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AP World History: Modern

2024 AP World DBQ (Set 2): Economic motives and Japanese imperialism, c. 1900–1945

The task (paraphrased)

Evaluate how far economic motives were the leading cause of Japanese imperialism from circa 1900 to 1945.

Exact wording and all 7 documents: official College Board PDF

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The 7 documents

  1. Editorial, Tokyo Keizai zasshi (Tokyo Economist), on businessmen's push for war with Russia, 1903
  2. Fumimaro Konoe, “Reject the Anglo-American-Centered Peace,” essay, 1918
  3. Allied Korean Organizations in New York, manifesto against Japan's invasion of Manchuria, 1931
  4. Kanji Ishiwara, Japanese army officer in Manchuria, “Personal Opinion on the Manchuria-Mongolia Problem,” 1931
  5. Eliot Janeway, U.S. journalist, New York Times article, 1937
  6. Toichi Nawa, Japanese economist, book on the cotton spinning industry and raw cotton supply, 1937
  7. Photograph of a Japanese language class at a school in Singapore, circa 1943

To earn both document points, use at least 4 of these to support your argument - not just summarize them.

Contextualization ideas

  • The Meiji Restoration industrialized Japan rapidly, but the home islands had few raw materials.
  • Western imperialism and the unequal treaties imposed on Japan convinced its leaders that empire meant security and equal status.

Describe one of these in 2-3 sentences and connect it to the prompt - a passing mention won't earn the point.

Evidence beyond the documents

  • The Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905) and the annexation of Korea (1910)
  • The Twenty-One Demands on China (1915)
  • The Great Depression's collapse of Japan's silk export market
  • The Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere (1940) and the U.S. oil embargo (1941)

Pick one, explain it specifically, and use it to support your argument.

A sample defensible thesis

From 1900 to 1945 economic motives - the need for raw materials, markets and food - were the leading cause of Japanese imperialism, but they worked together with nationalist ideology, strategic fears and resentment of Western dominance, which shaped how and when Japan expanded.

Written by us as an example of the structure that earns the point (a claim plus a line of reasoning) - write your own.

Sourcing (HIPP) example

Ishiwara wrote his 1931 essay as an army officer in Manchuria shortly before he helped engineer the crisis that led to occupation, so his purpose of justifying action explains his framing of Manchuria as essential to Japan's survival.

Do this for at least 2 documents to earn the sourcing point.

A route to the complexity point

Weigh economic motives against ideological and military ones across time (business pressure in 1903, army initiative in 1931), or compare Japanese expansion with European imperialism's mix of profit and prestige.

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The 7-point DBQ rubric, explainedAP World History: Modern DBQ grader

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