Episode 17: The 2nd Sino-Japanese War & China in WWII

In the last two episodes we covered the Communist regime in Yan’an during the period 1941-1945, and how they went about solidifying their control over CCP controlled areas, spreading their ideology through movements and campaigns. Of course, we also covered the Communists’ involvement in WWII, but generally speaking, the CCP was not at the forefront of the fighting during the war with Japan. Most of frontline fighting was done by Nationalist soldiers under the leadership of Chiang, and with the help of the allied forces, though the extent to which any fighting was actually done has often been called into question. China’s role in WWII and its importance in holding down the Japanese has been a sore point for China, which has claimed it never received the recognition it deserved from the major powers, especially considering the losses suffered and the tragedies wrought among the Chinese people. Hopefully in this episode I can provide you with enough detail for you to decide for yourself whether the Chinese war effort was of global import, or should be relegated to the annals of national memory. So, today we’ll be discussing what happened to trigger full blown war with Japan in 1937, how this evolved into WWII, how China’s Nationalist government survived and under what guise, and China’s bitter struggle against Japan until the end of the war in 1945.