War

Total War
- Everything on the table: human, economic, military resources to ensure COMPLETE
VICTORY
- Conscription on both sides
- Civilians in war efforts or TARGETS
- All types of weapons
- GOVERNMENT CONTROL: propaganda (helpful in determining who really won and
how)

Limited War
- Geographically confined conflict
- Limited types of weapons
- Limited area, targets, and objectives

WW1
Course
- Multi front, mostly land
- Trench war leading to stalemates
- Weapons: machine guns, grenades, heavy artillery, chemical warfare (none in WW2),
tanks, NONE ULTIMATELY DECISIVE
- Naval warfare: sea mines and submarines
- Aerial: airships, bombs, civilian targets, reconnaissance planes, dog-fights, ground
attack
- Role of government

Effect
SOCIAL
- Huge casualties
- New opportunity for women
- New role for state intervention

ECONOMIC
- Government debt handling (different in WW2)
- Recession, unemployment, inflation
- Defeated countries adversely affected by reparation

POLITICAL
- Post-war settlements fundamentally altered territorial and political map (Quicker in WW2)
- New governments for defeated nations
- Communist revolution (Cold war for WW2)
- Political unrest

Germany
Paris Peace Conference
- Treaty of Versailles
- Germany lost more than just the war- BLAMED
- Lost 10% of land, 12% of population- MOST PRODUCTIVE LANDS
- Ruhr Crisis- Ruhr valley taken by France after Germany refuses cooperation
- Germany instructed workers to stop working, but still being paid
- Printed more money, hyperinflation
- Cycle of debt: US to Germany to France to US
- Restrictions on German army seen as taking of away of defense ability
- Reparations of 132 BILLION GOLD MARKS
Foreign Policy (GOOD BOY PLANS)
- 1925 Locarno Treaty- Germany respected borders
- 1926 Germany joins League of Nations
- 1928- Kellogg-Briand Pact- renouncement of war
- 1929- Germany plans to improve, pay, and be accepted back by the international
community
Nazi Popularity (FUCKBOY)
- Hitler gains popularity in the Weimar Republic
- Weimar could not solve economic problems, inept, caused by Ruhr
- Nazis and communists became popular due to desperation
- Hitler’s propaganda gained mass support with middle class who lost jobs
- 1921- Hitler became party chairman, set up STURMABTEILUNG, private army-
brownshirts who used VIOLENCE against communists
Nazi Decline (ANTI-BULLYING)
- Nazi lost popularity, Hitler imprisoned due to coup attempt
- Stresseman took over as chancellor and later, foreign minister
- He solved economic problems
Nazi Reorganization
- Hitler as SUPREME LEADER- total obedience
- Set up paramilitary organizations, like Hitler Youth
- Uniforms and discipline displayed an image of order in a time of chaos
- SS and SA used to eradicate opponents VIOLENTLY
- Outstretched arm as salute, swastika
- Meant to ATTRACT MEMBERS FROM DIFFERENT SOCIAL CLASSES
- Build up strength of Nazi party
Great Depression (FINANCIALLY UNSTABLE)
- Weimar Republic collapsed as did most government in the area
- US withdrew its loans, plunging Germany into debt and bankruptcy again
- Unemployment (+30%)
- Nazi party grew more powerful again
- Hitler became chancellor
- Britain and France had to focus on themselves, didn’t control Hitler
- Weimar still ineffective despite new policies
- Increased taxes and lowered unemployment benefits
 - Resulted in the collapse of the coalition government as parties disagreed about
how to handle the economic problems- UNPOPULAR

Nazi Foreign Policy Campaign (FUCKBOY AGAIN)

- Hitler appealed to many, “man of the moment”
- Destroy Treaty of Versailles
- Break disarmament clause, rebuild the army and navy- NEEDS MONEY FOR
THIS- use loans for rebuilding
- Greater Germany
- Unite all German speaking people into the Reich
- Increase frontier to include predominantly German populations
- Destroy communism (fight the USSR)
- This campaign justifies the rebuilding of army and navy
- Lebensraum
- All Germans entitled to “living space”, more land for recreation and cultivation,
EXPANSION
- Build a central European empire
- Would eventually be the master of a new European empire, most powerful in
Europe, if not the world

- Germans unhappy with the Weimar Republic and their desperation increased Hitler’s
support
- Communism grew as well, especially in the 1930’s
- Frightened the ordinary
- Only Nazis able to deal with the threat
- State control of all property

Hitler as CHANCELLOR
- Hitler did not win as president
- Used Hitler’s popularity for government support
- Needed Nazis to deal with communists
- GAVE HITLER OPPORTUNITY TO BECOME DICTATOR

Consolidation of power
- Trade unions abolished, strikes illegal
- Germany becomes a one-party state
- Civil service removed all Jews and state enemies
- Rohm and SA shot, army completely controlled by Hitler

Actual Foreign Policy (INVASION OF PRIVACY)

- 1933 Germany refuses to pay reparations, exits world disarmament conference
- 1934 Italy opposes German plans to unite with Austria
- Mussolini prevented Hitler’s strike and attempt at Anschluss
- 10-year non-aggression pact with Poland
 - Removes prospects of war with Austria and Czechoslovakia
- 1935 Italy joins Stresa front directed against German rearmament and to be on good
terms with Britain and France
- Saar Plebiscite- legal means of getting territory, 90% in favor of return to Germany
- Reintroduced conscription
- Anglo-German Naval Agreement- Germany’s fleet less than Britains
- Hoare-Laval secret pact: Britain and France with Abyssinia
- 1936- Largely passive reaction of Britain and France towards German occupation of the
Rhineland
- League of Nations does NOTHING
- Italy joins Germany in assisting Franco in the Spanish Civil War
- Used for practice, training
- Surrender of Madrid to nationalists, Spain didn’t ally with Germany
- Distraction from Austria and Czechoslovakia
- Mussolini refers a Rome-Berlin Axis, visiting Berlin in 1937, and straining relations with
Britain and France
- 1937 Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan too
- Affirm belief to fight against communism

Munich Agreement (COMPROMISE)

- 1938 Anschluss (joining Austria) with Mussolini, passive reaction by Britain and France
- Chancellor of Austria argued with Hitler
- “Germans in Austria felt oppressed”
- Chancellor gave Hitler power in Austrian government
- Mussolini persuades Hitler to agree to the Munich Conference BEFORE invading
Czechoslovakia- paint a good picture first
- Munich Agreement regarding Sudetenland
- Many ethnic Germans in Sudetenland to rejoin Germany
- Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia
- Produced ARMAMENTS, Germany wanted it
- Appeasement
- Czechoslovakia asks help, France fails to support
- Britain and France negotiated Munich Agreement to give Sudetenland to Germany, while
Hungary and Poland seized some parts of Czechoslovakia
- Bad Godesberg- Hitler demands Czech to withdraw by October 1 to avoid war
- Slovakia had self-rule within the state, Germany occupied much of the rest of
Czechoslovakia in March 1939
- CZECH PRESIDENT ABSENT IN THE CONFERENCE
- Slovakia became an independent state
- HOWEVER, Hitler annoyed at ruining his entry into Prague, the capital of Austria

Pre-WW2
- 1939 Pact of Steel between Italy and Germany
- Germany more generous and experienced than Britain
 - Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with Germany
- Stalin could rebuild
- Hitler was sure he didn’t need to fight a two-front war
- Italy remains neutral when Britain and France declare war on Germany after Mussolini
informs Hitler that he is not ready for war, “2 more years”, asked for aid, supply for oil
after Abyssinia consequences

Poland
- Hitler reasons that Germans in Poland are being maltreated by Polish
- Poland refuses negotiations with Germany to recover Danzig, leading to the invasion of
Poland
- Chamberlain issues an ultimatum to Hitler, no response from Germany
- DECLARATION OF WAR
- Britain and France failed to ally with USSR to guarantee Poland
- Nazi-Soviet Pact announced, removing possibility of Soviet intervention
- Goal was to reunite East Prussia with Germany

Japan Timeline
1853- Commodore Perry, opening up
- Trade motives
1954- Treaty of Kanagawa between US and Japan
- Need to modernize and become like the west
1867- Meiji emperor’s power restored
1871-1873- Iwakura mission
- Traveled across the world to renegotiate unequal treaties, learn
- FAILED
- Compelled them to modernize

