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abhatia · Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 37

When did the Japanese war start? In 1931 with the 'Manchurian incident', in 1937 with the 'China incident' or in 1941 with the bombing of Pearl Harbor?

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mkim2013 · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 9

It is too vague to actually tell when the Japanese war actually began or from what incident the war was triggered. In my opinon, the origin of the war from the fact that the League of Nation condemned Japan from intruding China. Not only from winning several wars against other countries but also from World War 1, Japan was already militarily excited. By League of Nation condemning Japan from invading China into Manchuria, although not sure if the detonation of Japanese railroad was Japanese intention or not, Japan must had felt some unjustification in the decision and that they had resigned from the League of Nations. Since the resignation of LON, Japan no longer was under restriction of LON. Since Japan was one of the powerful country in the world, even League of Nation, busy with the post World War stuff, could not do much to stop Japan. Since then, Japan went even further in invading China, leading to Marco Polo Bridge incident and Nanjing Massacre.

theshaver · Joined: 15 Feb 2012 Posts: 5

I agree with miwei that it is difficult to determine the start of the war for Japan. As described in tonight's reading Japan has worked overtime to hide from their dark history which only makes it hard to pin point the true start of Japanese War. I think that war officially started, at least in American standards, in 1941 with the bombing of pearl harbor but I also don't think that it was a coincidence that Japan engaged in military warfare with neighboring Asian countries before finally deciding to attack the united states.

squashie · Joined: 07 Sep 2011 Posts: 22

I think the war was provoked by the China Incident of 1937 and war started due to that provocation. Because Chiang Kai-shek refused to give up the fight, Japan had no choice. They were willing to do whatever it takes to have control and take over Asia and would start with China.

rpulak2012 · Joined: 03 Dec 2011 Posts: 9

I would say it starts with the Manchurian incident. If you look at studies of the Japanese involvement in the Second World War, you will see that quite often the invasion of China is considered part of WWII pacific. It is also really when Japan starts showing aggression towards other nations. Sure, there are other more significant events that happen afterward, but the Manchurian incident is the first event in a series that comprise WWII.

wlotas2013 · Joined: 14 Nov 2011 Posts: 20

I would say the Machurian Incident due to it's being the first of a series of vicious attacks provoked by Japan. The Manchurian Incident revealed the Japanese inclination to cause conflict due to lacking reason. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident displayed their ability to create such a reason through a mere denial of access.

fxin · Joined: 17 Feb 2011 Posts: 10

The beginning of the war of Japan cannot simply be determined by a specific event or date. With the Manchurian Incident, the Japanese faked a bombing, and accused the Chinese for its cause. Thus they justify their reason of advancing into

Manchuria. The China Incident, again was the foul play of the Japanese. Although the soldier ran off and got lost under the bridge, but there was clearly not enough reason to attack and break the treaty set out by both countries. In 1941 the

bombing of Pearl Harbor was indeed a very surprising and offensive move, but can we consider Pearl Harbor the start of the war simply because it was acted upon the Americans? Are the deaths of many Chinese soldiers that defended the

country in the previous incidents not counted as war casualties? I say that the war of Japan did not start with any single specific event, but rather a series of events that lead to the War of Japan.

shawks · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 13

I think that the war started after the Kanto Earthquake happened. The Japanese blamed the Koreans for the natural disaster, and this led to conflict between Japan and other parts of Asia. Japan was at war even before the assassination of Manchurian leader in 1931, and a mental war can be just be as intense as a physical one. To say that Japan "started fighting" when they bombed Pearl Harbor would be inaccurate because they had been targeting East Asia before, taking land and feeling superior every moment.

JasonJeong · Joined: 20 Oct 2011 Posts: 13

The Manchurian incident definitely started the militarists' dominance in the Japanese government. The Manchurian incident (MI) provided a precedent for the later incidents to occur. After MI, the government blamed the battlefield commanders for wars. Battlefield commanders, on the other hand, realized that they could act first (attack) and not get in trouble or even be praised for their actions. This definitely led to the 5.15 incident in 1932, when the far right politicians and militarists demanded a right wing government structure led by the military, and the 2.26 (1936) coup, which resulted in enhanced control of the government by the military. Democracy collapsed. Finally, Japan turned into an ultimate militarist state when General Tojo Hideki stepped in to the office as the 40th prime minister of the Japanese Empire

Yqi2013 · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 21

The Manchuria Incident built the tension between China and Japan, and the China Incident started the war. Although Japan started to invade and to take control of the northern part of China, China did not really rise against Japan in terms of the insufficient force that was put into the fighting. The real war did not start there.
The Marco Polo Incident marked the really start of the war between China and Japan. That was the time when China actually fought back and that was the start of the whole China being involved in the war.

lizzieyang · Joined: 26 Jan 2011 Posts: 14

"Not surprisingly, people were often at a total loss for where to begin their stories, since the war in Japana has no generally accepted beginning point" (pg. 103).

It is difficult to determine where Japanese had started their war. Japanese had already made themselves many enemies around the world by 1920s. However, I would strongly argue that Japan's war started around the time when the Prime Minister Tanaka sent troops to Tsingtao in China to take over the Shantung province. Japanese had killed more than three thousand Chinese from this incident. Afterwards, China considered Japanese as its definite enemy, Western countries lost respect towards Japan and Japan itself realized it was falling in pieces slowly.
After this event, Japanese had two new prime ministers, which clearly proves Japan's instability.

jgottesdiener2013@csw.org · Joined: 14 Feb 2012 Posts: 4

The war was a result of all three of those events. But the first major step in pushing the country to war was the manchurian incident. This was the event that got the ball rolling for a war because of the horrific violence that took place during that event.

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