Before the Sun Sets: An Empire of Japan KR AAR

[Crossl3ones]

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Honour. Duty. What two better words could ever sum up the island nation of Japan, was it not destiny for a civilization founded on such principles to achieve greatness? Was it not destiny for Japan to reach out from their ancestral lands and extend such greatness to lands far away? So it was that the 20th Century ushered in a rising sun in the far East, and before it would set, the Empire of Japan would shine.

Before the troubles of the Weltkrieg brewed in Europe or Syndicalism reared its fowl head into becoming the disruptive force that would plague the world and upend the very foundations of once-prominent nations, the Empire of Japan sought to extend its influence. Having annexed Korea through threat of force and subsequent treaty, the Empire of Japan would cement their rule over the new colonial holding in the decades to follow, this land acquisition of 1910 had been seen by many analysts as the emboldened result of the Japanese new found confidence in being able to exert their influence, and dominance in the region after having undoubtedly entered the 1900's poised for even further expansion following their most recent victory over the Russian Empire in the brief but conclusive Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, which had at the time served as a defining moment of showcasing their martial prowess to the world at large, as well as having delivered a boost to national pride in their ability to contend with the western powers who never seemed to cease in their meddling in the affairs of East Asia.

However, despite the Russo-Japanese War being a decisive Japanese victory and the prestige that was earned from it, the truth of the matter remained that although great gains had been made during the Empire's constant modernization efforts of churning out better military-grade equipment, the Japanese armed forces were still largely considered by the senior members of Imperial Military Command to be ill-equipped for a prolonged state of war with a western power, that was of course if victory against such foreign foe was the desired result. Too many in the upper echelons of the Imperial Command, the victory over the Russians in 1905 was as much skilled strategy as it was good luck, and the fortune of having fought a lacking performance on the part of the Russians who were themselves undergoing a drastic attempt to modernize and struggled logistically to supply their forces so far east from their blossoming industrial hub in the west.

Imperial Japanese Army troops look out from their entrenchment during the Russo-Japanese War c.1905
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So it was, as Japan bid their time and cautiously navigated the muddy waters of international politics so as not to draw the ire of more powerful forces, they sat idly by, all the while keeping their prying eyes fixated upon the territory that had continued to elude it's sphere of influence. Though patient in their waiting, such a notion was side-swept when an opportunity too irresistible to pass over would present itself when shots rang out halfway across the world. The death of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo would be but the spark to the powder keg that was European discontent.

As the ignited powder keg erupted into the conflict we the world now know as the Weltkrieg, it was in this all-consuming war that the world would find itself bearing witness to the collapse of nations and the rise of an ideology which would uproot the old establishments of others. The Weltkrieg, devastating in the sheer scope of death and destruction it would claim, it was the Weltkrieg that many of the Imperial Diet sought to grapple on to in the hopes of ascertaining some form of new found glory in the pacific, with nearly all European attention and focus on Europe or its near surroundings, the hope arrived none to late in 1914 when the Empire found itself being courted by the Entente to act against German holdings in Asia.