1. The Second Sino- Japanese War
(7th July 1937– 2nd September 1945)
BY MAC RITCHIE

2. Background - China 1930’s
China - distracted by civil war
Chiang Kai-Shek Mao Tse-Tung
Nationalist Government Chinese Communist Party (CCP)
Kuomintang (KMT)
Various War Lords

3. Background- Japan 1930’s
Japan - eager for natural resources
Japan China
Densely populated Sparsely populated
Scarce natural Abundant natural
resources resources
Manchuria
Arable Land, Coal,
Iron, Soybeans, Salt
1931- Japan invades Manchuria & creates puppet–state “Manchukuo”
Condemned by League of Nations, however no military action is taken.
The West is distracted by the Great Depression.

4. Start of the Second Sino - Japanese War - 1937
 The Marco Polo (or Logou) bridge incident sparked
the full blown conflict
Linked Beijing to KMT controlled areas in southern China
 In response, KMT & CCP formed an alliance to fight
Japanese under the Sian Agreement
 Growing international anti-Japanese sentiment –
Stalin supports CCP & West supports KMT with aid

5. The Conflict Escalates through late 1930’s
 Japanese capture key Chinese ports & industrial centres as
well as Nanking & Shanghai
 Both sides use “Scorched earth tactics”
Infrastructure, transportation, communication
destroyed and high number of civilian deaths
 Massacres & atrocities were common
 In 8 years of conflict, 20 million Chinese were killed

6. By 1940, “Stalemate”
 The Japanese were unable to force a victory over
Chinese and Chinese were unable to evict the
Japanese from occupied areas
 By 1941, the Chinese position was precarious
 1930’s military aid dries up with war in Europe
 Alliance between KPT and CCP is fragile

7. Anti-Japanese Sentiment Grows in West
 Japan is building an Asian Empire
 The US and other Western countries have extensive
economic interests throughout Asia
 In 1941, the US imposed an oil embargo on Japan
which led the Japanese to attack Pearl harbour on 7th
December 1941,
 On December 8th 1941, US declared war on Japan.
Pearl Harbour

8. China Set to Be Greatest Ally for US
 In February 1942, the US congress loaned China
$500 million
 China to be centre of US military effort against Japan
 In reality, there were other more urgent battles to be
fought in Asia and aid for China plummeted
 It was also difficult to send support to China over the
Himalayan mountains
 In 1944, from April to December, Japanese launched
a major offensive called Ichi-go which put China on
the brink of defeat.

9. End of the Second Sino-Japanese War
 Two Events ended the war in 1945 -
 On 6th August, US dropped atomic bombs on
Hiroshima.
 On 9th August, Stalin declared war on Japan and
overran the Japanese army in Manchuria.
 Then the Japanese forces in China surrendered.
 The civil war resumed immediately.
Japanese soldiers surrender