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103-849: Taishō period Shōwa period The Nanjing Massacre or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as Nanking ) was the mass murder of Chinese civilians by the Imperial Japanese Army in Nanjing , the capital of the Republic of China , immediately after the Battle of Nanking and retreat of the National Revolutionary Army during the Second Sino-Japanese War . The massacre took place over

206-425: A breakdown in communications, the garrison was gradually overwhelmed in the four day battle for the city, and finally collapsed on the night of December 12. On December 12, under heavy artillery fire and aerial bombardment, General Tang Sheng-chi ordered his men to retreat. Conflicting orders and a breakdown in discipline turned the events that followed into a disaster. While some Chinese units managed to escape across

309-560: A ceasefire, Chiang did not. Rabe says that the ambassador also "sent us a separate confidential telegram telling us that he has been officially informed by the Foreign Ministry in Hankow that our understanding that General Tang agreed to a three-day armistice and the withdrawal of his troops from Nanjing is mistaken, and moreover that Chiang Kai-shek has announced that he is not in a position to accept such an offer." This rejection of

412-419: A chaotic and panicked flight. By late evening, the unorganized retreat had become a complete rout. Many commanders simply abandoned their troops and fled on their own without giving any orders to retreat. Of the 100,000 defenders of the capital and thousands more Chinese troops fleeing back to the capital from the battles in the areas around Nanjing, only two regiments managed to successfully retreat according to

515-461: A foreshadowing of the upcoming 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

618-566: A full-scale war in northern China between the Chinese and Japanese armies. The Chinese Nationalist Forces , however, wanted to avoid a decisive conflict in the northern region and instead opened a second front by launching offensives against Japanese forces in Shanghai . In response, Japan deployed an army led by General Iwane Matsui , to fight the Chinese forces in Shanghai. In August 1937,

721-492: A hot towel to dry his brow. While the Japanese army was dropping leaflets ordering the city to capitulate, Tang had publicly expressed his outrage. Privately, however, he negotiated for a truce. Despite his original promise to fight to the last man, he seemed eager to do anything to avoid a showdown in the city to save the capital and its inhabitants. At the same time, he also had to carry on the hopeless symbolic fight to defend

824-506: A large Danish flag on the cement factory roof to deter the Japanese army from bombing the factory. To keep Japanese troops away from the factory, he and Gunther strategically placed the Danish flag and the German swastika around the site. Whenever the Japanese approached the gate, Sindberg would display the Danish flag and step out to converse with them, and eventually, they would leave. In

927-523: 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,

1030-479: A manner "just like the Germans were to talk about ' processing ' or 'handling' Jews." With the relocation of the capital of China, constant bombing raids, and reports of Japanese brutality, much of Nanjing's civilian population had fled out of fear. Wealthy families were the first to flee, leaving Nanjing in automobiles, followed by the evacuation of the middle class and then the poor. Those that remained were mainly

1133-418: A memorandum for the palace rolls, Hirohito singled Prince Yasuhiko Asaka out for censure as the one imperial kinsman whose attitude was "not good." He assigned Asaka to Nanjing as an opportunity to make amends. On December 5, Asaka left Tokyo by plane and arrived at the front three days later. He met with division commanders, lieutenant-generals Kesago Nakajima and Heisuke Yanagawa , who informed him that

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1236-630: 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

1339-548: A period of six weeks beginning on December 13, 1937. Estimates of the death toll vary from a low of 40,000 to a high of over 300,000, and estimates of rapes range from 20,000 to over 80,000. Most scholars support the validity of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East , which estimated that at least 200,000 were killed. Other crimes included torture , looting , and arson . The massacre

1442-487: A reflection of Japan's behavior throughout the war in China. This violence cannot be separated from the underlying contempt for other Asians that was deeply ingrained in Japanese society before the war. To demonstrate the profound effects of ethnic prejudice, Japanese author Tsuda Michio gives an example: During the war in south China, a Japanese sergeant who had raped and killed numerous Chinese women became 'impotent' as soon as he found out to his shock that one of his victims

