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122-786: Japanese victory Taishō period Shōwa period The Battle of Nanking (or Nanjing ) was fought in early December 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War between the Chinese National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army for control of Nanjing ( Chinese : 南京 ; pinyin : Nánjīng ), the capital of the Republic of China . Following the outbreak of war between Japan and China in July 1937,

244-584: A Japanese attack on Nanjing. Here Chiang insisted fervently on mounting a sustained defense of Nanjing. Chiang argued, just as he had during the Battle of Shanghai, that China would be more likely to receive aid from the great powers, possibly at the ongoing Nine Power Treaty Conference , if it could prove on the battlefield its will and capacity to resist the Japanese. He also noted that holding onto Nanjing would strengthen China's hand in peace talks which he wanted

366-497: A continuation of their practices from Shanghai, the Japanese troops executed all Chinese soldiers they captured on their way to Nanjing. Prisoners of war were shot, beheaded, bayonetted and burned to death. In addition, since thousands of Chinese soldiers had dispersed into the countryside, the Japanese implemented "mopping-up operations" in the countryside to deny the Chinese shelter, where all buildings without any immediate value to

488-474: A disorganized rout. While some units were able to escape, many more were caught in the death trap the city had become. By December 13, Nanjing had fallen to the Japanese. Following the capture of the city, Japanese forces massacred Chinese prisoners of war, murdered civilians, and committed acts of looting, torture, and rape in the Nanjing Massacre . Though Japan's victory excited and emboldened them,

610-575: A flagrant act of insubordination. When Tada discovered this the next day he ordered Yanagawa to stop immediately, but was ignored. Matsui made some effort to restrain Yanagawa, but also told him that he could send some advance units beyond the line. In fact, Matsui was highly sympathetic with Yanagawa's actions and a few days later on November 22 Matsui issued an urgent telegram to the Army General Staff insisting that "To resolve this crisis in

732-462: A foreshadowing of the Nanjing Massacre . For example, the Nanqiantou hamlet was set on fire, with many of its inhabitants locked within the burning houses. Two women, one of them pregnant, were raped repeatedly. Afterwards, the soldiers "cut open the belly of the pregnant woman and gouged out the fetus." A crying two-year-old boy was wrestled from his mother's arms and thrown into the flames, while

854-526: A key point of the capital's outer line of defense which would put Japanese artillery in range of the city. Chunhua was defended by China's 51st Division of the 74th Corps, veterans of the fighting from Shanghai. Despite facing difficulties in using the fortifications around the town due to a lack of keys, the 51st Division had managed to establish a three-line defense with pillboxes, hidden machine gun nests, two rows of barbed wire and an anti-tank ditch. Battle had already begun on 4 December, when 500 soldiers from

976-523: A major influence in the prewar Seiyūkai cabinets, had become the first commoner to serve as prime minister. He took advantage of long-standing relationships he had throughout the government, won the support of the surviving genrō and the House of Peers, and brought into his cabinet as army minister Tanaka Giichi , who had a greater appreciation of favorable civil-military relations than his predecessors. Nevertheless, major problems confronted Hara: inflation,

1098-549: A major rift of opinion existed between the Japanese government and its two field armies, the SEA and 10th Army, which as of November were both nominally under the control of the Central China Area Army led by SEA commander Matsui. Matsui made clear to his superiors even before he left for Shanghai that he wanted to march on Nanjing. He was convinced that the conquest of the Chinese capital city of Nanjing would provoke

1220-630: A new order in the Pacific region. Japan's economic problems made a naval buildup nearly impossible and, realizing the need to compete with the United States on an economic rather than a military basis, rapprochement became inevitable. Japan adopted a more neutral attitude toward the civil war in China, dropped efforts to expand its hegemony into China proper , and joined the United States, Britain, and France in encouraging Chinese self-development. In

1342-419: A policy of non-expansion of hostilities with the aim of ending the war. On November 7 its de facto leader Deputy Chief of Staff Hayao Tada laid down an "operation restriction line" preventing its forces from leaving the vicinity of Shanghai, or more specifically from going west of the Chinese cities of Suzhou and Jiaxing . The city of Nanjing is roughly 300 kilometers (190 miles) west of Shanghai. However,

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1464-407: A position where the local terrain formed a narrow funnel in the local road. When faced with the advance of the Japanese 114th Division , the Chinese ambushed the Japanese with hidden mountain guns , inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese. However, fearing the loss of their artillery from retaliatory enemy attacks, the Chinese officers withdrew their artillery in the heat of battle. As a result,

1586-514: A prompt manner we need to take advantage of the enemy's present declining fortunes and conquer Nanking ... By staying behind the operation restriction line at this point we are not only letting our chance to advance slip by, but it is also having the effect of encouraging the enemy to replenish their fighting strength and recover their fighting spirit and there is a risk that it will become harder to completely break their will to make war." Meanwhile, as more and more Japanese units continued to slip past

1708-403: A rapid pace, pursuing the retreating Chinese army and overcoming all Chinese resistance in its way. The campaign was marked by tremendous brutality and destruction, with increasing levels of atrocities committed by Japanese forces against the local population, while Chinese forces implemented scorched earth tactics to slow the Japanese advances. Nevertheless, by December 9 the Japanese had reached

1830-409: A ridgeline to meet the Japanese assault. Japanese aircraft and artillery shelled the Chinese defenses relentlessly, inflicting extensive damage and confusion. The Chinese defenders were also hampered by their own inexperience, with some soldiers forgetting to ignite the fuses of their hand grenades before throwing them. Only a cadre of experienced officers and NCO's prevented a total collapse, and enabled

1952-421: A self-proclaimed demilitarized zone where civilian refugees could congregate in order to hopefully escape the fighting. The safety zone was recognized by the Chinese government, and on December 8 Tang Shengzhi demanded that all civilians evacuate there. Among those Chinese who did manage to escape Nanjing were Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling , who had flown out of Nanjing on a private plane just before

