China is a huge country, full of important resources and extensive farmlands,
a huge population, and an important strategic and commercial position. This made it a desirable
objective for expansion to European colonial powers, but also, to the rising Japanese Empire.
Within China itself, revolutions, civil wars and warlordism plagued the nation as different
factions fought to become the ultimate ruler of the country. So today, we return to East Asia to
cover the divided state of the Chinese people and the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War.
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By the end of the 18th Century, the powerful Qing Empire that controlled the vast lands of China
was at its zenith, expanding into Central Asia , increasing in population and becoming
the largest economy in the world. But when the 19th Century ended,
the golden years of the Qing were long gone. Suffering from military weakness, social unrest,
foreign interventions and economic problems, the Chinese Empire had become a sick state in Asia.
At the start of the 20th Century, as young officers and scholars debated the overthrow
of the failing dynasty, a military uprising ended with the proclamation of the Republic of China on
January 1, 1912. Dictatorially led by Yuan Shikai, who controlled the modernized Beiyang Army,
the new Chinese Republic was held in a fragile balance between the Nationalists
and the Republicans . With an iron fist, Yuan managed to keep the country together, but his
methods severely antagonized the Kuomintang revolutionaries, eventually dissolving the
Nationalist party and declaring himself Emperor of China in 1915. This attempt caused widespread
rebellions in numerous provinces, leading to the establishment of Warlord states throughout China
after the death of Yuan. Meanwhile, Kuomintang loyalists retreated to the south and established
a government led by Sun Yat-sen with the objective of reuniting the fragmented nation.
After the end of the Great War, massive popular demonstrations and manifestations occurred against
Japanese interests in the country and against the government of the Beiyang Warlords , ushering in
the creation of the Chinese Communist Party and its alliance with the Kuomintang. As the Warlords
continued to fight among themselves for the ultimate control of Beijing,
Chiang Kai-Shek would succeed Sun Yat-sen as leader of the Kuomintang after his death,
quickly setting out to prepare for a military campaign against the northern Warlords.
With the success of the Northern Expedition, half of China would be under the control of the
Nationalists by 1927; but Chiang’s own purging of communists within the Kuomintang would
unexpectedly lead to the creation of the Red Army and the start of the civil war between Communists
and Nationalists. By the end of 1928, Chiang’s Northern Expedition ended in complete success,
finally conquering Beijing and bringing the whole of China under the nominal control of the
Kuomintang. Although some Warlords still ruled in semi-autonomous states, Chiang’s government
in Nanking received international recognition and legitimately reformed the Chinese Republic.
Meanwhile, the Communists continued to resist against Nationalist encirclement campaigns
and, in the north, the Mukden Incident sparked a full-blown Japanese Invasion of Manchuria
against which Chiang simply couldn’t resist. Nonetheless, the Nanking Decade was a time of
consolidation for the Nationalists. Thus, Chiang’s regime would embark on a modernization effort,
successfully improving its economy and renegotiating some of the foreign concessions,
and also starting the training of loyal and elite divisions with the aid of German advisors.
Eventually, the Communists would be finally routed at Jiangxi in 1934, but the Red Army would manage
to break through the Kuomintang encirclement, starting the Long March to the northwest. Led
by Mao Zedong, the main column would successfully avoid the pursuit of Kuomintang forces and would
march for an entire year through more than 9000 km until arriving at Shaanxi, where Mao became
the undisputed leader of the Party. From their new base at Yan’an, the Communists would continue to
resist Chiang's attacks for the next few years. This period would also see increased Japanese
aggression in the north, rapidly expanding their puppet states into the Chahar and Jehol provinces,
and threatening the important city of Beijing . But Chiang took a passive position against Japan
and considered the Communists to be a greater danger to the Chinese Republic, stating that
“communism was cancer while the Japanese only represented a superficial wound”. This policy
of compromise was very unpopular in China and within the Kuomintang itself, which prompted
some disgruntled Nationalist generals to conspire with the Communists to capture Chiang and force
him into a truce with the CCP. Meanwhile, the Suiyuan Campaign of Prince Demchugdongrub failed
miserably and General Fu Zuoyi managed to inflict heavy casualties on the Inner Mongolian army,
alerting the conspirators that this was the time to act while morale was high against the Japanese.
