Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, March 14 – 20, 1940

March 14, 1940: Japanese troops dig in north of Macao, triggering fears that the Portuguese colony may be cut off from supplies from the mainland March 15, 1940: Japanese and … Continue Reading →

Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, March 7 – 13, 1940

  March 7, 1940: Japanese lawmaker Saitō Takao, a vocal critic of the war in China, is expelled from parliament, and his name tag is subsequently removed March 8, 1940: … Continue Reading →

Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Feb 29 – March 6, 1940

  Feb 29, 1940: Australian armed merchant cruiser HMAS Kanimbla bring nine German nationals to Japanese port of Yokohama. The nine are among 21 Germans of military age previously captured … Continue Reading →

Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Feb 22 – 28, 1940

Feb 22, 1940: Japan and Italy continue cooperation in Anti-Comintern Pact, targeted at Soviet Union, despite Germany’s defection the previous year with non-aggression treaty with Moscow Feb 23, 1940: Ichikawa … Continue Reading →

Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Feb 15 – 21, 1940

Feb 15, 1940: Japanese Army admits withdrawing troops in two separate campaigns in Guangxi in southern China and Inner Mongolia in the north Feb 16, 1940: US House of Representatives … Continue Reading →

Eighty Years Ago: Asia Pacific, Feb 8 – 14, 1940

Feb 8, 1940: Japan worried that German-Soviet friendship, reflected in joint invasion of Poland the year before, will cause its cooperation with Berlin to fight global spread of communism to … Continue Reading →

The Nanjing Massacre: A Swedish Diplomat Reports (Part Three)

In late 1937 and early 1938, the Swedish envoy to China, Johan Beck-Friis, who was based in Shanghai, filed a series of reports to the Foreign Ministry in Stockholm about … Continue Reading →

The Nanjing Massacre: A Swedish Diplomat Reports (Part Two)

“The soldiers have murdered, burnt and looted while raping women without worrying about the presence of witnesses.” By early 1938, the Swedish envoy to China, Johan Beck-Friis, was in no … Continue Reading →

Death on the Marco Polo Bridge

On July 7, 1937, Chinese and Japanese forces clashed at the Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing, unwittingly setting off an eight-year-long war that only ended with the formal Japanese surrender … Continue Reading →

The Nanjing Massacre: A Swedish Diplomat Reports (Part One)

In December 1937, the Japanese Army captured the Chinese capital of Nanjing and immediately imposed a complete news blackout of events in the city. As a result, the outside world … Continue Reading →