Sino-Japanese Wars

Drawing of a battle at sea between Japan and China at the beginning of the First Sino-Japanese War. The Chinese showed little resistance and the campaign was shortlived, with Japan achieving control of Korea.

Exodus of civilians from Beijing in 1933, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. In 1931 the Japanese army occupied Manchuria and moved southwards through northeastern China.

Two wars waged by Japan against China 1894–95 and 1931–45 to expand to the mainland. Territory gained in the First Sino-Japanese War (Korea) and in the 1930s (Manchuria, Shanghai) was returned at the end of World War II.

First Sino-Japanese War 1894–95. Under the treaty of Shimonoseki, Japan secured the ‘independence’ of Korea, cession of Taiwan and the nearby Pescadores Islands, and the Liaodong peninsula (for a naval base). France, Germany, and Russia pressured Japan into returning the last-named, which Russia occupied 1896 to establish Port Arthur (now Lüda); this led to the Russo-Japanese War 1904–05.

Second Sino-Japanese War 1931–45.

1931–32 The Japanese occupied Manchuria, which they formed into the puppet state of Manchukuo. They also attacked Shanghai, and moved into northeastern China.

1937 Chinese leaders Jiang Jie Shi (Chiang Kai-shek) and Mao Zedong allied to fight the Japanese; war was renewed as the Japanese overran northeastern China and seized Shanghai and Nanjing.

1938 Japanese capture of Wuhan and Guangzhou was followed by the transfer of the Chinese capital to Chongqing; a period of stalemate followed.

1941 Japanese attack on the USA (see Pearl Harbor) led to the extension of lend-lease aid to China and US entry into war against Japan and its allies.

1944 A Japanese offensive threatened Chongqing.

1945 The Chinese received the Japanese surrender at Nanjing in September, after the Allies had concluded World War II.