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The Making of Modern China, 1860–1997

Reasons for all-out war in 1937

  • 3 things to know
  • Paper 3

Overview

Recall questions on the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, why Japan escalated, the battle for Shanghai, the second united front, and how unprepared China was.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Numbers

What triggered all-out war in 1937?

Numbers

What was the East Hebei Autonomous Council?

Who and when

Why did Japan escalate in 1937?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What triggered all-out war in 1937?

    Model answer

    The Marco Polo Bridge Incident near Beijing in July 1937.

  2. 2

    What was the East Hebei Autonomous Council?

    Model answer

    The Japanese-sponsored puppet regime set up in the demilitarised zone of northern China in 1935, part of Japan's creeping detachment of the north before 1937.

  3. 3

    Why did Japan escalate in 1937?

    Model answer

    Army commanders in China sought a decisive settlement, believing Chinese resistance would collapse quickly, and Tokyo lost control of events.

  4. 4

    What happened in the battle for Shanghai?

    Model answer

    Jiang committed his best German-trained divisions in three months of fighting from August 1937, losing perhaps 250,000 men but demonstrating that China would fight.

  5. 5

    Why did Jiang choose to fight at Shanghai?

    Model answer

    To draw Japanese forces away from the north, to fight where foreign observers would see it, and to force the powers to notice the invasion.

  6. 6

    What was the second united front?

    Model answer

    The agreement of 1937 between the Nationalists and Communists to fight Japan together, which effectively broke down in 1941 though it survived nominally until 1945.

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