Stalin's War on Japan

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Publisher : Pen & Sword Military
ISBN 13 : 9781526785947
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (859 download)

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Book Synopsis Stalin's War on Japan by : Charles Stephenson

Download or read book Stalin's War on Japan written by Charles Stephenson and published by Pen & Sword Military. This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did Japan surrender in 1945 because of the death and devastation caused by the atomic bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki or because of the crushing defeat inflicted on their armies by the Soviet Union in Manchukuo, the puppet state they set up in north-east China? Indeed, the Red Army's rapid and total victory in Manchukuo has been relatively neglected by historians. Charles Stephenson, in this scholarly and highly readable new study, describes the political, diplomatic and military build-up to the Soviet offensive and its decisive outcome. He also considers to what extent Japan's capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict. The military side of the story is explored in fascinating detail - the invasion of Manchukuo itself where the Soviet 'Deep Battle' concept was employed with shattering results, and secondary actions in Korea, Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. But equally absorbing is the account of the decision-making that gave rise to the offensive and the political and diplomatic background to it, and in particular the Yalta conference. There, Stalin allowed the Americans to persuade him to join the war in the east; a conflict he was determined on entering anyway. Charles Stephenson's engrossing narrative throws new light on the last act of the Second World War.

The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135774994
Total Pages : 515 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (357 download)

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Book Synopsis The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945 by : David Glantz

Download or read book The Soviet Strategic Offensive in Manchuria, 1945 written by David Glantz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-02-27 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Volume I covers in detail the background, strategic regrouping, and strategic planning and conduct of the offensive.

The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904–1932

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Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 1684173507
Total Pages : 550 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (841 download)

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Book Synopsis The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904–1932 by : Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka

Download or read book The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904–1932 written by Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this history of Japanese involvement in northeast China, the author argues that Japan’s military seizure of Manchuria in September 1931 was founded on three decades of infiltration of the area. This incremental empire-building and its effect on Japan are the focuses of this book. The principal agency in the piecemeal growth of Japanese colonization was the South Manchurian Railway Company, and by the mid-1920s Japan had a deeply entrenched presence in Manchuria and exercised a dominant economic and political influence over the area. Japanese colonial expansion in Manchuria also loomed large in Japanese politics, military policy, economic development, and foreign relations and deeply influenced many aspects of Japan’s interwar history."

The Japanese Invasion of Manchuria

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Author :
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781532908163
Total Pages : 56 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (81 download)

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Book Synopsis The Japanese Invasion of Manchuria by : Charles River Charles River Editors

Download or read book The Japanese Invasion of Manchuria written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-04-24 with total page 56 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the invasion and occupation written by Japanese and Chinese officers and civilians *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents Though scarcely mentioned in the world of early 21st century politics, Manchuria represented a key region of Asia during the first half of the 20th century. Once the heartland of the fierce Manchu empire, this northeastern Chinese region's rich natural resources made it a prize for nations in the process of entering the modern age, and three ambitious nations in the midst of such a transformation lay close enough to Manchuria to attempt to claim it: Japan, Russia, and China. For countries attempting to shake off their feudal past and enter a dynamic era of industrialization, Manchuria's resources presented an irresistible lure. With immense natural resources coupled to economic activity more concentrated than elsewhere in China, this region, abutting Mongolia, Korea, the Yellow Sea, and the Great Wall "accounted for 90 percent of China's oil, 70 percent of its iron, 55 percent of its gold, and 33 percent of its trade. If Shanghai remained China's commercial center, by 1931 Manchuria had become its industrial center." (Paine, 2012, 15). Thus, it's not altogether surprising that Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931 resulted from a long, complex chain of historical events stretching back to the late 19th century. Approximately 380,000 square miles in extent, or 1.4 times the size of the American state of Texas, Manchuria came into Imperial Russia's possession in 1900 due to the "Boxer Rebellion" in China, but the Russians held it only briefly; their defeat in the Russo-Japanese War shook loose their control from important parts of Manchuria by the end of 1905. The Japanese gained two important footholds in Manchuria thanks to their victory. One consisted of Port Arthur (renamed Ryojun by the Japanese), an economically and strategically vital harbor city on the Liaodung Peninsula, plus the peninsula itself. The other comprised the South Manchurian Railway, which the Russians gave to the Japanese as a prize of war, in lieu of a cash indemnity. The Japanese subsequently formed the South Manchurian Railway Company, mostly owned by the Japanese Army, and Japanese civilians began investing heavily in Manchuria's lucrative industries. Tens of thousands of entrepreneurs flooded into Manchuria, greatly strengthening Japan's interests in the area. The Japanese Army stepped up their presence in this economically vital region, creating a quasi-independent military force and government known as the "Kwantung Army." Naturally, the Chinese also wanted their portion of the tempting Manchurian feast. Unable to go head to head with the organized, thoroughly militaristic Japanese, they sent some 6 million emigrant laborers and settlers into the area as a sort of "demographic occupation." Nominally Chinese but subject to massive Japanese investment and military infiltration, filled with bandits and rival chieftains, Manchuria hovered on the brink of another conflict in the 1920s. The Kwantung Army deliberately shoved it over that brink in 1931, and the Japanese invasion and occupation of Manchuria is sometimes described as the true beginning of World War II. At the very least, it marked the expansion of Japan's imperial empire, its ongoing friction with China, and what would turn into a Chinese resistance campaign that would last nearly 15 years until the end of World War II. Given its importance, the invasion of Manchuria continues to be remembered as one of the seminal events of the 20th century. The Japanese Invasion of Manchuria: The History of the Occupation of Northeastern China that Presaged World War II examines the important events in northeastern China. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the invasion of Manchuria like never before.

