The Second Sino-Japanese War, also known as the War of Resistance against Japan, was a military conflict that lasted from July 7, 1937 to September 2, 1945. The war was fought between the Republic of China (ROC), backed by the Allied Powers, and the Empire of Japan. It marked the first time that a major power attempted to directly conquer a large portion of mainland China.
The war is generally seen as having two distinct phases. The first phase, which began on July 7, 1937 and lasted until the end of 1937 saw Japan launch a military campaign in Northern China, intended to challenge Chinese sovereignty and expand its territory. The second phase, which began in 1938 with the Japanese invasion of Hainan, lasted until the end of the war in 1945.
The events that triggered the Second Sino-Japanese War can be traced back to the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. During the First Sino-Japanese War, Japan had captured the island of Taiwan, which served as an important economic base for China. As a result, China’s weakened and illiberal government was forced to accept unfavorable peace terms imposed by Japan, in the Treaty of Shimonoseki.
In addition to Taiwan, the treaty ceded the Liaodong Peninsula to Japan and provided for a large indemnity payment to be made by China. This treaty set off a chain of events that would eventually lead to the Second Sino-Japanese War. In the wake of the treaty, a nationalistic movement arose within China in opposition to the compromises made by the Chinese government. This movement later coalesced into a movement known as the “Second Revolution”, led by a young Chiang Kai-shek.
This new political force adopted a policy of increasing militarization, in an effort to strengthen China against the Japanese. In 1928, Chiang Kai-shek became the leader of a unified China and began to pursue an aggressive policy towards Japan. This policy included boycotting Japanese goods, boycotting all trade with Japan, and increasing military spending.
At the same time that Chiang was increasing military spending in China, Japan also began to take a more assertive stance towards its neighbor. Japan believed that its national honor demanded that any compromise of Chinese national sovereignty must be reversed. This position was embodied in the so-called “Manchurian Incident” of 1931. In this event, Japanese military forces occupied the strategically important Manchurian city of Mukden and declared it part of their own puppet state.
This incident, along with the subsequent Japanese invasion of the Chinese province of Jehol on July 15, 1933, further strained relations between the two countries. Japan’s attempt to expand its control in northern China caused other nations, including the United States, to become increasingly concerned about Japanese aggression in the region.
In response to this international pressure, Japan proposed a number of diplomatic solutions. The most significant of these proposals was the so-called “Tanaka Memorial”, which outlined a plan for a new division of China that would give Japan a much larger share of the Chinese territory. Han Fuju, the Chinese foreign minister, rejected this proposal and the two countries degenerated further into political and economic competition.
This competition eventually led to a full-scale war after a renewed Japanese attempt to capture the Chinese city of Shanghai in 1937. This incident, often referred to as the “July 7th Incident”, marks the official start of the Second Sino-Japanese War. In the months that followed, the physical and economic destruction caused by the war led to the death of millions of Chinese citizens, as well as the displacement of millions more. It also laid the groundwork for a new conflict—the Pacific War—which began in 1941 and lasted until the Japanese surrender in 1945.