Shanghai 1937: Where World War II Began | The Battle Of Shanghai | Timeline

The Battle of Shanghai has been described as both the last battle of World War I and the first of World War II. This revealing film recounts the events that led to the fighting that began in Shanghai in 1937, which would become part of a larger, global conflict. The programme reflects the latest historical perspectives, with rare footage and vivid recollections of people who experienced the events as children living in Shanghai.
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[@postscript5549]

Thank you. Informative.

[@dickfister5081]

Without a doubt the best documentary out there on the battle of Shanghai. Peter Harmsen's commentary and insights are superb. Great work, thanks.

[@chrisloomis1489]

Very good program , so many have forgotten all of this history. Thank You for remembering , and teaching later generations. Thank You Sir.

[@kariannecrysler640]

A valuable resource here. Too many people “other” cultures they don’t know about or understand. I’m glad videos like this are out there for people who want to learn about people’s lives that aren’t their own stories. 🥰

[@michaeljaffrey7958]

It's so nice to see the distinction made between brutality committed by those who "other" their victims and those who don't.

[@kariannecrysler640]

@@michaeljaffrey7958 then be humane, expect humane behavior & only kill if you’re life is in the balance?

[@KennyallenFriedlander-mh6jx]

My father lived in Shanghai for 6 years almost during WW2 The stories and pictures of it I feel to this day Nobody knows really what it must have been like for a German refugee there between 1940-1946

[@murrayscott9546]

My Dads Canadian Merchant Ship was interned here for 8 months. He was 15-16, in'38.

[@kariannecrysler640]

I bet he had invaluable insights about this time of history! Thank you for sharing.

[@murrayscott9546]

@kariannecrysler640 Like many who were there, during that period, he hadda few stories. I could relate to you the ones He shared with me. He survived - that's why I'm here. Served from appx. '38-'48. Some were tragic, some were semi-tragic and some were out-right comical. Let me know if you wanna hear'em. Might make a good screen-play.

[@kariannecrysler640]

@@murrayscott9546 they definitely sound like stories people can benefit from hearing. I wouldn’t mind that one bit

[@thomass9234]

@@murrayscott9546 I am sure they would be great. My great-uncle was a police Inspector with the Shanghai Municipal Police, but had passed away before WWII broke out.

[@murrayscott9546]

All he says about Shanghai is that the police were Sikk, carrying tommy'-gunsm

[@robr177]

To say that Shanghai's prosperity would not have been possible without the atrocities imposed on them by the Japanese in 1937 is misleading. It might be more accurate to say that the way things were going at the time, nobody could see a way for that to happen, and the war was a catalyst. I don't believe that positive change for a society requires a war. It has usually occurred after war, but should not require it.

[@nunyabidness674]

Shouldn't require it, but more often than not, permanently silencing the opposition during the war is what allows for other voices to rise to the top of the din afterwards.

[@kathleenmaionchi2566]

There is a great Spielberg movie about Shanghai during this time, starring Christian Bale as a child. "EMPIRE OF THE SUN."

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

I thought it was Singapore - based on JG Ballard author true story. Correction, movie was Shanghai. 👍

[@MrPaxio]

wtf 😂

[@pincetczy]

Are there any great Spielberg movies though?

[@jeannettjensen3695]

That movie is soooo good!!!

[@kariannecrysler640]

Absolutely loved that movie. The cast was phenomenal!

[@stuartwhelan233]

Brilliant documentary watching in Carlisle Cumbria very interesting ❤❤

[@Affliction99]

Excellent presentation ❤

[@teedtad2534]

God! Those are REAL footage of the war!!

[@HelmetOfHonor]

1931 was the prelude of WW2 when the Japanese Kwantung Army invaded Manchuria.

[@gagamba9198]

Kwantung Army was already in part of Manchuria decades earlier. Why isn't 1905 the start? Or 1894?

[@HelmetOfHonor]

@@gagamba9198 if you wanna be technical, the real prelude to the World Wars started during the Franco-Prussian War. That's what led to monarch rivalries

[@charlesgrant-skiba5474]

@@HelmetOfHonor Applying your "technical logic", it all started with Cain and Abel.

[@wuhaninstituteofvirology5226]

The war started when humans appeared.

