The second Sino-Japanese War was fought primarily between Chinese and Japanese forces as Japan wanted to enlarge its empire through conquering China. In the past, there had already been conflicts between the two countries as they had fought in the first Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). In 1931, the Japanese empire also took control of Manchuria, which is now part of Northeast China.
The war started because of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident on July 7th, 1937. Japanese forces had occupied Fengtai, which was right next to the Marco Polo Bridge, and they "demanded entry to the tiny walled town of Wanping in order to search for one of their soldiers." When Chinese forces refused to do so, shots broke out, and the war had officially begun. As China was not prepared for war, it struggled to defend its territory.
However, the war quickly drew attention from many foreign countries, including the US. As the US had control over the Philippines, it feared that Japan would become a large threat in the Pacific region. Thus, the US started to "impose economic sanctions on the Japanese" as a way to weaken Japan's power. Oil bans extremely hurt the Japanese economy and caused Japan to formulate a plan to try to eliminate the US from controlling the Pacific region.
On December 7th, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor causing more than 2,400 deaths and injuring another 1,000 people. This attack spurred the US to immediately declare war on Japan. "China also declared war on Italy and Germany" because Japan had joined alliances with them in 1940. The Sino-Japanese War quickly merged into World War II as foreign countries became involved in the war.
Britain and the US started to financially and militarily support China, and they forced Japanese troops to retreat. On August 6th, 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, instantly killing 80,000 people. This was followed my another bomb dropped on Nagasaki three days later, which killed roughly 40,000 people. Additionally, with the help of its allies, China was able to launch an attack on August 14th, 1945, defeating Japanese forces in a battle at Zhijiang. On August 15th, Japan surrendered to the Allies, and on September 9th, Japanese forces in China also surrendered, "marking the end of the second Sino-Japanese War as well as World War II."
The second Sino-Japanese War also raises many questions. For example, what would have happened if China had not been aided by allies? Would Japan have successfully taken over China and possibly even Asia? Additionally, the war also demonstrates the unimaginable damage caused by the nuclear bomb. Two bombs caused the deaths of about 120,000 people, while the Pearl Harbor attack only led to the death of 2,400. Why did the US choose to use atomic bombs rather than other less harmful methods?
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Marco-Polo-Bridge-Incident
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/pearl-harbor
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/bombing-of-hiroshima-and-nagasaki
http://totallyhistory.com/second-sino-japanese-war/
I really liked your post, Kevin! It gave a really informative and insightful discussion of the Sino-Japanese conflict. I think it's also interesting to look at the conflict from China's perspective and its effects on China. The Chinese called it the "War of Chinese People’s Resistance Against Japanese Aggression." Not only did the war cause devastating casualties for the comparatively less modern and less well-equipped Chinese people, but it also had tremendous political repercussions. The horrors of the war led to gross unpopularity for the governing Nationalist Party. As a result, while China came out of the conflict politically and economically unstable, the Communist Party was further strengthened and began consolidating power. Do you think the Communist Party would have incited the Cultural Revolution and the subsequent chain of events in Chinese history had the Nationalist Party's reputation not been tarnished by the war?
ReplyDeletehttp://alphahistory.com/chineserevolution/sino-japanese-war/
I think this post is really good, Kevin. It's well written and does a good job of detailing what happened during the war. However, I think it's also important to look at what happened in the first Sino-Japanese war to gain a better understanding of the bigger picture. In 1876, Japan opened up Korea, then controlled by China, to foreign trade. This lead to rising tensions between the two countries for the next few decades until war finally broke out in 1894, with Japan ultimately coming out the victor. I think it's really interesting how far back the animosity between Japan and China really go. Since Japan's first imperialistic effort (trying to take Korea), it's always been trying to take over China (Korea was then controlled by China). Knowing this, it's no wonder then that Japan was so focused on China later on in the 20th century.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_first_sino_japanese.html