The Sino-Japanese War 1937-45

Question 1

Who was Zhang Xueliang (3)?

Answer 1

1) Nicknamed the ‘Young Marshal’, Zhang Xueliang was the military commander in the Shaanxi Province and the military ruler of north-eastern China.
2) He had supported Jiang to defeat warlords attempting to overthrow him in the 1930s, but was critical of Jiang’s reluctance to fight the Japanese.
3) After the Xian Incident, he was placed under house arrest by Jiang for 50 years.

Question 2

What did Jiang Jieshi say about the communists and the Japanese?

Answer 2

Jiang saw the Japanese as ‘a disease of the skin’, and the communists as ‘a disease of the heart’.

Question 3

When was the Xian Incident?

Answer 3

December 1936

Question 4

What was the main reason for the Xian Incident?

Answer 4

Discontent amongst GMD military commanders in regards to Jiang’s belief that the communists must first be defeated before the Japanese.

Question 5

What were the events of the Xian Incident (3)?

Answer 5

1) Jiang arrived in Xian to plan the final offensive against the remaining CCP forces, however was captured by soldiers under the command of Zhang Xueliang.
2) In touch with Zhang, the CCP wanted Jiang executed, but Stalin intervened, believing Jiang the only man capable of leading China against the Japanese. The CCP modified their stance, however Jiang had to agree to a GMD-CCP United Front.
3) Jiang refused a written agreement, but gave verbal assurance, calling off the final offensive on the CCP and returning to Nanjing.

Question 6

When was the Marco Polo Bridge Incident?

Answer 6

7 July 1937.

Question 7

What were the events of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (2)?

Answer 7

1) The Japanese army guarding the Southern Manchurian Railway conducted a night-time exercise when one soldier went missing.
2) Although he was found soon after, the commander used it as an excuse to attack the Chinese. An ultimatum was issued for China to withdraw from the area, before Japan took Beijing and the surrounding area.

Question 8

What were the two main consequences of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident?

Answer 8

1) Jiang prepared for a full scale war against Japan, stating ‘the limits of endurance have been reached’.
2) The Second United Front was formally agreed between the CCP and the GMD.

Question 9

What were the 4 main agreements under the Second United Front?

Answer 9

1) The CCP were to accept Jiang’s leadership and their military forces were to be placed under the command of the NRA to coordinate efforts against Japan.
2) The GMD were to cease all operations against the CCP.
3) Financial support was to be given to communist forces from the central government.
4) The GMD were to end their political repressions of the CCP.

Question 10

What was the National Political Consultative Counsel (NPCC) and how successful was it?

Answer 10

Created by Jiang in 1938, it aimed to unite all forces and ideas to formulate national policy. The council would have 200 members, with 120 members coming from non-GMD parties. In practice, the NPCC had little power and Jiang retained his autocracy.

Question 11

What did Japan do after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident?

Answer 11

Attacked Beijing, extending their control in northern China.

Question 12

How did the war spread to central China?

Answer 12

Jiang launched an attack on Japanese forces in Shanghai.

Question 13

What 2 major cities did Japan take in 1938 and when?

Answer 13

After taking Shanghai, Japan advanced up the Yangzi river, taking the capital of Nanjing in January 1938 and then the new capital, Wuhan, in October 1938.

Question 14

What was the rape of Nanjing?

Answer 14

Attacking Nanjing in December 1937, Japanese forces killed 100,000-300,000 Chinese. Prisoners were burned, machine gunned, buried alive, used as bayonet practice, hung up by their tongues or sprayed with acid. A large number of women were raped and then killed.

Question 15

What main areas did the Japanese have control of by the end of 1938?

Answer 15

Most of northern China including Beijing, Shanghai, the lower Yangzi river basin and Guangzhou.

Question 16

Where did Jiang Jieshi move the Chinese capital to?

Answer 16

Chongqing, where the GMD government and Jiang remained for the rest of the war.

Question 17

How did Japan apply pressure on Chongqing?

Answer 17

After establishing airbases in central China, Japan were able to use aircrafts to launch bombing attacks on Chongqing.

Question 18

Who was Peng Dehuai (2)?

Answer 18

1) A professional soldier who joined the CCP in the 1920s, becoming a senior military commander in the Eighth Route Army.
2) Peng became the Defence Minister of the PRC in 1949, before he was purged in 1959.

Question 19

Who was Zhu De (4)?

Answer 19

A professional soldier who defected from the GMD to the CCP in 1927. He worked closely with Mao in Jiangxi and during the Long March. During the war, he was the Commander-in-Chief of the CCP forces, and became Commander-in-Chief of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) after 1949.

Question 20

What was the Hundred Regiments Offensive?

Answer 20

An offensive against the Japanese in the Hebei and Shandong provinces in northern China by CCP forces led by Peng Dehuai and Zhu De. It was a huge failure and was the last time that CCP forces engaged the Japanese in an all-out attack in the war. August - December 1940.

