Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a Japanese soldier barge into your house, rape your mother and sister, and then kill your father, all while you’re being forced to watch? Hopefully not, but unfortunately at one point in our history, that has happened to hundreds of thousands of people of Nanking, China. This Rape of Nanking or Massacre of Nanking can sometimes be referred to as the “forgotten Holocaust of WWII” seeing as it took place close to the start of the Second World War and is not nearly talked about as much as the German Holocaust with the Jews. It all happened in December of 1937, when Nanking fell to the Japanese.
The United States could possibly be blamed for Japan’s aggression in my opinion. Unlike most countries, Japan did not advance during the Industrial Revolution due to its isolation. It wasn’t until 1852 when Millard Fillmore sent Matthew Perry to Japan that their isolation began to end. At one point, Perry sent steam powered ships into Tokyo Bay giving the Japanese their first look at steam power, something they’ve not experienced yet (Chang, Iris 21). Upon seeing these ships, the Japanese prepared for battle but ended up having to just acknowledge the fact that American military technology was superior. During this visit, Perry was able to get Tokugawa, which was the leader of Japan, to sign treaties with the United States and open its doors to trade with the other countries. This obviously angered people of Japan, but they realized that a war would do nothing but hurt themselves (21). They wanted to prepare themselves to eventually fight, but the Tokugawa preferred to just watch and wait which made people question the power of the shogun and they eventually wanted the emperor to be able to...
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...re massacres, but it serves the purpose of reminding us of what some people have gone through. The Rape of Nanking is important because it shows us what we could be going through, but luckily, we aren’t going through any of what the Chinese had to deal with. Yes, at any time a country could attack the United States and attempt to take over North Tonawanda, but in this day in age it seems more unlikely. I’m not sure if I feel this way because I live in the United States and know my country has a strong and powerful military, but it could be different for other people in other countries. Some may be facing starvation, or poverty, but at least they aren’t getting raped by multiple soldiers, decapitated, and used as bayonet practice. The Rape of Nanking is important because it’s able to tell us to be grateful for our lives now becausewe could have it so much worse.
The Japanese government believed that the only way to solve its economic and demographic problems was to expand into its neighbor’s territory and take over its import market, mostly pointed at China. To put an end on that the United States put economic sanctions and trade embargoes. We believed that if we cut off their resources and their source of federal income than they would have no choice but to pull back and surrender. But the
History will never forget the pain because it takes an ethnic or even a nation to remember it. The Nanjing Massacre, which is my home country’s pain and shame, is not going to be forgotten and ignored either. The Raping of Nanking by Iris Chang, a Chinese American writer, has reshaped my view on the atrocities the Japanese soldiers committed and raises a question: Why do we need to remember the past and face it? Remembering history does not just mean to be blocked by the past and stop moving on, but looking for the lessons the history has taught us and prevent the world from making the same mistakes again. The Rape of Nanking uses Nanjing Massacre as the core and analyzes the holocaust from the national perspective of China, Japan and Western countries; it also analyzes this piece of history that has been distorted for half of the century.
When most American people think of Germany, they think of sports cars made for the autobahn, sauerkraut, Adolf Hitler, and the Holocaust. Compared to Germany, when most American people think of Japan they think of sushi, Godzilla movies, Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. World War II was such a significant event in history that almost 70 years after it came to an end, today’s younger generations often associate former Axis controlled countries with the war. People around the world are filled with disgust and immense hate when they hear the name Hitler, mainly because of his leadership under the Holocaust; which was the discriminatory mass genocide of 11-17 million people, the vast majority of which were European Jews. Hirohito, former Emperor of Japan, should strike a similar bell with people when they hear his name because Japan carried out genocide on Chinese civilians and soldiers in World War II. Japan’s attack on the Chinese city of Nanking, was one of the most atrocious events in history. This event has been named both the Nanking Massacre and the Rape of Nanking. The torturous, violent techniques used by the Japanese army upon Chinese civilians and soldiers including dehumanizing them, addicting them to drugs, and other perverse and violent acts, are some of the most grosteque methods ever recorded that could only be thought of by sadistic Japanese soldiers. The events committed by the Japanese army in Nanking, are equally as disgusting as the acts that Nazi Germany committed and should become a major topic involved with World War II in the future, despite the lack of light shed on it in the past for various reasons.
Despite having the horrific Nanking Massacre occur 70 years ago, its history is barely buried like many of the dead were at the time. The Nanking Massacre (also known as the Rape of Nanking) occurred as a part of the 2nd Sino-Japanese War, which would then become part of World War II. This war involved the Republic of China defending against the invading Japanese forces. Unfortunately, China was weakened due to a civil war between the Communists and the Nationalists, so it was easily invaded. The Nanking Massacre shows the negative elements of Human Nature and should be taught in schools because it portrays the brutality of the Japanese in Asia.
Memories of World War II play a very important role in the world today, especially in East Asia. These memories are not simple but complicated factors that created many of the controversial issues that exist today. Two of the main issues that revolve around East Asia are the Nanjing Massacre and the comfort women issue. People have debated over the truth of the Nanjing Massacre and the comfort women issue, and people on different sides have not come to an agreement on the historical facts. Daqing Yang’s “The Malleable and the Contested, Joshua Fogel’s “Nanjing Atrocity and Chinese Historical Memory ” discusses the issues in detail, and Chungmoo Choi’s “The Politics of War Memories toward Healing”.