2074-497: A sprawling network of trenches, moats, barbed wire, mine fields, gun emplacements, and pillboxes, was to be the final defense line outside Nanjing's city walls. There were also two key high points of land on the Fukuo Line, the peaks of Zijinshan to the northeast and the plateau of Yuhuatai to the south, where fortification was especially dense. In order to deny the Japanese invaders any shelter or supplies in this area, Tang adopted

2196-513: A strategy of scorched earth on December 7, ordering all homes and structures in the path of the Japanese within one to two kilometers (1.2 miles) of the city to be incinerated, as well as all homes and structures near roadways within sixteen kilometers (9.9 miles) of the city. The defending army, the Nanjing Garrison Force, was on paper a formidable army of thirteen divisions, including three elite German-trained divisions plus

2318-496: A third power, and miscellaneous other political, economic and military controls, which, if achieved, would have reduced China to a Japanese protectorate. In the face of slow negotiations with the Chinese government, widespread anti-Japanese sentiment in China and international condemnation forced Japan to withdraw the final group of demands and treaties were signed in May of 1915. Japan's hegemony in northern China and other parts of Asia

2440-502: The Gen'yōsha ( 玄洋社 , "Black Ocean Society", founded in 1881) and its later offshoot, the Kokuryūkai ( 黒竜会 , "Black Dragon Society" or "Amur River Society", founded in 1901) . These groups became active in domestic and foreign politics, helped foment pro-war sentiments, and supported ultra-nationalist causes through the end of World War II . After Japan's victories over China and Russia,

2562-583: The Seiyūkai and the Rikken Minseitō alternated in power. Despite the political realignments and hope for more orderly government, domestic economic crises plagued whichever party held power. Fiscal austerity programs and appeals for public support of such conservative government policies as the Peace Preservation Law—including reminders of the moral obligation to make sacrifices for

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2684-712: The Allied expeditionary force sent to Siberia in July 1918 as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War . On October 9, 1916, Terauchi Masatake took over as prime minister from Ōkuma Shigenobu . On November 2, 1917, the Lansing–Ishii Agreement noted the recognition of Japan's interests in China and pledges of keeping an " Open Door Policy " ( 門戸開放政策 ) . From July to September 1918, rice riots erupted due to increasing price of rice. The large scale rioting and collapse of public order led to

2806-776: The Comintern . The Comintern realized the importance of Japan in achieving successful revolution in East Asia and actively worked to form the Japanese Communist Party , which was founded in July 1922. The announced goals of the Japanese Communist Party in 1923 included the unification of the working class as well as farmers, recognition of the Soviet Union, and withdrawal of Japanese troops from Siberia, Sakhalin, China, Korea, and Taiwan. In

2928-612: The Four-Power Treaty on Insular Possessions signed on December 13, 1921, Japan, the United States, Britain, and France agreed to recognize the status quo in the Pacific, and Japan and Britain agreed to formally terminate the Anglo-Japanese Alliance . The Washington Naval Treaty , signed on February 6, 1922, established an international capital ship ratio for the United States, Britain, Japan, France, and Italy (5, 5, 3, 1.75, and 1.75, respectively) and limited

3050-575: The General Election Law in 1925 benefited communist candidates, even though the Japan Communist Party itself was banned. A new Peace Preservation Law in 1928, however, further impeded communist efforts by banning the parties they had infiltrated. The police apparatus of the day was ubiquitous and quite thorough in attempting to control the socialist movement. By 1926, the Japan Communist Party had been forced underground, by

3172-615: The Huanggutun incident to assassinate Chinese warlord Zhang Zuolin . Tada served as an instructor to the Chinese National Revolutionary Army at the Beijing Military Academy from 1917 and rose to the position of senior military advisor to Chinese President Li Yuanhong . He became fluent in Mandarin Chinese and developed close personal contacts with many leading Chinese military and political figures of

3294-907: The IJA Third Army and in September 1939, he was promoted to commander of the North China Area Army . He was awarded the German Grand Cross of Order of the German Eagle in January 1940, and the Japanese Order of the Golden Kite , 2nd class in July 1941, and was promoted to full general . He retired from active military service two months later and moved to Tateyama, Chiba for the remainder of

3416-560: The IJN launched the first of many heavy schnellbomber (fast bomber) raids against Jurong Airbase using the advanced G3Ms based upon Giulio Douhet 's blitz-attack concept in an attempt to neutralize the Chinese Air Force fighters guarding the capital city, but was severely repulsed by the unexpected heavy resistance and performance of the Chinese fighter pilots stationed at Jurong, and suffering almost 50% loss rate. On November 20

3538-514: The Meiji Restoration in 1868 had seen not only the fulfillment of many domestic and foreign economic and political objectives—without Japan suffering the colonial fate of other Asian nations—but also a new intellectual ferment, in a time when there was worldwide interest in communism and socialism and an urban proletariat was developing. Universal male suffrage , social welfare , workers' rights , and nonviolent protests were ideals of

3660-469: The Russian Revolution . Wanting to seize the opportunity, the Japanese army planned to occupy Siberia as far west as Lake Baikal . To do so, Japan had to negotiate an agreement with China allowing the transit of Japanese troops through Chinese territory. Although the force was scaled back to avoid antagonizing the United States, more than 70,000 Japanese troops joined the much smaller units of

3782-692: The Second Sino-Japanese War , he was recalled to Japan in August 1937 to become Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff . He concurrently held the post of Commandant of the Army Staff College. After the Marco Polo Bridge Incident , Tada attempted to contact Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek to defuse tensions between Japan and China in an effort at mediation sponsored by

