Japanese Invasion And Annexation In China From 1931-1940

Abstract
The purpose of this research paper was to explore in depths of the time period that affected China during the years of the Japanese invasion and annexation from 1931-1937. The whole time frame of Japanese annexation actually began from 1894, the first Sino-Japanese War until 1945, when Japan lost World War II. However, I have decided to focus on the years ranging from September 1931, invasion of Manchuria until December 1937, Nanking Massacre. Through this research paper, I plan to understand how foreign powers (Western and European) interventions affected or did not the outcomes and study the different tactics that were used in conquest of the different Chinese cities. I will research on the following incidents: Mukden Incident
During the year of 1937, Japan officially launched their official full-scale invasion of China. On July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident marked the beginning of the second Sino-Japanese War. This incident took place when during a Japanese field exercise in Beijing when a Japanese commander found that a soldier went missing and believed that the Chinese had kidnapped him and was believed to be held in the nearby city of Wanping. The Japanese demanded that their troops be allowed to conduct a search but was denied by the Chinese. Then shots rang, yet which side and why still remain unknown, commencing a skirmish between the Japanese and Chinese troops. Japan launched a full-scale attack on Wanping and Beijing.10 Just before the Japanese army surrounded them, the Chinese Nationalist army retreated from Beijing to the south. Beijing fell to the Japanese on July 29, 1937, and the nearby city of Tianjin fell on July 30, 1937. This single event eventually led to the control by the Japanese of the North China Plain by the end of 1937.11 The controversy that arises about the Marco Polo Bridge Incident is who caused the incident. According to different sources, it comes to several different conclusions on what had occurred. The first theory states that the Japanese planned a conspiracy and fired shots in order to blame the Chinese, so that they may have a legitimate reason for
On December 9, 1937 the Japanese arrived at the city of Nanjing, the capital city of Chang and his Nationalist Party, and demanded for surrender. When the Chinese did not give a response of surrender, the Japanese launched a full fledged siege of the city. December 13, 1937 marks the day that Nanjing fell to the Japanese and became known as the Nanjing Incident, Nanking Massacre, or the Rape of Nanking. The Nanking Massacre was an event in which Japanese soldiers are accused of committing war crimes against the Chinese civilian population, where they committed mass killings and sporadic killings, rape, murder, arson, theft, and other violent crimes within a six-week period. The numbers of killings are unsure and rage from 100,000 to 500,000.15 The Nanking Massacre still remains as a highly controversial topic today between Chinese, Japanese, and Western acclaims. According to a new research on the incident, the topic remains extremely controversial due to the difference of language terminologies and definitions, political environments, along with lack of records for evidence and consensus for an exact death toll, from both Chinese and Japanese records, and remains as a controversy to whether it can be defined as an actual