1545-496: 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

1648-607: Is considered one of the worst wartime atrocities in history. After the outbreak of the war in July 1937, the Japanese had pushed quickly through China after capturing Shanghai in November. As the Japanese marched on Nanjing, they committed violent atrocities in a terror campaign, including killing contests and massacring entire villages. By early December, the Japanese Central China Area Army under

1751-502: 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,

1854-583: 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

1957-712: 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

2060-776: 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

2163-612: 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

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2266-575: 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

2369-514: 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

2472-469: 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

2575-634: The Second Sino-Japanese War most warlords in China began to nominally unite against the Japanese invaders and Tang became an important member of Chiang Kai-shek's national defense committee. After repeated pleas from Chiang, Tang finally accepted the command of the Nanjing Garrison during the city's siege in December 1937 by the Japanese, and promised to fight the Japanese unto his death. There exists another claim. Some writers pointed out that it

2678-566: The Tianjin region by removing Bai Chongxi , a Guangxi warlord who was in actual control of the region but ostensibly allied with Chiang Kai-shek . Later Tang commanded armies to fight other warlords for Chiang Kai-shek with great success. However, after these potential rivals were defeated, Chiang enraged Tang when he attempted to remove him and as a result, Tang defected to warlords in Guangxi and Guangdong to help them fight Chiang. During

2781-402: The national fighting spirit . In 2005, a Tokyo district judge dismissed a suit by the families of the lieutenants, stating that "the lieutenants admitted the fact that they raced to kill 100 people" and that the story cannot be proven to be clearly false. The judge also ruled against the civil claim of the plaintiffs because the original article was more than 60 years old. The historicity of

2884-454: The 13th division: “We'd take all the men behind the houses and kill them with bayonets and knives. Then we'd lock up the women and children in a single house and rape them at night... Then, before we left the next morning, we'd kill all the women and children, and to top it off, we'd set fire to the houses, so that even if anyone came back, they wouldn't have a place to live.” According to one Japanese journalist embedded with Imperial forces at

2987-783: The 16th Division entered the Zhongshan and Taiping gates. That same afternoon, two small Japanese Navy fleets arrived on both sides of the Yangtze River. The conflict in Nanjing persisted beyond the night of December 12–13, following the Japanese Army's capture of the remaining gates and entrance into the city. The Japanese army continued to encounter sporadic resistance from remaining Chinese forces for several additional days. The Japanese military determined that they needed to eliminate any remaining Chinese soldiers hidden within

3090-482: 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

3193-539: The Chinese government to move their troops out of the area. The Nanking Safety Zone was demarcated through the use of Red Cross Flags . On December 1, 1937, Nanjing Mayor Ma Chaochun ordered all Chinese citizens remaining in Nanjing to move into the Safety Zone. Many fled the city on December 7, and the International Committee took over as the de facto government of Nanjing. Minnie Vautrin

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3296-537: 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

3399-564: The Chinese troops could withdraw without fighting while the Japanese troops would stay in their present position. John Rabe boarded the U.S. gunboat Panay on December 9 and sent two telegrams, one to Chiang Kai-shek by way of the American ambassador in Hankow ( Hankou ), and one to the Japanese military authority in Shanghai. Despite resisting the assault fiercely, the Chinese defenders were hampered by rising casualties and Japanese strengths in firepower and numbers. Combined with fatigue and

3502-809: 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 Tang Shengzhi Tang Shengzhi ( Chinese : 唐生智 ; pinyin : Táng Shēngzhì ; Wade-Giles : Tang Sheng-chih; 12 October 1889 – 6 April 1970)

3605-455: The International Committee hoped to save, were taken from them and by this time are probably shot or bayoneted. In our South Hill House Japanese broke the panel of the storeroom and took out some old fruit juice and a few other things. The Nanjing Massacre's occurrence and nature were influenced by several factors. The Japanese population was taught militaristic and racist ideologies. The Japanese government's fascist doctrine further propagated

3708-531: The Japanese army invaded Shanghai , where they met strong resistance and suffered heavy casualties. The battle was bloody as both sides faced attrition in urban hand-to-hand combat . Although the Japanese forces succeeded in forcing the Chinese forces into retreat, the General Staff Headquarters in Tokyo initially decided not to expand the war because they wanted the war to end. However, there