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3904-646: The 103rd Division) made it back to Nanjing. During the rest of their advance, the Japanese overcame resistance from the already battered Chinese forces who were being pursued by the Japanese from Shanghai in a "running battle". Here the Japanese were aided by their complete air supremacy, abundance of tanks, the improvised and hastily constructed nature of the Chinese defenses, and also by the Chinese strategy of concentrating their defending forces on small patches of relatively high ground which made them easy to outflank and surround. Tillman Durdin reported in one case where Japanese troops surrounded some 300 Chinese soldiers from

4026-722: The 15th class of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1903, specializing in the artillery , and as a junior officer, served with the IJA 18th Field Artillery Regiment at the Siege of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War . He graduated from the 25th class of the Army War College in 1913. the same year, he married a daughter of Daisaku Komoto, who was later famous for his involvement in

4148-482: The 1920s, Japan changed its direction toward a democratic system of government. However, parliamentary government was not rooted deeply enough to withstand the economic and political pressures of the 1930s, during which military leaders became increasingly influential. These shifts in power were made possible by the ambiguity and imprecision of the Meiji Constitution , particularly regarding the position of

4270-499: The 23rd Group Army, and two divisions from the NRA Central Army in the 74th Corps. An additional 16,000 fresh soldiers were brought in from Hankou in the ranks of the 2nd Army, with 80% of their strength composed of fresh recruits. However, due to the unexpected rapidity of the Japanese advance, most of these new conscripts received only rudimentary training on how to fire their guns on their way to or upon their arrival at

4392-411: The 2nd Army to hold an organized defense for three days until December 9, when they were forced back to Qixia. The fighting had resulted in 3,919 killed and 1,099 wounded for the 2nd Army, an almost four-to-one death-injury ratio. Meanwhile, the 16th division had also begun probing Chinese positions around Purple Mountain , which was manned by China's elite Training Brigade . The Japanese first attacked

4514-499: The 36th, 87th and 88th divisions , had each taken heavy casualties in Shanghai and saw their elite quality drop as a result; as of December, each division consisted of between 6,000 and 7,000 troops, of which half were raw recruits. In addition to these units, the defenders of Nanjing and the outside defensive lines were composed of four Guangdong divisions in the 66th and 83rd Corps, five divisions and two brigades from Sichuan in

4636-463: The 51st division, who inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese in preplanned kill zones with machine guns and artillery attacks. Nevertheless, Japanese artillery strikes enabled their infantry to capture the first defensive line, while a well-timed attack by six Japanese bombers enabled a deeper breakthrough. The Japanese left flank managed to penetrate behind Chunhua on December 7, but the final breakthrough came on December 8 when an entire regiment of

4758-459: The 83rd Corps on a cone-shaped peak: “The Japanese set a ring of fire around the peak. The fire, feeding on trees and grass, gradually crept nearer and nearer to the top, forcing the Chinese upward until, huddled together, they were mercilessly machine-gunned to death." General Matsui, along with the Army General Staff, had originally envisaged making a slow and steady march on Nanjing, but his subordinates had disobeyed and instead raced each other to

4880-426: The 9th division that had lagged behind entered the fray. The Chinese defenders, who had endured incessant shelling for days and suffered more than 1,500 casualties, finally cracked under the renewed Japanese assault and withdrew. The SEA also took the fortress at Zhenjiang and the spa town of Tangshuizhen the same day. Meanwhile, on the south side of the same defense line, armored vehicles of Japan's 10th Army charged

5002-473: The Chinese 112th and 103rd Divisions, which were composed of a mix of Manchurian veteran exiles and Sichuanese recruits, respectively. Despite encountering ambushes and difficult terrain in the form of 33 hills around the city, the Japanese were able to advance under the cover of land and naval artillery from their ships on the Yangtze. Chinese coastal batteries mounted on Jiangyin's walls retaliated against

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5124-501: The Chinese Air Force losses mounted through continuous attrition; the Chinese did not have the aircraft industry nor comprehensive training regimen to replace men and machines to contend against the ever-growing and ever-improving Japanese war machine. However, experienced veteran fighter pilots of the Chinese Air Force still proved a most dangerous adversary against Japanese air power; combat aces Col. Gao Zhihang , Maj. John Wong Pan-yang and Capt. Liu Cuigang whom were outnumbered by

5246-618: The Chinese Army and teams of conscripted laborers began to hurriedly bolster Nanjing's defenses both inside and outside the city. Nanjing itself was surrounded by formidable stone walls stretching almost fifty kilometers (31 miles) around the entire city. The walls, which had been constructed hundreds of years earlier during the Ming Dynasty , rose up to twenty meters (66 feet) in height, were nine meters (30 feet) thick, and had been studded with machine gun emplacements. By December 6 all

5368-400: The Chinese army frequently bogged down under its own weight or became congested at bottlenecks like bridges. Making matters worse were Japanese aircraft constantly harassing the Chinese columns, adding to the growing casualties and mayhem. Despite their losses, most of the Chinese army managed to escape annihilation by the Japanese, who were attempting to encircle them in the last few days of

5490-472: The Chinese defenders with artillery, and finally forced the 23rd Group Army back on November 30. Sichuanese division commander Rao Guohua , unable to bear the defeat, committed suicide the day after the retreat. On November 29, the Japanese 13th Division attacked the walled town of Jiangyin near the Yangtze River after a two-day artillery bombardment. They were confronted by some 10,000 troops from

5612-402: The Chinese defenses through a combination of artillery, aircraft and tanks. The Chinese began a withdrawal on December 1, but poor communication resulted in the 112th Division leaving too soon, resulting in a chaotic retreat for the 103rd Division. Both divisions had suffered heavy losses in the fighting, and only a portion of their original strength (estimated to be between 1,000 and 2,000 men for

5734-537: The Chinese government, put China still deeper into Japan's debt. Toward the end of the war, Japan increasingly filled orders for its European allies' needed war material, thus helping to diversify the country's industry, increase its exports, and transform Japan from a debtor to a creditor nation for the first time. Japan's power in Asia grew following the collapse of the Imperial Russian government in 1917 after