[@MARKINAU8]

It was Japanese occupied Northern CHina 1931, re-established the last emporor of Qing overthrown by the Natioinalist Rebels in 1911@@gagamba9198

[@TheEphemeris]

For anyone reading the comments, there's a great film called "The Eight Hundred" (2020) that portrays these events in an action movie style rather than a documentary. A great film to watch about this time period. It's likely the western world doesn't hear much about WW2 and China because of souring relationships post war.

[@anthonydoyle7370]

There are quite a lot of Chinese films about this era which are heavily propagandised but still worth watching.

[@TheEphemeris]

@anthonydoyle7370 growing up on western war movies, obvious American propaganda like american sniper, it was interesting seeing the same concept through I chinese lense. The national pride, praising heroes, rallying behind the flag, etc. Same story but different book

[@robert11661]

Spanish civil war 1936-1939. Actually World War Two started in Spain one year before the events in this documentary take place. See the Spanish Civil war (1936-1939) for further explanation.

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

It was an informative and wonderful historical coverage video about Japanese invaded Chinese Shanghai city in 1937 .. Where Japanese troops invaded 3 North Chinese cities before 1937 .

[@nunyabidness674]

and the Korean Peninsula, a bunch of islands, and a fair amount of coastline...

[@cassiopesysg5423]

Japan also attempt to take Shanghai on 28th Jan incident 1932, but western powers from the international concessions interfered and an armstice was signed.

[@socialmediaaccount404]

I'm glad it wasn't censored.

[@patriciahowellcassity767]

Sad and painful time in world history

[@ricardodelano2205]

with the evolution of human there never was a time we werent killing each other .

[@WesternAustraliaNowAndThen]

It hasn't been on such a large scale but it hasn't stopped since...

[@001Rumi]

@ricardodelano2205 what reasons should be deemed to the war mainly is human desire to achieve power and omnipotence which is why it will never end because one of the readings I came across reads that a time will come when Euphrates river will uncover the Gold mountain as it dries up and people going into the war to obtain it will eventually break the War in which 99% of combatants will die only 1% will survive, there is no such a war in history that humps to such extreme point. It is absolutely plausible because such a technology of Nuclear weapons will fullfill the above prediction. Do we ever cease wars is just as nonsensical as square circle. The fight for power is like stepping on Landmine. We wish to stop wars but our wish are ideally vague. Let's do individual efforts and bring peace within ourselves, family and society.

[@MLMguitarguy]

Ummm. Hello American here. I've always maintained the war started in 1937. I literally know no Americans who think the war started in 1941. That's just ignorant.

[@rjhick1]

You must lived in an educated area. Ive met many people who think WW2 only happened in Europe 😂

[@robertfluxx]

Lol. If only you knew

[@thatonescrambler]

It started with the invasion of abyssinia October 1935 to march 1936, Africa

[@timothylavin6365]

Some look at these events as precursors to ww2 but not part of the war itself. It’s debatable ig

[@jayo3074]

It started in 1939...

[@tosoledo]

Is this a repost? I think I've seen it before.

[@eversor431]

16:52 Wow. A level one thinker at his finest, delving deep into the reaches of thought.

[@seechunchong9876]

China's progress and modernization is largely due to Deng Xiaoping "opening up and modernization of China" instead of Mao's conservative policies. Deng was a artillery commander in the Red Army fighting the Japanese and in the civil war. Excellent video. Thanks for sharing.

[@kennmossman8701]

well that is not true, the soviets were invited in in the 1950s to industrialize the country

[@spushkin1]

@@kennmossman8701lmao

[@kennmossman8701]

@@spushkin1 you better re-attach it

[@michaeljaffrey7958]

"Conservative" is an interesting way to describe Mao's murderous rule.

[@user-mp7tm5hy1m]

This pain shall never be forgotten how from 1937 till 1945 our Nationalists army fought bravely against the Japanese atrocities, weakened by the IJA, how the communist army rebelled against the legitimate government of the Republic of China

[@chetingerx]

Italian and German aviation intervene in Spanish coup de etat and civil war during 1936. That's where WW2 began.

[@murrayscott9546]

You've neglected to mention Germans. The Main Drag wasn't called The Bund for nothing.

[@therenschchild1]

well said

[@murrayscott9546]

@therenschchild1 Sometimes some people get me. Thx.

