Rape of Nanking essays

Rape of Nanking essays Although many people thought that the World War II started in Europe, it actually had roots in Asia with the rape of Nanking. Between December of 1937 and March 1938, at least 369,366 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war (POWs) were slaughtered by the invading Japanese troops. An estimated 80,000 women and girls were raped; many of them were then mutilated or murdered. Thousands of victims were beheaded, burned, bayoneted, buried alive, or disemboweled. To this day the Japanese government has refused to apologize for these and other World War II atrocities, and a significant sector of Japanese society denies that they took place at all. It all started in the early 1930s when Japan began its industrial revolution. They were made up of 142,270 square miles, much of it barren, and they had to feed over 6 million mouths. What they couldnt understand and believed was unfair was the fact that other countries such as Australia and Canada have more than 3 million square miles to feed 6.5 million people each. They fought the injustice of it all since these countries werent even making the most of the land that they had like the Japanese were. The Japanese felt China their manifest destiny as America did the west many years ago. They felt they needed to free Asia and allow them to prosper, since they were considered the 3rd largest power in the world at the time. With all the new technology that Japan has now, the Japanese government found itself anxious to use it to build a better society. But there was great influence by the people to use the nations military superiority over its neighbors. They wanted to start a foreig n conquest. And so it was. Every economical and political obstacle to Japans divine mission was destroyed and the plan to free Asia was underway. In 1932, a group of naval officers launched a terrorist attack in Tokyo that killed Prime Minister Inukai Tsuyoshi and attempte...