WW2 - Second Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1941

During the early stages of World War Two countries with around half a billion people took part in the war in Europe. The same proportion of humanity was engaged in conflict on the other side of Eurasia between the Empire of Japan and the Republic of China. This video views the first part of this war.

Maps: Army Map Service, USA; USGS.
Sources:
History of the Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945) by Hsu Long-Hsuen, and Chang Ming-Kai.
The Battle for China: Essays on the Military History of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945

This video has been greatly helped by the support from my wonderful Patrons:
Adam Coni, Adam H, Adam Wallace, Bishops, alans4488, Alan Collinge, ALEX ARCHARO, name name, NvllivsInVerba, Bram Spliet, Bdiah, Brian Hynes, Bogdan Sacarea, Bryan Linsley, Yuri B, gartonschwärt, Marco Agnoletti, ccplz, Christian Richard, David Russell, Craig McCall, David Weidman, David Salm, Daniel Benhardt, Deniz Özger, CatInSpace, RocketWrench, Prevost, dionglamine1987, Daniel J Pierce, Dave Nelson, D G, Dongbin Zhang, Ehood Garmiza, Eli Krumholz, Federico Peyrani, Michael, D C, Frank Scheer, Aaron Clarkson, Get_the_fuck_up, Greengsg9, Amine Hajji, Håvard Damsberg, Tibor Helienek, KingHarkinian, Idan Vegana, Isaiah Snell-Feikema, Ivan Trapić, Georges Chouinard, Talbot-Jaaskelainen, JAY ALAN EDELMAN, swagmasterx420, Johan West, _thefishball, aserehuehue, Jiacheng Wu, Jordon Long-Lay, Juan Escobar, Kamil Babula, Kelly-Stephen Soo, KB, Kevin Castillo, Reindeer, Nandor Kocsi, Kristofers Borovskis, Kristaps, Kyle Askine, omega21, 1st Guards Cavalry Corps, Bluebeaner, yellowLia, Igor Reznichenko, Ivan Avdeev, Louis Burke, Lucio Franceschini, Marek Novák, STRONTJESBERG, Praetor98, Anton Kovalev, Alexander G, Morgan, Michal Weyer, Mirco Künne, Mark Fisher, Yury Kuchanov, Sam Tyson, Michał Zdunek, Arkonos, BooBooBlueBerry, Naseem Hanna, Ned Weinert, ned hulton, William Nettles, Nicholas Cubbon, Omer Glickman, Piia Orav, Ori Taichman, Eiko Streitz, Shmavon Gazanchyan, Pavel Kuriscak, Pavel Kletnoy, Gurnik, rJ, Philip F Myers, PLD, Peter Lewerin, Christopher Plummer, William Bowe, Harambe, Rafael Aguila, Dmitry Zaitcev, Rob H, Robert Wahl, Bogdan Putintsev, Rahs, Ryan Harbottle, Simon Stock, Sitraka Forler, Stefan Moluf, Eric Strachan, אביתר הכהן, Herr Burns, Thomas Dobrenel, Marco, Travis Fudge, Torfinn Tyvold, Just A Random Contributor, Vladislav, VonKickass, Robert Vroman, WillN2Go1 ., Nicole Winters, Mingjian Wang, Jordan Corkins, Arta Yusa, Dennis Anthony Zaluski.

00:54 Battle of Beiping–Tianjin
01:21 Battle of Shanghai
01:38 North China Railway operation
01:52 Battle of Taiyuan
02:01 Battle of Shanghai
02:23 Battle of Nanjing
02:35 Strategic situation
03:36 Battle of Xuzhou
03:58 Battle of North-East Henan
04:20 Battle of Wuhan
05:00 Battle of Nanchang
05:06 Battle of Suixian–Zaoyang
05:13 First Battle of Changsha
05:18 Japan occupies China's ports
05:32 Chinese Winter offensive
06:08 Battle of South Guangxi
06:15 Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
06:28 Hundred Regiments offensive
06:42 Battle of South Shanxi
06:45 Central Hubei Operation
06:48 Western Hubei Operation
06:49 Battle of Southern Honan
06:52 Battle of ShaShanggao
05:55 Second Battle of Changsha
07:01 Burma and Indochina roads
07:18 Japan goes to war with USA

Music:

"King's Men" - Biz Baz Studio
"Annihilate" - Jeremy Blake
"A Fever" - Devon Church
"Dark Alley Deals" - Aaron Kenny

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

[mircowitch]

Its so difficult to properly show the troop movements in this war with front lines and involved military units often unclear. You have done a great job here!

[ShortHax]

When you invade a collapsing nation that’s been embroiled in a civil war and battle them to a draw for 9 years

[ekszentrik]

The Chinese front was the ultimate whack-a-mole sunk cost fallacy of WW2.

[sporemaster]

Absolutely awesome summary of the first stages of the war in China.

[gargravarr]

It's strange to see Chinese Army Groups being the equivalents of Japanese Divisions.

[Ksensei]

Never understood how large the offensive was before. Thanks

[itjustjuan]

The Chinese theater is one of the most interesting aspects of the second world war. Glad you're covering it!

[dingusdean]

It’s great to finally see a good, in depth video about the 2nd Sino Japanese war. There’s almost nothing on the subject despite the intensity of the combat, the suffering of the people and the single minded resolve of the brave NRA defenders. Almost every city the Japanese stormed was its own Stalingrad. Lacking anti tank weapons, heroic young students *volunteered* to be fitted with grenade vests to take out the Japanese tanks as suicide bombers. It’s astonishing how none of this gets any real attention

[thdragoon]

When Sugiyama and Nagano presented themselves, the emperor, observed historian Eri Hotta, “displayed the incisiveness he was capable of when utterly compelled—which did not happen often.” How long would war last with the United States?, he demanded. Sugiyama volunteered only three months. The emperor rejoined that Sugiyama had told him the China Incident would end in about one month, and now four years later it still raged. Sugiyama haltingly replied that China proved to have a vast hinterland. A clearly riled emperor retorted: “If the hinterland of China is vast isn’t the Pacific Ocean even more immense?”
- Tower of Skulls, Richard B. Frank

[superpowerdragon]

finally, I left a comment about doing sino-japanese front in the other ww2 videos, never thought you are going to do it, so glad you did!

[napoleonibonaparte]

I do hope you do a full series for the Chinese Theatre. It’s a very overlooked theatre of war.

[AustrianChaos]

Very well done, I love how this channel presents military history in a much more organic, comprehensive way!

[Kabutoes]

If I’m mistaken, Soviet general Zhukov was studying the battle of Wuhan and learned to prepare for what’s later known as Stalingrad

[onetwothreefour]

first time i've seen this time of the war be so clearly described
thanks so much, every video you make i get reminded why you are one of my best subscriptions

[Atomic]

Couldn't find any quality animated content about the war on YouTube, thanks for shedding light on this underrated topic.

[epicpeebrain]

This channel is seriously underrated, these animated battles are so good

[mollye]

"the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan's advantage" -Hirohito's surrender broadcast on August 14th 1945

[superpacocaalado]

Japan: *invades China*

China: I won't surrender

Japan: He is smarter than I thouth

[m.r.daniel]

I learned a lot of new things about the Chinese-Japanese war from this video, and I think I learned the main cause for Japan declaring war on America. Thank you for sharing these things with us. We can't wait to see the next part of this video. Keep up the good work!

[garmonplays]

This is an amazing video, PLEASE MAKE MORE CONTENT, I've been waiting for more uploads from this channel for ages.