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The world's largest naval powers gathered in Washington, D.C. for a conference to discuss naval disarmament and ways to relieve growing tensions in East Asia. The United Kingdom, Japan, France, and Italy were invited to take part in talks on reducing naval capacity. Belgium, China, Portugal, and the Netherlands were invited to join in discussions on the situation in the Far East. Three major treaties emerged: the Five- Power Treaty, the Four- Power Treaty, and the Nine- Power Treaty.
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Germany and the Soviet Union pledged neutrality in the event of an attack on the other by a third party for the next five years. This reaffirmed the German-Soviet Treaty of Rapallo signed in 1922. The treaty went into effect on the same day it was signed.
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Japanese claimed that Chinese soldiers had sabotaged the Manchurian railway, and attacked the Chinese army. The Chinese army did not fight back since they knew that it would give the Japanese a reason to invade Manchuria. The Japanese invaded anyway, but he civilian government of Japan told it to withdraw. By Feb. 1932, the Japanese conquered Manchuria, and set up a Japanese-controlled state called Manchukuo. Thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians had been killed by the ruthless Japan army.
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In 1931, a dispute near the Chinese city of Mukden (Shenyang) precipitated events that led to the Japanese conquest of Manchuria. In response, the U.S. Secretary of State Henry Stimson issued what would become known as the Stimson Doctrine. This stated that the U.S. would not recognize any agreements between the Japanese and Chinese that limited free commercial intercourse in the region. This proved incredibly ineffectual in the face of ongoing Japanese aggression and expansion.
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The Japanese delegation withdrew from the League of Nations Assembly after the assembly had adopted a report blaming Japan for events in Manchuria. The assembly's report, recommending that Japan withdrew her troops occupying Manchuria and restore the country to Chinese sovereignty, was adopted, 42 to 1, Japan voting against it.
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British and French prime ministers Neville Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier sign the Munich Pact with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. The agreement averted the outbreak of war but gave Czechoslovakia away to German conquest.
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