5856-409: The Chinese infantry were slowly pushed back, and finally broke into a retreat towards Guangde when Japanese troops flanked their positions on the lake's shores via stolen civilian boats. The last days of November saw the five Sichuanese divisions fight fiercely in the vicinity of Guangde, but their defense was hindered by divided leadership and a lack of radio communications. The Japanese overwhelmed

5978-535: The Chinese positions at Jiangjunshan (General's Peak) and Niushoushan (Ox Head Peak) defended by China's 58th Division of the 74th Corps. The Chinese defenders had dug in on the high ground, and possessed mountain guns powerful enough to destroy Japanese armor. Multiple Japanese tanks were destroyed, and in some cases, valiant Chinese soldiers armed with hammers jumped onto the vehicles and banged repeatedly on their roofs shouting "Get out of there!" Gradually, through its coordinated use of armor, artillery and infantry,

6100-751: The Emperor in relation to the constitution. By coincidence, Taishō year numbering just happens to be the same as that of the Minguo calendar of the Republic of China, and the Juche calendar of North Korea . To convert any Gregorian calendar year between 1912 and 1926 to Japanese calendar year in Taishō era, subtract 1911 from the year in question. Attribution Hayao Tada Hayao Tada ( 多田 駿 , Tada Hayao , 24 February 1882 – 16 December 1948)

6222-734: The German Ambassador to China, Oskar Trautmann . Tada argued that both countries faced the same external threat from the Soviet Union and internal threat from communism , and should not waste precious resources fighting one another; however, Tada's efforts were overruled by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe , Army Minister Hajime Sugiyama , Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonai and Foreign Minister Kōki Hirota , all of whom berated Tada for attempting to effect private diplomacy . Tada returned to China in December 1938 as commander of

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6344-740: The German ambassador Oskar Trautmann to mediate. Chiang ran into stiff opposition from his officers, including the powerful Chief of Staff of the Military Affairs Commission He Yingqin , the Deputy Chief of Staff Bai Chongxi , the head of the Fifth War Zone Li Zongren , and his German advisor Alexander von Falkenhausen . They argued that the Chinese Army needed more time to recover from its losses at Shanghai, and pointed out that Nanjing

6466-477: The Japanese 18th division attacked the town of Sian near Guangde . The Chinese defenders, underequipped and inexperienced troops from the 145th division, were overwhelmed by Japanese airpower and tanks and hastily fell back. A counterattack on Sian from the 146th division was repelled by Japanese armor. On the southwestern edge of Lake Tai , the Sichuanese 144th division from the 23rd Group Army had dug into

6588-541: The Japanese 9th division attacked Chinese forward positions in Shuhu, a small town several miles away from Chunhua. The Chinese company in Shuhu held out for two days, and at one point deployed a tank platoon against the Japanese infantry, losing 3 armored vehicles in exchange for 40 Japanese casualties. By 6 December, the defenders abandoned their positions, and some 30 survivors fought their way out of Shuhu. The Japanese pushed to Chunhua, but were faced with heavy resistance by

6710-448: The Japanese and Chinese forces engaged in the vicious three-month Battle of Shanghai , where both sides suffered heavy casualties. The Japanese eventually won the battle, forcing the Chinese army into a withdrawal. Capitalizing on their victory, the Japanese officially authorized a campaign to capture Nanjing. The task of occupying Nanjing was given to General Iwane Matsui , the commander of Japan's Central China Area Army, who believed that

6832-476: The Japanese army was advancing rapidly around Lake Tai en route to Nanjing. The Chinese, in order to counter these advances, deployed some five divisions of the Sichuanese 23rd Group Army to the southern end of the lake near Guangde , and two more divisions (the 103rd and 112th) to the river fortress Jiangyin near the lake's northern end, which had been the site of a naval battle in August. On November 25,

6954-513: The Japanese army were burned down, and their inhabitants slaughtered. On December 5, Chiang Kai-shek paid a visit to a defensive encampment near Jurong to boost the morale of his men but was forced to leave when the Imperial Japanese Army began their attack on the battlefield. On that day the rapidly moving forward contingents of the SEA occupied Jurong and then arrived near Chunhua(zhen), a town 15 miles southeast of Nanjing and

7076-569: The Japanese called "encirclement and annihilation". The two prongs of the Central China Area Army's pincer were the Shanghai Expeditionary Army (SEA) advancing on Nanjing from its eastern side and the 10th Army advancing from its southern side. To the north and west of Nanjing lay the Yangtze River, but the Japanese planned to plug this possible escape route as well both by dispatching a squadron of ships up

7198-424: The Japanese managed to slowly dislodge the Chinese defenders. On December 9, after darkness fell on the battlefield, the 58th Division was finally overwhelmed and withdrew, having suffered, according to its own records, 800 casualties. On December 6, the Japanese 16th division attacked Chinese positions 14 miles east of Nanjing. The Chinese defenders were composed of fresh troops from the 2nd Army, and had dug in onto

7320-615: The Japanese right flank. However, the 5th Regiment had also suffered heavy casualties in the fighting, losing more than half their men including their commander. In addition, the hill was very exposed and hard to resupply, so the Training Brigade ultimately abandoned the Old Man's Cave and retreated to better positions on the Purple Mountain itself. By December 9, Japan's forces had reached Nanjing's last line of defense,

7442-431: The Japanese ships, causing damage to several Japanese vessels. To even the odds, Chinese raiders organized suicide mission to infiltrate Japanese lines at night and destroy enemy tanks with explosives . The hills around Jiangyin were the site of vicious fighting, with Mount Ding changing hands several times, resulting in Chinese company commander Xia Min'an being killed in action. The Japanese eventually managed to overcome