[@Crashed131963]

To be a (world war) you need more than two countries fighting . That war was called the *Second Sino-Japanese War* . In 1937 ,Germany , France, Russia ,USA, and UK were not fighting yet .

[@gfurstnsu]

My parents lived in China from 1935 to 1938. They taught at the Chinese-American school in the upper Yangtze area near Kuling. In fact my eldest sister was born there in 1936. The school had about 45 students. On Christmas Day 1937, they evacuated and took a refugee train to Hong Kong and started the New Year on a boat that took them to the Dutch East Indies, India, Egypt, Europe and eventually the United States. For them September 1937 was the start of WW II!

[@aldgate]

As a European the, "For Americans it would be-" Really helped me realise how we really do not pay any mind to China during WW2. It's just as crazy for us to say WW2 started with the invasion of Poland, as it is for Americans to say it started with Pearl Harbour.

[@huwzebediahthomas9193]

Spain '36, definately.

[@Gibsonfin]

Crazy to think this was less than 100 years ago

[@user-qs7gx7rp7m]

Crazy it happened only 12 years before I was born. Time flys . . .

[@Aothis]

​@user-qs7gx7rp7m damn my guy, you are a bit old to be on an internet platform but I respect it. 👊

[@ElizabethChee-rj7bn]

Yes I agree ...and yet there are people out there pretending it happened 3,000 years ago. Many people still suffer from the intergenerational trauma caused by WWII.

[@deezeed2817]

My granduncle survived that era and he's a long march survivor and my grandfather was also a nationalist officer. On my Chinese side but i also have relatives on my Russian side who fought and died near Stalingrad. I never got to know their whole story and wish i was able to know them personally. My family came from a very dark past.

[@stuartwhelan233]

​@@deezeed2817Thanks for sharing your story pal thats some past where do you live now pal hope your well watching this in Carlisle Cumbria England

[@acmelka]

Not sure when this was made. So many of the historic neighborhoods and buildings are gone now.

[@icewaterslim7260]

Shanghai was history's largest urban battle until Stalingrad. No mention of the Soviet air force on loan to the Nationalists complete with pilots ground crews and Polikarpov I-15 and I16 fighters for about 3 years preceding the AVG. It's where Chenault acquired his energy based tactics to use against maneuverable Japanese fighters.He was in China as a trainer and advisor with no support from the US. He was not allowed to recruit military personnel until well into 1940. The US in fact enabled Japan's war until Japan occupied Indo China by providing the overwhelming bulk of Japan's oil. It wasn't until the need to keep the USSR in the war that there was a change in strategy focusing on keeping Japan out of the Axis war against the USSR by keeping them in China. I think Chaing Kai-shek's biggest blunder was flooding the Yellow River to slow Japan's advance to Wuhan. They underestimated the massive death toll and lasting environmental carnage in the most fertile region and it undermined Nationalist support that affected the outcome of the civil war. Chaing Kai-shek was just reluctant to remind anyone of it or admit it. What Mao Zedong had was an unspoken understanding with Japan to mostly leave one another be so he could save his force for the civil war of survival against the Nationalists that would follow Japan's loss to US military power. Mao would've been a good "Risk Board" player and that's not meant as a compliment. This war stunted China's progress that was ongoing in the '30s as did Mao's cultist "Cultural Revolution." Marxists are malpracticing screwballs and that's universal.

[@HyBr1dRaNg3r]

Most Americans would think the invasion of Poland was the start of ww2, not Pearl Harbor😳

[@thestevezx7]

Always believed 1937 was the start of WW2.. as this documentary states.

[@mairiconnell6282]

1931 Second Sino Japanese War.

[@MARKINAU8]

No, it's Mukden incident 1931

[@sa25-svredemption98]

