Overview of the Sino-Japanese War

[sjashford]

This morning was stunned to hear an excellent discussion of the Sino-Japanese War, on BBC Radio 4, in the "In Our Time" series.
43 minutes of informed discussion on this subject - bliss!
The programme is available as a download through the BBC R$ site.
Highly recommended.

Simon Ashford

[AmYisroelChai]

If you study Chinese history, you understand that the "Mukden Incident" (Liutiaohu Incident) Sept. 18, 1931, was the actual start of the hostilities of World War 2. The incident, staged by rightist Japanese officers in Manchuria, China, partially destroyed a railroad line, and was blamed on Chinese troops in the area. The following day Japanese troops in the area staged full scale attacks on Chinese nationalist troops, easily defeating them. This led to the complete occupation of resource-rich Manchuria by Japanese militarists, and the establishment of the puppet "Manchukuo Government" by Japan. Internally, it led to the vindication and ascent of Japanese militarists in their government, leading to further incursions in China and elsewhere in East Asia. It also led to the downfall of the League of Nations, as Japan ignored the sanctions of the League as a result of the invasion and occupation of Manchuria and other eastern Chinese provinces. Mussolini, Franco and Hitler all noted the weakness of the Western powers and the League in light of Japanese aggression, and later acted accordingly. WW 2 did not begin in 1939, and certainly not on Dec 7, 1941. It began in 1931 in Mukden.

[LWD]

The cessation at lesat for the most part of hostilities between 1935 and 1937 IMO pretty much leaves out 1931 as the start of WWII. In the past when we have had this discussion (and it has appeared on a number of threads here) I've often argued for 1937 but depending on how it's defined reasonably strong cases can be made for the other dates or even the start of WWI as being the beginning of WWII.

I'd also like to recomend http://www.combinedfleet.com/Rising.htm to those interested in this area.