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7564-659: The Kunisaki Detachment, were eager for combat. However, many of the other Japanese units were exhausted from the fighting in Shanghai, and were slower to follow through with their orders. Despite the Chinese retreat, the Japanese encountered strong resistance at the Wufu defensive line between Fushan and Lake Tai, which had been nicknamed a "new Hindenburg line " in Chinese propaganda. At Changshu , Japanese forces had to fight slowly through an interlocking system of concrete pillboxes manned by Chinese soldiers fighting to

7686-534: The Lower Yangtze Theatre were falling back after the Battle of Shanghai . Unlike previous instances during the Shanghai campaign where Chinese retreats were conducted with discipline, the Chinese retreat from Shanghai was poorly coordinated and disorganized, in part due to the sheer size of the operation and lack of prior planning. The orders to retreat had been passed top-down in a haphazard manner, and

7808-519: The Meiji period also continued. Notable artists, such as Kobayashi Kiyochika , adopted Western painting styles while continuing to work in ukiyo-e ; others, such as Okakura Kakuzō , kept an interest in traditional Japanese painting . Authors such as Mori Ōgai studied in the West, bringing back with them to Japan different insights on human life influenced by developments in the West. The events following

7930-501: The Military Affairs Commission, spoke out in defense of Chiang's position, although accounts vary on whether Tang vociferously jumped to Chiang's aid or only reluctantly did so. Seizing the opportunity Tang had given him, Chiang responded by organizing the Nanjing Garrison Force on November 20 and officially making Tang its commander on November 25. The orders Tang received from Chiang on November 30 were to "defend

8052-550: The Nanking Garrison staff officer T’an Tao-p’ing, who records a garrison of 81,000 soldiers, a number which Masahiro Yamamoto argues to be one of the most probable figures. Even before the conclusion of the battle of Shanghai, Japan's Navy Air Service was launching frequent air raids on the city, eventually totaling 50 raids according to the Navy's own records. The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service had struck Nanjing for

8174-425: The Old Tiger's Cave on a hill east of Purple Mountain, which was defended by the Training Brigade's 5th Regiment. After shelling the peak on December 8, Japanese infantry attacked up the hill's slopes, but were cut down by accurate and concentrated fire. On December 9, the Japanese attacked again using smokescreens and air bombardment, but the assault was stopped again when a neighboring Chinese unit counterattacked on

8296-421: The Western powers' rejection of its bid for a racial equality clause in the peace treaty, Japan emerged as a major actor in international politics at the close of the war. The two-party political system that had been developing in Japan since the turn of the century came of age after World War I, gave rise to the nickname for the period, " Taishō Democracy ". In 1918, Hara Takashi , a protégé of Saionji and

8418-426: The armies of China and Japan. China, however, wanted to avoid a decisive confrontation in the north and so instead opened a second front by attacking Japanese units in Shanghai in central China. The Japanese responded by dispatching the Shanghai Expeditionary Army (SEA), commanded by General Iwane Matsui , to drive the Chinese Army from Shanghai. Intense fighting in Shanghai forced Japan's Army General Staff , which

8540-444: The capture of Nanjing would force China to surrender and thus end the war. Chinese leader Chiang Kai-shek ultimately decided to defend the city and appointed Tang Shengzhi to command the Nanjing Garrison Force, a hastily assembled army of local conscripts and the remnants of the Chinese units who had fought in Shanghai . In a five-week campaign between November 11 and December 9, the Japanese army marched from Shanghai to Nanjing at

8662-401: The city which was becoming more and more chaotic under the strain of bombings, fires, looting by criminals, and electrical outages, but those few foreigners brave enough to stay behind strived to find a way to help the Chinese civilians who had been unable to leave. In late-November a group of them led by German citizen John Rabe established the Nanking Safety Zone in the center of the city,

8784-570: The city. The capture of Guangde had occurred three days before it was even supposed to start its planned advance, and the SEA had captured Danyang on December 2 more than five days ahead of schedule. On average, the Japanese units were advancing on Nanjing at the breakneck pace of up to forty kilometers (25 miles) per day. In order to achieve such speeds, the Japanese soldiers carried little with them except weaponry and ammunition. Because they were marching well ahead of most of their supply lines, Japanese troops usually looted from Chinese civilians along

8906-405: The combat in Shanghai. On 12 November, the Japanese forces deployed in Shanghai were ordered to pursue the retreating Chinese forces. With most Chinese troops melting away into the retreat, many cities and towns were quickly captured by the Japanese, including Jiading , Taicang and Jiashan . Japanese troops from the freshly deployed Tenth Army , consisting of the 6th, 18th, 114th divisions and

9028-534: The coming years, authorities tried to suppress the party, especially after the Toranomon Incident when a radical student under the influence of Japanese Marxist thinkers tried to assassinate Prince Regent Hirohito . The 1925 Peace Preservation Law was a direct response to the perceived "dangerous thoughts" perpetrated by communist and socialist elements in Japan. The liberalization of election laws with

9150-564: The conservative forces formed a party of their own in 1913, the Rikken Dōshikai , a party that won a majority in the House over the Seiyūkai in late 1914. On February 12, 1913, Yamamoto Gonnohyōe succeeded Katsura as prime minister . In April 1914, Ōkuma Shigenobu replaced Yamamoto. Crown Prince Yoshihito married Sadako Kujō on 10 May 1900. Their coronation took place on November 11, 1915. World War I permitted Japan, which fought on

9272-424: The crack of dawn on December 7. The mayor of Nanjing and most of the municipal government left the same day, entrusting management of the city to the Nanjing Garrison Force. By the start of December, Japan's Central China Area Army had swollen in strength to over 160,000 men, though only about 70,000 of these would ultimately participate in the fighting. The plan of attack against Nanjing was a pincer movement which