Manchuria Under Japanese Dominion

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Author :
Publisher : University of Pennsylvania Press
ISBN 13 : 0812239121
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (122 download)

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Book Synopsis Manchuria Under Japanese Dominion by : Shin'ichi Yamamuro

Download or read book Manchuria Under Japanese Dominion written by Shin'ichi Yamamuro and published by University of Pennsylvania Press. This book was released on 2006-02-08 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From 1932 until the end of World War II, the Japanese established and maintained by bloody rule a puppet regime in the Chinese region of Manchuria. This region was composed of three northern provinces in China; the puppet ruler was the last Chinese Emperor, Pu Yi, and this rich industrial region was clearly coveted and managed by the Japanese as a critical element in their imperial dominion. Yamamuro Shin'ichi's extraordinary book rereads this occupation under new light. The author shows that right-wing Japanese military and civilian groups thought of construction in this sparsely populated region as an effort to build a paradise on earth, with roots deep in Asian traditions. At the same time, Chinese and Korean populations in the region were abused by the Japanese military, and many Japanese were deliberately misinformed about what was being done in their name. Yamamuro examines the policies and events unfolding on the ground during this time. With close attention to the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans involved, and the links between the military and the home islands, he offers his own overall assessment of this distinctive instance of state-building. Making use of numerous sources in Chinese and Japanese, from legal documents and government decrees to memoirs and poetry, Manchuria Under Japanese Dominion goes beyond rhetoric to provide a unique assessment of the history of this period.

In Manchuria

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Author :
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1620402866
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (24 download)

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Book Synopsis In Manchuria by : Michael Meyer

Download or read book In Manchuria written by Michael Meyer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2015-02-17 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explores the change most of rural China is undergoing via the story of a privately held rice company that has built new roads, introduced organic farming, and constructed apartments for farmers in exchange for their land rights.

Japan's Total Empire

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Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520923154
Total Pages : 509 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (29 download)

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Book Synopsis Japan's Total Empire by : Louise Young

Download or read book Japan's Total Empire written by Louise Young and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 1998-01-01 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this first social and cultural history of Japan's construction of Manchuria, Louise Young offers an incisive examination of the nature of Japanese imperialism. Focusing on the domestic impact of Japan's activities in Northeast China between 1931 and 1945, Young considers "metropolitan effects" of empire building: how people at home imagined and experienced the empire they called Manchukuo. Contrary to the conventional assumption that a few army officers and bureaucrats were responsible for Japan's overseas expansion, Young finds that a variety of organizations helped to mobilize popular support for Manchukuo—the mass media, the academy, chambers of commerce, women's organizations, youth groups, and agricultural cooperatives—leading to broad-based support among diverse groups of Japanese. As the empire was being built in China, Young shows, an imagined Manchukuo was emerging at home, constructed of visions of a defensive lifeline, a developing economy, and a settler's paradise.

Soviet Operational and Tactical Combat in Manchuria, 1945

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Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1135774781
Total Pages : 388 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (357 download)

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Book Synopsis Soviet Operational and Tactical Combat in Manchuria, 1945 by : David Glantz

Download or read book Soviet Operational and Tactical Combat in Manchuria, 1945 written by David Glantz and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2003-02-27 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the request of the other Allies, on 9th August 1945, a force of over 1.5 million Red Army soldiers unleashed a massive attack against the Japanese in Manchuria. Volume 2 covers the detailed course of operational and tactical fighting in virtually every combat sector.