Although this wasn't the focus of this documentary, it has to be said that one of the reasons the People's Liberation Army was able to defeat the Chinese Army in the Civil War was that almost all the Nationalist resources had gone into stand after stand, being captured and destroyed by the Imperial Japanese Army with every defeat. By the end of WWII, the Chinese Army had very few resources left, and most of it's international supporters were reeling financially from years of global conflict. They never got back on their feet after WWII, and the PLA, which had kept most of it's frontline units in reserve (relying almost entirely on irregulars, and never confronting the Japanese directly in open battle) was in a position of absolute strength and resources to walk all over the Chinese military, government and people. Had the PLA committed to defeating the Japanese in the way the Nationalists had, the war might have gone very, very differently. Also, the reason there were Chinese troops in the Burma Campaign was to establish a supply corridor between the British Commonwealth Forces in the southwest, and the Chinese forces in the northeast. Airdrops could not facilitate what rail and trucks could. And the Japanese were the group cutting off the Commonwealth from the Chinese - it was not a distraction, it was a necessity. Indeed, once the Japanese were pushed back towards Thailand from Burma, Chinese forces were better equipped to make greater gains against the Japanese because of these resources that were able to be moved between the Commonwealth and China. Hence the turnaround of Chinese battle successes in the latter years of the war.

[@otisarmyalso]

Stunning perspective TYVM

[@chrislakkas3962]

The better you become, the better you attract.

[@Dustin_47]

Your "history hit" commercial keeps getting further and further into the middle. Not good. Still not downloading the app

[@David-hk3ly]

The Japanese had a cruiser, the Idzumo which bombarded Shanghai killing civilians indiscriminately. Today Japan named its largest warship Izumo. Nothing has been learned.

[@kreuzerlau8817]

Fun fact：In 1930s Shanghai was a more western and modern city than Tokyo . Japanese flied to Shanghai to watch new Hollywood movies during that period .

[@chaomingli6428]

For Chinese, the war started on 7th July 1937

[@MARKINAU8]

18-9, 1931

[@prestige360worldwide3]

Im a 33 year old American Mexican fourth generation born in California. I knew World War 2 started in 1937 because my father wasn’t ignorant he was very well read as am I. Thanks

[@ayishao7193]

The airstrike was failed due to Japanese forceful defence then the pilots dropped bombs to downtown area while they saw the life of people was still thriving.

[@colinbarnard6512]

Outstanding documentary of great historiographical worth. We should not take as a given that WW2 'started' on 1 September 1939. Or, 7 December 1941. Those two dates are arbitrary, and feed into the basic Eurocentric conceit that the 'Good Guys', the Allies, won that war. To the gentleman below extolling 'Empire of the Sun', as good a movie as it is, Spielberg adapted a book by the British writer JG Ballard, who actually LIVED the experience. Read the book before you see the film. Watch this doc before you read the book.

[@kohl57]

If you don't think the "good guys" won the Second World War... you might want to check your moral compass. It's not pointing true north.

[@ultrajd]

Um…most Americans know the war started in the late 30s. Also I don’t think I would refer to the battle of Shanghai as the last battle of World War I. Or the first battle of World War II. If anything, it’s the final battle of the second Sino Japanese war. Now, yes, this conflict then blended into what would become the pacific campaigns in the second world war but in many ways, it was its own conflict.

[@user-ow7ll8qk6k]

I dont get what makes this war thing so popular

[@gagamba9198]

Neither 1931 nor 1937 was the start of WWII. The Second Sino-Japanese was a regional war, a prelude to WWII, but a world war must involve the world. Sep 1939 meets that requirement as countries from 5 continents declared war on Germany.

[@kohl57]

thank you.

[@joebombero1]

Battle of Khalkin Gol involved Japan vs USSR from Mongolia. Japan also invading China at the time. So there you have European power against Japan against China. If there had been no war against Germany, this would have been a regional conflict, but since Japan was working towards war against the US and Britain at the time, the clock had indeed started on World War II, well before 1939.

[@kohl57]

Sorry, "clocks ticking" and a brief engagement between the USSR and Japan in Manchuria is NOT a "world war" by any definition. I appreciate China is spending lots of money promoting this revisionist nonsense but no one reasonable person let alone responsible historian is going to asset the real Second World War began in... Manchuria.

[@jakobausterlitz8102]

Nah, it was 1931. WWIII is going now, you just don't realize it yet.

[@defjam137]

The war on germany was a regional war to the rest of the world too

[@NemoBlank]

WW2 began on July 19, 1870 when France declared war on Prussia and got its hiney pulverized. Every war after that was a knock on effect rising from the unintended geopolitical consequences of that idiotic move of Napoleon III.