MEIJI RESTORATION AND MODERNIZATION

- Dismantle the feudal system (shogun, daimyo, samurai)
- Gradually move to democracy, two-house parliament, strong privy council
- CONFLICT: some daimyo revolt
- RESTORATION: education, fashion, industry, semi-independent MILITARY
- German army
- British navy
- Monetary tax, conscription, constitution
- INDUSTRIALIZATION
- Heavily west-inspired
- Goal was to equal the west- IMPERIALISTS
- Zaibatsu: government and business work together
- Bank of Japan
1894- Sino-Japanese War
- Try out the new learnings
- Japan WINS
1895- Treaty of Shimonoseki
- Japan expands and gains Pescadores, Formosa, Liaodong Peninsula
- Korea independent from China
- China pays indemnity to Japan, additional ports, commercial treaty
- TRIPLE INTERVENTION
- Europe recognizes Japan threat
- Russia takes Liaodong, becomes enemy
- Germany takes Shandong
- Britain and France take stuff too
1876-1905- Korean Interest
- Japan forces Korea into accepting Japanese goods
- Japanese supporters launch coup vs Korea, Chinese counter coup
- Britain takes control of Korean port city
- Peasant revolt vs Korea who asked China for help, Japan retaliates and occupies capital
1902- Anglo-Japanese Alliance
- Japan thinks it’s acclaim
- Britain really wants to secure their spots in Asia
1904- Russo-Japanese War
- Japan revenge from intervention
- Russia needs warm-water port and more market in Korea and China
- Russia guards Manchurian railway for Japan to not ration troops and interfere
- Japan proposed Manchuria is China’s, Korea is Japan’s, no response- Japan attacks
Port Arthur, which Russia forced China to lease
- Japan beats Russia on both land and sea
- Treaty of Portsmouth: Japan lease Liaodong, receive southern half of Sakhalin Island,
return Manchuria to China
1910- Japan annexed Korea
1912- TAISHO DEMOCRACY
1914- Japan involved with WW1 (Allies)
- Seizes German possessions in Shandong
- 21 Demands
- Japanese control over Qingdao and Manchuria
- Control of Chinese foreign policy
- Only 13 permitted
- Upset US and Britain
- Joins Versailles and League of Nations
- Japan asked to consider all races equal, denied due to Britain and India
- 1920, Britain gave up the Anglo-Japanese Alliance
- War gave Japan international acclaim “big five”

TAISHO DEMOCRACY
Shidehara Kijuro’s Foreign Policy Change
- Peaceful economical development
- Seek China peacefully, to maintain good relations with US
 - Accept WASHINGTON NAVAL CONFERENCE and limit ship size and number
- Nine Power Treaty- respect Chinese independence and sovereignty
- Return German concessions in Shanding seized during WW1
1920’s Problems
- Fragile democracy
- Opposition to Shidehara’s internationalism
- Economic crisis (unemployment, industrial unrest, division between workers and
landlords/zaibatsus)
- Foreign idea influx
- Hara Takashi assassination
- Fear of communism
1920’s Response
- Peace Preservation Law
- Forbade conspiracy and revolt
- Criminalized socialism and communism
- Stressed moral obligation to make sacrifices for the state

● NATIONAL HUMILIATION AND MILITARY SUCCESS

○ GROWING MILITARISM
■ GROWING RADICAL NATIONALISM
● Patriotic organizations take active role in politics
● Pro-war sentiments
● Support anti-communist acts
■ INCREASED MILITARY SPENDING

HIROHITO CONFLICT ARISES

1923- Kanto Earthquake
- Omen to change
- Hirohito replaces Emperor Taisho in 1926
- Allowed increase military power to take over Japan
- Hideki Tojo appointed
- Financial crisis arise in 1927
- Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928, advocating settlement of international disputes without war
1929- GREAT DEPRESSION
- Farmer’s annual income from owned land drops significantly in 1930, rises back in 1933
- Call for NEW GOVERNMENT
- Prominence of military and zaibatsus

1930- Naval disarmament treaty

1931- Stages a military takeover in Manchuria; MUKDEN INCIDENT
- CONTEXT: During Shidehara, Manchuria was deemed a special case, and there was an
increased Kwantung Army in Liaodong
- Since 1922, Manchuria was independent under Zhang Zoulin
- Kwantung army assassinated him
 - COURSE: Japan exploded the Manchurian railway belonging to the weak, ineffective
Chinese government
- Blamed it on China and uses it as an excuse to send in troops
- Chiang Kai-Shek prioritized conflicts with the Communist China Party over the Kwantung
Army, “don’t resist”
- Shanghai is attacked by Japanese to put down the resistance, civilian government
powerless to stop the military
- Japan conquers Manchuria, establishes the puppet state of MANCHUKUO led by Puyi
- China appeals to League of Nations, who gave feeble responses: “negotiate it out”, both
China and Japan reject suggestion, JAPAN EXITS LEAGUE
- Tanggu Truce stopped the invasion and the KMT recognizes Manchukuo

Why Manchuria?
- Buffer against Russia
- Raw materials
- Market to withstand impact of the Great Depression
- Four times larger than Japan
- Living space for Japan’s population

- Small resistance by a young marshal with new conscripts who were destroyed by
experiences yet fewer Japanese soldiers
- Lytton Report futile, in order for the League to save face
- League’s weakness allowed the Abyssinian Crisis of Italy
- Japan continued to occupy Manchukuo, its newly established territory
- Japan continued to expand into Jehol and Northern China

● RADICAL VS MODERATE MILITARY FACTIONS

○ Koda-Ha (Radical)
■ Military dictatorship with emperor
■ Soviet union is an enemy
■ Spiritual training of army
○ Tosei-Ha (Moderate)
■ Legal means to get military influence in government
■ Maintain good relations with the Soviet Union
■ Modernization of army
○ Response to fear of communism in the 1920-1930’s
○ Tosei-Ha eventually controls government by 1932

1935- China vs. Japan

- China removes all troops from Manchukuo border
- Mengjiang/Mengkukuo becomes Japanese puppet-state
- Chiang Kai-Shek prioritization of CCP over Japan unpopular
- Former Manchurian leader captures CKS and forces him to negotiate with CCP
1936- Coup attempt
 - Several prominent politicians assassinated by around 1500 troops
- Succession to 1932 assassination of PM Inukai Tsuyoshi by some officers
- Civilian government gives in to MILITARY CONTROL OF THE GOVERNMENT
- From the radical faction
- Crushed by the emperor
1937- Marco Polo Bridge Incident
- Japan demanded access to Wanping town to look for lost soldier, Chinese garrison
refused, shots fired
- Japan demanded apology, none from China
- Japan starts occupying neighboring parts of China
- Short war and agreed that Chinese apologized to Japan, leave the city to civilian control,
deal with communists
- Strategic victory for Japan
1937- Second Sino-Japanese War
- Fumimaro Konoe authorized the army invasion
- Chiang orders government to move retreat to Wuhan, leaves Nanjing with a small army
- Japanese overwhelm Chinese troops in Nanjing
- Hirohito appoints ultranationalist uncle Prince Asaka to head Central China Area Army
- Asaka orders execution of all captured Chinese, RAPE OF NANJING
- Shanghai also fell
- Much of Eastern China conquered
- JAPANESE IMPACT: Expected the war to last 3 months, with a drain in resources, and
also lost focus on USSR
- League of Nations focused on the Abyssinian Crisis, futile once more

Responses
- US
- Open Door Policy preservation
- Gunboat Panay sunk by Japanese planes, Japan apologized and paid
indemnities
- Sanctions imposed only by 1940
- To the Manchurian crisis, US barely reacted
- Did not want to involve in dispute which did not directly affect them
- Great depression’s effect and their own economic crisis
- Gave a non-recognition doctrine, though did not commit to any economic
doctrines
- Lacked a credible naval force
- Had important trade interests with Japan, more important than Chinese
ties
- Japanese control more stable for business
- Attention on Hitler
- Provided $25 Million to China, against Japan
- USSR
- Japan’s war ended persecutions of CCP, supplied communists with war supplies
 - China
- Moved to Chongqing for capital city
- Guerilla fighters assassinated officers and collaborators
- CKS lost support
- Germany
- First supported anti-communist China, but stopped after Japan’s insistence
- 1936- ANTI-COMINTERN PACT with Italy and Japan

