The Rape of Nanking of December 1937 resulted in the murder of 300,000 Chinese civilians, rape of more than 20,000 females, destruction of private property, theft, and inhumane torture as Japanese soldiers spiraled into a vicious cycle of sadism and flagrant violation of morality. This event, resulting in further degradation of Sino-Japanese relations, wrests the title of the most horrific atrocity from all other World War II theatres, excluding the Holocaust. Following this mass carnage, asking why such an event transpired is permissible. The Allies charged and executed Japanese General Iwane Matsui for his role in the Rape of Nanking [war crimes], because the Rape of Nanking was not the result of a breakdown of discipline, but the successful…show more content… Soldiers of the Japanese Imperial Army faced harsh discipline upon entering the army, characterized by hazing and the the belief that, as Chang puts it, “Obedience was a supreme value, and a sense of individual was replaced by a sense of value as a small cog in the larger scheme of things.” Additionally, recruits were slapped or beaten with wooden sticks by superior officers, with some youth dying from the physical toll, and others taking their life. Such treatment is simply shocking but a true reality of the Japanese Imperial Army. It hardened the soldiers, and demanded total obedience. This idea of total obedience within Japanese ranks refutes the claim that the events of Nanking were “unpredictable”; it rather strengthens the fact that Japanese soldiers, who were told to believe that the government’s law was right and justified, received orders to commit the atrocities they committed. Apparently, “Troops were ordered to live off the land; bringing fire and desolation to Chinese cities and villages, while systematically looting the country for their subsistence. The Imperial Army was called kiigun; Chinese referred to it as kagun [hungiun] -the same sound with another character meaning “army of locusts.” The Japanese soldiers simply followed orders to destroy and kill from their superior officers, something ingrained in them from washing the underwear of their…show more content… These events, these reasons, led to a dark time in Japan’s history, one forever marked by civilian bloodshed and tension in Sino-Japanese relations. William H. Hastie once said, “History informs of us past mistakes from which we can learn without repeating them,” so may humans learn, grow, and become instruments of peace, not of