So, on December 12, 1936, Chiang was detained in the Xi’an Incident and had to negotiate
with the Communists for two weeks, finally deciding to cease hostilities against them,
to prepare for an impending war with Japan and to form a Second United Front against the Japanese.
By 1937, the Chinese had assembled a large army of 1,700,000 regulars
and 557,000 reservists in preparation for the war, but the loyalty of great sections of the army was
questionable, it had a low supply of guns and artillery, and it only counted with two
armoured units . Unlike China, the Japanese were prepared for total war, with the IJA counting with
1015000 regulars destined to fight in China and around 78000 soldiers from their puppet states.
The 28 divisions assigned for the war were fully trained, equipped and experienced, giving them a
clear advantage in fighting strength against the Chinese. During the year 1937, a series of border
clashes occurred between Chinese and Japanese forces, usually ending with the Chinese writing
a humiliating apology. But on July 7, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident to the west of Beijing would
ignite a full-scale war between the two countries, as a fire exchange quickly escalated into the
Japanese occupation of Tientsin and Beijing by August 8. Tokyo was very happy with the outcome
of the campaign, but it was reluctant to declare war on the Chinese, as the Japanese didn’t want
to divert forces from the Manchurian border with the Soviet Union, where several border conflicts
had been happening in the last few years. But Chiang had had enough, and he consequently
mobilized his entire forces to fight against Japan’s aggression. The war had thus begun.
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, fighting broke out between Chinese troops , under Zhang Zhizhong,
and the 4000-strong Japanese marines that defended 30000 Japanese civilians. Tokyo quickly reinforced
the Shanghai defenders with 20000 more marines , commanded by General Matsui Iwane, and also
ordered the Third Fleet to open fire on Chinese positions. Shanghai was of utmost importance for
Chiang’s regime, so he sent his most loyal men to have numerical superiority in the struggle.
Chinese air operations also managed to inflict severe damage over the Third Fleet
with their advanced biplane and monoplane designs . The Battle of Shanghai was brutal, with heavy
losses on each side but to no effect, as in the urban center, the fighting reached a stalemate.
Furthermore, Japanese naval landings to the north forced the Chinese to disperse their forces along
a frontline that spanned from the Huangpu River to the coast north of Shanghai. At the same time,
an Expeditionary Force of the Kwantung Army advanced southwards through Inner Mongolia,
crushing the Chinese at the Battles of Nankou, Huailai and Kalgan with the superior firepower
of their tanks. These forces would then advance to Shanxi, taking Taiyuan
and completing the conquest of Inner Mongolia by November 7,
while from Beijing, the Japanese would advance to occupy the North China Plain. On the seas,
the IJN would also start a naval blockade all around China, hoping to prevent foreign aid from
reaching the nation, as the Western powers strongly condemned the Japanese invasion.
In September and October, as Matsui’s forces managed to capture Luodian and Liuhang, more
Japanese reinforcements arrived that successfully wrestled control of the critical position at
Dachang. With Dachang lost, the Chinese forces started to withdraw from Shanghai on November 7,
but the retreat quickly turned into a rout and Chiang lost most of his loyal and elite men.
Overall, the Chinese suffered more than 250000 casualties in the struggle,
while the Japanese only suffered around 90000 casualties. Weakened by the defeat at Shanghai,
disparate Chinese units established defenses around their capital, led by Commander Tang
Shenzhi. At the same time, Matsui started a pincer movement directed towards Nanking, defeating the
already battered Chinese soldiers and reaching the Chinese capital with haste by December 9.