1937- Move into South Sea

- Hirota Koki affirmed need to consolidate Japan’s position in East Asia, move to the
South Sea
- Hirota resigns, Prince Konoe succeeds
- Foreign policy ABANDONS INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION, pushes for its own
objectives
- Zaibatsus cooperate with militarists in pursuing expansionist and imperialist foreign
policy
- Greater concentration on war production
1938- Soviet Clash
- Japanese provocations in Changkufeng and Nomonhan vs. USSR
- Russo-Japanese border clash
- Nomonhan clash escalates into the battle of Khalkhin-Gol in 1939: Kwantung Army
defeated
- Realized Chinese expansion must stop, MOVE INTO SOUTHEAST ASIA
1938- Tripartite Pact
- Japan closer links with Germany and Italy
- GREATER EAST ASIA CO-PROSPERITY SPHERE, new order in Asia
- Strike North option fails, China conquest too costly, Hideki Tojo’s priority was
access to raw materials
- US presence in Asia-Pacific was increasingly coming to conflict with Japanese
interests
- “World peace”, but will go to war if needed
1939-1941- Economic needs
- Tariff on imports, dumping excess produce on captive markets
- Undercutting European textile manufacturers in the US market
- Got critical materials from US and British sources
- US imposed an OIL EMBARGO/ban on scrap iron and steel on Japan and trade deal
canceled
- Burma Road is closed, but Churchill reopens it following the Tripartite Pact
- After Japan occupied southern Indo-China, US freezes Japanese assets: bank deposits,
stocks, bonds, and purchases that were waiting shipment to Japan, total trade embargo:
ban of sales of oil
- DEEPLY HURT JAPAN’S WAR PRODUCTION
- Japan had 18 months of fuel left, turns to Indonesia or the Dutch East Indies
1941- Pre-Pearl Harbor
- Treaty of Neutrality with USSR, won’t attack even if Germany does
- With this, Japan won’t be restricted to finish a war with China
- US secretary of state Cordell-Hull demanded that Japan
- Remove all troops from Indo-China, China, and Manchuria
- End participation in the Tripartite Pact
- Abandon Japanese-created Republic in China, recognize Chinese independence
- Japan felt OFFENDED

December 1941- Pearl Harbor

- Arranged for a meeting in Washington to distract
- Bombed Pearl Harbor naval base
- Japan’s losses minal compared to US, too shocked immediately respond, as hoped by
Admiral Yamamoto
- December 8, Japan attacked the Philippines, firstly the American bases installations
- Same day, Guam attacked
- Wake Island US airbase attacked
- Malaya attacked, particularly British naval vessels
- By December, Hong Kong and Burma were captured
- Mid-February, Singapore captured, and Thailand surrenders to Japanese control

COURSE OF THE WAR

Highlights
- 1941-1942 Japan gains territory in Southeast Asia
- 1942 CORAL SEA- US decodes Japan, prevents further Australian conflict
- MIDWAY- US decodes Japan, Japan attacks 1 US carrier, all 3 US carriers appear, US
wins
- TURNING POINT
- First major US victory against IJN
- Left Japan with 6 carriers in the Pacific, unable to rebuild
- Japan lost highly trained military
- GUADALCANAL- US defeated Japan on LAND, SEA, AND AIR
- Japan loses a lot, unable to rebuild
- Let Oceania get supplies from US, preventing invasion
- 1943- Yamamoto killed, US ISLAND HOPPING
- Island hopping was used to defeat small armies first, gradually leading up to the
mainland
- Avoid major Japanese fortified islands
- 1944- Pacific islands campaign, Battle of Leyte Gulf
- 1945- US retakes Philippines, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Japan surrenders
- Japan was fiercely committed to fighting to the last man to defend their empire,
even suicidal kamikaze attacks
- Manhattan Project developed nuclear bombs
 - Bombed Hiroshima on August 6, but Japan still refused to surrender
unconditionally
- Bombed Nagasaki on August 9, Japan surrendered

War Production (US)

- US led significantly
- Had 3-5x more production than Japan
- Japan LACKED RAW MATERIALS
- Japan did not fully utilize labor
- US HEAVILY INDUSTRIALIZED, 32.3% of the world’s manufacturers
Code Breaking (US)
- The debunking of secret codes to send commands to let one side know what the other
was conspiring
- US broke 2 important codes
- The first allowed them to capture midway
- Second let US hinder Japanese supply ships
Aircraft Carriers (US)
- MOST VALUABLE WARSHIPS- THEY’RE SEA SHIPS
- US had more- number of guns and travel range
Submarines (US)
- US submarines crippled Japanese merchant fleets, destroyed 8 carriers
- US produced more

Home Front Issues

Japan
- Food, clothing, metal, fuel at risk; STRICT RATIONING
- Fewer crops due to chemical fertilizers
- US destroyed most shipping fleets
- Rice supply fell by 50%

US
- Car factories converted to war producing
- Leisure travel banned
- Food rationed enough to supply to allied nations

EFFECTS ON JAPAN
Political
- US wrote a new constitution for Japan in 1946, oversaw the peace process
- Japan was mostly happy with the constitution
- Parliamentary system
- Democratic elections
- Freedom of religion, speech, press
- Outlawed discrimination
- Emperor head, no power
 - Japan banned from going to war
- CHINA’S POWER VACUUM- CCP CONTROLLED
- USSR took over Manchuria

Socioeconomic
- 1.74 Million armed forcesmdead
- 4.5 Million injured
- 9 Million homeless
- Too many orphans, widows, homeless
- 66 MAJOR CITIES BOMBED
- 40% of all urban areas DESTROYED
- 33% of all industrial machiner destroyed
- 25% of railway equipment destroyed

Rebuilding
- Stigmatization of widows, homeless, and orphaned
- Repatriation of 6.5 million overseas Japanese difficult
- Diseases, injured, shortage of housing

Recovery
- Mass unemployment, inflation, hunger for several years; REPARATIONS DROPPED
- Korean War in 1950 HELPED JAPANESE ECONOMY
- 300% increase in Japanese exports
- 1952 Japan was independent again

Comparison
Japan vs Germany: USSR
- WW1: Germany’s friendship ruined with the USSR due to lack of immediate response.
Alliances were the reason for this.
- WW2: Japan had bad blood with Russia in the Triple Intervention, Russo-Japanese War,
and the buffering of Manchuria to the Soviet

WW1 vs WW2: Causes, practices, or effects

Causes
- Both wars’ increased militarism, imperialism and nationalism drove the move to war
forward
- WW1 in Europe was partly because of alliances, while WW2 in Japan was mostly
because of Japan alone, even if Japan had some allies
- Militarism
- WW1: increased reliance and improvement of military technology
- WW2: Mukden incident, 1936 coup attempt
- National Spiritual Mobilization Movement
 - organization established in the Empire of Japan as part of the
controls on civilian organizations under the National Mobilization
Law by Prime Minister Fumimaro Konoe.
- Konoe later ordered another 19 nationalist organizations to join
the League.
- The purpose of the Movement would be to rally the nation for a
total war effort against China in the Second Sino-Japanese War.
- Alliances
- WW1: Alliances propelled more and more nations to get involved
- WW2: Japan had not many allies, and its independence actually helped it
dominate
- Imperialism
- WW1: Desire to regain Alsace-Lorraine
- WW2: Japan’s desire for Manchuria to expand for living space and
markets
- Nationalism
- WW1: Serbian nationalism, reunite Serbians in Austria-Hungary
- WW2: China’s sovereignty sparked international conflict with Japan.
League of nations failure.

Course
- World War 1- Trench warfare, poison gas, two-fronts
- Allies won because they had the resources to sustain a prolonged war in a way
Germany and its allies did not.
- Once the Schlieffen Plan failed, a long two-front war set in and the ability to
re-supply itself eventually favored Britain, Germany was doomed to fail unless it
could strike a decisive strategic victory against the Allies, something it failed to
achieve
- TRENCH WARFARE
- Benefits: cheap, easy to defend and make, surprise attacks
- Disadvantages: unsanitary, prone to disease, difficult to get out without
being seen by the enemy, ultimately hindering immediate action and
prolonging the war; dilemma
- World War 2- Atomic bomb, island hopping
- US won because of Japan’s lack of resources
- US was far superior in the technological aspect
- Island hopping prevented the US from walking right into the grinder, allowed them
to gradually defeat Japan-infested islands, and getting acquainted with their
strategies, helping in decoding.

Paper 3
To what extent was the Second World War in Asia and the Pacific caused by Japanese
imperialism?
 ● Great extent- Desire for Manchuria leading to the Mukden incident, fueling the
Second-Sino Japanese war
● Limited extent- Escalated due to other reasons such as western interference in the US
oil embargo

Why was the Empire of Japan not able to maintain its Asian and Pacific empire after initial
military success?
● Foreign interference- US interference, technological overpowering
● Home front issues- Territory too much to handle independently, strict rationing, rice
supply fall, fewer crops

To what extent was the defeat of the Empire of Japan the result of greater US war production?
● Great extent- US was superior in almost all technological aspects. The bomb ultimately
finished Japan off
● Limited extent-

How did resistance movements affect Japan during the Second World War?

What were the short- and long-term effects of the Second World War on Asian and Pacific
people?

What factors led to Japan’s defeat?

