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War Against Japan and World War II (1937-1945)
Japanese Invasion
In July 1937, a discharge occurred at Marco Polo Bridge outside Beijing . Who discharged is not clear to this day, but the Japanese said it was the Chinese who fired first. Japan tried to gain control of northern China by invasion. Japan asked Chinese troops for an apology, but China wouldn't give it. By this time Chinese resistance had grown strong. Japanese troop began to deliver an all-out attack against China for the complaint of such an attitude. Japan occupied a capital, Nanjing in December. In Nanjing a great deal of Chinese who resisted Japan were massacred.
In such a situation Chiang called all the people to fight against Japan. The biggest operation of Japanese troops was almost completed by the end of 1938, where Japan controlled the major cities and railroads in China. Japan imagined that by making a puppet regime everywhere and encouraging the regime they had they could plunge the Chiang government into small and rural towns.
Japanese power had grown strong, and with that the CCP's influence was expanded. In rural regions there was no one to subdue government officials after the Kuomintang army retreated from the region. The rest of peasants made an army against Japan under the leadership of the CCP's guerilla group. The army started to fight against Japanese troops, by which Japanese troops suffered severely.
Such an increase in the CCP's influence made the Kuomintang guard against the CCP even more. An accident occurred where the Kuomintang attacked the CCP, a supposed mishap that triggered a breakdown in the CCP-Kuomintang treaty. Despite that, a front against Japan was not collapsed. The center of the front became CCP controlled rather than Kuomintang controlled.
In the region of liberation made under the leadership of the CCP, democracy prevailed. The government was constructed by election, and the people were guaranteed their freedom of speech, publication, assembly, and association.
They escaped from the Japanese subjection or the Kuomintang's blockade through production and unity of thought among CCP. Soldiers, CCP's leaders, and also students worked together and did their best to multiply production. The CCP said, "Communists must always contribute to the people." The CCP tried to unite the people by making each person rely on their own person responsibility. This united the CCP and create a great sense of patriotism in China.
Waorld War II
In 1940,The World War II started, and Kuomintang government became one of the Union. But the government was negative and against the Japanese War. The government prepared for a decisive battle against the CCP. In Chongqing the original positive move by the people was almost lost by the dictatorship by Chiang and anti-CCP policy.
Under such, Chiang's dictatorship and the corruption of Kuomintang were getting terrible. Both public servants and officers were absorbed in gaining money by making use of the war. Some smuggled strategic materials out of Japan and some had materials given imported from the United States. This monopolizing of funds by the privileged class brought about severe inflation and stagnation of commerce and industry.
Chiang's ideal China was a society connected by families and neighbors based on Confucianism. He thought that it is only the Kuomintang that is able to construct this society. At the end of the war however, a move looking for democracy and freedom occurred also in the region of the Kuomintang. A sect desiring anti-Japanese, democracy, and unity cried for the powers that be to "Stop dictatorship, promoting democracy by connection with each party and each section".
In 1945 World War II was counting down its final stages. In May the
Soviet Union captured Berlin, and in June American troops overwhelmed Okinawa, Japan. In China nineteen regions of liberation were established, the population there reached one hundred million. Following this, both the Kuomintang and the CCP held congressional hearings.
At the CCP's congress the authority of Mao Zedong was established, a course after war was plotted under "Maoism". Mao said not to give up fighting against Japan until the war was over, and a "New Democratic system" based on the majority of the people was constructed. He also suggested that a dictatorship and anti-CCP policy against the Kuomintang be abandoned. Kuomintang, on the other hand, didn't change their anti-CCP policy.
End of War
In October a nuclear bomb was released at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
The Soviet Union army began to advance on Manchuria. On 10 Oct,
Japan accepted the Potsdam Declaration, by which World War II, and the
China-Japan War was over. Chinese people were all excited over winning the war. Firecrackers exploded and excited voices were heard everywhere in China. In the end however, 10 million Chinese died.
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