The Second Sino-Japanese War

Why are we talking about this?

• Next case study is the Nanjing Massacre

• Context: Second Sino-Japanese War

JAPANCHINA (prefix: “Sino-”)

Nanjing

The Chinese Civil War• Dates: 1927-1936 and 1945-1950• War between Communists and

Nationalists for control of China• Interrupted by Japanese invasion and

WWII

Communists and Nationalists

Kuomintang (KMT)• Goals: reunify China;

establish republic• Leader: Chiang Kai-

shek

Chinese Communist Party (CCP)• Goals: reunify China;

start socialist revolution

• Leader: Mao Zedong

Japan Invades• 1931: Japan invades

Manchuria• KMT ignores the

Japanese to focus on the Communists

• Japan establishes a puppet state called Manchukuo

Now who wants China?

1. Communists2. Nationalists 3. Japan

The Second United Front

• Date: 1937-1945• Communists and Nationalists unite to

drive out the Japanese• Nationalists do most of the fighting;

Communists take time to regroup

Second Sino-Japanese War

• Date: 1937-1945• Japan rapidly advances • Chiang’s strategy: trading space for

time • 1940: stalemate• 1945: Japan surrenders in WWII and

withdraws from China

The Nanjing Massacre• Date: 1937• Japanese troops slaughter 300,000

Chinese civilians, mostly women and children, in Nanjing

• Widespread rape – estimated 20,000• “The Rape of Nanjing”

Exit Ticket

2 quiz questions + answers about this lecture content