2nd Year

SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Ideology
- Way of life, system of life and society
- Established beliefs, with the exception of a higher deity and afterlife

Beginnings of Socialism
- Industrial revolution gave rise to capitalism
- Rich get richer, poor get poorer
- Frustration over lack of equal access
- CIVIL WAR
- Between factions/regions of the same country
- State of hostility or conflict between elements within an organization, like a
political party
- Socialism was the reaction to capitalism
- Socialism entails the redistribution of wealth
- “Collective ownership” and large welfare system
 - Somewhat in between capitalism and communism
- Communism is difficult in that no one owns anything, whereas in socialism,
civilians may own property, but it should be equal and shared

SPANISH EMPIRE
- Spain lost Cuban, Philippine, and American territory in the 19th century
- 1808-1814 had a liberal revolution, between liberalism and absolutism
- Another liberal revolution in 1833-1843
- Isabella II’s reign had moderate liberalism in 1843-1868
- 6-year democracy, then return to monarchy
- 1923-1930 Dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera leads Spain, supported by King Alfonso XIII,
who was an ineffective king who lost territory
- Rise of liberal and socialist groups, lost support for monarchy
- Allows free election— Republican win, Alfonso forced to give in
- Alfonso leaves but refuses to give up the throne

LONG TERM CAUSES OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Economic and Social Issues
- Urban poverty
- Huge divide in urban areas between wealthy factory owners exploiting poor
industrial workers
- Workers hired by the day, low wages, no financial security
- By 1930, 42% of Spain’s population lived in towns of at least 10,000 people.
- Industrial workers faced terrible living and working conditions --- resided in
unsanitary, overcrowded slums, enjoyed few rights in work, no minimum wages,
no limits to working hours, and no protection from hazardous working conditions.
- Trade unions increased in popularity, as did the idea of a social revolution similar
to the Oct.1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
- The Catholic Church, factory owners, and landlords (rightists) grew fearful of
workers and landowners who grew fearful of workers and farm laborers (leftists).
- Rural poverty
- Profound socio-economic divisions between small wealthy landowning elite and
vast masses of poor, landless laborers created tensions.
- Problems were acute in the south of Spain where in huge estates called
Latifundias, laborers suffered from low pay, underemployment due to seasonal
work and little financial security, as they were hired by the day.
- Unions organized strikes and demonstrations against landlords, and by 1918,
700,000 had joined the union, Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo.
- By 1930, 45% of all workers were rural laborers, making rural issues very
important politically.
- A deeply divided central government was unable to solve rural problems.

Ideological Clashes
 - Left wing were reformists, republicans, poorer farmers and urban working class.
Supported the separation of Church and state
- Right wing were conservatives, monarchists, wealthy landowners and industrialists,
Catholics

Separatism
- Though politically unified, the Basque country and Catalonia both had their own distinct
culture, language and history
- Both grew economically, leading to them demanding for independence since only 5% of
taxes returned to Catalonia
- Left wing groups supported the separation; willing to reduce the government’s control
over these and to grant more autonomy. Right wing groups did not agree

Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera (1923-1930)

- During his rule, deep divisions in society developed into crisis, which led to his
resignation
- Monarchy ended in 1931, leaving an unstable democratic republic as the political system
as Spain entered the Second Republic
- Primo de Rivera established a dictatorship as Prime Minister through a military coup in
1923, supported by the army and king
- King Alfonso XIII was still head of state but had little power
- Rivera’s reforms were too radical for the right, but not radical enough for the left, which
only polarized the two sides further
- He still had some contributions
- Introduced arbitration committees to handle conflicts between industrial workers
and their employers
- Increased government spending on public works to try and increase job
opportunities
- Ended the Moroccan conflict
- Gave limited government subsidiaries to improve housing and health care of
working classes
- Large scale investment in infrastructure projects
- Stepped down in 1930 due to his vast unpopularity
- With Primo gone, Alfonso XIII tried to take advantage of the power vacuum and
re-imposed monarchy
- Elections were held and voters decided on a democratic republic. With this, Alfonso left
Spain

SHORT TERM CAUSES

- The Second Spanish Republic faced serious social, economic, and political problems
from its inception.
- Successive governments were unable to find effective solutions to these problems to
appease large enough sections of the Spanish people, and the result was that civil war
began in July 1936
 - From 1931 to 1936, the control of power went back and forth, with three major elections,
going from left control to right, then to left again.
- These only led to further instability

Left Wing Coalition Government (1931-1933)

- Election victory, but no one political party had enough seats to pass legislation
- Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE) won 116/470 seats, while the right only held 41 seats
- Reforms
- Urban workers granted right to strike without fear of being dismissed, and 7 days
paid leave per year
- Agrarian Reform Law tried to break up Latifundia exceeding 300 hectares, and 8
hour working day to farmers
- Spain redefined as a secular state
- Break Church’s control of education
- Reduced army, who now had to swear oath of loyalty to Republic
- Gave some autonomy to Catalonia
- Extreme leftists withdrew their support due to feeling as if the reforms did not go far
enough to deal with the socio-economic problems
- Agrarian Reform Law inadequate funding
- Unemployment still at 72% for rural areas
- Many workers wanted more dramatic reforms
- PSOE fractured from within, since Largo Caballero’s faction refused to cooperate
with other leftist parties, which split the left wing vote further
- Protests and strikes increased, especially in the FAI and CNT, who were
becoming more violent
- Reforms provoked hostility from the right, who saw them as a misguided attack on
traditional order
- The CEDA, a rightist group, was formed in 1933, and grew in popularity
- Military reforms upset the landowning officer class

Right-Wing Republican Government (1933-1936)

- CEDA worked with the centrist Partido Radical
- They aimed to undo reforms of previous regime
- Refused to uphold the majority of the left-wing agrarian and industrial reforms
- Allowed police searches of trade union premises and gave authorization for the
authorities to break-up strikes
- Did not enforce the legislation that separated the Catholic Church from the State,
and allowed the Church to play a significant role in education again
- Extreme left became more active as leftist protests proliferated
- Pushed CEDA to the right, which lost support of Partido Radical, resulting in the
collapse of the conservative government
- Most serious uprising was the Asturias mining region , October 1934: suffering
from high unemployment and poor working conditions, workers revolted; set up
 an independent workers’ republic comprising over 1/3 of the province and 80% of
its population
- Revolutionaries burned down 58 churches and killed 31 people, and the
Right-wing government responded harshly: killing 1335 and wounding almost
3000, crushing the uprising.
- The government then lurched further to the right, increasing suppression of
left-wing agitators and suspending Catalan autonomy
- The more extreme right-wing position that CEDA appeared to be taking led to a
breakdown in its coalition with the Partido Radical.
- The coalition collapsed and President Alcala-Zamora dissolved parliament,
calling for fresh elections.

Popular Front and Falange (1936)

- Election of 1936 returned the left to power, in a coalition called the “popular front”, which
included republicans, socialists and communists.
- Despite their victory, the raw scores were almost equal, as 4,654,116 votes were for the
Left and 4,503,542 were for the Right, showing almost a split society
- Reforms
- Resumed agrarian and urban reforms
- Restored Catalan autonomy
- Resumed military reforms
- Basically they redid everything the right undid in the left's first election reign
- Opposition from the right
- Right-wing fiercely opposed these reforms and became increasingly militant and
anti-democratic.
- Violence in Spain increased and several groups advocated for a right-wing
military takeover of
- power.
- The Right was drifting further towards extreme military solutions to their problems
- There was an abortive right-wing coup involving Gil-Robles, the leader of CEDA, to stop
the Popular Front from taking power.
- The number of members of the fascist Falange Party drastically increased after the
election of 1936. The Falange Party was overtly anti-democratic, and sought a military
dictatorship.
- Increasing violence, including the assassination of prominent right-wing monarchist Jose
Calvo Sotelo in July 1936, as well as street fighting between left and the right

Military Uprising and the start of the Spanish Civil War (1936)
- The civil war began when rightist military members launched an uprising against the
popular front government
- The uprising was mainly planned by General Emilio Mola, and was very much the work
of the army. He had established links with CEDA and monarchists, who supported the
revolt.
 - The Spanish Military Union, which was a secretive organization of more than 3500
officers, was a key instigator of the revolt as it had established cells throughout the
country. The majority of colonels and middle-ranking officers supported the uprising, and
they brought their garrisons with them.
- Troops in Morocco were first to revolt, on 17 July 1936, and this quickly spread
throughout Spain.
- In response, the left-wing union took up arms and mobilized civilians into militia units.
The Left were also supported by troops loyal to the Republic.
- As a result of this leftist response the rebellious garrisons were unable to take control of
all of Spain.

COURSE OF THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR

Course of the War
- Initially, the Republican side, or the leftists, had the upper hand, claiming most of
mainland Spain, with the Nationalists, or the rightists, claiming Morocco and northern
Spain.
- Nationalists controlled agricultural regions, giving them food supplies.
- The German military escorted 1500 elite troops from the Army of Africa to a place
around Seville to fight on the Nationalist side.
- The Nationalists had support from Italy and Germany
- The Republicans controlled the largest and most important cities like Madrid and
Barcelona. They had access to gold reserves.
- The Republic had a larger army in the beginning and were supported by Spain’s
small navy and air force. The army was composed of mostly militias or civilians,
who were enthusiastic, but not skilled.
 - They received support from the Soviet Union and volunteers from other countries
called the International Brigades.
- The Nationalists aimed to take the capital city, Madrid, and made quick progress from
Seville towards the outskirts of the city. However, by the end of 1936 a stalemate had
been reached to the west of Madrid, as the Republicans put up a strong defense.
Foreign aid proved to be decisive, even in these early battles.
- Nationalists gradually began seizing Spain slowly, and by the end of 1937, controlled ⅔
of Spain. Republicans still held firm of Madrid, especially seen in the Guadalajara
Campaign.
- Nationalists achieved supremacy in this theater of war through the support of the
German Condor Legion, which was technologically superior to the Republican aircraft in
this region.

