Last week in class we learned about World War Two and the Civil War in China, and it was fascinating to learn about a different side of World War Two because we never got the chance to learn about the eastern part of World War Two. July 7th, 1937, can be considered the first battle of World War Two, not the invasion of Poland on September 1st, 1939, or even December 7th, 1941, for Americans to join the war. For China, it was that, and it started because the Japanese fired blanks, and then China fired back into the Japanese assembly area. Japan thought they were missing a soldier and ordered an attack on Wanping. Prince Konoe proclaimed that this happened because of the anti-japanese military action of China, and he wanted them to apologize. Chiang then ordered his troops to seize the Marco Polo Bridge, and this was to get control of the Tianjin-Peking region. Then on the 14th of August Chiang ordered his air force to bomb Japanese warships. Still, this was a failed attempt because they missed their mark and instead hit Shanghai, killing hundreds of civilians. China already had suffered 250,000 causalities, and the Japanese only suffered about 40,000.
The Civil War in China was after the Japanese surrendered in World War Two, and the United States occupied many ports and transported GMD troops to Japanese and Communist-controlled areas. As we know, the United States is highly anti-communist, and they did not want China to fall into communist hands. They wanted to reunify China and facilitate conversations between the leaders of the GMD and the Communist Party of China. The leaders agreed to some sort, but the troops and militias still had conflicts. President Truman, at the time, believed there was still a way to avoid a civil war in China. He then sent General George Mashall after Ambassador Hurley resigned to work things out on paper, but there were still conflicts between the military. General Marshall concluded that his mission had failed because of the tensions between China and the United States and left the fate of China to the Chinese. Ultimately, the United States’ worst fear came true; China became a fully Communist nation, and the tensions between China and the United States were not solved. The relationship has been up and down since then.
Bibliography
“Chapter 18 Summary – HST271: Modern China,” October 24, 2018. https://hst271.tdh.bergbuilds.domains/summary/chapter-18-summary/.
“Chapter 17: World War II – HST271: Modern China,” October 24, 2018. https://hst271.tdh.bergbuilds.domains/summary/chapter-17-world-war-ii/.
History, Alpha. “Mao Zedong.” Vietnam War (blog), March 31, 2016. https://alphahistory.com/vietnamwar/mao-zedong/.
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