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The Second Sino-Japanese War
The war was the result of a decades-long Japanese imperialist policy aimed at expanding its influence politically and militarily in order to secure access to raw material reserves and other economic resources in the area, particularly food and labour. Before 1937, China and Japan fought in small, localized engagements, so-called "incidents". http://www.chinesedefence.com/gallery/member-galleries/p4401-second-sino-japanese-war-photos.html -
Battle of Shanghai
The Battle of Shanghai was the first of the twenty-two major engagements fought between the National Revolutionary Army of the Republic of China and the Imperial Japanese Army of the Empire of Japan during the Second Sino-Japanese War. After losing the Battle of Shanghai, Chiang Kai-shek knew that the fall of Nanjing was a matter of time. He and his staff realized that they could not risk the annihilation of their elite troops in a symbolic but hopeless defense of the capital. http://en.wikipe -
Establishment of the Nanking Safety Zone
On December 1, 1937, Nanking Mayor Ma Chao-chun ordered all Chinese citizens remaining in Nanking 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 Nanking.
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Sieg of Nanking
Japanese soldiers marched from Shanghai to Nanking at a breakneck pace, rapidly defeating pockets of Chinese resistance, and by December 9 they had reached the last line of defense, the Fukuo Line, behind which lay the fortified walls of the city of Nanking. http://cinemawriter.com/category/genres/war/ -
The Massacre Begins
During this time, soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army murdered an estimated 40,000 to over 300,000 Chinese civilians andcommitted widespread rape and looting. Several key perpetrators were tried and found guilty at the International Military Tribunal for the Far East and the Nanjing War Crimes Tribunal, and were executed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre -
Widespread Rape
The Reverend James M. McCallum wrote in his diary: I know not where to end. Never I have heard or read such brutality. Rape! Rape! Rape! We estimate at least 1,000 cases a night, and many by day. In case of resistance or anything that seems like disapproval, there is a bayonet stab or a bullet ... People are hysterical ... Women are being carried off every morning, afternoon and evening. The whole Japanese army seems to be free to go and come as it pleases, and to do whatever it pleases. -
End of the Massacre
In late January 1938, the Japanese army forced all refugees in the Safety Zone to return home, immediately claiming to have "restored order". After the establishment of the weixin zhengfu (the collaborating government) in 1938, order was gradually restored in Nanking and atrocities by Japanese troops lessened considerably.
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/december052013/rape-nanking-ba.php -
Surrender of Japan
Japan eventually surrendered on September 2, 1945 to Allied forces following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Japanese-held Manchuria. The remaining Japanese occupation troops in China (excluding Manchuria) formally surrendered on September 9, 1945.
http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/events/wwii-pac/japansur/js-8e.htm -
Immunity to Prince Asaka
On May 1, 1946, SCAP officials interrogated Prince Asaka, who was the ranking officer in the city at the height of the atrocities, about his involvement in the Nanking Massacre and the deposition was submitted to the International Prosecution Section of the Tokyo tribunal. Asaka denied the existence of any massacre and claimed never to have received complaints about the conduct of his troops.
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%9D%E9%A6%99%E5%AE%AE%E9%B3%A9%E5%BD%A6%E7%8E%8B -
War Crime Sentencing
On November 12, 1948, Matsui and Hirota, along with five other convicted Class-A war criminals, were sentenced to death by hanging. Eighteen others received lesser sentences. The death sentence imposed on Hirota, a six-to-five decision by the eleven judges, shocked the general public and prompted a petition on his behalf, which soon gathered over 300,000 signatures but did not succeed in commuting the Minister's sentence.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/japan/11031805/Yasukuni-Sh
