Second Sino-Japanese War

The Second Sino-Japanese War was a war between China and Japan from 1937 to 1945. It became part of World War II and ended with Japan’s surrender.

Marco Polo Bridge Incident: A July 1937 clash near Beijing between Chinese and Japanese troops that escalated into full-scale war. The incident marked the immediate outbreak of the war in 1937.
Mukden Incident: A 1931 explosion near Mukden, staged by Japanese officers as a pretext for invading Manchuria. It began the sequence of Japanese expansion in China that preceded the 1937 war.
Chiang Kai-shek: The Nationalist leader who headed the Republic of China during the war against Japan. His government directed China’s principal regular forces and wartime diplomacy.
Chinese Civil War: The conflict between the Chinese Nationalists and Communists that resumed after Japan’s defeat and ended in 1949. Their wartime alliance gave way to renewed civil war after the common enemy surrendered.
Battle of Shanghai: A major 1937 battle in which Chinese forces fought Japanese troops for control of Shanghai. China’s costly defense demonstrated that the conflict would not end with a quick Japanese victory.
Japanese invasion of Manchuria: Japan’s 1931–1932 military occupation of Manchuria and establishment of the puppet state Manchukuo. The occupation extended Japanese control in China years before full-scale war began.
Mao Zedong: The Chinese Communist leader whose forces fought Japan while building Communist power in China. His party’s resistance strategy strengthened its position during the war.
Chinese Revolution: The political transformation that established the People’s Republic of China in 1949. The wartime growth of Communist influence contributed to the revolution’s outcome.
Nanjing Massacre: The mass killing and abuses committed by Japanese forces after capturing Nanjing in December 1937. The city’s fall brought a major atrocity during the war’s early Japanese advance.
Manchukuo: A Japanese-controlled state established in Manchuria in 1932, formally headed by Puyi. Its creation institutionalized Japan’s earlier conquest of Chinese territory.

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