Curse on This Country

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Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 1501708333
Total Pages : 349 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (17 download)

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Book Synopsis Curse on This Country by : Danny Orbach

Download or read book Curse on This Country written by Danny Orbach and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-14 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imperial Japanese soldiers were notorious for blindly following orders, and their enemies in the Pacific War derided them as "cattle to the slaughter." But, in fact, the Japanese Army had a long history as one of the most disobedient armies in the world. Officers repeatedly staged coups d'états, violent insurrections, and political assassinations; their associates defied orders given by both the government and the general staff, launched independent military operations against other countries, and in two notorious cases conspired to assassinate foreign leaders despite direct orders to the contrary.In Curse on This Country, Danny Orbach explains the culture of rebellion in the Japanese armed forces. It was a culture created by a series of seemingly innocent decisions, each reasonable in its own right, which led to a gradual weakening of Japanese government control over its army and navy. The consequences were dire, as the armed forces dragged the government into more and more of China across the 1930s—a culture of rebellion that made the Pacific War possible. Orbach argues that brazen defiance, rather than blind obedience, was the motive force of modern Japanese history.Curse on This Country follows a series of dramatic events: assassinations in the dark corners of Tokyo, the famous rebellion of Saigō Takamori, the "accidental" invasion of Taiwan, the Japanese ambassador’s plot to murder the queen of Korea, and the military-political crisis in which the Japanese prime minister "changed colors." Finally, through the sinister plots of the clandestine Cherry Blossom Society, we follow the deterioration of Japan into chaos, fascism, and world war.

Escape From Manchuria

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781647537401
Total Pages : 428 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (374 download)

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Book Synopsis Escape From Manchuria by : Paul Maruyama

Download or read book Escape From Manchuria written by Paul Maruyama and published by . This book was released on 2021-03-10 with total page 428 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the closing days of WWII, the Soviet Union attacked and occupied Japanese controlled northern China, then called Manchuria. Immediately, misery and death from cold, hunger, disease, and brutality descended upon the Japanese civilian residents at the hands of the Soviet Army and revenge seeking mobs and bandits. Nearly 2,500 Japanese, mostly the elderly and children, died daily. Three courageous Japanese men embarked on a secret mission and escaped to Japan to eventually bring an end to the Manchurian nightmare. In the riveting story, Escape from Manchuria, the son of one of the three courageous men narrates a compelling tale of the rescue and repatriation of nearly 1.7 million noncombatant Japanese that commenced almost a year after the surrender of Japan. Escape from Manchuria describes the indispensable role that General Douglas MacArthur and his staff played in the repatriation. It also discloses the vital role played by the Catholic Church in Manchuria and in Japan in assisting the three men to achieve this monumental success. The heroics of the three men have hardly been recognized, even in Japan, because they took on the mission of rescue as private citizens, without the consent or knowledge of the then utterly helpless Japanese government. This is the true story of their courage, determination, and sacrifice to save the lives of their fellow Japanese.

The Last Days of Old Beijing

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 0802779123
Total Pages : 385 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (27 download)

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Book Synopsis The Last Days of Old Beijing by : Michael Meyer

Download or read book The Last Days of Old Beijing written by Michael Meyer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-07-23 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Journalist Michael Meyer has spent his adult life in China, first in a small village as a Peace Corps volunteer, the last decade in Beijing--where he has witnessed the extraordinary transformation the country has experienced in that time. For the past two years he has been completely immersed in the ancient city, living on one of its famed hutong in a century-old courtyard home he shares with several families, teaching English at a local elementary school--while all around him "progress" closes in as the neighborhood is methodically destroyed to make way for high-rise buildings, shopping malls, and other symbols of modern, urban life. The city, he shows, has been demolished many times before; however, he writes, "the epitaph for Beijing will read: born 1280, died 2008...what emperors, warlords, Japanese invaders, and Communist planners couldn't eradicate, the market economy can." The Last Days of Old Beijing tells the story of this historic city from the inside out-through the eyes of those whose lives are in the balance: the Widow who takes care of Meyer; his students and fellow teachers, the first-ever description of what goes on in a Chinese public school; the local historian who rallies against the government. The tension of preservation vs. modernization--the question of what, in an ancient civilization, counts as heritage, and what happens when a billion people want to live the way Americans do--suffuse Meyer's story.

Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780231152198
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (521 download)

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Book Synopsis Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy by : Phyllis Birnbaum

Download or read book Manchu Princess, Japanese Spy written by Phyllis Birnbaum and published by . This book was released on 2017-01-03 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aisin Gioro Xianyu (1907-1948) was the fourteenth daughter of a Manchu prince and a legendary figure in China's bloody struggle with Japan. After the fall of the Manchu dynasty in 1912, Xianyu's father gave his daughter to a Japanese friend who was sympathetic to his efforts to reclaim power. This man raised Xianyu, now known as Kawashima Yoshiko, to restore the Manchus to their former glory. Her fearsome dedication to this cause ultimately got her killed. Yoshiko had a fiery personality and loved the limelight. She shocked Japanese society by dressing in men's clothes and rose to prominence as Commander Jin, touted in Japan's media as a new Joan of Arc. Boasting a short, handsome haircut and a genuine military uniform, Commander Jin was credited with many daring exploits, among them riding horseback as leader of her own army during the Japanese occupation of China. While trying to promote the Manchus, Yoshiko supported the puppet Manchu state established by the Japanese in 1932-one reason she was executed for treason after Japan's 1945 defeat. The truth of Yoshiko's life is still a source of contention between China and Japan: some believe she was exploited by powerful men, others claim she relished her role as political provocateur. China holds her responsible for unspeakable crimes, while Japan has forgiven her transgressions. This biography presents the richest and most accurate portrait to date of the controversial princess spy, recognizing her truly novel role in conflicts that transformed East Asia.

Nomonhan

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Publisher : University Press of the Pacific
ISBN 13 : 9781410222855
Total Pages : 132 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (228 download)

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Book Synopsis Nomonhan by : Edward J. Drea

Download or read book Nomonhan written by Edward J. Drea and published by University Press of the Pacific. This book was released on 2005 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before World War II, the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) developed an offensive tactical doctrine designed to allow its infantry forces to fight successfully against a superior foe, the Soviet Union. A battle test of that doctrine's effectiveness occurred from June trough August 1939 along the Outer Mongolian-Manchurian border. This essay follows the daily combat operations of the IJA's 2d Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, for a two-month period. During that time, the 2/28th Infantry was in constant contact with Soviet combined arms forces. In July the battalion participated in offensive operations against Soviet units commanded by General Georgi K. Zhukov. When Japanese tactical doctrine failed against a Soviet combined arms force, the Japanese went on the defensive. Japanese officers, however, regarded defensive doctrine as transitional in nature and adopted it only to gain time to prepare for a counterattack. Defensive doctrine that terrain be held until the resumption of offensive operations that would destroy the enemy. A lack of flexibility doomed the Japanese defensive effort. General Zhukov secretly marshalled his forces and in mid-August used his armor columns to spearhead a double envelopment of the static Japanese units in a position defense. The Soviets encircled the Japanese units, including the 2/28th Infantry, and the Japanese survivors had to fight their way back to friendly lines. The 2/28th Infantry's War Diary provides a vivid day-by-day account of its combat operations. This in turn allows the examination of how the Japanese applied their tactical doctrine on the battlefield. The Japanese tried to use and aggressive tactical doctrine tocompensate for materiel and equipment deficiencies in their army. Such an approach was successful as long as the Japanese could conduct bold offensive operations. When they were forced to adopt a defensive posture, however, discrepancies between tactical doctrine and battlefield reality became apparent. These problems, applicable to any army, highlight fundamental difficulties of force structure, preconceptions of potential enemy capabilities, and the role of doctrine in a combat environment. An examination of small unit tactics is particularly useful to illustrate the dynamics of doctrine as expressed on the battlefield.

Significant Soil

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Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 1684175526
Total Pages : 540 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (841 download)

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Book Synopsis Significant Soil by : Emer O'Dwyer

Download or read book Significant Soil written by Emer O'Dwyer and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-05-11 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Like all empires, Japan’s prewar empire encompassed diverse territories as well as a variety of political forms for governing such spaces. This book focuses on Japan’s Kwantung Leasehold and Railway Zone in China’s three northeastern provinces. The hybrid nature of the leasehold’s political status vis-à-vis the metropole, the presence of the semipublic and enormously powerful South Manchuria Railway Company, and the region’s vulnerability to inter-imperial rivalries, intra-imperial competition, and Chinese nationalism throughout the first decades of the twentieth century combined to give rise to a distinctive type of settler politics. Settlers sought inclusion within a broad Japanese imperial sphere while successfully utilizing the continental space as a site for political and social innovation.In this study, Emer O’Dwyer traces the history of Japan’s prewar Manchurian empire over four decades, mapping how South Manchuria—and especially its principal city, Dairen—was naturalized as a Japanese space and revealing how this process ultimately contributed to the success of the Japanese army’s early 1930s takeover of Manchuria. Simultaneously, Significant Soil demonstrates the conditional nature of popular support for Kwantung Army state-building in Manchukuo, highlighting the settlers’ determination that the Kwantung Leasehold and Railway Zone remain separate from the project of total empire."