[@ptolomaios4118]

The subtitles for the mandarin was so bad 😂😅

[@lilili2121]

The Great Depression in the United States in 1929，affected Japan ‘s export trade to the USA ，55 domestic banks collapsed ，the economy was in trouble ，food supply was insufficient ，and the people could not have enough food and clothing 。Therefore ，Japanese military careerists thought of the neighboring country 「Republic of China」。On September 18，1931，the Japanese army launched an invasion of the Northeast region of ROC。On March 1，1932，the Japanese Army established the Puppet Manchukuo State in the Northeast region ，and Puyi became the Emperor of the Puppet Manchukuo。On July 7，1937，at Marco Polo bridge in Beijing ，the Japanese army launched an offensive on the pretext of missing soldiers ，and the Anti -Japanese War of the Republic of China broke out 。Chairman Chiang Kai Shek of the KMT led the national army to resist Japan 。On December 7，1941，The Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor in Hawaii USA，and the Pacific War broke out 。On January 5，1942，Chiang Kai Shek announced his assumption of the post of Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers China Theater in Chongqing。

[@gagamba9198]

Japanese banks were collapsing en mass in 1927 before the Great Depression. In the 1920s Japan's economy was rocked by its own post WWI recession, then the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923, the collapse of raw silk prices in 1925 after rayon was commercialised (raw silk was its most valuable export), and then the Showa Financial Crisis beginning in 1927 (due to the default on bonds sold to finance rebuilding after the earthquake). The Great Depression had much less impact on Japan than other industrialised countries; by 1932 Japan's economy had recovered as GDP was higher than it was in 1929. The IJA had been in part of Manchuria since the end the Russo-Japanese War - Kwantung concession and the territory of the South Manchuria Railway (SMR). The SMR was more than a railway though; it was an industrial conglomerate. The Tianjin Army (IJA's 5th Division) had been in China since 1901, and it operated independently of Kwantung. The Kwantung Army supported Manchurian warlord Zhang Zuolin's conquest of Manchuria and his attempt to conquer China proper, however in 1928 he was assassinated after he began to cosy up with the KMT. His son took over rule and later split w/ Japan. This led to his toppling, Kwantung's take over of the rest of Manchuria, and the Shanghai War of 1932 (when the IJN decided to get into the action). In March 1928 the IJA's _Mokuyo-kai_ (Thursday Society), a group of officers of the War Ministry and the Army General Staff held its fifth meeting. In addition to its leader, Teiichi Suzuki, the group included Tetsuzan Nagata, Yasuji Okamura, Hideki Tojo, Kanji Ishihara, and Hiroshi Nemoto. The discussion was summarised by Tojo: 'The primary goal of army preparations is for war with the Soviet Union. This requires as our first goal complete political control of Manchuria. It is necessary to make defensive preparations for war with the United States in case it intervenes in our war with the Russians. We do not have to make any preparations for war with China. China is important only as a place to acquire raw materials.' (The raw materials China could provide was coal [coking coal, especially], iron ore, tungsten, and tung oil.) In Jan 1928, Ishihara, who would mastermind the Manchurian Incident, told a _Mokuyo-kai_ meeting about his 'Final World War Theory' in which a final war would be fought between Japan and the US. This group and the _Futaba-kai_ (Double Leaf Society) merged to form a new association of Army officers known as the _Isseki-kai_ (One Evening Society) faction. In June 1928, faction member Komoto engineered the assassination of Zhang. In October of the same year, as Ishihara left for Manchuria to serve as a staff officer for operations of the Kwantung Army, he declared: 'You will see [Japan] seize the whole of Manchuria without fail while I am there.' Three years later, on 18 September 1931, Ishiwara and fellow _Isseki-kai_ member Seishiro Itagaki blew up their own railroad in Manchuria, blamed it on the Chinese, and used the incident as a pretext to bring all of Manchuria under Japanese control. In both cases, senior IJA commanders and the civilian leaders in Tokyo were kept out of the loop. Subordinate officers in the _Isseki-kai_ , that is, staff officers who made plans for and otherwise served the commanders, carried out aggressive military actions on their own that began their nation’s road to World War II. Moreover, the IJA's brass gave in to the actions of their subordinates very quickly because they too thought Japan should have direct control over Manchuria. These officers believed that the solution to the Manchuria-Mongolia problem should be in the hands of the IJA, not politicians. Subordinates in the Japanese army acted independently of their commanders, and both subordinates and commanders acted independently of the internationally recognised government of Japan. Civilian leaders only had influence when they collaborated with the military. Those military and civilian leaders who didn't bend to the IJA faced smears, threats, and assassination.