3811-471: The Japanese army's proposition to remove the constraints of international law on the treatment of Chinese prisoners on August 5, 1937. The Japanese military continued to move forward, breaching several lines of Chinese resistance, and arrived outside the city gates of Nanjing on December 9. In the meantime, members of the Committee contacted Tang and proposed a plan for three-day cease-fire, during which

3914-401: The Japanese invasion of Nanjing. As the massacre began, Sindberg and Karl Gunther, a German colleague, converted the cement factory into a makeshift refugee camp where they offered refuge and medical assistance to approximately 6,000 to 10,000 Chinese civilians. Knowing that Imperial Japan was not hostile towards Denmark or Nazi Germany , thus showing respect for their flags, Sindberg painted

4017-546: The Japanese troops had almost completely surrounded 300,000 Chinese troops in the vicinity of Nanjing and that preliminary negotiations suggested that the Chinese were ready to surrender. Prince Asaka issued an order to "kill all captives," thus providing official sanction for the crimes which took place during and after the battle. Some authors record that Prince Asaka signed the order for Japanese soldiers in Nanjing to "kill all captives". Others assert that lieutenant colonel Isamu Chō , Asaka's aide-de-camp , sent this order under

4120-519: 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

4223-485: The Nanjing Garrison wage battle against the fleeing Nationalist troops before facing the Japanese assault on the city. As it became obvious that the plan was falling apart because of the total collapse of discipline among the troops in flight, Tang realized the city could not be defended. Given the grim circumstances, Chiang's staff and even Chiang himself had resigned themselves to this reality. However, Chiang

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4326-557: The Prince's sign-manual without the Prince's knowledge or assent. Nevertheless, even if Chō took the initiative, Asaka was nominally the officer in charge and gave no orders to stop the carnage. While the extent of Prince Asaka's responsibility for the massacre remains a matter of debate, the ultimate sanction for the massacre and the crimes committed during the invasion of China were issued in Emperor Hirohito 's ratification of

4429-528: 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

4532-410: The belief in Japanese superiority over all other peoples. Other factors include the dehumanization of Japanese soldiers by their commanders and the challenging combat environment in China. The Nanjing Massacre happened during Japan's invasion of China. The extreme cruelty witnessed in Nanjing, including extensive killing, torture, sexual violence, and looting, was not an isolated occurrence, but rather

4635-529: The campaign, and he issued an order to "kill all captives". Iwane and Asaka took no action to stop the massacre after it began. The massacre began on December 13 after Japanese troops entered the city after days of intense fighting and continued to rampage through it unchecked. Thousands of captured Chinese soldiers were summarily executed en masse in violation of the laws of war, as were male civilians falsely accused of being soldiers. Widespread rape of female civilians took place, their ages ranging from infants to

4738-405: The capital for the Chinese government to face the Chinese public. Once the news reached Tang's headquarters that several units had abandoned their positions and fled against orders, it became obvious that a general retreat was inevitable. The problem was that whoever gave the order to retreat would be blamed for losing the capital and face a very angry Chinese public, Tang was very reluctant to take

4841-531: The capital were shot and killed by the company commanders of units in flight simply because the regimental commanders refused to move out of the way so that the fleeing units would have a more direct route to escape from the Japanese. Chiang Kai-shek , who had already left for Wuhan , granted Tang the right to shoot anyone who disobeyed his order on the spot, but Tang could not carry out the order because there were hundreds of thousands of troops in open flight. To carry out Chiang's directive, Tang would have had to have

4944-551: The city at that time, conducting trade or on missionary trips. As the Japanese army approached Nanjing, most of them fled the city, leaving 27 foreigners. Five of these were journalists who remained in the city a few days after it was captured, leaving the city on December 16. Fifteen of the remaining 22 foreigners formed a committee, called the International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone in

5047-453: The city. However, the search process used an arbitrary criteria for identifying former Chinese soldiers. Chinese males who were deemed to be in good health were automatically presumed to be a soldier. During this operation, Japanese forces committed atrocities against the Chinese population. The rounding-up and mass killings of male civilians and captured POWs were referred to euphemistically as "mopping-up operations" in Japanese communiqués, in

