Submitted by Jason McDonald on Mon, 2014-07-28 01:16
The Soviet Union had fought with Japan over the Manchurian border. An uneasy truce had existed since September 1939, when, in 1941, both nations realized that the coming war in Europe would mean that they would have to protect their interests elsewhere. Still, both nations had significant forces in Northern China in case the other attacked.
Submitted by Jason McDonald on Mon, 2014-07-28 00:30
The Thirties were marked by confrontation and violence. The Western diplomats practicing Appeasement believed it would prevent another global war, but were woefully unaware of what they were dealing with. Most of the confrontation was between the ideologies of Nazism and Communism; they became mortal enemies in the thirties, which made their non-aggression pact and the dismemberment of Poland all the more shocking.
Submitted by Jason McDonald on Sat, 2014-07-26 23:25
As a result of the first Sino-Japanese War (1895) that also made Korea a part of Japan, troops had been garrisoned along a railroad from the rich resources of Manchuria to Korean ports-of-trade. Raw materials and finished goods would roll down this railway to docks in Korea to be shipped to Japan.
Submitted by Jason McDonald on Thu, 2014-07-17 00:30
Submitted by Jason McDonald on Fri, 2014-07-04 14:45
In August 1945, the Japanese situation was desperate. The major cities were devastated by atomic or conventional attack, and the casualties numbered in the millions. Millions more were refugees, and the average consumption was below 1200 calories a day. The fleet was lost, and the merchant shipping could not leave home waters or sail from the few possessions still held without braving submarine or mine attack.
Submitted by Jason McDonald on Wed, 2014-05-28 21:52
When Sun Yat Sen declared the Republic of China on October 10, 1911, China embarked on 40 years of internal struggle and civil war. Warlords quickly took over sections of the country and ruled them as individual fiefdoms. Fifteen years later, in 1926, Chiang Kai Shek took control of the Kuomintang Party (as it was known in the West,) and the Army. He began a campaign to overthrow them.