China in Chaos: 1911-1934

China in Chaos: 1911-1945

1. The End of the Manchu – February, 1912 a. Two thousand years of dynastic rule came to an end in February of 1912. Power descended briefly on the Nationalist leader Sun Yat-Sen who promised to restore China’s sovereignty, develop the economy and create a democratic state. b. Sun’s presidency lasted just over a month from the time he was sworn in on January 1, 1912 to the date he resigned on February 13, 1912. General Yuan Shi Kai replaced him. c. China slipped into renewed anarchy as warlords carved out their own regions of control. The stabilizing effect European states had on China was ended by the bloodshed of World War I (1914-1918). d. In August of 1914 World War I erupted in Europe. Germany and Austria-Hungary battled France, Britain and Russia. Italy and the Ottoman Turks entered the war in 1915. e. When the war ended in 1918 twelve million European soldiers were dead, Germany was defeated and Russia’s tsar, Nicholas II, and his family had been shot to death on the orders of the Communist dictator Vladimir Lenin. f. It was during this time period that Japan became the pre-eminent power in China.

2. Japan’s Rise 1853-1937 a. Japan had been opened to the West by an American naval fleet that steamed into Tokyo Bay in 1853. Japan feared it would suffer the fate of China at the hands of the imperial West. b. Japan embarked on a crash program of modernization. They built a large, modern army and navy and used it to defeat China in a brief war (1894-1895). China was forced to cede Korea and Taiwan to Japanese control. c. Japan’s lust for Chinese territory led it to challenge Russia’s position in Manchuria. Japanese forces launched a surprise attack on the Russian naval base at Port Arthur, in February of 1904. d. The world waited for Russia to crush Japan, but Japanese forces won a series of important victories. At Tsushima the Japanese navy sunk twenty one Russian vessels just off the Korean coastline. e. President Teddy Roosevelt negotiated an end to this Russo-Japanese War and won a Nobel Peace Prize. Japan won control of most of Manchuria.

3. Chiang Kai-Shek and the Nationalists: 1925-34 a. Sun Yat-Sen died of cancer in 1925. The new leader of the Nationalist Party was General Chiang Kai-Shek. He organized a “Northern Expedition” against the warlords and succeeded in breaking their power. b. Kai-Shek had joined Communist forces in alliance against their common enemy, the warlords, with the warlords of the coastal regions gone, Kai-Shek turned on the communists in Shanghai in 1927 killing thousands. c. The communists turned to Mao Tse-Tung as their leader. Chiang was determined to crush the communist forces and unify China under Nationalist control. d. What followed was a series of bloody campaigns that left the communist forces trapped in southern China with Chiang’s forces closing in for the kill. e. Mao’s 90,000 survivors were let out of the trap and retreated thousands of miles to the Northwest. Chiang pursued him from inland province to inland province. Warlords who would have opposed the entry of Nationalist forces now welcomed them because they would evict the Red Army. f. The march went on for more than a year. When the communist forces finally reached Yanan they numbered less than ten thousand men. Chiang and his Nationalists were in a position of strength. But Mao had survived, his retreat became mythologized as “the Long March.” g. The war between Chiang and Mao did not take place in a vacuum. The Japanese regarded China’s continuing chaos as an invitation to exploit the division and misrule for the betterment of their own people. h. Japan’s military was revered for its role in transforming Japan from a feudal state, vulnerable to the predations of the imperial powers, to a regional power. Its victory over China in 1895 had secured Korea and Taiwan. 4. World War II in Asia 1937-1945 i. The surprise attack and victory over Russia, ten years later in 1905, had secured a commanding presence in Manchuria. The Nazis had rearmed Germany and fears of war were growing in Europe. j. With Britain and France occupied at home and the Great Depression ravaging the world economy Japan moved to expand its growing empire in Asia by invading China. k. The Japanese hoped to secure control of the eastern third of China with its resources and rich farmland. They held the Chinese in contempt and freely employed massacre, terror and disease in their campaign to secure their territorial objectives. l. Chiang and Mao continued fighting one another as well as the Japanese during these war years. Chiang is said to have commented “the Japanese are a disease of the skin, the communists a disease of the blood.” m. Japan’s hopes to secure control of Asia led her to devastate the American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor in December of 1941. Japanese troops then established a vast island empire which was fortified and supplied by sea. The Americans would find the ferocious defense of these islands by the fanatical Japanese troops so costly in lives they would choose to accept Japan’s dominion over the Pacific the military planners believed. n. Their hopes were disappointed. Over the next four years the American military destroyed Japan’s surface fleet and conquered some islands and not others. They battered their way closer and closer to Japan’s home islands. As American forces drew closer to Japan they mounted a sustained aerial assault of Japan’s cities. o. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians were killed in these bombing campaigns. Demanding Unconditional Surrender the Americans prepared an invasion of Japan’s home islands – Operation Olympic. The invasion was not needed – the dropping of atomic bombs in August of 1945 coupled with the entrance of the Soviet Union compelled Japan’s surrender and ended the war in the Pacific.