5150-482: 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

5253-490: The command of General Iwane Matsui reached the outskirts of the city. The Chinese army withdrew the bulk of its forces since Nanjing was not a defensible position. The civilian government also fled, leaving the city under the de facto control of German citizen John Rabe , who created the Nanking Safety Zone in an attempt to protect its civilians. Prince Yasuhiko Asaka was installed as temporary commander in

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5356-552: The committee's ceasefire plan, in Rabe's mind, sealed the fate of the city. Nanjing had been constantly bombed for days, causing massive destruction and civilian casualties. On December 11, Rabe found that Chinese soldiers were still residing in areas of the Safety Zone, meaning that it became an intended target for Japanese attacks despite the majority being innocent civilians. Rabe commented on how efforts to remove these Chinese troops failed and Japanese soldiers began to lob grenades into

5459-564: 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

5562-520: The demands of the Imperial Japanese Army in China by approving the operation to attack and capture Nanjing. In a press release to foreign reporters, Tang Shengzhi announced the city would not surrender and would fight to the death. Tang gathered a garrison force of some 81,500 soldiers, many of whom were untrained conscripts, or troops exhausted from the Battle of Shanghai . The Chinese government left for relocation on December 1, and

5665-486: The destitute lowest class such as the ethnic Tanka boat people , and those with assets that could not be easily moved, like shopkeepers. Of Nanjing's population, estimated to be over one million before the Japanese invasion, half had already fled Nanjing before the Japanese arrived. From December 13, 1937, the Japanese Army engaged in random murder, torture , wartime rape , looting , arson , and other war crimes . Such crime continued from three to six weeks depending on

5768-540: 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,

5871-557: 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

5974-544: The elderly, and one third of the city was destroyed by arson. Rabe's Safety Zone was mostly a success, and is credited with saving at least 200,000 lives. After the war, Matsui and several other commanders at Nanking were found guilty of war crimes and executed. Some other Japanese military leaders in charge at the time of the Nanjing Massacre were not tried only because by the time of the tribunals they had either already been killed or committed ritual suicide . Asaka

6077-509: 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

6180-526: 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

6283-549: The event remains disputed in Japan. The Nanjing garrison force set fire to buildings and houses in the areas close to Xiaguan to the north as well as in the environs of the eastern and southern city gates. Targets within and outside of the city walls—such as military barracks, private homes, the Chinese Ministry of Communication, forests and even entire villages—were completely burnt down, at an estimated value of US $ 20–30 million (1937). Many Westerners were living in

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6386-459: The general retreat order. On 12 December, after two days of defending against an enemy with overwhelming numerical superiority, which was shelling the city with heavy artillery fire and aerial bombardment, and with many of his troops in open flight, Tang ordered a general retreat. That evening, he himself escaped from the city through the Yijiang Gate on the northern side of the city walls,

6489-778: The governor, Zhao Hengti . He was defeated and forced to withdraw from Changsha . He decided to join the Northern Expeditionary Army and was given command of the Eighth Army of the National Revolutionary Army . By 2 June 1926 his troops had reoccupied Changsha. On 11 March 1926 he became the military and civil governor of Hunan after the execution of the former provincial military commander, Li Youwen. While his military office ended 14 July 1926 once his province had been secured, he remained as civil governor until April 1927. Tang sided with Chiang Kai-shek and helped him to secure control of northern Beijing and

6592-575: 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

6695-507: 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

6798-590: 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

6901-491: The mother and remaining villagers were bayoneted and thrown into a creek. In addition, Jiading was shelled by Japanese forces, then 8,000 of its civilian residents indiscriminately murdered. Half of Taicang was razed to the ground, and the salt and grain stores looted. Chinese civilians often committed suicide, such as two girls who deliberately drowned themselves near Pinghu , an event witnessed by Japanese First Lieutenant Nishizawa Benkichi. According to Kurosu Tadanobu of

7004-471: 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

7107-409: The only gate still available as an escape route at the time, without officially announcing to the Japanese military authorities any intention of surrendering the city. However, just as the defensive battle had not played out according to the plan, the general retreat was not conducted as planned. What ensued was nothing short of chaos, and what was supposed to be an organized retreat rapidly turned into