[@Wigalot]

Very relevant in 2024 if you Google a map of current wars 😢

[@cnic3081]

For the love of education, plz dub in the English…subtitles only work if you are a turtle with your face stuck into a screen. HUGE numbers of us are listening while we work…I’m not the first to tell you of this. THIS IS ANNOYING such an excellently researched channel, working to educate, & to be so narrowly focused. I suppose I might come back when I have nothing to do. 😖

[@user-gu8qi4me8x]

This video is actually genuinely underated and this is actually the actual real Japan that the actual American and British BBC propaganda mainstream media actually don't show you is actually really like

[@mimorisenpai8540]

They show imperial Japan as evil duh

[@tathamsvids2095]

Wut? The first day of WWII was the last day of WWI The Treaty of Versailles 28 June 1919.

[@kp6215]

Manchuria puppet by Japan that every student should know about since 1950

[@kennmossman8701]

there were several reasons for the usa to be reluctant to provide funds

[@zillsburyy1]

MANCHURIA 1936 ????

[@nunyabidness674]

0:10 No, Americans DON'T say Dec. 7, 1941... we say Sept. 1, 1939... But Timeline wants to roll an ongoing conflict into WW2. So the Sino-Japanese war which started in 1895 (23 years before the *END* of WW1) and finally ended in 1945 was just "WW2, the back burner"

[@user-rx8pt6tr3k]

Actually they say. The war in Europe started September 3 . when England and France declared war on Germany and Imperial Japan

[@user-jf9ob5bl7h]

In the first place, it was due to the Anglo-French colonization drive in China. After the Opium War, the Qing government's efforts against opium came to fruition at the International Conference in Shanghai in 1909. From here, the revolutionary movement became active, leading to the Xinhai Revolution of 1912. The revolutionaries held elections in name only, claimed the right to govern, and in 1919 formed the Kuomintang in the French concessions in China.

[@monicahoo8514]

Now foreigners are fleeing Shanghai again. 😂

[@stevek1225]

It is good the documentary acknowledges the Chinese bombing of the International Settlement on 14 August, however, this was not an isolated incident. For the next few days, numerous Chinese aircraft bombed the International Settlement. On one occasion, they bombed a British warship which they mistook for a Japanese destroyer, which killed over 500 people (bombs missed). It is therefore arguable the Chinese forces killed roughly 3-5,000 Chinese refugees in under a week during the opening skirmishes at Shanghai

[@elijahFree2000]

It was horrible but not intentional. Aerial bombing was very inexact in 1937.

[@clockmor0852]

@elijahFree2000 The same thing happened in Nanjing and Chongqing with inaccurate air strikes

[@elijahFree2000]

@@clockmor0852 If you are referring to the Japanese Air Force, I don't think they cared if they killed civilians in China.

[@litestuffllc7249]

LIke too many - you fail to include the fact that the Soviet Union also Invaded Poland along with the Nazi's as well as other Eastern European nations - how do you miss that?

[@krapeevids6992]

In every ww2 doc I’ve watched they always talk about the brutality of the Japanese yet they don’t admit to a lot of it to this day

[@xitler-8964chinazi]

The Japanese military tested well water for Chinese peoples. Because Chiang Kai-shek spread bacteria into the well for example, Jinan incident 濟南事件 Japanese peoples were massacred by Chinese Nationalist Party(KMT). victim's name　Kin Tojyo (Japanese woman) conduct autopsies on the body of this woman but CCP faked the photo and spread it around the world as Japanese experiment. Great Kanto Earthquake photos CCP said this is Nanjing incident photo. They are always spreading lies all over the world not just covid19 The Chinese Nationalist Party spread cholera and plague bacteria if you dont know this, and you r not chinese, you can check England and United States National Archives by yourself England THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES　 SECRET No. 124 A few proofs for bacteriological attacks carried out by the Chinese army. 1) Cases of spreading of bacteria by the Chinese army which are con- firmed by the Japanese army . Before retreating the Chinese army has frequently sprayed bacterial agents into wells, tap water, foodstuffs, etc, with intent to cause epidemics in the Japanese army. Japanese medical troops have verified many cases of spraying of bacteria; the table below gives a summary of such cases. A few proofs for bacteriological attacks carried out by the Chinese army. 30 __ __ __ __ SECRET that V. cholerae was present in well water near the place of occurrence of the cases. After drainage of the well ampule splinters as shown in the following figure (Feb. 3) were found at its bottom. This is exactly. the same ampule as had previously been found on the Chinese spy. What has been said definitely proves that the Chinese have used bacteria as a weapon. 31 _ _ _ _ _ _

[@gerardoravarra4170]

land grabers.

