jul 7, 1937 - Start of the Second Sino-Japanese War
Description:
Immediately after the United States had declared war on Japan after Pearl Harbor, US military supplies began to arrive in the wartime capital of Chongqing via Burma Road. US then built airfields in southeast China which allowed US bombers to disrupt Japan’s maritime trade and cut off its imports. Later, in April 1944, Japan launched a major offensive to capture these US airfields. This was met with some initial success and by the end of 1944, large parts of southeast China had been occupied. The advances resulted in Chongqing’s links to the coast being cut off.
Importance to Japanese expansion: This occupation of China was the zenith of Japan’s conquests in China. Later, in 1945, Japanese forces were in retreat in the Pacific and in Burma and then the Hiroshima and Nagasaki nuclear bomb attacks ended the second Sino-Japanese war as well as World War Two. Even then, Japanese still had over one million troops stationed in China.
International Response: The League of Nations responded with the Nine-Power Treaty Conference when it was then declared that Japan and China should depend hostilities and cooperate with each other in order to find a solution; however, the league remained uninvolved in the war. The Soviet Union responded by agreeing to loan China $50 million. The USSR continued to send artilirary, men, and money to China throughout the war. Germany supported Japan and eventually led to the Tripartite Pact created an alliance between Germany, Japan, and Italy.
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