Wars waged by Japan against China to expand
to the mainland. 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 Luda); 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 NE China. 1937 Chinese leaders
Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong allied to
fight the Japanese; war was renewed as the
Japanese overran NE 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 Sept, after
the Allies had concluded World War II.