ABSTRACT
A month after Konoe succeeded Hayashi as prime minister, war with China broke out. The conflict was touched off by a minor incident that occurred during the night of July 7, 1937, between Japanese forces out on maneuvers and the Chinese troops of General Song Cheyuan at Marco Polo Bridge just outside of Peking. The Soviet Union was the only nation that was willing to offer tangible support to China by signing a treaty of nonaggression in August 1937 and by providing a certain amount of military equipment. The European conflict broke out in the fall of 1939, and Japan immediately took advantage of the French preoccupation with the European crisis and began bombing the Yunan Railroad in South China, which had been built with French capital. When General Hayashi replaced Hirota as prime minister he pursued a policy of moderation toward China.