The Culture of Military Organizations

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Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108485731
Total Pages : 485 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis The Culture of Military Organizations by : Peter R. Mansoor

Download or read book The Culture of Military Organizations written by Peter R. Mansoor and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 485 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines how military culture forms and changes, as well as its impact on the effectiveness of military organizations.

Appeal by the Chinese Government

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (12 download)

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Book Synopsis Appeal by the Chinese Government by : League of Nations. Commission of Enquiry into the Sino-Japanese Dispute

Download or read book Appeal by the Chinese Government written by League of Nations. Commission of Enquiry into the Sino-Japanese Dispute and published by . This book was released on 1932 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

The Japanese Invasion of Manchuria and the Rape of Nanking

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Author :
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN 13 : 9781985645547
Total Pages : 166 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (455 download)

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Book Synopsis The Japanese Invasion of Manchuria and the Rape of Nanking by : Charles River Charles River Editors

Download or read book The Japanese Invasion of Manchuria and the Rape of Nanking written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-02-19 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the events written by people on both sides *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading Though scarcely mentioned in the world of early 21st century politics, Manchuria represented a key region of Asia during the first half of the 20th century. Once the heartland of the fierce Manchu empire, this northeastern Chinese region's rich natural resources made it a prize for nations in the process of entering the modern age, and three ambitious nations in the midst of such a transformation lay close enough to Manchuria to attempt to claim it: Japan, Russia, and China. For countries attempting to shake off their feudal past and enter a dynamic era of industrialization, Manchuria's resources presented an irresistible lure. With immense natural resources coupled to economic activity more concentrated than elsewhere in China, this region, abutting Mongolia, Korea, the Yellow Sea, and the Great Wall "accounted for 90 percent of China's oil, 70 percent of its iron, 55 percent of its gold, and 33 percent of its trade. If Shanghai remained China's commercial center, by 1931 Manchuria had become its industrial center." (Paine, 2012, 15). Thus, it's not altogether surprising that Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931 resulted from a long, complex chain of historical events stretching back to the late 19th century. Approximately 380,000 square miles in extent, or 1.4 times the size of the American state of Texas, Manchuria came into Imperial Russia's possession in 1900 due to the "Boxer Rebellion" in China, but the Russians held it only briefly; their defeat in the Russo-Japanese War shook loose their control from important parts of Manchuria by the end of 1905. The Japanese gained two important footholds in Manchuria thanks to their victory. One consisted of Port Arthur (renamed Ryojun by the Japanese), an economically and strategically vital harbor city on the Liaodung Peninsula, plus the peninsula itself. The other comprised the South Manchurian Railway, which the Russians gave to the Japanese as a prize of war, in lieu of a cash indemnity. Three days of plundering traditionally befell cities taken by storm, a fate usually avoided by those surrendering before the first attacking soldier penetrated beyond the outer walls. In Europe and areas influenced by Enlightenment thinkers, this practice faded rapidly after the Napoleonic Wars. In 1937, however, as the Imperial Army of Japan invaded China, this custom returned in a horrifying new form - the Rape of Nanking or the Nanking Massacre, a bloodbath lasting more than six weeks and possibly claiming more than a quarter of a million lives. Even the Japanese participating in the Nanking Massacre provided no rationale for their actions. They made no effort to explain it as a measure to terrorize other Chinese cities into surrender, or even to extract the location of hidden valuables. Instead, the Rape appears on the page of history as a psychopathic orgy of sadism for sadism's sake. Insatiably driven by hatred and, apparently, an unabashed relish for cruelty, the Japanese soldiery abandoned any semblance of restraint. Women of every age, from small children to ancient elders, suffered innumerable rapes, in many cases dying from the mass raping alone. Those who did not die from sexual assault suffered death in other forms - shot, decapitated, or tortured to death once the soldiers found themselves sexually exhausted. Other women suffered fatal sexual torture involving the introduction of sharp foreign objects into their vagina or the placement of firecrackers or live grenades inside. Even Third Reich personnel in the city interceded in a sometimes futile effort to rescue victims from their tormentors. This book chronicles two of the most infamous events of the 20th century.