[@geraldmiller5260]

I have always thought WWII started in China.

[@Bobbyjean-vi4sj]

My dad joined WW2 in 1938 and was there right to the end and the States because of selling weapons to the enemy didn't join until later when the War was weak and were only in the war well after half way through the war

[@gagamba9198]

WWII wasn't happening in 1938.

[@joebombero1]

​​@@gagamba9198 the first dominoes had already fallen by 1937. The seeds had been planted - whatever analogy you wish to use. World War II had started well before the battle of Khalkin Gol, well before the invasion of Poland. The US support for the Flying Tigers may have been a more accurate start. If you look at Poland as the start, you need to look at four months of inaction after Poland and before the Invasion of France. Perhaps the Invasion of France would be a better beginning, or maybe Hitler's invasion of the USSR? Certainly before Operation Barbarossa, the war was only Germany vs Britain, hardly a world at war. No matter the date you set, it is arbitrary. Easier to see the whole process, track the events back to the beginning and attach that as the date. 1931 or '37 would be more justifiable than Sept 39.

[@nonamejoname6728]

The United front

[@mingtangwu2716]

During World War II, China was still an agricultural country with no industrial foundation and could not produce even a bullet. However, Japan completed Western industrial civilization earlier than China. China was an agricultural country at that time, and it was already very powerful in being able to withstand the crazy attacks of the Japanese war machine in World War II.

[@maxcole5553]

By that do you mean having all their major cities and the then capital (Nanjing) captured in quick succession? The Japanese steamrolled the incompetent and warring armies of China. If America didn’t get involved most of China would still be Japanese. Chinas propaganda ministry doesn’t show that though does it?

[@ricardodelano2205]

the european did the chinese bad first of all with the opium and just like every where else the took advantage of the native people , the japanese did also . so let us keep these things in mind.

[@NeungView]

*the British

[@gagamba9198]

Nonsense. The Manchu conquerors/colonisers did the Han wrong in the 17th century. Of course, the Han did the Manchu wrong earlier which is why Nurhaci unified the Jurchen tribes and declared his seven hatreds (七大恨) of the Ming Dynasty. Conquest and colonisation go back millennia. Improved navigation and shipping expanded reach. I encourage you to gain a better grasp of history.

[@j.a.weishaupt1748]

Why do you , type like this ?

[@uxb1112]

​@@NeungView Just what's your beef? It was nearly entirely Scots and American privateers that instigated the running of opium into china. Before that, everyone had been quite legally importing it into the country for years. They also arranged for it to be grown in commercial quantities in British India but it was the Chinese themselves who requested and required opium to enable their almost every decision in the empire.

[@johnmoulton9728]

Truly awful, poor Chinese people, it makes you understand more about the. Current political stance

[@user-gu8qi4me8x]

I actually genuinely agree with you and finally some one who l found in the comment section that actually has a functioning brain for once

[@judithermer7969]

Absolutely agree

[@tomxiao1]

Nobody in China would give you that date. Where do uou get you information from 😂😂😂 Its either 9/18 or 7/7.

[@briester510]

Didn't fascist Italy invade Ethiopia in 1934?

[@j.a.weishaupt1748]

What’s your point?

[@luc4prez]

Bro I can’t listen to these in different languages. God dammit

[@adameckard4591]

No WW2 did not begin in 1937. WW2 started in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria.

[@kohl57]

How does a war between Japan and Manchuria involve "the world" when there were two countries at war, both Asian??? Or indeed between China and Japan? What part of the word "world" is so confusing?

