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- 1937: Full-scale invasion of China
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The full-scale war began on 7 July 1937 with the Marco Polo Bridge incident near Beijing, which prompted a full-scale Japanese invasion of the rest of China. The Japanese captured the capital of Nanjing in 1937 and perpetrated the Nanjing Massacre.
- 7 July 1937-2 September 1945
- Chinese victory
- Mainland ChinaIndochinaBurma
- Overview
- The establishment of Manchukuo and the creation of the United Front
- Initial Japanese conquests
Second Sino-Japanese War, (1937–45), conflict that broke out when China began a full-scale resistance to the expansion of Japanese influence in its territory (which had begun in 1931). The war, which remained undeclared until December 9, 1941, may be divided into three phases: a period of rapid Japanese advance until the end of 1938, a period of vi...
For much of the early 20th century, Japan had exercised effective control of Manchuria, initially through the terms of the Twenty-one Demands (1915) and later through its support of Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin. However, a serious conflict was developing, and the Chinese in Manchuria were especially restive under the privileges held by the Japanese. Chinese citizens formed the vast majority of the population, and the legal title of the region was held by China. Yet Japan controlled much of south Manchuria through its railways and its leasehold on the Liaodong Peninsula and in other ways that compromised Chinese sovereignty.
In an attempt to assert their independence, the Chinese began building a series of railroads that would in part encircle the Japanese lines and terminate at Huludao, a port which the Chinese were developing. Zhang Xueliang, Zhang Zuolin’s son and the ruler of Manchuria after his father’s murder by Japanese officers in 1928, was increasingly disposed to ally himself with the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) and its desire to rid China of foreign control. In the summer of 1931 the friction expressed itself in minor incidents. Those in control of the main body of Japanese forces in Manchuria believed that the time had passed for temporizing and compromise. On the night of September 18–19, 1931, alleging that Chinese had blown up part of the track of the South Manchuria railway near the city, the Japanese seized Mukden (Shenyang). Facing little resistance from Nationalist forces, the Japanese established the puppet state of Manchukuo in 1932 and installed the deposed Qing emperor Puyi as its titular head. Japan soon demonstrated that it was not content with confining its control of China to regions north of the Great Wall, and in the spring of 1934 a pronouncement from Tokyo in effect declared all China to be a Japanese preserve in which no power could take important action without its consent.
In 1935 the Japanese forced the withdrawal from Hebei and Chahar (now part of Inner Mongolia) of any officials and armed forces that might prove unfriendly to Japan. These territories passed partly into Japanese control, and Suiyuan, Shansi (Shanxi), and Shantung (Shandong) were threatened. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek did not offer open opposition, preferring instead to pursue his campaign against Chinese communist forces. In December 1936, in what came to be known as the Xi’an Incident, Chiang was seized by forces under the command of his own generals and compelled to ally with the communists in a United Front against Japan.
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A History of War
What proved to be a life and death struggle soon broke out between China and Japan. The opening engagement was a minor clash between Chinese and Japanese troops at the Marco Polo Bridge, not far from Peiping (Beijing) on July 7, 1937. The conflict quickly ceased to be localized. The Japanese came to feel that since Chiang and the Nationalist government would not yield to their wishes they must be eliminated. To the Japanese, the rising tide of nationalism in China—directed, as much of it was, against them—had become intolerable.
By July 1937 practically all Chinese regional military and political groups had rallied to support the Nationalist government and Chiang Kai-shek in their decision to oppose Japan by every means. The communists, who had urged a united front against Japan since 1935, pledged their support and put their armies nominally under command of the government.
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From a strictly military point of view, however, Japan was so much better prepared than China that its armies achieved rapid initial success. Within the course of two years Japan obtained possession of most of the ports, the majority of the chief cities as far west as Hankow (Hankou), and the larger part of the railways. Peiping and Tientsin (Tianjin) were occupied in July 1937. After fierce fighting, the Chinese armies were driven out of the Shanghai area by the middle of November 1937. Nanking (Nanjing), the Nationalist capital, fell in mid-December 1937, and the liquidation of that city and its inhabitants became known as the Nanjing Massacre. As many as 300,000 Chinese civilians and surrendered troops were killed. Moreover, tens of thousands of women were raped on the orders of Japanese commander Matsui Iwane. The capital was moved west to Hankow. The Japanese followed and took that city in October 1938. In the same month, the Chinese lost Canton (Guangzhou). The Japanese pressed northward and westward from Peiping along the railway lines into Shansi and Inner Mongolia. They dominated Shantung and took possession of the Peiping-Hankow, Tientsin-P’u-k’ou, and Lung-hai railways and of the rail lines in the lower part of the Yangtze valley. They had complete command of the sea. Always superior in the air, before many months they had all but destroyed the Chinese air force and bombed Chinese cities at will. The loss of life, particularly for the Chinese, was enormous.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Sep 18, 2024 · The First Sino-Japanese War was the conflict between Japan and China in 1894–95 that marked the emergence of Japan as a major world power and demonstrated the weakness of the Chinese empire. The war grew out of the conflict between the two countries for supremacy in Korea.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
- The First Sino-Japanese War broke out in Korea, following the Tonghak rebellion and the Chinese government's involvement at the request of the Kore...
- After the declaration of the First Sino-Japanese War on August 1, 1894, Japanese troops scored quick and overwhelming victories on both land and se...
- The First Sino-Japanese War ended with the Treaty of Shimonoseki, in which China recognized the independence of Korea and ceded Taiwan, the adjoini...
Mar 30, 2018 · When the Japanese launched an invasion in late July, the Nationalists and CCP were seven months into a shaky alliance dubbed the Second United Front. The Nationalist armies attempted to resist the invasion but were quickly overcome by the technological supremacy and preparedness of the Japanese.
When Japan was finally defeated in 1945, China was on the winning side, but lay devastated, having suffered some 15 million deaths, massive destruction of industrial infrastructure and agricultural production, and the shattering of the tentative modernization begun by the Nationalist government.
Oct 22, 2024 · Investigate devastation wrought by Japan on Manchuria and China during the Great Depression In September 1931 the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Manchuria, and refugees fled their burning cities. From “The Second World War: Prelude to Conflict” (1963), a documentary by Encyclopædia Britannica Educational Corporation.
This presaged Japan’s full invasion of China in 1937. What did the Manchuria crisis mean for the League of Nations? The League had lost its most influential member in the Far East.
