Sin-Japanese War and 2nd UF

Question 1

Xian Incident events

Answer 1

• December 12, 1936 Chiang Kai-Shek kidnapped by
  Young Marshal’s men
• Stalin was outraged “can only damage the anti-Japanese united front
• “had the Xian Incident not occured, Mao might well not have survived to
  become Chiang’s successor as ruler of China” Fenby

Question 2

Xian incident agreement

Answer 2

• 25 December 1936
• removal of the Nationalist troops from the Northwest
• reshuffling of Nanjing government to give more weight to the anti-Japanses faction
• end to Nationalist campaign against Red Army
• legitimization of Communist Party

Question 3

Japanese offensive start

Answer 3

· 7 July 1937 – Japanese launch an enormous offensive into mainland China
- Skirmish at Marco Polo Bridge near
Beijing. Japanese claim Chinese
attacked. Demand apology and
withdrawal of troops. Chinese refuse
and reinforce Beijing. Japanese launch
offensive.

Question 4

2nd United Front declared

Answer 4

• 22 September 1937 – Second United Front declared
• Yan’an declared autonomous
  (that is, self-governing) region
  within the Republic of China
• Red Army renamed Eighth Route Army and New
  Fourth Army and under ultimate command of Chiang
  Kai-shek.

Question 5

JW - military losses

Answer 5

• 28 July 1937 – Japanese take Beijing
• 20 November 1937 – KMT flee Nanjing to establish new seat of government in Chongqing
• 13 December 1937 – Japanese take Nanjing
• 300,000 civilians murdered
• 15-20 million killed
• KMT had fought 23 campaigns, 1,117 major battles
• 95 million refugees

Question 6

JW - people

Answer 6

• In one two-day period, 2,526 bombs fell on
  Shanghai
• June 1938 Chiang ordered the dykes on the Yellow
  River to be blown, near the city of Zhengzhou
• flood that affected 6 million people
• killed 500,000
• Survival became a local matter,
  undermining loyalty to the Nationalists - Fenby

Question 7

JW - famine in henan

Answer 7

• army of the Nationalist general Tang Enbo took from 30 to50 per cent of farm output
• In one county, two thirds of the 150,000 people had nothingto eat; 700 were dying each day
• Chiang only intervened after an American journalist made him aware of it

Question 8

JW - economic effect

Answer 8

By 1 9 4 1 , the salaries of Nationalist civilservants were worth
16 per cent of the 1937 level in real terms, while those of
soldiers were 78 per cent down.

Question 9

JW - weakness of KMT - resources

Answer 9

- Misused military supplies and stockpiled
resources to fight against the CCP
- Nationalists did not have a
heavy-manufacturingbase on which to
build a modern military machine
- China lacked the cohesion needed
to underpina major war effort,

Question 10

JW - weakness of KMT - soldiers

Answer 10

• 2 million troops
• Half the officers promoted from the
  ranks were reckoned to be illiterate
• Michael Gibson calculates that onlyseventy-nine of the 165
  divisions actually reported to Nanjing; the rest were under
  regional command, and only seventeen were of good quality.
• The warlord of Shandong avoided battle, while theKwantung Army took over Inner Mongolia.
• The Chinese soldier is excellent material, wasted and
  betrayed by stupid leadership.” - Stillwell

Question 11

JW - weakness of KMT - Chiang leadership

Answer 11

• . Oftenpoorly informed, he issued badly
  formulated, unrealistic orders that took little
  account of the evolution on the battlefield. His
  refusal to allow any retreat as a matter of
  principle meant that good troops fell in
  protracted but unwinnable battles. T
• o “Chiang Kai-shek is directly responsible for
  much of the confusion that normally exists under his
  command…He himself is the main obstacle in China’s
  unification and it’s co-operation in a real fight against
  Japan.” Joseph Stillwell

Question 12

JW - US alliance

Answer 12

• 11 December 1941 – USA joins the war against the Japanese, sending aid and advisors to Chiang,
• Franklin Roosevelt was set against any commitmentof US ground troops to fight the Japanese in China. His
  ‘Europe First’ policy meant that there were not enough GIs to spare.

Question 13

JW - US alliance - tension

Answer 13

• Stilwell called chief of staff, but Chiang would
  remain the Nationalist chief of staff, and
  generalswould continue to report to Chiang
• the army had always beenan acutely political
  organization to be used and manipulated for his
  purposes.
• George Marshall refused to allow Nationalistrepresentatives to join meetings of Anglo-American chiefs of staff
• Chiang hit back with a complaint that China was
  beingtreated as an inferior ally by not being included in
  Allied military planning
• 19 October 1942 Stilwell resigns
• Albert Wedemeyer, was named to take his place
• ’ The Nationalist system, he added, mustbe ‘torn to bits’