Wilbur ’s Reviews > The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II > Status Update
Wilbur
is on page 34 of 290
- why did the Japanese act this way in Nanking and why did officers and govt allow it?
- author argues that the history of Japan is rooted in bushido and military power.
-1852 US marched on and demanded Japan to open and trade with a show of military power. Japan had no choice but to agree but they planned to learn the western way and get revenge for this humiliation
— Feb 03, 2026 08:22AM
- author argues that the history of Japan is rooted in bushido and military power.
-1852 US marched on and demanded Japan to open and trade with a show of military power. Japan had no choice but to agree but they planned to learn the western way and get revenge for this humiliation
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Wilbur ’s Previous Updates
Wilbur
is on page 80 of 290
- Nanking is a city with a a lot of history and has been invaded 3 times. (6th century, 1853 by taping rebels, 1937 by Japan)
- August fighting starts in Shanghai and end of month it falls to Japan
- Nanking falls and leader of nationalists Chiang Kai-shek leaves Tang Sheng-chich in charge of defense in November
- govt officials moved west and by DEC 90,000 troops moved to Nanking for defense
— 15 hours, 40 min ago
- August fighting starts in Shanghai and end of month it falls to Japan
- Nanking falls and leader of nationalists Chiang Kai-shek leaves Tang Sheng-chich in charge of defense in November
- govt officials moved west and by DEC 90,000 troops moved to Nanking for defense
Wilbur
is on page 60 of 290
- Nanking was located in a bend on the Yangtze River making it easy for the Japanese to flank and trap it from the south
- Late November the Japanese moved in 3 diff groups to surround the city
- General Matsui was in charge but he fell ill with TB and Prince Asaka assumed command
- Matsui had given orders to take the city civilly
-However Asaka (or his staff officer) gave the command to kill all. This is not clear
— Feb 04, 2026 08:43AM
- Late November the Japanese moved in 3 diff groups to surround the city
- General Matsui was in charge but he fell ill with TB and Prince Asaka assumed command
- Matsui had given orders to take the city civilly
-However Asaka (or his staff officer) gave the command to kill all. This is not clear
-1876 Japan invaded Korea and demands them to trade. Causing tension with China. within a decade this caused a war with China in 1894 and Japan dominated and captured multiple cities and ports. But was later forced to surrender the property by the west.
- 1905 the fought Russia and won and in WWI they benefited greatly by selling steel, iron, and textiles to the world and made them wealthy. However they suffered greatly in the 1920’s when demand went down 1923 kanto earthquake and 1929 US market crash.
- expansion of Japan by the people was a popular sentiment. They were running out of land and made arguments for expansion and China was close and ripe.
- 1928 Japan govt engineered killing of Manchuria ruler. 1931 they blew up Japanese owned tracks in Manchuria and killed Chinese guards and gave them excuse to seize Manchuria.
- 1932 mob attacked 5 Japanese priests and killed one. Japan retaliated by bombing Shanghai and in 1933 the left the League of Nations.
- kids grew up in a military like upbringing in schools that stressed obedience.
-1937 (summer) in Tientsin Japanese were conducting night training and were fired upon and a Japanese soldier didn’t show up for morning roll call. Troops marched to Wanping and demanded entrance but were refused by the Chinese. Therefore the Japanese shelled the fort causing a full scale war.
- November 1937 Shanghai finally fell. Took them a lot longer to conquer than they imagined and wondered why their military dominance failed against the Chinese didn’t make it easier to beat them. This left the soldiers a feeling of resentment when they marched toward Nanking