Guernica
- In April 1937, perhaps the most infamous Nationalist attack of all occurred, as Guernica
was devastated by Italian and German bomber and fighter aircraft.
- The town was of little strategic importance, but 27,000 kg (60,000 lbs.) of incendiary
bombs were dropped on it, and German fighters strafed streets packed with terrified
civilians.
- Over 1500 people were killed in one of the first instances of deliberate targeting of a
civilian area.
- Republican propaganda exploited these atrocities at home and abroad. The north was
effectively won by the Nationalists when they took the Basque region’s capital, the
industrialized city of Bilbao.
- Heavy artillery and German aerial bombardment combined with a naval blockade
- To bring the city to its knees, it surrendered on 19 June 1937.

Continuing with 1937

- Republicans were getting weaker and their victory was less possible.
- This can be due to the Soviet’s failure to consistently provide the Republicans
with resources, as compared to the Germans and Italians, who consistently
helped the Nationalists.
- To relieve the siege of Madrid, a military campaign was launched to capture
Brunete in July 1937. It was initially successful, as Brunete was captured in 2
days. However, the Nationalists, supported by German aircraft, soon retook the
city, ending the offensive.
- In an attempt to divert Nationalist troops away from Madrid, the Republicans
captured Teruel, but it was retaken by Nationalists on 22 February 1938 after
intense artillery fire and aerial bombardment.
- 1938
- Nationalists attacked Catalonia.
- The Republicans’ Ebro Offensive aimed to divert Nationalist troops north and
away from Valencia in Catalonia.
 - It was a key element in Republican leader Prime Minister Juan Negrin’s
plan to prolong the war.
- He felt that a general European war would break out soon between fascist
and democratic states, of which the Spanish Civil War would be, but a
small part.
- He hoped that this would divert Italian and German sources away from
Spain, and that ultimately the democratic side would win, to the great
benefit of the Republicans in Spain, as the Nationalists would be
defeated.

1939 Nationalist Victory

- By the start of 1939, the war was effectively won by the Nationalists. The key cities of
Barcelona and Madrid did begin the year in Republican hands, but these would soon fall
to the Nationalists.
- There was very little Republican resistance in Barcelona. The 2 million people in the city
were cut off from what remained of Republican Spain, and faced severe food shortages.
They were also subjected to brutal and continual aerial bombardment. Nationalists took
the city on 26 January.
- With the fall of Madrid, the Republican president resigned and went into exile on 6
February, Then on 27 February, Britain and France recognized Franco as the legitimate
leader of Spain, which was a bitter blow.
- There were only 500,000 Republican troops left in the Republican zone, and Negrin’s
plan to prolong the war lay in ruins. An internal rebellion established an anti-communist
junta, which tried to negotiate a conditional surrender with Franco. Further violence led
to Negrin fleeing to France.
- Franco had no interest in negotiating and occupied Madrid on 27 March. Spain was now
fully under Nationalist control. The Spanish Civil War had ended.

Runthrough of International Aid

Nationalists
- Nazi Germany
- Used the Spanish Civil War as an opportunity to test their technology and tactics
in preparation for WW2.
- Germany could gain economic benefits such as iron ore and minerals
- Germany also could make strategic gains: by militarily committing to Spain, it
might hamper Anglo-French maritime communications by acquiring the use of
naval bases in the area and limit the effectiveness of the British communications
base in Gibraltar.
- They assisted majorly in the bombing of Guernica (thanks to the Condor Legion),
capture of Bilbao and Catalonia, and played a key role in Nationalist campaigns
in 1937 and 1938.
- Fascist Italy
- Mussolini, like Hitler, wanted to destroy communist, socialist, and pro-democratic
forced and reforms,
 - Italy wanted to challenge Britain’s position as the dominant power in Europe
- Pro-fascist victory would weaken France, if Spain were to become fascist, it
would encircle France.
- Italy sent 70,000–75,000 troops and contributed planes, tanks and modern
weapons.
- Italian bombers of the Italian Aviazione Legionaria attacked Spanish cities, and
was instrumental in the bombardment of Madrid
- Italy gave the most assistance of all the foreign powers in the Spanish Civil War.

Republicans
- Soviet Union
- Wanted to assist a communist party and prevent another fascist state in Europe,
as this would strengthen Hitler.
- They didn’t want to panic Britain and France into an alliance with Hitler against
communism, instead, Stalin wanted to pursue a policy of bringing Britain and
France into an alliance with the Soviet to contain Hitler.
- Initially they just gave the Republicans food, then sent 500 Soviet advisors
- No troops were sent, but gave 1000 aircrafts and 750 tanks, all of high quality
- Spanish gold reserves were all given to the Soviet as payment for the support.
- Reduced support in 1938 due to border conflicts with Japan.

British and French Non-Intervention

- The policy of non-intervention carried out by the French and British was primarily driven
by anti-communist sentiments, but it also meant that Hitler and Mussolini had no
opposition from the Western democracies. This policy has been condemned by many
historians

War Sentiments
- Although for the foreign powers the war was ‘limited’, for the Spanish it was a ‘total’ war
as well as a civil war.
- Propaganda was used on both sides to ‘dehumanize’ the enemy, even though that
enemy was from the same country.
- Atrocities were common.
- Meanwhile, the targeting of civilians in bombing raids, symbolized in the attack on
Guernica, offered a chilling premonition of what was to come in World War II. There were
no lines drawn between civilian and combatant.

ANALYSIS
Limitations of the Republicans
- Military weakness
- No unified command
- Communists and anarchists did not cooperate
- Anarchist militias and Basque refused to be led by a central command structure
- Experienced army officers were not trusted by the Republic
 - Militias fought local conflicts rather than broader campaigns
- Different fronts operated independently, not unified
- Political disunity
- Caballero was head, but was undermined by the politically divided Republic
- Communists and socialists had different ideas of the revolution from the
anarchists and syndicalists
- Catalonia, Basque and Asturias were mostly independent
- Economic disadvantage
- Production in key areas of Catalan fell by 2/3rds between 1936 and 1939
- Food and raw material shortages
- Inflation reached 300%
- NIC banned all arms sales to the Republic, meaning only the Soviet was willing
to trade
- Republic spent all its gold to Soviet

Why did Nationalists win?

- Access to superior modern technology and consistent support and aid from its sponsors
- Nationalist troops were more skilled and experienced than the Republican troops
- Maintained adequate supply and good transport of food, manpower and weapons

EFFECTS
- The Civil War ended these hopes of left-wing reform, as a traditionalist right-wing
dictatorship led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco assumed power.
- On assuming power, Franco unleashed a large-scale round of persecutions on
Republicans and left-wing elements that he saw as a threat to his regime,
dividing society yet further.
- This terror saw tens of thousands of executions and hundreds of thousands of
imprisonments.
- Franco’s power rested on the army, not his leadership of a political party. His regime was
a military dictatorship where civil leadership was not respected.
- His regime emphasized nationalism and did not entertain any tolerance for regional
autonomy as the Basque country and Catalonia were kept under Spain’s control.
- He promoted conservative values. The power and influence of the Catholic Church were
re-established, and traditional attitudes towards women and the family were espoused.

Economic Effects
- $700 million was owed to other countries, with repayments made in food and industrial
raw materials, which represented a significant drain on the Spanish economy. These
repayments continued for decades.
- The task of rebuilding Spanish industry and agriculture took considerably longer than it
might otherwise have done as the result of losing 500,000 workers in the war.
- Pre-war gold reserves were spent by the Republican government, leaving the
government no funds to pay for rebuilding
Impact on Women
- During the war, women in Republican-held areas had liberal freedoms and greater
equality with men, but this came to an end with Franco’s victory.
- Republican Spain was the first European country in which a woman held a cabinet
position in the national government when Federica Montseny became minister on Public
Health and Assistance in 1936.
- However, while they made a name for themselves in politics, which was progressive for
the time, even these famous examples of powerful women operated in spheres
associated with traditional female concerns, such as public health and welfare.
- Women did begin working in war-related industries during the war, such as factories, as
men were absent fighting. Yet, they were often confronted with hostility from male
employers with traditional mindsets
- In Nationalist-areas during the war, women were expected to fulfill traditional roles as
housewives and mothers. They also had to conform to traditional expectations of dress
and appearance which were supported and emphasized by the Catholic Church.
- The Franco regime stressed conservative, traditional ideas of the family, such as women
living primarily as housewives and mothers.
- The prominent role accorded to the Catholic Church in post-civil war Spain further
emphasized the return to traditionalism in Spanish life that the Nationalist government
demanded.
- As the Francoist forces captured Republican territory, the feminist revolution basically
reversed. Republican women were punished for their brief escape from gender
stereotypes by humiliations. They were dragged through the streets after having their
heads shaved, in prisons, they were beaten and tortured.

