Transcript Prelude to War

Prelude to War
Second Sino-Japanese War
1937-1945
The Mukden Incident: 1931
Marco Polo Bridge Incident
Koumintang Response
The Rape of Nanjing: Eyewitness
Account
Through wholesale atrocities and vandalism at
Nanking the Japanese Army has thrown away a rare
opportunity to gain the respect and confidence of the
Chinese inhabitants and of foreign opinion there....
The killing of civilians was widespread. Foreigners
who traveled widely through the city Wednesday
found civilian dead on every street. Some of the
victims were aged men, women and children.
Policemen and firemen were special objects of attack.
Many victims were bayoneted and some of the
wounds were barbarously cruel.
The mass executions of war prisoners added
to the horrors the Japanese brought to
Nanking. After killing the Chinese soldiers
who threw down their arms and surrendered,
the Japanese combed the city for men in
civilian garb who were suspected of being
former soldiers.
In one building in the refugee zone 400 men
were seized. They were marched off, tied in
batches of fifty, between lines of riflemen and
machine gunners, to the execution ground.
Thousands of prisoners were executed by the Japanese. Most of
the Chinese soldiers who had been interned in the safety zone
were shot in masses. The city was combed in a systematic
housetohouse search for men having knapsack marks on their
shoulders or other signs of having been soldiers. They were
herded together and executed.
Many were killed where they were found, including men
innocent of any army connection and many wounded soldiers
and civilians. I witnessed three mass executions of prisoners
within a few hours Wednesday. In one slaughter a tank gun was
turned on a group of more than 100 soldiers at a bomb shelter
near the Ministry of Communications.
A favorite method of execution was to herd groups of a dozen
men at entrances of dugout and to shoot them so the bodies
toppled inside. Dirt then was shoveled in and the men buried.
The capture of Hsiakwan Gate by the Japanese was
accompanied by the mass killing of the defenders,
who were piled up among the sandbags, forming a
mound six feet high. Late Wednesday the Japanese
had not removed the dead, and two days of heavy
military traffic had been passing through, grinding
over the remains of men, dogs and horses.
The Japanese appear to want the horrors to remain
as long as possible, to impress on the Chinese the
terrible results of resisting Japan.
Entering the city
Buried Alive
Mass Burials
On to Shanghai
Chinese (KMT) Fortifications
Firebombing
Early Japanese Victories
War of Attrition
Any means necessary
Results of the War
Japanese conquest
Surge in Chinese Nationalism
Model for other imperial states—global
response
Breakdown of Chinese Koumintang
state
Beginnings of Chinese Communism
Italian Conquest
Halie Selassie: Ethiopian Emperor
German Aggression
Germany during the Weimar Republic
(1919-1933)
Hitler arose to power in 1933 amidt
discontent
Nationalism centered immediately on
the Treaty of Versailles, and Economic
woes.
Germany post WWI: Simple
Hitler’s Course of Action
Withdrawal from League of Nations:
1933
Reinstated Military Service: 1935
Militarization: 1933-1945
Anschluss: 1938
Czecholsolvakia: 9/1938
Munich Conference: 91/1938 (motives)
Hitler and Poland
Alliance with Soviets
Secret Protocol
divides Eastern
Europe
Bombing of Warsaw
Warsaw: 1939
End Result
On to France: following Norwegian
Campaign
Battle of Dunkirk
Partition of France
End Result
Stalingrad
Pearl Harbor
Why?
Consequences?
Atomic Bomb
Science of
Use of
Consequences of
“When the bombs dropped and news began to
circulate that the invasion of Japan would not take
place, that we would not be obliged to run up the
beaches near Tokyo, assault-firing while being
mortared and shelled, for all the fake manliness of
our facades, we cried with relief and joy. We were
going to live. We were going to grow up to
adulthood after all.”
21 year old platoon rifleman
Dear Father:
As death approaches, my only regret is that I have
never been able to do anything good for you in my life.
I was selected quite unexpectedly to be a special
attack pilot and will be leaving for Okinawa today. Once
the order was given for my one-way mission it became
my most sincere wish to achieve success in fulfilling this
sacred duty.
Kamikaze pilot writing before departure for Okinawa
1944
"I AM BECOME DEATH, DESTROYER OF
WORLDS"
J. Robert Oppenheimer head scientist at
Los Alamos National Laboratory, taken
from the Bhagvad Gita of Hindu (Vedic)
traditions
“Such an invasion (one of Japan) could
cost upwards of a million American
Lives”
Secretary of State James Byrnes
“The enemy (Japan) was in a military
sense a hopeless strategic position by
the time the Postdam demand for
unconditional surrender was made on
7/26”
New York Times Military Analyst Harold
Baldwin, August 1945
Invasion of Okinawa (350 miles from
Japan) statistics: 48,000 dead
Invasion of Iwo Jima (500 miles from
Japan) statistics: 6 weeks and 29,000
dead
Based on a detailed investigation of all the facts and
supported by the testimony of the surviving Japanese
leaders involved, it is the Survey’s opinion that
certainly prior to 31, December 1945, and in all
probability prior to 1 November 1945, Japan would
have surrendered even if the Atomic Bombs had not
been dropped, even in Russia had not entered the
war and even if no invasion had been planned or
contemplated.”
United States Bombing Survey findings, 1946
“An invasion of Japan would be
Okinawa up and down the island”
Harry S. Truman 1944 (referring to
devastating battle of Okinawa)
“The Japanese Empire surrender immediately or face
"prompt and utter destruction.“
On July 26, 1945, the three largest Allied powers
at war in the Pacific, the United States, Britain,
and China, issued the Potsdam Declaration“
Unconditional Surrender is the only obstacle to
peace”
Shigenori Tojo: July, 1945