The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

by Daniel Yergin

ON THE NIGHT of September 18, 1931, soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army, based in the semi-autonomous Chinese province of Manchuria, carried out a bomb attack against the South Manchurian Railway. The actual evidence of the explosion was scant; only about thirty-one inches of track were affected, and damage was so negligible that a speeding express train passed over the spot a few minutes later with no difficulty. But this was by intention, for the Japanese controlled the railroad line; their aim was to keep damage to a minimum—and blame it on the Chinese. The Japanese Army now had the desired pretext to launch an attack on Chinese forces, which it proceeded to do without delay.