20TH CENTURY CHINESE HISTORY

LONG TERM CAUSES
- Peasants had a bad quality of life and poor social treatment. Could not survive
- Western “foreign devils” humiliated and degraded China, through unequal treaties,
foreign privileges, and misunderstandings
- October 1911: Double Tenth Republic was created, Government lost control of military in
the Wuchang Overthrow of the Manchus: was a hindrance to westernization and
democracy;
- November 1911: Delegates from provinces gather in Nanking to declare the creation of
the Chinese Republic. Sun Yat-Sen is first president

SHORT TERM CAUSES

- Warlordism and lack of unity in China
- May Fourth Movement’s demand for change
- GMD made little success in achieving Sun’s Three Principles.
- CCP cooperated with the GMD for the First United Front to fight the warlords and foreign
devils, backed up by Soviet Comintern
 - Northern Expedition to defeat the warlords.
- During the Northern Expedition, communists gained popularity through propaganda and
mass appeal to peasants, while the GMD was closer to landlords and the middle class.
This divide prompted “The White Terror”.

PRE-CIVIL WAR CHINA

- Certain rights favored foreigners and weakened Chinese sovereignty
- Extraterritoriality- if a foreigner committed a crime against Chinese laws, the
foreigner would be turned over to the consulate of the country where he was
punished according to the laws of his own country
- Most-favored-nation-clause- any privilege obtained by or given to one nation
became equally applicable to all nations
- Lack of tariff autonomy- China couldn’t increase her tariff without consent from
other countries
- Concessions- Foreigners then were granted concessions or places where they
could settle, and which they ruled by themselves
- There were also misunderstandings between China and European powers
- Chinese authorities restricted movement and residencies of merchants, but in
Europe, freedom of trade, movement and residence was normal
- There were “middlemen” in Chinese ports, whereas in Europe, there were none
- Chinese legal system considered corrupt
- Europeans did not like the practice of kowtowing

Sun Yat-Sen
- Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader
- “Father of the Nation”
- Three Principles
- Nationalism- China must develop “national consciousness” so as to unite the Han
in the face if imperialist aggression
- Democracy- Western constitutional government
- Social welfare and livelihood- direct criticism of the inadequacies of both
socialism and capitalism

1911 Revolution
- Frustrated by the Qing court's resistance to reform and by China's weakness, young
officials, military officers, and students, inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Sun
Yat-Sen, began to advocate the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and creation of a
republic.
- A revolutionary military uprising, the Wuchang Uprising, began on October 10, 1911 in
Wuhan.
- The provisional government of the Republic of China was formed in Nanjing on March
12, 1912 with Sun Yat-sen as President.
 - But Sun was forced to turn power over to Yuan Shikai, who commanded the New Army
and was Prime Minister under the Qing government, as part of the agreement to let the
last Qing monarch abdicate (a decision he would later regret).

Yuan Shikai
- The main revolutionary force was a republican movement, the Chinese Nationalist Party
or Guomindang (GMD) led by Sun Yat-Sen.
- Initially, however, the key player in the drama which overthrew the Manchu Dynasty was
Yuan Shikai.
- A military general, he was approached by the Manchus to help save them from the
growing revolutionary forces.
- Unwilling to help a regime that had previously humiliated him, and he instead worked
towards their overthrow
- Responsible for 3 main failures
- Did not create an orderly and effective system of parliamentary government
- Attempted to restore monarchy and crown himself emperor
- Encouraged warlordism
- Sun and the GMD tried to overthrow Yuan’s forces in 1913, but failed.

Effect of World War 1 and the Versailles Treaty (1914)

- Japanese Action
- Involved in WW1, Japan fought Germany
- Captured a German naval base in Qingdao in Shandong province
- Japanese extended their activities beyond their war zone
- China objected and protested, asking Japan to get out from the districts
outside Kiaochow leased territory
- Japan resented this, issues the 21 Demands
- 21 Demands
- Included access of Japan through Shandong under Germany, 99 year
lease of South Manchuria and Eastern Mongolia, China to not sell any
lands
- Employment of Japanese advisors by China, Japanese right to propagate
its own religion, police under joint Chinese and Japanese control, railway
concessions, Chinese purchase of at least 50% of munitions from Japan,
etc.
- Though at first China did not want to accept since it would impair
sovereign rights and violate US and European treaties, they said yes
eventually due to strong pressure from Japan
- Only declined cession of Fujian as Japan’s sphere of influence
- China at the Versailles Conference
- Peking and Canton, rivals, were both present, yet both failed to present a united
front
- Aimed to revise treaties imposed on China by foreign powers, abolish
extraterritoriality, withdraw foreign troops, return of German leaseholds
 - Ended up with only German release of extraterritorial rights, cedes all public
property, and return of stolen art and treasures

Warlordism
- With Yuan Shikai out of the picture, his then-appointed military governors gained power
and resulted in a highly separated China, with warlord regions warring with each other
- Warlords at different regions differed from each other. They were responsible for military
and civil administration.
- Northern warlords benefited greatly from relations with foreign powers, especially the
Japanese who had increased their influence in Manchuria and northern China following
the First World War;
- Political stances ranged from reactionary to pro-reform - some warlords did in fact have
progressive ideas on agriculture and industry
- All relied on force to maintain their control; they did not work with political parties or try to
set up a new dynasty
- All were involved in wars to expand or defend their territory; troops looted and lived off
the countryside, pillaging villages and towns. This devastated crops and caused great
hardship to the peasants
- Some warlords disseminated nationalistic and patriotic ideas (such as resisting
imperialism) because they believed in them as a way of legitimizing their actions.

May Fourth Movement (1919) and the New Cultural Movement

- Approximately 3,000 students from 13 Beijing universities assembled at the Gate of
Heavenly Peace at Tiananmen Square to protest against the Versailles Peace
Conference.
- The demonstrations led to a full resignation by the cabinet and the Chinese delegation at
Versailles refused to sign the peace treaty.
- The issue of who would control Shandong Province was settled at the Washington
Conference in 1922 when Japan withdrew its claim to Shandong Province. China was
denied Shandong, which led to the movement.
- Led by intellectuals who brought both the new cultural ideas of science and democracy
and the new patriotism into a common focus in an anti-imperialist programme
- Reasons for the May Fourth Movement
- State of China
- Nationalism
- Changes in Chinese society like the growth of nationalism and Western trade.
- The body of new ideas which emerged at this time became known as the New Cultural
Movement.
- The main themes of this were: an attack on Confucianism and Conservatism;
following Western ideas; encouraging the use of the vernacular (as opposed to
the difficult classical Chinese the use of which kept power in the hands of the
educated elite).
- Some writers followed a pragmatic approach to China’s problems looking at ways
that technology, philosophy, economics could help solve China’s problems.
 - Others took a more ideological approach looking to Marxism.

The GMD and CCP

GMD Origin
- Chiang Kai-Shek
- A close ally of Sun Yat-sen and took Sun's place as leader of the KMT when Sun
died in 1925.
- Chiang Kai-shek was socially conservative, promoting traditional Chinese culture
in the New Life Movement and rejecting western democracy and the nationalist
democratic socialism.
- Militarily trained in Japan
- Opened and ran the Whampoa Military Academy
- Whampoa Academy
- The Soviet Union financed the Whampoa Academy to train soldiers in
preparation for the Northern Expedition to reunite China under GMD control
- Appeal
- Appealed to the middle class
- Against the exploitation of China by “foreign devils”
- Social reform agenda appealed to peasants, but not so much of everyone else

CCP Origin
- The CCP was established in 1921 in Shanghai, and reached 300 members in 1922, and
1500 in 1925.
- Came together due to the stirring sentiments of the May Fourth Movement.
- Massive student protests calling for Marxist change, alongside with Chen Duxui who led
the movement
- Small Marxist “study groups” rose in Shanghai and Beijing.
- Mao Zedong, who used to work as a library assistant, founded one in Changsha.
- Communism spread across China, also due to the support of the Soviet Union, who
received Soviet advisors, arms, communist propaganda.
- Communism begins spreading in the GMD as well.
- CCP formed through the Comintern or “Communist International”
- Zhou Enlai was head of the Political Department of the Whampoa Academy.