7210-514: The original plan, and both survived intact. Other units that did not retreat according to the original plan fell victim to the attacking Japanese forces. Frank Tillman Durdin of the New York Times and Archibald Steele of the Chicago Daily News wrote of the Chinese troops looting shops for food and removing their uniforms for civilian clothing, "Streets became covered with guns, grenades, swords, knapsacks, coats, shoes, and helmets." Despite Chiang Kai-shek 's support and protection, Tang

7313-507: The outskirts of Nanjing. As events played out, the defense of Nanjing was not at all according to the plan formulated by Chiang and Tang. The defense plan fell apart from the very beginning because the defenders were overwhelmed by Chinese troops fleeing from battles in the area surrounding Nanjing. They wanted to retreat to safer ground and, in their panic, discipline had broken down to the point that units were refusing to obey any orders. In some cases, regimental commanders of units defending

7416-401: 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

7519-404: The prerogative to decide to withdraw. Tang was now in the very difficult position of trying to conduct a defense that he knew was futile would be abandoned in the near future. The tension was palpably obvious at a press conference Tang held to boost morale prior to the siege of Nanjing. It was noted by reporters that Tang was extremely agitated and that he sweated so profusely that someone handed him

7622-710: The president left on December 7, leaving the administration of Nanjing to an International Committee led by John Rabe , a German national and Nazi Party member. In an attempt to secure permission for this cease-fire from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek , Rabe, who was living in Nanjing and had been acting as the Chairman of the Nanking International Safety Zone Committee, boarded the USS ; Panay  (PR-5) on December 9. From this gunboat, Rabe sent two telegrams . The first

7725-593: The refugee zone. Although the massacre is generally described as having occurred over a six-week period after the fall of Nanjing, the crimes committed by the Japanese army were not limited to that period. Numerous atrocities were committed as the Japanese army advanced from Shanghai to Nanjing, including rape, torture, arson and murder. The 170 miles between Shanghai and Nanjing were transformed into "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

7828-440: The responsibility and the consequent blame alone and so he called a meeting that included every divisional commander and those of higher rank and showed them Chiang Kai-shek 's permission to retreat when needed, a decision to be made by Tang's headquarters. As Tang asked everyone's opinion and got the answer that he wanted, which was unanimously agreeing to retreat, he had everyone sign their names on Chiang's order before he gave out

7931-430: The river, many more were caught up in the general chaos erupting across the city. Some Chinese soldiers stripped civilians of their clothing in a desperate attempt to blend in, and many others were shot by the Chinese supervisory unit as they tried to flee. On 13 December, the 6th and the 116th Divisions of the Japanese Army were the first to enter the city. Simultaneously, the 9th Division entered nearby Guanghua Gate, and

8034-402: The score over a series of days. In Japan, the veracity of the newspaper article about the contest was the subject of ferocious debate for several decades starting in 1967. In 2000, historian Bob Tadashi Wakabayashi concurred with certain Japanese scholars who had argued that the contest was a concocted story by the Japanese, with the collusion of the soldiers themselves for the purpose of raising

8137-486: 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

8240-679: 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,

8343-496: 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

8446-417: 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

8549-492: The time: 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. In his novel Ikiteiru Heitai ('Living Soldiers'), Tatsuzō Ishikawa vividly describes how the 16th Division of the Shanghai Expeditionary Force committed atrocities on the march between Shanghai and Nanjing. The novel itself

8652-574: 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

8755-638: The types of crime. The first three weeks were more intense. A group of foreign expatriates headed by Rabe had formed a 15-man International Committee for the Nanking Safety Zone on November 22 and mapped out the Nanking Safety Zone in order to safeguard civilians in the city. In a diary entry from Minnie Vautrin on December 15, 1937, she wrote about her experiences in the Safety Zone: The Japanese have looted widely yesterday and today, have destroyed schools, have killed citizens, and raped women. One thousand disarmed Chinese soldiers, whom

8858-599: 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

8961-621: 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

9064-529: The western quarter of the city. German businessman John Rabe was elected as its leader, in part because of his status as a member of the Nazi Party and the existence of the German-Japanese bilateral Anti-Comintern Pact . The Japanese government had previously agreed not to attack parts of the city that did not contain Chinese military forces, and the members of the Committee managed to persuade

