The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between China and Japan, and is usually dated from the Marco Polo Bridge Incident near Beijing on 7 July 1937, when a clash between troops led to full-scale invasion. Japanese forces quickly took Beijing, Shanghai and the capital Nanjing, where soldiers committed mass killings and other atrocities against civilians and prisoners. The Nationalist government under Chiang Kai-shek retreated inland to Chongqing, while the Communists under Mao Zedong waged guerrilla war behind Japanese lines, and the two sides cooperated uneasily. The fighting merged into the wider Second World War after 1941, with American and British support for China. It ended with Japan's surrender in 1945 and left China devastated and politically divided.
Before and after
- 4 June 1937Battle of Pochonbo
- 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
More in Wars, politics & history
- from 7 November 1917 to 25 October 1922Russian Civil War
- 23 August 1939Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
- from 30 November 1939 to 13 March 1940Winter 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
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.