Marxism vs. Maoism

Similarities
- Revolution to be achieved through class struggle against propertied classes whose
possessions would be redistributed fairly
- Communist party to be initially ruled as a dictatorship, guiding people through the
revolution
- Anti-imperialist

Differences
 - In China, agents of revolution would be peasants, as they were agrarian, unlike Marxism
wherein the proletariat would lead
- In China, the revolution could succeed in a rural society. Initially redistributed land could
be owned by peasants to encourage support
- In Marxism, NO PRIVATE OWNERSHIP of land or means of production at all
- Encouraged nationalism in China, whereas Marxism was internationalist in outlook,
where workers would unite beyond national boundaries
- Adulation of Mao as the single leader rather than collective CCP leadership

Views on Sun’s Three Principles

GMD’s Ideals
- Nationalism
- Eliminate foreign influence
- Bring about reunification in China
- Equality among all ethnic groups within China
- Democracy
- Popular sovereignty, notably the participation of ordinary Chinese in elections
- Socialism
- Principle of the people’s livelihood aimed to improve the welfare of the people
through land reform, credit to peasants, health care, and nationalization of key
industries
- Stages
- Preliminary stage in which Nationalist armies would overthrow internal and
external enemies
- New Culture Movement- education in political knowledge and values
- Final stage where enlightened people would play their part in turning China into a
full democracy
- Goals/Plans
- Modernization
- Improving education
- Central Bank of China
- Shanghai stock exchange (to make China capitalist)
- Natural resource commission
- Improving transportation
- Subsidized film and fashion
- Road building

CCP’s Ideals
- Nationalism
- Eliminate foreign influence bring about reunification in China
- Defeat the warlords to achieve political unification
- Democracy
- Popular sovereignty
 - Revolution by the ordinary people, led by the CCP as the guiding and organizing
force
- Socialism
- Elimination of the property ownership and privilege of the bourgeois classes
- Class warfare through a marxist revolution

First United Front

- The First United Front in 1923 joined the GMD and CCP to fight the warlords and
imperialism.
- It was also backed by the Soviet Comintern who thought Sun’s Third Principle or
“People’s Livelihood” was consistent with the concept of socialism.
- Thus the Whampoa Military Academy was established with funding and support by the
USSR to train officers to fight first the warlords.

The Northern Expedition (1926)

Battling the Warlords
- Most of the fighting was carried out by the GMD. The CCP supported little militarily, but
had widespread propaganda and support from the peasantry.

Polarization of the CCP and GMD

- The First United Front held until Shanghai was captured in 1927. However, it was an
uneasy alliance.
- The CCP had been spreading its message among peasants as the Northern Expedition
advanced, which led to fears in the Nationalist camp that their alliance might make the
CCP too strong.
- The popular support for the communists was a key reason that Chiang decided he could
no longer tolerate them in the GMD.
- There could be no more cooperation. Chiang was sympathetic to landlords and the
middle classes, and was far more to the right than Sun had been.
- Areas under communist control had seen peasants attack landlords and seize land,
which could not be tolerated.
- It seemed to Chiang that the CP needed to be crushed before China could truly be
unified under the GMD.

The White Terror (1927)

- As soon as Chiang judged that the Northern Expedition would be ultimately successful
against the warlords, he intensified his attack on the Communists.
- Only days after entering the city, Chiant turned savagely on the very people who had
earlier given him a hero's welcome.
- Backed by Shanghai's industrialists and merchants, who were eager to crush the trade
unions, and by those living in the international settlements, who were fearful of the
growing tide of anti- foreigner demonstrations, Jiang's troops engaged in an orgy of
killing.
 - Using the information passed to them by the city's triads and underworld gangsters, they
dragged out 5000 known Communists and their sympathizers and executed them by
shooting or beheading.
- The Nationalists struck first with the White Terror, thereby ending the First United Front.
- In April 1927, the White terror in Shanghai saw a criminal organization called the Green
Gang launched a series of anti-communist attacks ordered by Chiang Kai-shek, killing an
estimated 5000 Communists.
- The Nationalist Party did nothing to stop the violence. This attack devastated the CCPs
base in Shanghai, where it had been founded.

The Long March and Jiangxi Soviet

Autumn Harvest Rising
- Between August and December 1927, the Communists launched 2 main counterattacks.
- The Autumn Harvest Uprising led by Mao saw Communist forces attempt guerrilla
warfare against the Nationalists, but they were ill-disciplined and ill-organized and easily
crushed.
- The CCP’s 2nd attack in Canton in December was also defeated, with thousands of
deaths.
- Along with the Autumn Harvest Rising, all the other CCP campaigns undertaken against
the Nationalists in late 1927 ended in failure, largely because the Communist forces
were outnumbered.
- By the end of that year it seemed that the White Terror had achieved its objective: the
CC was in a desperate plight and appeared to be on the point of being totally
overwhelmed.

Flee To Jiangxi
- Very much in retreat, the Communist leadership re-grouped in Jiangxi, setting up the
Jiangxi Soviet.
- This rural base became the CCP’s main stronghold from 1928 to 1934, and here it
courted the peasants with land reform policies to gain their loyalty.
- From 1930 to 1934, the Nationalists launched a series of assaults on the CCP bases in
Jiangxi, which aimed to encircle them and cut off their supply lines.
- The first four encirclement campaigns were not successful, as the CCP effectively used
guerrilla tactics to defend its rural locations.
- But these defensive strategies could not break the encirclement completely. The
Communists’ supplies were being exhausted, and they were in a desperate
- situation.
- In 1934, the 5th campaign succeeded in taking the CCP’s rural stronghold in Jiangxi,
forcing the CCP to evacuate after a failed attempt to meet the Nationalists head on.

GMD’s Extermination Attempts

- Chiang’s Progress
 - From 1928 to 1934, Chiang had the chance to carry out Sun's Three Principles.
His government was ineffective, however, and Chiang made no progress towards
democracy or land reform.
- His support came from landlords and the rich, and so initiatives were limited to
the building of some roads and the construction of more schools.
- From 1931, Chiang also had to face the threat of the Japanese, who invaded
Manchuria in 1931.
- Exterminating the CCP
- Chiang’s main goal remained the elimination of the communists, and during this
time he carried out the 'Five Encirclement Campaigns in an attempt to destroy
the Jiangxi Soviet and the CCP.
- The GMD strategy was to encircle the Reds and cut them off from supplies and
resources.
- In Jiangxi the CCP built up their military force - the Red Army.
- Mao explained his strategy in a letter to Li Lisan in 1929: "The enemy advances,
we retreat; the enemy halts, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy
retreats, we pursue.”
- Attacks
- Mao’s Agrarian Revolution
- Surround the GMD and diminish their food supply, harass them,
eventually capture them
- The first three Campaigns were launched between December 1930 and
September 1931.
- The Red Army under Mao and Zhou Enlai faced increasingly strong GMD forces,
first 100,000, then 200,000 and finally 300,000 men - and they defeated all three.
- Nationalists were more in numbers, but had weak ammunition
- Seven months later, in October, Chiany attempted his fifth and final campaign
against the 'bandits. On this occasion he had taken the advice of a German
general to adopt a gradual approach.
- This time a force of 800,000 men was sent in, with air cover and artillery.
- The Red Army could not take advantage of its previous strengths of higher
mobility and local support. Outnumbered and surrounded by GMD forces, it
fought and lost a final battle at Ruijin in 1934.

The Long March to Yan’an (1934-1935)

- After the Japanese attacks in Manchuria and Japanese attacks in Shanghai
- By 1934, the Communists were on the point of extinction, having been penned in their
Jiangxi base by surrounding GMD forces. However, the Communists survived by a
desperate breakout and flight, known as the Long March.
- The march began as a rout in 1934, but because of its eventual success, Mao Zedong
became a powerful legend, looked on as the great formative experience of Chinese
Communism by which he established his leadership in heroically guiding his followers to
salvation.
- In the new northern base of Yanan, reached in 1935, Mao began to rebuild a soviet in
defiance of the GMD and of the Japanese who had begun to occupy parts of China in
1931.
- However only 10% of the CCP population survived and made it to Yan’an province.
- Mao’s revolutionary warfare
- Mao's war against the GMD can be classed as a revolutionary war, as he was not
only trying to defeat the GMD but also to impose a revolutionary ideology on the
Chinese people.
- “Educate” or “indoctrinate”
- Setting up base areas
- Organization phase
- Guerilla Phase
- Long March
- Protracted war
- As the number of guerilla grew, number of attacks on enemies grew
- “Protracted”- keep on going
- Seizing power
- Transitioning to revolutionary warfare
- CCP had the upper hand in 1947, began transitioning to conventional
warfare due to having majority
- The CCP placed importance on winning the people over winning the area
- Drafting their own concept and constitution
- Based on democratic dictatorship of the workers and peasants
- Democracy– “rule of the people”, led by a certain someone, and while
doing, is democratic. One speaks for all.
- Unequal privileges abolished
- Economic and political prerogatives of landowners abolished
- Land would be divided– “democratic”
- Use coercion against landlords
- Even rich peasants were harassed and killed
- No correct way- even people they hate, they killed
- “Struggle against”- denouncement of people
- Extortion
- Right to education
- Freedom of speech and press
- Self-determination for minorities
- As a leader, Mao launched “rectification campaigns” against challengers
- Consequences of adapting Marxism to China
- Triumphed over pro-Moscow group- WOULD NOT take foreign control
- Rid him of opposition
- Began the move towards cult status
- “Maoism”- Chinese communism tied with him; counters the ideal of an
internationalist view on communism
Nationalists in the Government and the Nanjing Decade
Impression
- The killings in Shanghai led to a split within the GMD because Wang Jingwei and the left
of the party, based at Guangzhou, condemned Chiang's actions.
- However, Chiang proceeded to establish a GMD government at Nanjing, which became
the new capital of China.
- Backed by GMD military, middle class, and recognized by foreign governments

