Questions about the East during World War 1.

by Show_Me_Apples

I was just looking up World War 1 and I saw that Japan entered into WW1. This blew me away as, 1. WW1 is very heavily shadowed by WW2, and 2. I had no idea that there was even an Asian Theatre in WW1, as I had understood the conflict was predominantly European.

So, my questions are as follows:

  1. Did Japan enter WW1 only to expand its borders?
  2. Were there any significant battles in the East during WW1?

I'm going to continue reading about this as I find WW1 and the things that built up to it fascinating.

davepx

Japan had been allied to Britain since 1902, and had yet to forgive Germany for seizing the Jiaozhou concession in 1897, two years after joining Russia and France to prevent Japanese territorial acquisitions in China. Jiaozhou saw the main action, the port of Qingdao falling to Japanese forces after a ten-week siege. Japan also conquered Germany's Pacific island territories, later granted to Japan under a League of Nations Mandate. Japanese efforts to keep Qingdao encountered Chinese opposition, leading to its return to China in 1922.