What followed was a bloody struggle on the outskirts of Nanking ; one in which superior
Japanese firepower would win the day yet again, even despite the fierce resistance of Tang’s men.
As the Chinese defenses were collapsing and the Japanese encircled the city,
Chiang ordered the abandonment of Nanking on December 11, but only a small force led by
Tang himself could break out of the Japanese encirclement on December 13. The rest of the
defenders, along with some 200000 civilians, were slaughtered during the Nanking Massacre.
The Nanking population was also subjected to rape, looting and arson by the Japanese soldiers,
in what the West came to describe as the Rape of Nanking. By the end of the year, Japanese
successes thus far would allow them to establish collaborationist governments in Beijing , Shanghai
and Nanking , and to reform its Inner Mongolian puppet into the new Mengjiang government.
At this point, Tokyo was expecting that the Chinese would capitulate after the fall of
their capital, as they were eager to end the war and to further prepare for a confrontation with
the Soviet Union. But Chiang would continue to reject the harsh demands of the invaders,
thus moving the capital to the industrial center of Hankow. Moreover, the Japanese forces,
encouraged by the many victories achieved, continued to escalate the war in China and
tried to establish a connection between Beijing and Nanking. Already in the early months of 1938,
naval landings in Tsingtao culminated with the occupation of northern Shandong by March,
although the Japanese advance would be stopped for the first time in the Battle of Taierzhuang . This
was a huge morale booster for the Chinese and, as the leader of the battle was Warlord Li Zongren,
there would be much more unity among the Warlord and Kuomintang forces after this battle.
Nonetheless, the Japanese would manage to encircle the major crossroads of Hsuchow, which protected
the new capital at Hankow. Chiang recognized that the defense of the town was futile, so he
ordered his forces to withdraw and to demolish the dykes holding back the Yellow River, trying
to slow down the Japanese advance. The resulting Yellow River flood inflicted heavy casualties
on the Japanese and forced them to move up the Yangtze River, but it also caused incalculable
destruction on the area and killed almost 500000 civilians. Most of the Chinese soldiers, however,
managed to retreat and establish solid defenses around Hankow. At the same time, the Japanese
successfully invaded Amoy Island to prepare for more naval invasions and they also started bombing
operations over Hankow and the Sichuan region. But the main objective of the Japanese advance was
now the city of Hankow, and Tokyo finally destined most of their resources for this campaign.
On June 15, the battle for Hankow started with the Japanese naval invasion of Anqing,
followed by a string of successful naval invasions along the coast, an attack along
the southern shore of the Yangtze River, and a two-pronged assault through the Dabie Mountains.
The success of these operations meant that, by October, the Chinese defenses on the provinces
of Henan, Jiangxi and Hubei were in a difficult position , leaving the way open to attack Hankow.
Yet the Chinese would also succeed at stopping the Japanese advance through Wanjialing
and managed to mount a counterattack north of the Yangtze towards Taihu and Susong. But despite the
fierce resistance of the Chinese, on October 21, the Japanese naval invasion of Guangzhou
ended in complete success, occupying the main port on which foreign aid was flowing and
completing the encirclement of Hankow. With the fall of Guangzhou, the Chinese had no
other alternative but to abandon their second capital on October 25, but the 4 month-long
resistance had at least gained much time for Chiang to prepare a new wartime capital at
Chongqing and to prepare his forces to wage a war of attrition against the Japanese.
Yet again, Tokyo hoped to end the war with the fall of Hankow, but to no avail, as the Chinese
were determined to continue their resistance. Moreover, the Japanese forces had suffered many
losses during the Hankow campaign and were very exhausted as well. In the last months of the year,
the Japanese would continue to consolidate their control over the Wuhan and Canton regions,
but they could already see that the war would prolong longer than they had
anticipated. Next week, we’ll cover the continuation of the Sino-Japanese War,
as well as the outbreak of hostilities in Europe and its impact in the Pacific, so
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