Second Sino-Japanese War
1937–1945 war between China and Japan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Second Sino-Japanese War, also known in Japan as the Second China–Japan War, and in China as the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, was fought between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from 1937 to 1945 as part of World War II. It is often regarded as the beginning of World War II in Asia, though some scholars consider the European War and Pacific War to be separate, albeit concurrent. It was the largest Asian war in the 20th century[25] and has been described as "the Asian Holocaust", in reference to the scale of Japanese war crimes against Chinese civilians.[26][27][28]
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Second Sino-Japanese War | |||||||||
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Part of the Interwar period and the Pacific theatre of World War II | |||||||||
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Strength | |||||||||
14,000,000 total |
4,100,000 total[8]
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Total casualties: 15,000,000[24]–22,000,000[15] | |||||||||
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Second Sino-Japanese War | |||||||
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Chinese name | |||||||
Traditional Chinese | 抗日戰爭 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 抗日战争 | ||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 抗戰 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 抗战 | ||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 八年抗戰 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 八年抗战 | ||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 十四年抗戰 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 十四年抗战 | ||||||
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Traditional Chinese | 第二次中日戰爭 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | 第二次中日战争 | ||||||
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Traditional Chinese | (日本)侵華戰爭 | ||||||
Simplified Chinese | (日本)侵华战争 | ||||||
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Japanese name | |||||||
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The Marco Polo Bridge incident on 7 July 1937 is viewed as the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War, though some historians consider the 18 September 1931 Mukden Incident, the pretext that Japan fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria, to mark the beginning.[29][30] During the invasion, China was aided by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Nazi Germany before Germany allied with Japan. From 1931 to 1937, there were skirmishes between China and Japan in China. Following the bridge incident, a dispute between Chinese and Japanese troops in Beijing, the conflict escalated into a full-scale Japanese invasion of the rest of China. Japan achieved major victories, capturing Beijing and Shanghai by 1937. Having fought each other in the Chinese Civil War since 1927, the Communists and Nationalists formed the Second United Front in late 1936 to resist the Japanese invasion together.
The Japanese captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing in 1937, which led to the Nanjing Massacre, also known as the Rape of Nanjing. After failing to stop the Japanese in the Battle of Wuhan, the Chinese central government relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. Following the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, material support bolstered the Republic of China Army and Air Force. By 1939, after Chinese victories in Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the Chinese interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were unable to defeat Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces in Shaanxi, who waged a campaign of sabotage and guerrilla warfare. In November 1939, Chinese nationalist forces launched a large scale winter offensive, and in August 1940, CCP forces launched an offensive in central China. In December 1941, Japan launched its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States. The US increased aid to China: the Lend-Lease act gave China a total of $1.6 billion ($20 billion 2023).[31] With Burma cut off, the US Army Air Forces airlifted material over the Himalayas. In 1944, Japan launched Operation Ichi-Go, the invasion of Henan and Changsha. In 1945, the Chinese Expeditionary Force resumed its advance in Burma and completed the Ledo Road linking India to China. China launched large counteroffensives in South China and repulsed a failed Japanese invasion of West Hunan and recaptured Japanese occupied regions of Guangxi.
Japan formally surrendered on 2 September 1945, following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Soviet declaration of war and subsequent invasions of Manchukuo and Korea. The war resulted in the deaths of around 20 million people, mostly civilians. China was recognized as one of the Big Four Allies, regained all territories lost, and became one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.[32][33] The Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946, ending with a communist victory, which established the People's Republic of China.
In China, the war is most commonly known as the "War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression" (simplified Chinese: 抗日战争; traditional Chinese: 抗日戰爭), and shortened to "Resistance against Japanese Aggression" (Chinese: 抗日) or the "War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 抗战; traditional Chinese: 抗戰). It was also called the "Eight Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 八年抗战; traditional Chinese: 八年抗戰), but in 2017 the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a directive stating that textbooks were to refer to the war as the "Fourteen Years' War of Resistance" (simplified Chinese: 十四年抗战; traditional Chinese: 十四年抗戰), reflecting a focus on the broader conflict with Japan going back to the 1931 Japanese invasion of Manchuria.[34] According to historian Rana Mitter, historians in China are unhappy with the blanket revision, and (despite sustained tensions) the Republic of China did not consider itself to be in an ongoing war with Japan over these six years.[35][need quotation to verify] It is also referred to as part of the "Global Anti-Fascist War".
In Japan, nowadays, the name "Japan–China War" (Japanese: 日中戦争, romanized: Nitchū Sensō) is most commonly used because of its perceived objectivity. When the invasion of China proper began in earnest in July 1937 near Beijing, the government of Japan used "The North China Incident" (Japanese: 北支事變/華北事變, romanized: Hokushi Jihen/Kahoku Jihen), and with the outbreak of the Battle of Shanghai the following month, it was changed to "The China Incident" (Japanese: 支那事變, romanized: Shina Jihen).
The word "incident" (Japanese: 事變, romanized: jihen) was used by Japan, as neither country had made a formal declaration of war. From the Japanese perspective, localizing these conflicts was beneficial in preventing intervention from other nations, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, which were its primary source of petroleum and steel respectively. A formal expression of these conflicts would potentially lead to American embargo in accordance with the Neutrality Acts of the 1930s.[36] In addition, due to China's fractured political status, Japan often claimed that China was no longer a recognizable political entity on which war could be declared.[37]
Other names
In Japanese propaganda, the invasion of China became a crusade (Japanese: 聖戦, romanized: seisen), the first step of the "eight corners of the world under one roof" slogan (Japanese: 八紘一宇, romanized: Hakkō ichiu). In 1940, Japanese Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe launched the Taisei Yokusankai. When both sides formally declared war in December 1941, the name was replaced by "Greater East Asia War" (Japanese: 大東亞戰爭, romanized: Daitōa Sensō).
Although the Japanese government still uses the term "China Incident" in formal documents,[38] the word Shina is considered derogatory by China and therefore the media in Japan often paraphrase with other expressions like "The Japan–China Incident" (Japanese: 日華事變/日支事變, romanized: Nikka Jiken/Nisshi Jiken), which were used by media as early as the 1930s.
The name "Second Sino-Japanese War" is not commonly used in Japan as the war it fought against China in 1894 to 1895 was led by the Qing dynasty, and thus is called the Qing-Japanese War (Japanese: 日清戦争, romanized: Nisshin–Sensō), rather than the First Sino-Japanese War.