9394-644: The daunting Fukuo Line. The stage was set for the final stage of the campaign: the battle for Nanjing itself. Taish%C5%8D period The two kanji characters in Taishō ( 大正 ) were from a passage of the Classical Chinese I Ching : 大亨以正 天之道也 (Translated: "Great prevalence is achieved through rectitude, and this is the Dao of Heaven.") The term could be roughly understood as meaning "great rectitude", or "great righteousness". On 30 July 1912, Emperor Meiji died and Crown Prince Yoshihito succeeded to

9516-675: The death, all whilst Chinese artillery bombarded them with accurate fire. The Japanese 9th division was faced with a similar challenge in Suzhou : contrary to propaganda accounts of the city falling without a fight, Japanese soldiers had to fight through a series of pillboxes in front of the city before painstakingly eliminating pockets of resistance in street fighting . These operations were concluded by 19 November, with some 1,000 Chinese soldiers killed in Suzhou and another 100 artillery pieces captured, according to Japanese records. By late November,

9638-540: The earlier politics of compromise. When Saionji Kinmochi tried to cut the military budget, the army minister resigned, bringing down the Rikken Seiyūkai cabinet. Both Yamagata Aritomo and Saionji refused to resume office, and the genrō were unable to find a solution. Public outrage over the military manipulation of the cabinet and the recall of Katsura Tarō for a third term led to still more demands for an end to genrō politics. Despite old guard opposition,

9760-557: The early leftist movement. Government suppression of leftist activities, however, led to more radical leftist action and even more suppression, resulting in the dissolution of the Japan Socialist Party ( 日本社会党 , Nihon Shakaitō ) only a year after its founding and general failure of the socialist movement in 1906. The beginning of the Taishō period was marked by the Taishō political crisis in 1912–13 that interrupted

9882-454: The emperor and the state—were attempted as solutions. While the impact of the American panic of October 1929 was still reverberating throughout the world, the Japanese government lifted the gold embargo at the old parity in January 1930. These two blows struck the Japanese economy simultaneously, and the country was plunged into a severe depression. There was a sense of rising discontent that

10004-526: The end of Terauchi Masatake government. The postwar era brought Japan unprecedented prosperity. Japan went to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference as one of the great military and industrial powers of the world and received official recognition as one of the "Big Five" nations of the new international order. Tokyo was granted a permanent seat on the Council of the League of Nations and the peace treaty confirmed

10126-559: The established defense lines at any cost and destroy the enemy's besieging force". Though both men publicly declared that they would defend Nanjing "to the last man", they were aware of their precarious situation. On the same day that the Garrison Force was established Chiang officially moved the capital of China from Nanjing to Chongqing deep in China's interior. Further, both Chiang and Tang would at times give contradictory instructions to their subordinates on whether their mission

10248-419: The fall of the entire Nationalist Government of China and thus hand Japan a quick and complete victory in its war on China. Yanagawa was likewise eager to conquer Nanjing and both men chafed under the operation restriction line that had been imposed on them by the Army General Staff. On November 19 Yanagawa ordered his 10th Army to pursue retreating Chinese forces across the operation restriction line to Nanjing,

10370-519: The first time on August 15 with Mitsubishi G3M medium-heavy bombers, but suffered heavy losses in face of the aerial defense from Chinese Air Force Boeing P-26/281 Peashooter and Hawk II / Hawk III fighters based primarily at Jurong Airbase for the defense of Nanjing. It wasn't until after the introduction of the advanced Mitsubishi A5M fighter did the Japanese begin to turn the tide in air-to-air combat, and proceed with bombing both military and civilian targets day and night with increasing impunity as

10492-456: The frontlines. No definitive statistics exist on how many soldiers the Nanjing Garrison Force had managed to cobble together by the time of the battle. Ikuhiko Hata estimates 100,000, and Tokushi Kasahara who argues in favor of about 150,000. The most reliable estimates are those of David Askew, who estimates via a unit-by-unit analysis a strength of 73,790 to 81,500 Chinese defenders in the city of Nanjing itself. These numbers are backed up by

10614-439: The gates into the city had been closed and then barricaded with an additional layer of sandbags and concrete six meters (20 feet) thick. Outside the walls a series of semicircular defense lines were constructed in the path of the Japanese advance, most notably an outer one about sixteen kilometers (9.9 miles) from the city and an inner one directly outside the city known as the Fukuo Line, or multiple positions line. The Fukuo Line,

10736-575: The growing national debt and the new election laws, which retained the old minimum tax qualifications for voters. Calls were raised for universal suffrage and the dismantling of the old political party network. Students, university professors, and journalists, bolstered by labor unions and inspired by a variety of democratic, socialist, communist, anarchist, and other Western schools of thought, mounted large but orderly public demonstrations in favor of universal male suffrage in 1919 and 1920. New elections brought still another Seiyūkai majority, but barely so. In

10858-507: The growth of the zaibatsu , could Japan hope to become dominant in Asia. The United States, long a source of many imported goods and loans needed for development, was seen as becoming a major impediment to this goal because of its policies of containing Japanese imperialism. An international turning point in military diplomacy was the Washington Conference of 1921–22 , which produced a series of agreements that effected

10980-590: The influx of Western popular culture together led to the passage of the Peace Preservation Law in 1925, which forbade any change in the political structure or the abolition of private property. In 1921, during the Interwar period , Japan developed and launched the Hōshō , which was the first purpose-designed aircraft carrier in the world. Japan subsequently developed a fleet of aircraft carriers that

11102-441: The last line of defense, the Fukuo Line, behind which lay Nanjing's fortified walls . On December 10 Matsui ordered an all-out attack on Nanjing, and after two days of intense fighting Chiang decided to abandon the city. Before fleeing, Tang ordered his men to launch a concerted breakout of the Japanese siege, but by this time Nanjing was largely surrounded and its defenses were at the breaking point. Most of Tang's troops collapsed in

