Nanking Massacre

“In 1933, Japan occupied Jehol Province, not including Chahar and Hopei, and wanted the Hopei as a demilitarized zone” (Hua-ling 56). In 1935, the Japanese forced the Chinese to withdraw from their stations in Hopei and Chahar and also ended all activities in the area. In September, Foreign Minister Hirota Koki, presented The Three Principles of Hirota to the Chinese government demanding that China should stop using American and European influence to maintain friendship, China should recognize Manchukuo, and that Japan and China mst establish a common defense against communism (Hua-ling 58). After Japan withdrew from the League of Nations, they were no longer going for world peace (Morley 72). “The Nanking Massacre refers to an exceedingly horrible massacre of civilians by the Japanese army during a six-week period from December 1937 to January 1938 after its occupation of Nanking, then the capital of the Republic of China” (Taso). General Iwane Matsui, the commanding officer in Shanghai, and the cabinet argued that the capture of Nanking would convince the nationalist government to settle the incident (Morley 74). Even before the Rape of Nanking, the Japanese had tried to use their power to force China to do things against their

Most people in the world never seem to realize the mass number of raping or killings that are going on around them. Meanwhile, during the holocaust, no one understood how much it was happening around them then either, except for the people it was happening to. Most people are aware of the savagery that occurred during the holocaust in Germany, but few have ever even heard of Nanjing, much less the rape of Nanjing. Both genocides share very close similarities, and they both also share their differences.

The tight control of the Japanese Army promoted resistance from the civilians of South East Asia. This occurred in areas of strategic importance for the Japanese. Starvation and brutality towards civilians in territories led to outbreaks of political violence and strong resistance. The civilians of Malaya met the Japanese forces with strong resistance in the form of guerilla warfare and sabotage to capture Japanese outposts and encourage social revolution. As Falk argues the Japanese responded to the networks of resistance by ‘drawing out forces and firing on them unexpectedly’, leading to the death of over 50,000 people in Malaya. It is evident that the increase in political violence led to a considerable amount of occupied death in territories of South East Asia.

In December of 1937, the Japanese Imperial Army invaded Nanking, China. They killed 300,00 out of the 600,000 people in China’s capital city. The six-week rampage by the Japanese is now known as the Rape of Nanking and the single worst atrocity during WWII era in either the European or Pacific theaters of the war.

Although Iris Chang’s book provides meaningful details and thoughtful interviews about the Nanking massacre, many argue that her book is seriously flawed. Donald Zagoria asserted, “Chang’s account, based on extensive interviews with survivors and newly discovered documents, is utterly compelling yet, at the same time, in places unbearable to read” (Zagoria 163). The novel is full of good intentions from Chang, but is also full of misinformation and harebrained explanations. Joshua Fogel suggested, “The book begins to fall apart when she tries to explain why such a horror took place. Part of the problem is her lack of training as a historian and part is the book’s dual

Japan had been the one to bomb Pearl Harbor. The bombs had killed more than 2,300 Americans in the Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Territory. This act had destroyed the U.S.S. Arizona and the U.S.S. Oklahoma completely. This attack had beached and /or sank ships but damaged about 9 others. Aircrafts were destroyed and damaged.

Monica Sone, her family, and the whole Japanese community faced a significant amount of stereotyping and prejudice during this time. This prejudice all began in 1937 when the Japan attacked Shanghai in China. This battle was part of a larger war between Japan and Chinese, which is known as the Second Sino-Japanese War. This battle was one of the bloodiest and harshest of the entire war, “It was also the first urban conflict during which massive destruction, especially aerial bombing, ensued with utmost disregard for the consequences to civilians…the result was a catastrophic amount of casualties” (Henriot). Nearly 300,000 soldiers died on both sides over a span of three months. The Chinese community continuously despised the Japanese community since this war; they even wore symbols to distinguish themselves from the Japanese. Monica began realizing that the Chinese in her community would act hostile towards her, “The Chinese consul announced that all

This event displayed that each gruesome mass killing, “does not highlight, but instead blurs the distinctions between us” (Yew). Japanese troops were trained to believe the Chinese were inferior to them, therefore they must be killed. Similarly, the Nazis were trained to believe the Jews were inferior. The Nanking Massacre also showed how no

Attacks stretched as far as the northern U.S. military installation, Chu Lai, down to the primary objective in the south, Saigon. The launch of such an intricate and fierce attack caught many U.S. commanders off guard because at the time, the potential of the Northern fighters was severely underestimated. In the years before, Saigon acted as a safe haven for many refugees trying to escape the horrors of war. The comfort of the city soon vanished when the North Vietnamese sent 35 battalions to seize six objectives in the capital. A few of these enemy fighters took over a government radio station with the intention of spreading pro-communist propaganda. The North Vietnamese believed that if they could control the transmitting tower, they could convince the citizens of the South to riot against the U.S. forces. Fortunately for the U.S. troops, this plan was stopped by a Lieutenant of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) who previously decided to cut all transmission to and from the government radio tower. As the Viet Cong were waiting for reinforcements, ARVN troops

They slaughtered thousands of Chinese civilians during the rape of Nanking in 1937. It was necessary for America to drop the bomb.

The Japanese soldiers had no sense of remorse or sorrow for the prisoners instead they pushed them to their breaking point. Many prisoners collapsed which proved fatal because if you fell behind you became a practice dummy for the Japanese to sharpen their bayonet skills and techniques of killing on you. On one occasion, a prisoner was falling behind in the rear so tanks that followed lined themselves up to run over the victim and squish him into the pavement to make it look as if he were from a cartoon. Since the Japanese could

World War II was a devastating war, whether you were directly in the war zone, or away from the battlefield, you were impacted greatly. Flyboys is a book written by James Bradley, in this book Bradley tells stories of World War II using first-hand accounts. In chapter five, Bradley discusses “The Rape of China” which was a battle that took place in 1937 during the beginning of World War II. In this battle, the Japanese fight the Chinese and destroy China. Both Japan and China had very different moral beliefs on fighting in the war. China believed that the soldiers needed to “be courteous,” and to also be “neither selfish nor unjust” to civilians (Bradley 54). Meanwhile, the Japanese had totally opposite policies known as the “Three Alls” meaning

They had to sell their homes and properties and homes. They were forced to give up their homes because the americans wanted to see if they had anything about them. The Japanese were given forty-eight hours to evacuate their homes. They had to leave many possessions behind. Even the children had to leave behind toys and important

The mass detention of Japanese-American caused tremendous damage. The first impact is large economic losses. Before they were forced to move to concentration camp, they have to sale their house, furniture and other

The Japanese Imperial Army, which occupied Nanjing in 1937, committed numerous heinous crimes. Including acts such as rape, arson, looting, and murder. They did however try to persuade that the executions of the Chinese were only combatant, this period holds an event called the Nanjing Massacre for a reason. They targeted innocent Chinese citizens, young children, and women. During this horrific event, around … people lost their lives. Many Japanese today still do not acknowledge this fact however. (BBC – Nanjing Massacre)