for five centuries.
Tokugawa shogunate (1603–1868 CE): Military government based at Edo that brought over two centuries of peace to Japan.
Qing dynasty (1636–1912 CE): Hong Taiji proclaimed the Qing dynasty at Mukden; the Manchu dynasty ruled China from 1644 until 1912.
José Rizal (1861 CE – 1896 CE): Filipino writer and reformer whose novels exposed Spanish colonial abuses; his execution in Manila in 1896 fuelled the Philippine Revolution.
Sun Yat-sen (1866 CE – 1925 CE): Revolutionary leader and first provisional president of the Republic of China, honoured as the "Father of the Nation".
Meiji Restoration (1868 CE): Imperial rule was restored under Emperor Meiji, launching Japan's rapid modernisation.
Eruption of Krakatoa (1883 CE): Catastrophic eruption in the Sunda Strait in August 1883 whose tsunamis killed more than 36,000 people; its explosion was heard thousands of kilometres away.
Chiang Kai-shek (1887 CE – 1975 CE): Nationalist leader of the Republic of China who led it against Japan and, after 1949, ruled on Taiwan.
Ho Chi Minh (1890 CE – 1969 CE): Vietnamese revolutionary who led the Viet Minh independence movement, declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and led North Vietnam until his death.
Mao Zedong (1893 CE – 1976 CE): Communist revolutionary who founded the People's Republic of China and led it until his death.
First Sino-Japanese War (1894–1895 CE): Japan defeated Qing China over control of Korea, gaining Taiwan.
Philippine Revolution (1896–1898 CE): Revolt against Spanish rule begun by the Katipunan secret society in 1896, which led to the proclamation of Philippine independence in 1898.
1911 Revolution (1911–1912 CE): Revolution that overthrew the Qing dynasty and established the Republic of China, ending over two thousand years of imperial rule.
Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945 CE): Full-scale war between China and Japan, merging into the Second World War; the Nationalist government moved its capital to Chongqing.
Atomic bombing of Hiroshima (1945 CE): On 6 August 1945 the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, the first use of a nuclear weapon in war.