Question 21

When did the Hundred Regiments Offensive take place?

Answer 21

August - December 1940.

Question 22

What were the CCP casualties compared to the Japanese casualties following the Hundred Regiments Offensive?

Answer 22

The CCP lost around 22,000 and the Japanese only 3,000-4,000.

Question 23

How did Japan respond to the Hundred Regiments Offensive?

Answer 23

Japan launched the ‘Three All’ campaigns (kill all, burn all, loot all) against the CCP in their Shaanxi base area, forcing them to give up large amounts of their territory.

Question 24

What was the Japanese strategy 1939-1940?

Answer 24

To consolidate their Chinese territories.

Question 25

What and when was Pearl Harbour?

Answer 25

After the USA imposed sanctions on Japan when they extended their military operations in 1940-1941, Japan decided that the only way to have an east Asian empire was to deal with the USA. Hoping to destroy the US fleet, Japan bombed Pearl Harbour, a large USA naval base in Hawaii and home of the US Pacific Fleet in December 1941.

Question 26

What were the consequences of Pearl Harbour (2)?

Answer 26

1) The USA entered WW2.
2) The USA regarded China as an important theatre of war against Japan, making an alliance alongside Britain with Jiang Jieshi’s GMD government.

Question 27

How did the USA aid China militarily against Japan (3)?

Answer 27

1) American military advisors helped train the NRA.
2) US airbases were set up in China, and the USA flew supplies of weapons and equipment to Chongqing.
3) The USA used their airbases to bomb Japan itself after 1944.

Question 28

What was the Ichigo Offensive, and what was the US reaction to it?

Answer 28

Wanting to relieve USA bombings on Japan, Japan launched an offensive to capture the US airbases in southern China. This was successful in capturing many bases, and some important cities, such as Changsha. The USA were appalled at the NRA, and very frustrated by Jiang’s refusal to move forces blockading Yan’an in the North to the South (1944).

Question 29

What was US strategy in the Pacific 1944-1945?

Answer 29

To capture Islands close to Japan, in order to use as staging posts for an invasion of Japan.

Question 30

How did the USSR help China after their victory in Europe?

Answer 30

In August 1945, Soviet troops entered the Far East, in alliance with the GMD government, advancing into Manchuria.

Question 31

Why did the Japanese surrender 15 August 1945?

Answer 31

Because of the US dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima (6 August 1945) and Nagasaki (9 August 1945).

Question 32

What was the New Fourth Army (2)?

Answer 32

A CCP military force established in December 1937 from the remnants of CCP forces left behind in the south after the Long March. They were led by Ye Ting and were 10,000 strong at the time of establishment.

Question 33

What was the Eighth Route Army?

Answer 33

The larger of the two communist military forces that fought in the Sino-Japanese War.

Question 34

How successful was the Second United Front prior to 1941 (4)?

Answer 34

1) The CCP were too suspicious of Jiang and his military commanders to allow them to control their forces.
2) Jiang never abandoned the objective of irradicating the CCP.
3) Each side focused on defending their own areas, and attacks were separate and uncoordinated.
4) Both sides believed that there would be a power struggle after the end of the war.

Question 35

Why did Jiang Jieshi break the Second United Front?

Answer 35

Ye Ting refused to move the New Fourth Army north, as ordered by Jiang Jieshi. Jiang then ordered an attack on the New Fourth Army in the South, lasting 6 days in January 1941.

Question 36

What were the consequences of the New Fourth Army Incident (2)?

Answer 36

1) Only 2,000 out of 9,000 of the New Fourth Army escaped and were forced to regroup in the North.
2) Jiang then formed a GMD perimeter around the CCP base in Yan’an.

Question 37

Why did the USA get frustrated with Jiang Jieshi?

Answer 37

For refusing the American request to move the NRA from Yan’an (north) to the south, in order to fight against the Ichigo Offensive.

Question 38

Who was Patrick Hurley?

Answer 38

The US ambassador for China.

Question 39

How did the USA try to mend the Second United Front?

Answer 39

By sending Patrick Hurley to mediate between the GMD and the CCP.

Question 40

What did Jiang Jieshi refuse to accommodate?

Answer 40

The CCP demanded to be included in a coalition government with the GMD, that their combined military would be placed under the command of a joint military council, and that all communists being held as political prisoners were to be released. Jiang refused, instead insisting that the CCP forces should be placed under the command of the NRA.

Question 41

What were the impacts of the Sino-Japanese War on China (5)?

Answer 41

1) Cities (e.g. Shanghai and Nanjing) had been devastated by Japanese forces.
2) Lots of northern industrial equipment had been moved south under Jiang’s orders.
3) 3-4 million Chinese soldier deaths.
4) 10-20 million Chinese civilian deaths.
5) The destruction of dykes on the Yellow River by the retreating NRA caused a flood destroying 1.4 million acres of farmland in the Henan province, with over a million deaths, and another million left homeless and without food.