Successes
- End of warlord era
- Modernization
- Industrial output grew
- Railway network expanded
- From 8 thousand to 13 thousand miles
- Financial institutions reformed
- Rescheduled foreign debts, abolished the lijin and tax on internal trades, central
bank established, right to set custom tariffs took back from foreigners
- Educational provisions in the towns expanded
- National research institute was set up
- Reduced foreign concessions
- New Life Movement- encouraged traditional values and obedience to the state

Weaknesses
- Unable to tackle urgent social and economic issues
- Still too poor- unable to establish a good public educational system
- GMD lost revolutionary outlook
- Became a self-centered bureaucracy, corruption grew
- Authoritarian, methods of control against democracy
- He was of military background, so this is what he knows
- Lacked popular support
- GMD purged members interested in social or political reform, turned its back on
mass organizations who helped them in the Northern Expedition
- Increased reliance on army support
- Suppressed trade unions
- In rural areas, relied on former warlords to maintain and collect taxes, little
interest to peasants
- Peasant poverty worsened due to landlord exploitation
- Failed to introduce parliamentary government
- GMD showed no sign of being genuinely prepared to abandon their single party
monopoly of power, even in Sun’s principle wrote about a dictatorship being
temporary only
- The GMD relied on a large secret police to spy and break up dissident groups,
arrest without trial, public executions
- Press heavily censored
 - Limited progress in ending foreign domination
- Unable to retrieve outer Mongolia and Tibet
- Foreign powers retained trading privileges
- Lost support by failing to defend against Japanese
- Chiang firstly lost support when the Japanese took over Manchuria (1931-2) and
then also when Jehol was attacked in 1933.
- Chiang preferred to concentrate on destroying the CP. Chiang famously declared
that the Japanese were merely 'a disease of the skin, whereas the Communists
were 'a disease of the heart”
- Anti-communism efforts at the expense of building an ordered civil society
- The Xian Incident occurred in December 1936, when Chiang was kidnapped by
some of his own supporters.
- The generals demanded that Chiang cease fighting the Communists and instead
resist Japanese incursions into Chinese territory.
- Chiang agreed to refocus on the Japanese invaders
- Did not defeat warlordism, but only came to terms with it
- Failed to destroy the CCP. In fact, a second United front was created in 1936 against
Japan
- Concessions to the Japanese were in stark contrast to Chiang’s aggressive policy
towards the CCP. Prioritized attacking fellow Chinese over a foreign invader

Survival of the CCP

- Abolished unpopular traditional customs, such as arranged marriage and foot-binding,
which prevented women from working
- Allowed no abuse of people by the Red Army soldiers in order to build good relations
- Used terror and coercion against landlords and wealthy peasants, encouraging peasants
to attack and often kill landlords, thereby allowing the CCP to assert its authority more
easily
- Campaigned against Japan through propaganda, training guerrilla soldiers in the
Anti-Japanese University, and then launching attacks on Japan in Manchuria starting in
1931
- Were willing to ally with the GMD in the United Front against Japan, which contrasted
with Chiang’s approach and helped to attract new recruits due to their staunchly
anti-Japanese approach

Yan’an Period

Japanese Attack (SEE ABOVE 1ST YEAR)

- Basic course
- 1931- Mukden Incident
- Chiang appealed to the League Of Nations to condemn Japan
- No response
- “China is just as bad”
 - Joint Chinese-Japanese administration of Shanghai
- Made fun of the Kellogg Pact for Japan not to engage in war
- 1932- Manchukuo “Puppet state”
- Under Pu-yi as emperor
- 1936- Xi’an Incident
- Chiang’s strategy was just to move inland and form a second United front
with communists
- May 1933 Tanggu truce with Japan to create demilitarized zones between
them and China
- Chiang insisted to focus on the communists “disease of the heart”
- Xi’an incident forced Chiang to fight Japanese
- 1937- Marco Polo Bridge Incident
- Japan landed in Shanghai, attacked the non-international areas
- Created a refugee issue
- Moved to Nanjing, Rape of Nanjing
- Chiang moved the capital to Chongqing
- Moved to peasant areas, made him unpopular
- 1940
- CCP led by Peng Duhuai vs Japanese
- Initial success, but eventually lost 250 thousand fighters
- Revealed CCP weakness to Chiang
- Until 1944, Japan creates a proper government led by Wang Jingwei
- Problems
- Japanese occupied GMD support base, Chiang lost tax revenue,
hyperinflation
- Hurt the middle class
- Corruption of the army and conscription
- Difficulty accessing supplies since Japanese controlled the coasts
- GMD riddled with factions, infighting, even among generals
- Chiang’s attempt to repress it only made them worse
- GMD lacked control of China
- War toll heavy over GMD, lost morale
- Public lost respect for GMD
- Overall bad impact on morale of the army
- December 8 1941
- “Happiest day”
- America declared war on Japan
- Chiang turned against the CCP
- Nationalists used guerilla tactics vs. Japanese
- Ichigo Offensive 1944- GMD suffers heavy casualties in the south
- 1945- sudden end of the war causes a race to accept Japanese surrender
- Chiang still had a bigger war to fight against the communists
- Mao was in his “guerilla phase” after the Japanese lost
- Post WW2
 - June 1946 ceasefire between GMD and CCP
- Chiang was pressured by the US to agree to a truce
- Truce lasted only for 4 months

The Civil War (1945-1949)

Short Term Causes
- The GMD entered the war with a larger number of soldiers and more resources than the
communists.
- They had 2.8 million troops, 6,000 artillery pieces, airplanes and the support of the USA
against 320,000 (though some statistics indicate 800,000) Red Army troops, who only
had 600 pieces of artillery
- Increased CCP strength and popularity. They captured Japanese weaponry. Some
former nationalist generals shifted to the CCP

Course and Practices

GMD
- Conventional fighting
- Centered in urban centers and cities
- Initially outnumbered CCP
- Conscripts used frequently
- US armament supplies
- Propaganda and coercion
- Food shortage issues and transportation of food sabotaged

CCP
- Centered in rural bases and used mobile defines in 1945-1947
- Shifted to strategy of attacking urban centers from late 1937
- Initially outnumbered by GMD, then gained numerical advantage
- Conscripts used frequently
- Japanese weaponry and captured nationalist weaponry
- Popular policies promised
- No food shortage

1946 Issues
GMD
- Economic mismanagement and unpopular recruitment practices caused widespread
anger
- Even if the GMD won, this would still remain
- Unemployment rises to 37.5%
- 15 thousand US troops sent into coastal China to train the GMD
- US gives 4.43 billion worth of military equipment
- Chiang launches full scale assault on PLA in north China
 - GMD troops were badly trained, tired and morale was low after seven years of fighting
against the Japanese. Most soldiers had not received their wages, food was scarce and
many deserted to join the CCP army.
- The GMD was not able to win any significant battle against the PLA between 1946 and
1949.
- During the Nanjing Decade, Jiang Jieshi failed to build on support from the masses.
Their support lay with businessmen and landlords while the large peasant population
suffered due to corruption, inefficiency and inflation. When the Civil War broke out, the
majority of the peasants already supported the communists.
-

CCP
- Popularity of CCP land reform policies cause People’s Liberation Army to group to 1.2
Million
- Soviet army leaves Manchuria for CCP to occupy
- Mao adopts Guerrilla warfare as they don’t match up yet to the CCP; avoided CCP
- Communists counterattacks in 1947 shifted towards large scale urban assaults
- Weakened GMD

1948
- PLA succeeds in establishing control throughout northern China
- Major GMD army surrenders at Changchun
- PLA achieves a string of decisive victories against GMD armies

1949
- PLA on the offensive, launching a massive invasion into central and southern China,
causing GMD to crumble rapidly
- In 1947, Chiang and 2 million nationalists flee to Taiwan, while the rarely kept fighting
- October 1, Mao proclaims the People’s Republic of China
- Even after 1949, Mao still had to continue fighting to claim the unoccupied China,
especially in the West and Tibet