Grace Holden
Professor Wei
Quiz 4
4.18. 16

Commonly misconstrued, conflict aroused by Japan did not start with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, but started many years prior in China. China had been at war with Japan since 1937 (though faced encroachments from Japan beginning in 1931), with the Marco Polo Bridge incident. The long fight that China put up against Japan up until 1941 is often discredited or even disregarded because the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States’ dramatic entrance into the war gets associated to Japan’s first military offenses. Crucially drained from fighting years prior to the official start of the world war, the battered state that China was in during the course of the war seems to take credit away from their resilience in battle, despite being at an obvious disadvantage when everyone else joined in on the fight against Japan. Viewed as weak and dependent on other Allied Powers to defeat Japan, China deserves to receive credit for being a major ally in World War 11 for the brutality they endured during and after the war, and for how their forgotten role significantly shaped how defeat would play out for the Axis Powers. Becoming a united force with the Allies was in China’s interests because it not only meant military support and resources China was critically in need of, but also it was an opportunity China to receive global recognition that seemed impossible prior to the War. Over the course of fighting four years against Japan’s dominate forces; a large portion of China’s supplies and troops had been depleted. China was automatically at odds against Japan because of their weak government that the failure of amalgamation between the communists and nationalists created. The lag of time it took to unify troops and effectively create military support and resources certainly did not help China push Japan back east. By becoming an