LESSON PLAN

MANCHURIAN
INCIDENT

About this activity

In this history activity, students study an incident from 1931 which is often seen as a crucial
event on the pathway to the outbreak of World War II.

▶ Language level: B1 to C1
▶ Main tasks: Speaking; internet research
▶ Topics: History; empire building; military invasions; war
▶ Language focus: Collocations

For this activity, you will need the following:

• An accompanying slideshow
• A worksheet on page 5 – one for each student

This is a lesson plan from the LessonStream Membership. For all materials and discussion,
please go to the corresponding page in the Resources section:

https://membership.lessonstream.com/community/topic/1331-manchurian-incident/

The Manchurian incident

The Mukden Incident (or Manchurian Incident) was a “false flag” event staged by Japanese
military personnel as a pretext for the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.

Note: In preparation for this activity, it is important that you familiarise yourself with the
worksheet text on page 5 and also the teacher’s notes on page 6.
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Part one – collocation puzzle

1. Tell students that today they are going to make an important decision.

2. Tell them that before they do so, you have a vocabulary puzzle for them. Show slide 2 of the
slideshow and give students the instructions in the box below. You might want to let students
complete the puzzle in pairs or small groups.

Here are 16 words.

You have to match them to create 8 pairs.
Although some words may have more than one possible match (e.g. military attack
or military presence) there is only one overall solution.
Write down your answers.

Notes:
• To solve the puzzle, students can make use of a
good monolingual dictionary (e.g. the online
Macmillan dictionary). As well as definitions, it
provides information about collocations. And, of
course, it eliminates the need for teacher-led
vocabulary pre-teaching.
• The activity is intended to be challenging but not
impossible. If students find it too hard, display slide
3 which shows the left-hand words in pink.

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3. Go over the answers (see box below) which are also included on slide 4.

4. Ask students if they can explain, or give an example/situation/context which involves each of
the items. Some examples are provides below:

• A superpower (actually one word): USA, Russia, China and the European Union are
currently considered to be world superpowers.
• An industrialised economy: China and Japan are examples of countries with important
industrial economies. They produce a lot of goods in factories.
• Natural resources: For example, coal, iron and oil.
• A puppet state: A nation or country that appears to be independent but whose
government is controlled by an outside power. During Word War II, both Iraq and Iran
were puppet states acting for the United Kingdom.
• A military presence: 2021 saw the end of almost 20 years of western military presence
in Afghanistan.
• An unprovoked attack: An attack on someone who has done nothing wrong (If you
provoke someone, you make them angry on purpose.)
• The international community: This term is often used when talking about a common
opinion or point of view. This could relate to human rights or the actions of other nations
and governments.
• A full-scale invasion: Full scale = complete and not limited in any way.

Part two – a situation

Note: The teacher’s notes on page 6 will be useful for this part of the activity.

Tell students that you are going to give them a situation in three parts. Use slides 6, 7 and 8 to
present the situation.

At the end of each slide, do the following:

• Invite students to ask you questions to clarify their understanding of the situation. Although
you can feed them additional information (see teacher’s notes on page 6) try to avoid revealing
that the nation in question is Japan. If anyone suspects that this is the case, tell them that they
may be correct – they will find out later.
• Ask students to work in small groups to discuss the questions/do the tasks on the slides.
• After each discussion, listen to students’ ideas. Give language feedback and corrections when
possible and refer to the teacher’s notes on page 6 for possible feedback.
• As and when new words, phrases and language arise, write these on the board or screen.

MANCHURIAN INCIDENT V1 Jamie Keddie, 2022

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Part three – the text

1. If students don’t already know, tell them that this is an actual situation from history. Invite
students to guess who was involved and when it happened.

2. Show the map and questions on slide 9. Ask students to answer the questions in pairs/groups.

• At the beginning of the 20th century, Japan established itself as a new superpower with
big ambitions. What do you know about Japan’s ambitions?
• Look at the map of Japan. Can you see the territory that has been mentioned? From a
geographical point of view, why might Japan want to control it?
• Japan needs a pretext for an attack. What could it do to create this?

3. Give out copies of the worksheet on page 5. Central to the worksheet is a text that answers all
of the above questions. Ask students to read the text and then share what they have understood
with a partner. You can display the map on slide 10 as they do so.