11224-408: The men immediately, while the women and children were raped and tortured first before being murdered. One atrocity of note was the killing contest between two Japanese officers, where both men held a competition to see who could behead 100 Chinese captives the first. The atrocity was conducted twice with the second round raising the goal to 150 captives, and was reported on by Japanese newspapers. In

11346-399: The mother and remaining villagers were bayoneted and thrown into a creek. Many Chinese civilians committed suicide, such as two girls who deliberately drowned themselves near Pinghu . Many cities and towns were subject to destruction and looting by the advancing Japanese, including but not limited to Suzhou , Taicang and Jiading . When massacring villages, Japanese forces usually executed

11468-471: The need to adjust the Japanese economy to postwar circumstances, the influx of foreign ideas, and an emerging labor movement. Prewar solutions were applied by the cabinet to these postwar problems, and little was done to reform the government. Hara worked to ensure a Seiyūkai majority through time-tested methods, such as new election laws and electoral redistricting, and embarked on major government-funded public works programs. The public grew disillusioned with

11590-496: The ongoing advance of the Imperial Japanese Army, the large majority of Nanjing's citizens fled the city, which by early December Nanjing's population had dropped from its former total of more than one million to less than 500,000, a figure which included Chinese refugees from rural villages burned down by their own government's scorched earth policies. Most of those still in the city were very poor and had nowhere else to go. Foreign residents of Nanjing were also repeatedly asked to leave

11712-615: The operation restriction line, Tada was also coming under pressure from within the Army General Staff. Many of Tada's colleagues and subordinates, including the powerful Chief of the General Staff Operations Division Sadamu Shimomura , had come around to Matsui's viewpoint and wanted Tada to approve an attack on Nanjing. On November 24 Tada finally relented and abolished the operation restriction line "owing to circumstances beyond our control", and then several days later he reluctantly approved

11834-511: The operation to capture Nanjing. Tada flew to Shanghai in person on December 1 to deliver the order, though by then his own armies in the field were already well on their way to Nanjing. On November 15, near the end of the Battle of Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek convened a meeting of the Military Affairs Commission 's Supreme National Defense Council to undertake strategic planning, including a decision on what to do in case of

11956-401: The political milieu of the day, there was a proliferation of new parties, including socialist and communist parties. In the midst of this political ferment, Hara was assassinated by a disenchanted railroad worker in 1921. Hara was followed by a succession of nonparty prime ministers and coalition cabinets. Fear of a broader electorate, left-wing power, and the growing social change engendered by

12078-534: The river and by deploying two special detachments to circle around behind the city. The Kunisaki Detachment was to cross the Yangtze in the south with the ultimate aim of occupying Pukou on the river bank west of Nanjing while the Yamada Detachment was to be sent on the far north route with the ultimate aim of taking Mufushan just north of Nanjing. As of 11 November, all elements of the Chinese army in

12200-486: The side of the victorious Allied Powers , to expand its influence in Asia and its territorial holdings in the north equatorial Pacific. Japan declared war on Germany on August 23, 1914, and quickly occupied German-leased territories in China's Shandong and the Mariana , Caroline , and Marshall islands in the north Pacific Ocean. On November 7, Jiaozhou surrendered to Japan. With its Western allies heavily involved in

12322-679: The size and armaments of capital ships already built or under construction. In a move that gave the Japanese Imperial Navy greater freedom in the Pacific Ocean, Washington and London agreed not to build any new military bases between Singapore and Hawaii. The goal of the Nine-Power Treaty also signed on February 6, 1922, by Belgium, China, the Netherlands, and Portugal, along with the original five powers,

12444-488: The subsequent massacre tarnished their reputation in the eyes of the world. Contrary to Matsui's expectations, China did not surrender and the Second Sino-Japanese War continued for another eight years. The conflict which would become known as the Second Sino-Japanese War started on July 7, 1937, with a skirmish at Marco Polo Bridge which escalated rapidly into a full-scale war in northern China between

12566-496: The summer of 1929 the party leadership had been virtually destroyed, and by 1933 the party had largely disintegrated. Pan-Asianism was characteristic of right-wing politics and conservative militarism since the inception of the Meiji Restoration, contributing greatly to the pro-war politics of the 1870s. Disenchanted former samurai had established patriotic societies and intelligence-gathering organizations, such as

12688-498: The super-elite Training Brigade . The reality was that nearly all of these units, save for the 2nd Army Group, had been severely mauled from the combat in Shanghai. By the time they reached Nanjing they were physically exhausted, low on equipment, and badly depleted in total troop strength. In order to replenish some of these units, 16,000 young men and teenagers from Nanjing and the rural villages surrounding it were speedily pressed into service as new recruits. The German trained units,

12810-486: The superior A5Ms entering Nanjing on October 12, famously shot down four A5M fighters that day including a double-kill by Col. Gao that included Shotai leader W.O. Torakuma. Tragically both Col. Gao and Capt. Liu were lost due to non-aerial combat incidents by the following month as they were preparing to receive improved fighter aircraft design in the Polikarpov I-16s . In the face of Japanese terror bombing and

12932-417: The throne as Emperor of Japan . In his coronation address, the newly enthroned Emperor announced his reign's nengō (era name) Taishō , meaning "great righteousness". The end of the Meiji period was marked by huge government, domestic, and overseas investments and defense programs, nearly exhausted credit, and a lack of foreign reserves to pay debts. The influence of Western culture experienced in

13054-490: The time. Tada departed China on assignment to Vladivostok as part of the Siberian Expeditionary Army . From 1920 to 1923 he was an instructor at the Army Staff College, and visited the United States from July 1924 to May 1925. He returned to China from March 1926 to July 1927. In July 1927, he was promoted to colonel and resumed his post as an instructor at the Army Staff College. From March 1928, he

13176-574: The transfer to Japan of Germany's rights in Shandong , a provision that led to anti-Japanese riots and a mass political movement throughout China. Similarly, Germany's former north Pacific islands were put under a Japanese mandate . Japan was also involved in the post-war Allied intervention in Russia and was the last Allied power to withdraw (doing so in 1925). Despite its small role in World War I and