9167-412: Was Tang who volunteered to serve as the commander of the Nanjing garrison and promised to fight until his death without any pressure from Chiang Kai-Shek. Before 1937, Tang had served as a general under Chiang but without really much true power. It can be imagined that Chiang Kai-Shek appointed Tang as commander of the capital garrison only because there were not too many alternatives. Gen. Tang Shengzhi

9270-886: Was a Chinese warlord during the Warlord Era , a military commander during the Second Sino-Japanese War and a politician after World War II . After participating in the Xinhai Revolution , Tang graduated from the Baoding Military Academy in 1914. He participated in the National Protection War and the Constitutional Protection Movement . Tang Shengzhi was appointed commander of the Hunan Fourth Division and came into conflict with

9373-472: Was a Christian missionary who established Ginling Girls College in Nanking, which was within the established Safety Zone. During the massacre, she worked tirelessly in welcoming thousands of female refugees to stay in the college campus, sheltering up to 10,000 women. At the age of 26, a Dane named Bernhard Arp Sindberg began his role as a guard at a cement factory in Nanjing in December 1937, days before

9476-436: Was a significant disagreement between the Japanese government and its army in China. Matsui had expressed his intention to advance on Nanjing even before departing for Shanghai. He firmly believed that capturing Nanjing, the Chinese capital, would lead to the collapse of the entire Nationalist Government of China, thereby securing a swift and decisive victory for Japan. The General Staff Headquarters in Tokyo eventually relented to

9579-616: Was actually a Japanese woman who had married a Chinese man and emigrated to China. 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

9682-604: Was based on interviews that Ishikawa conducted with troops in Nanjing in January 1938. Perhaps the most notorious atrocity was a killing contest between two Japanese officers as reported in the Tokyo Nichi Nichi Shimbun and the English-language Japan Advertiser . The contest—a race between the two officers to see who could kill 100 people first using only a sword—was covered much like a sporting event with regular updates on

9785-562: Was blamed for the failure that resulted in the consequent Nanjing Massacre . He lived a more or less retired life and devoted his time to studying Buddhism . After World War II he was not noticed until the fall of the Kuomintang regime, when Bai Chongxi asked Tang to go with him as the Nationalist force withdrew further south. Tang refused to flee China, disguising himself and hiding in different places to avoid being captured by

9888-423: Was extremely reluctant to give up the capital without a fight, and nobody else would dare to make such a decision and face the angry Chinese public. At the same time, Chiang was also extremely grateful to Tang for assuming command of the Nanjing Garrison and thus allowing Chiang to avoid the dilemma posed by the situation. He ordered Tang to continue the hopeless fight long enough to save face, and then he would have

9991-519: 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

10094-549: Was granted immunity as a member of the imperial family and never tried. The massacre remains a wedge issue in Sino-Japanese relations , as Japanese nationalists and historical revisionists, including top government officials, have either denied or minimized the massacre. The Second Sino-Japanese War commenced on July 7, 1937, following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident , and rapidly escalated into

10197-458: 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

10300-657: Was now in charge of defending Nanjing against the Japanese attack. In a press release to foreign reporters, he announced the city would not surrender and would fight to the death. He gathered about 100,000 soldiers, mostly untrained and including a few defeated troops from the Shanghai battlefield, to defend the capital. He also placed the 35th and 72nd divisions at the port to prevent people from fleeing Nanjing, as instructed by Chiang Kai-shek 's general headquarters at Wuhan . The defense force blocked roads, ruined boats and burned nearby villages, preventing many citizens from evacuating. By early December, Japanese troops had reached

10403-646: 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,

10506-531: Was to Chiang through an American ambassador in Hankow, asking that Chinese forces "undertake no military operations" within Nanjing. The second telegram was sent through Shanghai to Japanese military leaders, advocating for a three-day ceasefire so that the Chinese could withdraw from the city. The following day, on December 10, Rabe got his answer from the Generalissimo. The American ambassador in Hankow replied that although he supported Rabe's proposal for

10609-601: 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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