Key Dates in the War of Resistance Against Japan, in Chronological Order
I. The Period of Local Resistance (September 18, 1931–July 7, 1937)
- September 18, 1931: The Mukden Incident broke out, beginning local resistance. The three northeastern provinces gradually fell under Japanese occupation.
- January 28, 1932: The January 28 Incident. Japanese forces attacked Shanghai, and the 19th Route Army fought back.
- December 9, 1935: The December 9th Movement broke out, and the national movement to resist Japan and save the country swept across China.
- December 12, 1936: The Xi'an Incident took place. After it was resolved peacefully, the united front against Japanese aggression began to take shape.
II. The Period of Total Resistance (July 7, 1937–August 15, 1945)
(I) The Strategic Defensive (July 7, 1937–October 1938)
- July 7, 1937: The Marco Polo Bridge Incident, also known as the July 7 Incident, marked the official outbreak of the full-scale war.
- August–November 1937: The Battle of Shanghai shattered Japan’s delusion of conquering China in “three months.”
- September 1937: The victory at Pingxingguan was the Eighth Route Army’s first major victory in the full-scale war.
- December 13, 1937: The Nanjing Massacre began, as Japanese forces committed crimes against humanity.
- March–April 1938: The Battle of Taierzhuang brought the largest victory on the main front.
- June–October 1938: The Battle of Wuhan. Afterward, the war entered a period of strategic stalemate...