4. Ask students to complete the “find a word/phrase” activity. Then go over the answers.

i. Alone and without outside contact (adjective) isolated

ii. A piece of land that sticks out into the sea (noun) a peninsula
iii. A weapon like a large knife/small sword (noun) a dagger
iv. The parallel metal beams that trains run on (noun phrase) a railway track
v. A competitor (noun) a rival
vi. People who work in the army, navy, airforce etc. (noun phrase) military personnel
vii. A substance that is use to cause explosions (uncountable noun): dynamite
viii. An act that is committed by one party (group of people) in order to blame another
party. It is often used to create a pretext for war (noun phrase): a false flag operation

Part four – follow up

Ask students to choose to research and present an aspect of this story that interests them. Here
are some possible tasks:

• Task one: Find out how the international community reacted to Japan’s unprovoked attack on
Manchuria. What happened as a result?
• Task two: How far did Japan take it imperial ambitions and how did it end?
• Task three: Explore the similarities and differences between what happened in 1931 and
current events.

Note: Please head to the Fishbowl for a more detailed discussion on these follow up possibilities.

MANCHURIAN INCIDENT V1 Jamie Keddie, 2022

 Worksheet 5

The Manchurian incident

Manchuria
Until the mid-19th century, Japan’s geography had allowed it to
remain isolated from the rest of the world. But now things were beginning
to change for the island nation.

With a rising population, an industrialised economy and the third largest

navy in the world, Japan was in need of natural resources.

In 1905, Japan defeated Russia in a war fought on land and sea and
established itself as the new superpower in the east – a power with ambitions to expand.

Korea was its first target. It was said that the Korean peninsula was “a dagger pointed at the
heart of Japan”. Conveniently, Korea was also rich with coal and iron.

By 1910, Korea was under Japanese rule and it was time for Japan to turn to Manchuria – the
hand that controlled the dagger.

Japan already had some influence here. It controlled a part of the Chinese Eastern Railway in
Manchuria and was able to increase its economic and military presence in the region.

However, Japan had a rival. Russia also controlled a part of the railway system and in 1929, the
newly established Soviet Red Army won its first victory in an armed conflict with China.

Realising that its rival was becoming stronger, Japan decided that it was time to make its move.

On September 18, 1931 Japanese military personnel blew up a small amount of dynamite
beside a section of the railway track near Mukden and blamed Chinese rebels for the act. This
“false flag” operation provided the pretext for a full-scale invasion and control of Manchuria in
which Japan established the puppet state known as Manchukuo.

The incident came to be known as the Manchurian incident (or Mukden incident).

Find a word or phrase in the text that means:

i. Alone and without outside contact (adjective) ____________________

ii. A piece of land that sticks out into the sea (noun) ____________________
iii. A weapon like a large knife/small sword (noun) ____________________
iv. The parallel metal beams that trains run on (noun phrase) ____________________
v. A competitor (noun) ____________________
vi. People who work in the army, navy, airforce etc. (noun phrase) ____________________
vii. A substance that is use to cause explosions (noun): ____________________
viii. An act that is committed by one party (group of people) in order to blame another
party. It is often used to create a pretext for war (noun phrase) ____________________

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Teacher’s notes
ONE. You are a new superpower with big ambitions. Recently, your population has been rising
and your economy has become industrialised. You have built up a strong military. Now what you
need is natural resources.
⁉ What are your options?

For the purposes of this activity, we can reduce things to two main options – trade or invade:
• Get involved in trade with other nations (and form alliances)
• Invade and take control of other territories

TWO. You have your eye on a certain territory which lies to your west. Since you control a part of
the railway system in this territory, you have been able to increase your economic and military
presence there. You are confident that you can take control of this territory quite easily.
⁉ Should you invade or not? Make a list of reasons for and reasons against:

Possible reasons against:

• An invasion will come with a human cost. It will kill innocent people and ruin lives.
• An unprovoked attack would be illegal.
• The international community might react. It could use military force against you or impose
sanctions.
• It could lead to full-scale war and get out of control.

Possible reasons for:

• Since you control part of the railway system, you can invade from inside the territory.
• A successful invasion would allow you to display your strength to the rest of the world.
• Attack is a form of defence. Controlling this territory may allow you to defend your own.

THREE. For years, you have watched other nations build up their empires. Now it’s your turn. You
plan to carry out a full-scale invasion of this territory. Importantly, you can do this from inside.
You have the ambition. You have the military strength. You have the plan.
⁉ There is just one more thing that you need. What is that thing? And what could you do to
achieve it.

You need an excuse to invade, In other words, a pretext.

The Chinese Eastern Railway (CER)

In 1931, Japan controlled the southern branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway
in Manchuria. The Russians, who constructed the railway between 1897 and
1902, controlled the western and eastern branches. You can see the T-shaped
railway system in the diagram and the city of Mukden (now Shenyang) in also marked.

MANCHURIAN INCIDENT V1 Jamie Keddie, 2022