Events preceding World War II in Asia

Before World War II, there were a lot of things going on in Asia that made it difficult for countries to get along. Countries were fighting for power and control over other countries. In 1931, Japan invaded what is now North Korea and China, leading to a full-scale war between those two countries and Japan. This war set the stage for other countries in the region to get involved. In 1937, Japan and China went to war and Japan soon occupied most of China. Most countries in the region saw this as a threat and started getting ready to fight Japan. In 1940, Japan signed the Tripartite Pact with Germany and Italy, in which they agreed to help each other in the event of a war. Other countries in the region, like the United States, increasingly saw Japan as a threat and started getting ready to fight them. As a result, tensions rose in Asia and created the conditions that would lead to World War II.