Key Facts
- Duration
- 8 years (1937–1945)
- Total deaths
- ~20 million, mostly Chinese civilians
- Biological warfare deaths
- At least 200,000
- Conflict start (Manchuria)
- 18 September 1931 (Mukden Incident)
- Full-scale war began
- 7 July 1937 (Marco Polo Bridge Incident)
Strategic Narrative Overview
Japan rapidly captured Shanghai and Nanjing, perpetrating the Nanjing Massacre. By 1938 Wuhan had fallen, pushing the Nationalist government to Chongqing. Soviet aid sustained Chinese forces until the 1941 Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact ended it. After Pearl Harbor, the United States became China's principal backer via Lend-Lease. A stalemate persisted until Japan launched Operation Ichi-Go in 1944; China responded with counteroffensives in South China and the completion of the Ledo Road supply route in 1945.
01 / The Origins
Japan's expansionist ambitions in Asia led to the staged Mukden Incident in 1931, justifying the seizure of Manchuria and creation of the puppet state Manchukuo. Skirmishes continued through the early 1930s while China was internally divided by civil war between Nationalist and Communist forces. Facing imminent full invasion, Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists formed a United Front in 1936, but Japan escalated hostilities at the Marco Polo Bridge in July 1937, triggering all-out war.
03 / The Outcome
Japan surrendered on 2 September 1945 following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet invasion of Manchuria. China regained Taiwan and achieved recognition as one of the Big Four Allied powers, securing a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. The wartime United Front dissolved almost immediately, and the Chinese Civil War resumed in 1946, eventually ending with Communist victory and the founding of the People's Republic.
Belligerents & Mobilization Analysis
Side A
1 belligerent
Hideki Tojo, Shunroku Hata.
Side B
4 belligerents
Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Zedong, Zhu De.
Kinetic Engagement Axis
Scroll horizontally to view full axis. Events plotted relatively.