The Marco Polo Bridge incident was a clash between Chinese and Japanese troops near the Lugou Bridge, southwest of Beijing, then called Peiping. Japanese soldiers on night manoeuvres claimed that a soldier was missing and asked to search the nearby town of Wanping, and shots were exchanged. Local negotiations at first aimed to calm the situation, but both sides reinforced their troops, and fighting spread to the Beijing and Tianjin region. The incident is usually taken as the start of the full-scale Second Sino-Japanese War, which merged into the Second World War and lasted until 1945.
Before and after
- 13 June 1937Construction of Stade Vélodrome
- 23 June 1937Birth of Martti Ahtisaari
- from July 1937 to April 1945Construction of Buchenwald concentration camp
- from 7 July 1937 to 9 September 1945Second Sino-Japanese War
- from 7 July 1937 to 9 July 1937Marco Polo Bridge incident
- 20 July 1937Death of Guglielmo Marconi
- 28 August 1937Founding of Toyota
- 8 September 1937Bloudan Conference
- 21 September 1937Publication of The Hobbit
More in Wars, politics & history
- from 8 March 1917 to 16 March 1917February Revolution
- from 1 August 1927 to 1 May 1950Chinese Civil War
- from 22 June 1941 to 7 May 1945Eastern Front
- from 22 June 1941 to 5 December 1941Operation Barbarossa
- 7 December 1941Attack on Pearl Harbor
- 1944Golden Globes
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.