The Sino-Japanese War, which began in 1937, transformed Japan into a full-scale total-war system. The lives of the people were also completely mobilized for the war.
Basic Knowledge
On July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (a clash between the Japanese and Chinese armies) occurred near Beijing, beginning the Sino-Japanese War (China Incident). The Japanese Army occupied Beijing and Shanghai, and in December of the same year captured the capital, Nanjing, causing the Nanjing Incident (Nanjing Massacre), in which many Chinese people were killed. In resistance, China’s Chiang Kai-shek (Nationalist Party) and Mao Zedong (Communist Party) formed an anti-Japanese united front through the Second United Front (1937). Japan was unable to force China to surrender even by bombing Chongqing, and the war became a quagmire. In 1938, the cabinet of Konoe Fumimaro enacted the National Mobilization Law, enabling the government to mobilize people and materials for war without parliamentary approval.
1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident, Second United Front, Nanjing Incident
1938 National Mobilization Law, National Spiritual Mobilization Movement
1939 World War II begins (Germany invades Poland)
1940 Tripartite Pact, Imperial Rule Assistance Association (single-party dictatorship-like)
1941 Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact, outbreak of the Pacific War
1941 National School Order (elementary schools → national schools)
In Depth (Background and Effects)
Under the National Mobilization Law, coupon systems and rationing systems were introduced, and sugar, rice, and clothing were controlled. In 1940, existing political parties were dissolved and integrated into the Imperial Rule Assistance Association (whose president was Konoe Fumimaro), while neighborhood associations and tonarigumi groups (5 to 10 households) became grassroots organizations for monitoring residents. Labor unions were also dissolved and integrated into the Greater Japan Industrial Patriotic Association. In 1941, elementary schools were renamed national schools, and militaristic education was thoroughly implemented. In the same year, Foreign Minister Matsuoka Yosuke concluded the Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact to secure safety in the north (later broken by the Soviet Union), while Japan advanced its southward expansion policy. In response, the United States stopped oil exports to Japan through the ABCD encirclement (the United States, Britain, China, and the Netherlands), and Japanese-American negotiations moved toward a breakdown.
- Sino-Japanese War = began with the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident
- Second United Front = Chiang Kai-shek + Mao Zedong anti-Japanese alliance
- National Mobilization Law = 1938, Konoe Fumimaro cabinet
- Imperial Rule Assistance Association = 1940, political parties dissolved, Konoe Fumimaro as president
- Tripartite Pact = 1940 (Berlin)
- ABCD encirclement = economic blockade of Japan by the United States, Britain, China, and the Netherlands
Points of Caution (Easily Confused)
① The Manchurian Incident (1931), the Sino-Japanese War (1937), and the Pacific War (1941) followed one another but were separate events. ② Distinguish the Marco Polo Bridge Incident (1937, beginning of the Sino-Japanese War), the Liutiaohu Incident (1931, beginning of the Manchurian Incident), and the assassination of Zhang Zuolin (1928). ③ The Second United Front (anti-Japanese, 1937) had a different purpose from the First United Front (anti-imperialist and anti-warlord, 1924). ④ The Imperial Rule Assistance Association was a government-sponsored national organization, not a political party.
Practice
- What incident triggered the Sino-Japanese War in 1937?
- What law enacted in 1938 enabled the mobilization of citizens without parliamentary approval?
- What was the name of the organization formed in 1940 by integrating the existing political parties?