ABSTRACT
On September 18, 1931, Japanese military forces launched an attack in Northeast China and occupied three provinces of the region, soon afterwards announcing there the formation of the Japanese controlled state of Manzhouguo. On January 28, 1932, Japan’s air raids caused havoc in the city of Shanghai. From January 1, 1933 to May 11, 1933, Japan’s military took the major gates of the Great Wall and controlled the Eastern portions of Hebei Province. From May 29, 1935 on, five provinces of North China were increasingly endangered. On July 7, 1937, the Japanese military launched its attack at the Marco Polo Bridge and quickly moved to occupy Beiping on July 29, Tianjin on July 30, and the Chinese sections of Shanghai on August 13, while isolating its Western concessions. On November 11, Shanghai fell; on December 13, the Chinese capital Nanjing fell.3 Japan inexorably expanded its attack on China throughout the 1930s, occupying large areas of the country. The Kuomindang government fled Nanjing to the far Southwest. Its capital, left in the hands of the Japanese military, was turned into a city of death in what has been called “the Nanjing massacre.”
