Marco Polo Bridge Incident - The First Battle of WWII

In 1937, tensions between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan came to a boiling point. The massively destructive Second Sino-Japanese War (which would quickly grow into World War II) began with just a small clash over a bridge and miscommunication during a military exercise.
If you enjoyed this video, please like and subscribe!
Instagram: / latemodernh. .
Twitter: / lmh_yt
Script:
When you ask someone when World War Two began, the most common answer would be September 1st, 1939, with the Nazi invasion of Poland. However, some historians would say the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War began World War Two, so you would get a very different answer. Two years earlier, on July 7th, 1937, Chinese and Japanese troops first clashed at the Marco Polo Bridge.
The Marco Polo Bridge is only it's Western name, as Marco Polo famously described the bridge. Locally, it was known as the Lugou Bridge. After Japan’s 1931 invasion of Manchuria, tensions were high between Japan and China. China’s nationalist government headed by Chiang Kai-Shek refused to recognise the puppet state of Manchukuo as a legitimate government. Japan also stretched the agreements on foreign military in China set in the Boxer Protocols by stationing 7 to 15 thousand troops in Chinese territory.
On July 7th, Japanese troops were participating in a standard military exercise near the Marco Polo Bridge. When a Japanese private failed to report back to his post, Japanese command demanded the Chinese let them search for him. The Chinese denied the request. Although the private returned, it was too late and both sides had begun mobilisation. At 2 in the morning on the 8th, the mayor of Wanping was sent to negotiate with the Japanese troops. At 4:45 he returned, noticing massive amounts of Japanese troops prepared for battle.
At 4:50 A.M. on July 8th, 1937, Chinese troops fired the opening shots against the amassing Japanese, thus starting the Second Sino-Japanese War, and the Second World War by extension. The battle was short, and the much larger Japanese quickly overwhelmed the Chinese. An agreement was made to end the battle in which the Chinese were to apologise to the Japanese, leave the city in civilian control rather than military, and deal with the communists who were causing trouble. Although the Chinese technically won by repulsing the Japanese away from the bridge, the battle was a strategic victory for the Japanese. They now knew their enemy's strength and were in place to strike again. Within a matter of days, the Imperial Japanese Army marched towards Beiping (which was soon renamed “Peking” or “Beijing” after the Japanese took control).
This small and little-known conflict may be one of the most influential battles of the 20th century. It officially began the Second Sino-Japanese War, leading directly to both the entire Pacific Front of World War Two and the eventual rise of the People's Republic of China as a communist superpower in the far east.

[@anhduc0913]

So one guy skipped training and they started killing each other?

[@Neotokyovibes-WelcomeHome]

I boy, I sure love partaking in my routine exercises on the marco-polo bridge in 1937!

[@ajschannel162]

Oh boy we surely started a war just because our commander needed to take a dump and even thought if he was captured or killed by the Chinese

[@fernandocamargo7233]

Hello! I came a bit late, but you're the first one to explain this incident in specific, keep going! I love your videos and have become a fan!

[@thomaswright3259]

A GREAT video would love to see this channel grow

[@iharshkaushik]

this is the best channel I've ever found.. you got a sub and also you the best.. just keep posting my friend.. 👍

[@LateModernHistory]

I plan to get back into it regularly with the new year!

[@AbrahamLincoln4]

Why many people not know of this great channel!!?

[@bobsempletank1222]

These are great keep up the work, you need to get some more popularity! Also do more obscure moments in history I recommend like the bat-men paratroopers or the Lapland war?

[@LateModernHistory]

Thise are both great ideas! I actually already have the Lapland War on my to-do schedule, so you can expect that one soon. As for the bat-men, I'll get straight to work and have a video on that very soon. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@chalkboardhistory]

I really like this video - similar to my first one way back some time ago. I think you might want to consider working on your audio editing, as there was a considerable amount of static. This is not because you need a new mic, you can absolutely fix this without one. You could look at using an audio editing program. I really like your content, though. I've got notifications on for when you upload next! Perhaps we could collaborate in the future, as we have similarly sized channels

[@LateModernHistory]

I'm glad you enjoy it! I'll look into what I can do about the static, although I wouldn't be surprised if some of it was from the old recordings I use for background music. Nonetheless, I will definitely see what I can do about it. If you'd like to pursue doing a collaboration, email me, and I'll be glad to set up something with you!

[@catlady8324]

I thought it was supposed to have that old Timey turntable record pop and crackle added as an affect, similar to how they add scratches and dust to video to simulate old film. I vote- Keep that static in!

[@holhorse3808]

A bloody war over a toilet break

[@jcha]

Please do more videos!

[@LateModernHistory]

You can expect some more relatively soon!

[@RoundenBrown]

When WWII really began.

[@Getorix]

Sad thing is I didn't learn this in school I learned it from a video game first. Hearts of iron rofl. Public schools ftw.

[@moshegreen8886]

שמע אתה תותח, אני אציע את הערוץ שלך לחברים בלימודים!

[@amberdm1384]

On July 7, 1937, the Marco polo Bridge Incident as Chinese called Lugou Bridge Incident erupted, and the Chinese people united to face the national crisis, fighting bravely with their blood. 87 years have passed, and today's China is no longer the China of 1937. Although the mountains and rivers are now at peace, we must still strive for self-improvement! These numbers we cannot forget: during the period of the Second Sino-Japanese War, the number of casualties among the Chinese military and civilians reached over 35,879,000. More than half of China was trampled by the Japanese army, over 930 cities were occupied one after another, and 42 million refugees were left homeless. During the Japanese invasion of China, Japan blatantly violated international law and extensively used chemical weapons against the Chinese military and civilians, affecting 18 provinces with over 2,000 accurately documented cases, resulting in tens of thousands of casualties. The direct economic loss caused by Japan's invasion of China reached 100 billion US dollars, with indirect economic losses amounting to 500 billion US dollars.

[@jejehatesme31]

Wow i cant believe he stole the name!

[@sayville_silver]

WWII started in Asia because one private had to go take a piss.

[@KoMaHu3aM]

the video is OK, but the text is straight out of Wikipedia man, kinda expected more than that....

[@LateModernHistory]

I use Wikipedia as a guide for making sure I don't leave out anything, but I do external research, of course. I'm working on using Wikipedia less, but it is very useful to make sure I don't forget something important or go too much out of order.

[@basedchad2337]

Make the Soviet occupation of Manchuria

[@LateModernHistory]

I will put that on my list to do!

[@tomiv3751]

World war 2 started in 1 09 1939, but japanese-chainese war ealier.