|
|
|
Quit 28 May, London: Stanley Baldwin retires as British prime ministers; Neville Chamberlain takes over 21 June, Paris: French premier Leon Blum after the French senate denies him financial powers 11 Dec, Geneva: Italy, from the League of Nations |
|
|
| Japan invades China |
|
On July 7, after long-time plans to conquer China, Japan started what has been called the first battle of World War II. The Japanese army was training near Lugouqiao, a bridge across the Yongding River about ten miles west of Beijing, China, when a soldier went missing. The Japanese accused the Chinese army across the river, of abducting the soldier. The soldier soon turned up, but the Japanese commander had already ordered an attack. Fighting erupted and within weeks, the Japanese controlled the east-west region from Beijing to Tianjin. President Chiang Kai-shek decided not to appease Japan any further (it had earlier given up Manchuria to Japan to avoid a war). He would fight the Japanese. The Second Sino-Japanese War began. From Beijing, the Japanese swept towards Nanjing, where Chiang’s Nationalist government, the Guomindang was based. The Chinese battled heroically at Shanghai (a quarter-million soldiers were lost) before they fell to their invaders in October. Despite international protests, the ineffective League of Nations, refused to mediate the undeclared war. After taking Nanjing in December (which forced Chiang to move his government to the remote Sichuan city of Chongqing), the Japanese carried out one of the most horrific terrorist campaigns in modern warfare. For two months, the soldiers raped an estimated 7000 women, killed hundreds of thousands of troops and civilians who were unarmed (had no weapons), and burned a third of Nanjing’s houses. This incident was known as the Rape of Nanjing. In 1946, only one Japanese general was executed for the Nanjing atrocities. Related articles: 1949 - Mao Declares Republic of China (Chiang Kai Shek defeated) |
