Japan's long isolation was forcibly ended by outside intervention in 1853. National humiliation at the hands of American expansionism resulted in the Meiji Restoration which effectively removed feudalism from the politics of Japan. The new government of Japan undertook a programme of rapid modernization to bolster the nation as a military and economic force. By the turn of the century, Japan became the first Asian nation to defeat a major western power in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904. Once the wheels of militarism turned, there was no means of stopping the momentum. Japan's constraints in resources made it impossible for her to sustain its military and economic might. The Great Depression exacerbated the situation and pushed Japan into the path of World War II. ^^^
