Second Sino-Japanese War
1937–1945 war between China and Japan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Second Sino-Japanese War was the war 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. 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] It is known in Japan as the Second China–Japan War, and in China as the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.
Second Sino-Japanese War | |||||||||
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Part of the Interwar period and the Pacific theatre of World War II | |||||||||
Clockwise from top left:
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
14,000,000 total
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4,100,000 total[8]
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Casualties and losses | |||||||||
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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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Alternative name | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 抗戰 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 抗战 | ||||||||
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Alternative name(2) | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 八年抗戰 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 八年抗战 | ||||||||
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Alternative name(3) | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 十四年抗戰 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 十四年抗战 | ||||||||
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Alternative name(4) | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | 第二次中日戰爭 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | 第二次中日战争 | ||||||||
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Alternative name(5) | |||||||||
Traditional Chinese | (日本)侵華戰爭 | ||||||||
Simplified Chinese | (日本)侵华战争 | ||||||||
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Japanese name | |||||||||
Kanji |
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Hiragana |
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Katakana |
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On 18 September 1931, the Japanese staged the Mukden incident, a false flag event fabricated to justify their invasion of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo. This is sometimes marked as the beginning of the war.[29][30] From 1931 to 1937, China and Japan engaged in skirmishes, including in Shanghai and in Northern China. Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces, respectively led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong, had fought each other in Chinese Civil War since 1927 before forming the Second United Front in late 1936 in order to resist the Japanese invasion together.
The 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 carried out the Nanjing Massacre. After failing to stop the Japanese advance at the Battle of Wuhan, the Nationalist government relocated to Chongqing in the Chinese interior. After the Sino-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, Soviet aid bolstered the Republic of China Army and Air Force. By 1939, after Chinese victories at Changsha and Guangxi, and with Japan's lines of communications stretched deep into the interior, the war reached a stalemate. The Japanese were unable to defeat Chinese Communist Party 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, communist forces launched an offensive in central China.
In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and declared war on the United States. The US increased its aid to China under the Lend-Lease Act, becoming its main financial and military supporter. 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.[31][32] The Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946, ending with a communist victory, which established the People's Republic of China.