13298-599: The ultra-nationalists concentrated on domestic issues and perceived domestic threats such as socialism and communism. Emerging Chinese nationalism, the victory of the communists in Russia, and the growing presence of the United States in East Asia all worked against Japan's postwar foreign policy interests. The four-year Siberian expedition and activities in China, combined with big domestic spending programs, had depleted Japan's wartime earnings. Only through more competitive business practices, supported by further economic development and industrial modernization, all accommodated by

13420-621: The war in Europe, Japan sought further to consolidate its position in China by presenting the Twenty-One Demands (Japanese: 対華二十一ヶ条要求 ; Chinese: 二十一条 ) to the Government in January 1915. Besides expanding its control over German holdings, Manchuria and Inner Mongolia , Japan also sought joint ownership of a major mining and metallurgical complex in central China, prohibitions on China's ceding or leasing any coastal areas to

13542-568: The war. After the surrender of Japan , Tada was placed under home arrest by the SCAP occupation authorities . He was charged with "Class A" war crimes , and was called as a witness for the prosecution against Iwane Matsui , Seishiro Itagaki , and Kenji Dohihara . Despite his position as a prosecution witness, he asserted the legitimacy of Japan's position in China. He died of his stomach cancer at his home in Tateyama on 18 December 1948, before

13664-610: The way, which was almost always accompanied by extreme violence . As a Japanese journalist in the 10th Army recorded, "The reason that the [10th Army] is advancing to Nanjing quite rapidly is due to the tacit consent among the officers and men that they could loot and rape as they wish." The Japanese advance on Nanjing was marked by a trail of arson, rape and murder. The 170 miles between Shanghai and Nanjing were left "a nightmarish zone of death and destruction." Japanese planes frequently strafed unarmed farmers and refugees "for fun." Civilians were subjected to extreme violence and brutality in

13786-468: Was a general in the Imperial Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War . A noted China expert within the Japanese military, he was a leading figure in the Trautmann mediation effort to bring a negotiated end to the war. Tada was the second son of a former samurai retainer of Sendai Domain from Sendai , and was adopted by his uncle. After attending military preparatory schools, he graduated from

13908-663: Was commander of the IJA 4th Field Artillery Regiment, and from May 1930 was chief of staff of the IJA 16th Division . Tada returned to the Beijing Military Academy from March 1931, and was assigned to the Kwantung Army from April 1932, serving a senior military advisor to Manchukuo . He was promoted to major general in August. It has been alleged that Princess Aisin Gioro Xianyu ( Yoshiko Kawashima )

14030-519: Was facilitated through other international agreements. One with Russia in 1916 helped further secure Japan's influence in Manchuria and Inner Mongolia, and agreements with France, Britain, and the United States in 1917 recognized Japan's territorial gains in China and the north Pacific. The Nishihara Loans (named after Nishihara Kamezo, Tokyo's representative in Beijing) of 1917 and 1918, while aiding

14152-458: Was heightened with the assault upon Rikken Minseitō prime minister Osachi Hamaguchi in 1930. Though Hamaguchi survived the attack and tried to continue in office despite the severity of his wounds, he was forced to resign the following year and died not long afterwards. The victory of the Bolsheviks in Russia in 1922 and their hopes for a world revolution led to the establishment of

14274-660: Was highly indefensible topographically. The mostly gently sloping terrain in front of Nanjing would make it easy for the attackers to advance on the city, while the Yangtze River behind Nanjing would cut off the defenders' retreat. Chiang, however, had become increasingly agitated over the course of the Battle of Shanghai, even angrily declaring that he would stay behind in Nanjing alone and command its defense personally. But just when Chiang believed himself completely isolated, General Tang Shengzhi, an ambitious senior member of

14396-614: Was his mistress. From August 1934, he was made commander of the IJA 4th Field Artillery Brigade and in August 1935 became commander in chief of the China Garrison Army . Tada was instrumental in establishing the East Hebei Autonomous Government later that year. Tada was promoted to lieutenant general in April 1936 and assumed command of the IJA 11th Division in May 1936. With the outbreak of

14518-482: Was in charge of military operations, to repeatedly reinforce the SEA, and finally on November 9 an entirely new army, the 10th Army commanded by Lieutenant General Heisuke Yanagawa , was also landed at Hangzhou Bay just south of Shanghai. Although the arrival of the 10th Army succeeded at forcing the Chinese Army to retreat from Shanghai, the Japanese Army General Staff had decided to adopt

14640-646: Was second to none. Unstable coalitions and divisiveness in the Diet led the Kenseikai ( 憲政会 , Constitutional Government Association) and the Seiyū Hontō ( 政友本党 , True Seiyūkai ) to merge as the Rikken Minseitō ( 立憲民政党 , Constitutional Democratic Party) in 1927. The Rikken Minseitō platform was committed to the parliamentary system, democratic politics, and world peace. Thereafter, until 1932,

14762-523: Was to defend Nanjing to the death or merely delay the Japanese advance. Following the Manchurian Incident of 1931 , the Chinese government began a fast track national defense program with massive construction of primary and auxiliary air force bases around the capital of Nanjing including Jurong Airbase , completed in 1934, from which to facilitate aerial defense as well as launching counter-strikes against enemy incursions; on August 15, 1937,

14884-601: Was to prevent a war in the Pacific. The signatories agreed to respect China's independence and integrity, not to interfere in Chinese attempts to establish a stable government, to refrain from seeking special privileges in China or threatening the positions of other nations there, to support a policy of equal opportunity for commerce and industry of all nations in China, and to reexamine extraterritoriality and tariff autonomy. Japan also agreed to withdraw its troops from Shandong , relinquishing all but purely economic rights there, and to evacuate its troops from Siberia. Overall, during

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