Nanjing, just like any other City has suffered a number of conflicts, but none of those compare to the Nanking Massacre. This Massacre lasted only 6 weeks but impacted the city more than any other event in it’s history. The Massacre started the day Japan invaded and captured Nanking. The
Before the attack on Pearl Harbor the road to war with Japan started in the 1930s. The Empire of Japan was trying to expand its empire through the Pacific and China. In 1931 Japan conquered Manchuria, which was part of China and began an unsuccessful campaign to take over the rest of China. Japan allied themselves with Nazi Germany in 1940. At that time the U.S. had economic and political interests in East Asia. The U.S. added China with financial and military help along with strengthening its own military presence in the Pacific. They cut off shipments of raw materials and oil to Japan. Japan was very limited in their natural recourses and perceived the America’s embargo on oil and aid to China as a threat. Japans response was to conquer resourc...
Japan had always been an ally of the United States. Japan tried to collect their share of treasure from Versailles. Japan ran into some troubles, Woodrow Wilson. Wilson rejected Japan’s claim to German concessions in Shantung. Duan Qirui, a Chinese warlord and politician had borrowed money from Japan to make China’s army stronger. Japan used that loan and wanted it to be repaid by getting the concessions in Shantung. In 1921, at the Naval Conference the US pressured the Britain’s to end their 20 year alliance with the Japanese. Japan was now isolated, Stalin’s unhappy empire to the north, t...
Japan triggered the war that led to the bombing of its two cities with its sneak attack on America’s Pearl Harbor in 1941. Subsequent systematic and flagrant violation of several international agreements and norms through employment of chemical and biological warfare and mistreatment of prisoners of war and civilians aggravated the situation[ Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth. (NY: Knopf, 1995), 89]. A response was needed to deal with increased aggression from Japan. Allied military planners had to choose between invading Japan and using the US atomic bombs in 1945[ Ronald Tabaki, Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb.
It doesn’t matter who is fighting, what countries are involved, or which weaponries are used; innocent civilians die in every combat. The My Lai Massacre was one of the most ungodly times in the Vietnam War. On the morning of March 16, 1968 a collection of American GIs arrived on the settlement of My Lai, located in the Quang Ngai Province in central Vietnam. The Vietnam War arose in the 1940’s as a conflict of liberties between Vietnamese nationalists known as the Viet Minh and the French who had control in Vietnam. Foreseeing a communist takeover if the North Vietnamese succeeded, the United States contributed economic and military assistance and by 1967 the United States had approximately 400,000 troops in the country (My
Japan wanted many things, world expansion was one of them and the only way to get that was to destroy America. “Japan declared its policy to establish a ‘New Order in east Asia,’” according to Iriye (1999). A year later the US stopped all trade or aircraft and aircraft parts with Japan, this led to one of the many reasons Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Before the Japanese could even think about world domination they would have had to take out the American naval fleet to accomplish building the empire sized naval fleet that they wanted.
Japan's attacking China in 1937 is a crime against humanity. On July 7, 1937, Japan attacked Beijing using a missing soldier as an excuse, without no official declaration to war against China. On December 13, 1937, Japan started a series of massacre in Nanking, which resulted in a casualty of 300,000. During the three-month-long massacre, Japanese army kill for pure fun, and their crime include brutal rape of innocent women, beheading civilians as competition, and murder newborn babies. Unit 731 of Japanese army used Chinese people as human test subjects to develop chemical weapon to win the war. They performed amputation and poison gas test on innocent Chinese civilians. When the war reached stalemate, and Japanese troops suffered from hunger, they kill war prisoners and eat the bodies. Japanese officers forced Chinese women to be "comfort lady" for the troops. While the name sounded great, reality was that these "comfort ladies" ended up raped by Japanese soldiers over and over again until death. (Yoshimi 146) These were all crime against h...
The Rape of Nanking, also known as the Nanking Massacre was a six week period when mass numbers of Chinese men and woman were killed by the Japanese. Embarrassed by the lack of effort in the war with China in Shanghai, the Japanese looked for revenge and finally were able to win the battle. The Japanese moved toward the city of Nanjing also known as Nanking and invaded it for approximately six months. Even though the people of Nanjing outnumbered the 50,000 Japanese, they were not as masterful in warfare as their opponents. Chinese soldiers were forced to surrender to the Japanese and the massacre began in which around 300,000 people died and 20,000 women were raped. The Japanese leaders had different methods of killing that were instructed to the soldiers. However, the prisoners of this “City of Blood” soon found their liberation and their justice was served.
The Kwangju Massacre, also widely known as the Kwangju Democratic Uprising to those who support the movement played a significant role in the course of democratization of South Korea. This research paper focuses on why the Kwangju Uprising occurred and the role of the United States. Many South Koreans felt that the United States supported President Chun’s military government and outlook the injustice that was taking place in Kwangju. The Kwagju Massacre ended with the army seizing the Province hall once again on May 27th 1980. Even with the defeat, the Kwangju Uprising gave aspiration to the citizen that they are able to bring change in the government policies.
...high power status, Japan had to have a self-reliant industrial common ground and be able to move all human and material resources (S,195). Through the Shogun Revolution of 1868, the abolition of Feudalism in 1871, the activation of the national army in 1873, and the assembly of parliament in 1889, the political system of Japan became westernized (Q,3). Local Labor and commercial assistance from the United States and Europe allowed Japan’s industry to bloom into a developed, modern, industrial nation (Q,3). As a consequence production surplus, and food shortage followed (Q,3). Because of how much it relied on aid of western powers, Japan’s strategic position became especially weak. In an attempt to break off slightly from the aid of the west Japanese leaders believed that it would be essential for Japan to expand beyond its borders to obtain necessary raw materials.