Question 42

What was the impact of the Second World War/Sino-Japanese War on China’s international standing (4)?

Answer 42

1) Greater international recognition through their war-time alliance.
2) President Roosevelt named China as their most important ally against Japan (1942).
3) The USA and Britain forfeited all territorial and extra-territorial rights on the Chinese mainland (1943).
4) Jiang was invited to the allied conference at Cairo with Roosevelt and Churchill, where it was agreed that China would gain back Manchuria and Taiwan upon the Japanese defeat (November 1943).

Question 43

Why did tension between the GMD and the USA escalate further (2)?

Answer 43

1) US military commanders were very critical of the GMD government and Jiang’s military strategy.
2) Wanting the USSR to join the War in the Pacific, Roosevelt offered Stalin the restoration of Soviet rights in Manchuria if the USSR joined the war within 3 months of Victory in Europe at the Yalta Conference. Jiang was not invited (January 1945). Upon declaring war on Japan, the USSR took Manchuria (July 1945).

Question 44

What rights did the Soviets have in Manchuria (2)?

Answer 44

Control over some ports, including Port Arthur, and joint control with China over Manchurian railways.

Question 45

What were the two main terms (for China) in the Friendship Treaty with Russia in 1945?

Answer 45

1) The USSR recognised the GMD as the legitimate government of China.
2) The USSR would not intervene if Chinese forces moved to gain control of Tibet.

Question 46

Why were the NRA such a weak force (2)?

Answer 46

1) The NRA were conscripted, poorly trained, inadequately fed, and provided with minimal basic equipment and medical backup.
2) They were treated harshly by officers, who sometimes took their pay for themselves. This meant that the NRA had low morale and often lacked the will to fight the Japanese. Many conscripts were roped together to prevent desertion.

Question 47

What did the GMD gain from the Sino-Japanese War (2)?

Answer 47

1) Jiang Jieshi and the GMD made large diplomatic gains for being in the alliance against Japan.
2) They had gained large amounts of military equipment from the USA.

Question 48

Why was the Sino-Japanese war a propaganda defeat for Jiang Jieshi and the GMD (3)?

Answer 48

1) Reluctant to engage in offensive operations against the Japanese, coupled with his determination to confine the CCP to Yan’an, allowed the CCP to portray Jiang as lacking the will and courage to fight Japan.
2) The fact that the NRA were reliant on conscripts in order to fill their ranks.
3) The fact that the NRA failed to defend the civilian population.

Question 49

Why was Jiang Jieshi’s reputation as a leader damaged after the Sino-Japanese War (4)?

Answer 49

1) Jiang was highly suspicious of his generals.
2) Jiang valued loyalty over ability.
3) Jiang withheld equipment from commanders he distrusted.
4) Jiang issued contradictory orders, resulting in a lack of coordination amongst GMD forces.

Question 50

How did the Second United Front benefit the CCP?

Answer 50

Although GMD attacks did not end entirely, the Second United Front provided valuable respite from GMD military campaigns, following the great losses sustained on the Long March.

Question 51

What were the sizes of the CCP military in 1936 and in 1945?

Answer 51

1) 1936: Between 15,000-20,000 men.
2) 1945: Approximately 880,000 men.

Question 52

What was the size of CCP membership in 1937 and in 1945?

Answer 52

1) 1937: Around 40,000.
2) 1945: Around 1,200,000.

Question 53

How did the CCP expand territorially around the end of the Sino-Japanese War (2)?

Answer 53

In July 1945, as the war was ending, the CCP advanced eastwards from Yan’an, consolidating their hold over the Shaanxi province and moving into neighbouring Hunan. The CCP also re-established communist groups in and around Shanghai.

Question 54

How did the CCP fight the Japanese after the failure of the Hundred Regiments Offensive?

Answer 54

The CCP utilised guerrilla warfare, allowing for the small, relatively weak but motivated CCP force to fight against the large, better equipped Japanese forces. This allowed the CCP to tied down Japanese forces in northern China.

Question 55

What was Mao’s doctrine in regards to guerrilla warfare?

Answer 55

It involved keeping the CCP forces dispersed before concentrating them for surprise attacks on enemy positions, such as weak points in their defences or key points in supply lines (e.g. a railway junction). Mao developed this after the CCP were forced out of the cities and had to retain bases in rural areas.

Question 56

How did the CCP use guerrilla warfare in the Sino-Japanese War as a propaganda victory?

Answer 56

They claimed that they were more committed to the patriotic fight against the Japanese in comparison to the GMD. In reality, the CCP did much less fighting than they claimed, due to their heavy losses in the ‘Three Alls’ Campaigns.