[@MARKINAU8]

Because tthats a continuing war from 1931 from Chinese prospective, It's debatable according to all different historians@@kohl57

[@kennmossman8701]

life in shnhai for the locals was not any worse than elsewhere ........tired of that BS

[@duellingscarguevara]

Ww2 started in 1933?.( with the US declaration against Germany?). The bolshies did this...look it up...

[@rhondasisco-cleveland2665]

Back when the Japanese were the monsters. Crazy, hu?

[@makuballz6516]

yes they were the monsters back then they did horrible things

[@dennistesolat5346]

Some would say 1932

[@jamesstrom6991]

Some would say 1918-1919

[@user-gu8qi4me8x]

​@@jamesstrom6991I actually genuinely agree with you

[@08A06A1975]

What was the importance of this conflict at the time? None, besides a conflict between Chinese and Japanese ... The WWII started at the invasion of Poland, don't try to rewrite history ... Author, if you doesn't agree with that, you would have more reason if you mentioned the Spanish Civil War (where the fight envolved Spain, Germany, Italy, Portugal, USSR, and some internationals).

[@NeungView]

It is generally agreed upon that the 2nd Sino-Japanese war marked the start of WWII. Don't try to rewrite history!

[@08A06A1975]

Sorry, old Boy, but you're mistaken. At the time, no one gave a damn for this conflict. Instead, Germany's invasion of Poland started WWII, and set the world ablaze.

[@blamerebel]

The importance was for Asian’s to have a heritage month in a country far far away

[@b_8103]

If you determine importance only from their appearance on news cycles yes you might be right. I’d argue that it is the opposite. Things that are overlooked by the masses often tend to be the trigger of many “unexpected” “spontaneous” events. It is the bigger picture that is eluding us because everyone only sees nothing but their own interest and that of their kin.

[@nunyabidness674]

not to mention the "Second" sino-japanese war would be like a "Second" Korean war for the US. The war never ended, just the daily live fire...

[@ericgibson2079]

The Native Americans fought in a World War for a long long time. To bad they never gained a Navy. Some say the Black Plague, could have been the Americas attempting to thwart the great invasion... Could be???

[@DailyClassicsDC2022]

Typical european propaganda to shake off the guilt of starting two world wars and dooming humanity entire l,if not they have already started a third one.😂.

[@BRTowe]

I am surprised at the disrespectful attitude shown by Dr. Kuan Yu-Chien upon seeing Allied warships sailing up the river... why did he think the Japanese were gone? Who does he think orchestrated and carried out the defeat of the Japanese? It wasn't the Chinese. The United States didn't send armies to China because it was a strategically worthless meat grinder. This documentary is good, but drifts into the territory of being apologetic because America didn't entangle itself in an unwinnable Asian land war. As if it would have been somehow morally superior to send a few hundred thousand American boys to die for strategically worthless territory.

[@uncleobscurenobody8861]

I'm not saying it would have been better for the US to land troops, but you seriously can't see how a Chinese person would feel that way?

[@uxb1112]

​@@uncleobscurenobody8861 unfortunately the way Chinese people are programmed, it is seldom possible to believe that they can construct rational thoughts outside of their political conditioning. They seem to have had all of their innovative thought re-educated out of them.

[@chandler224]

China was colonized for decades by the "Allies" and was left to fight alone against the Japanese for 4 years. Can't you see how he might feel bitter about the Allies showing up to celebrate in his city after watching the Chinese die in 1937?

[@gratefuldeadly7899]

why are there Taiwan flags in the video and not the chinese flag ?

[@WesternAustraliaNowAndThen]

The current PRC flag was only adopted on October 1st 1949.

[@treystephens6166]

The Taiwan 🇹🇼 Flag was the Chinese Flag 1928-1949.

[@therenschchild1]

because Taiwan is the true China

[@patrickmunneke8348]

​@@therenschchild1 It was. Until it renounced all claims to the mainland.

[@therenschchild1]

who said anything about mainland?@@patrickmunneke8348

[@LiveSilence3]

I know both Alien belevers And histroy folk Will hate Me For this so its Aliens Let The hate Mail Come For Me & my joke

[@gerardoravarra4170]

i dont like the communist history.

[@DanielWalker-ci7fo]

Great history lesson here and thank you to the production team. It's a shame just how many people have an education but haven't a clue about reality... 🦾✌️❤️‍🩹🙏🤠🎶