Daniel Orr's Blog, page 121

September 27, 1940 – World War II: Germany, Italy, and Japan sign the Tripartite Pact

On September 27, 1940, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed the Tripartite Pact, a mutual assistance treaty where the signatories pledged to come to the aid “if one of the Contracting Powers is attacked by a Power at present not involved in the European War or in the Japanese-Chinese conflict.” At this time, Europe was already embroiled in World War II while in Asia, the Second-Japanese War was being fought. The Pact was directed at the United States, which was then the only neutral major power, to deter its being involved in the conflicts on the Allied side. The Pact also acknowledged the pre-eminence of Germany and Italy in Europe, and Japan in “Greater East Asia”. It was to be effective for ten years, with a provision for its renewal.

The Tripartite Pact was later joined by other countries: Hungary on November 20, 1940, Romania on November 23, 1940, Slovakia on November 24, 1940, Bulgaria on March 1, 1941, and Yugoslavia on March 25, 1941. The Axis invaded and then partitioned Yugoslavia; subsequently, the newly formed Independent State of Croatia joined the Pact on June 15, 1941.

The Soviet Union also entered into negotiations with Germany to join the Tripartite Pact, even offering the latter substantial economic concessions. However, Hitler was determined that the Soviet
Union would not be allowed to join, as preparations were already underway for Operation Barbarossa.

In June 1941, after the start of the German-led invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany asked Finland, which had also participated in the attack, to join the Tripartite Pact. However, the Finnish government rebuffed the offer, as its military objectives differed from the Germans. Finland also wanted to maintain diplomatic relations with the United States and the Western Allies.

Japan attacked Thailand on December 8, 1941
as a means to gain passage to invasion British Malaya and Burma. After a ceasefire was signed, Japan invited Thailand to join the Tripartite Pact, but the latter only agreed on military cooperation with the Japanese.

(Taken from Italy before World War II – Wars of the 20th Century- World War II in Europe)

In World War I, Italy had joined the Allies under a secret agreement (the 1915 Treaty of London) in that it would be rewarded with the coastal regions of Austria-Hungary after victory was achieved.  But after the war, in the peace treaties with Austria-Hungary and Germany, the victorious Allies reneged on this treaty, and Italy was awarded much less territory than promised. Indignation swept across Italy, and the feeling of the so-called “mutilated victory” relating to Italy’s heavy losses in the war (1.2 million casualties and steep financial cost) led to the rise in popularity of ultra-nationalist, right-wing, and irredentist ideas.  Italian anger over the war paved the way for the coming to power of the Fascist Party, whose leader Benito Mussolini became Prime Minister in October 1922.  The Fascist government implemented major infrastructure and social programs that made Mussolini extremely popular.  In a few years, Mussolini ruled with near absolute powers in a virtual dictatorship, with the legislature abolished, political dissent suppressed, and his party the sole legal political party.  Mussolini also made gains in foreign affairs: in the Treaty of Lausanne (July 1923) that ended World War II between the Allies and Ottoman Empire, Italy gained Libya and the Dodecanese Islands.  In August 1923, Italian forces occupied Greece’s Corfu Island, but later withdrew after League of Nations mediation and the Greek government’s promise to pay reparations.

In the late 1920s onward, Mussolini advocated grandiose expansionism to establish a modern-day Italian Empire, which would include plans to annex Balkan territories that had formed part of the ancient Roman Empire, gaining a sphere of influence in parts of Central and Eastern Europe, achieving mastery over the Mediterranean Sea, and gaining control of North Africa and the Middle East which would include territories stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Indian Ocean in the east.

With the Nazis coming to power in Germany
in 1933, Hitler and Mussolini, with similar political ideologies, initially did not get along well, and in July 1934, they came into conflict over Austria.  There, Austrian Nazis attempted a coup d’état, assassinating Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss and demanding unification with Germany.  Mussolini, who saw Austria as falling inside his sphere of influence, sent troops, tanks, and planes to the Austrian-Italian border, poised to enter Austria if Germany
invaded.  Hitler, at this time still unprepared for war, backed down from his plan to annex Austria.  Then in April 1935, Italy banded together with Britain and France to form the Stresa Front (signed in Stresa, Italy), aimed as a united stand against Germany’s violations of the Versailles and Locarno treaties; one month earlier (March 1935), Hitler had announced his plan to build an air force, raise German infantry strength to 550,000 troops, and introduce military conscription, all violations of the Versailles treaty.

However, the Stresa Front quickly ended in fiasco, as the three parties were far apart in their plans to deal with Hitler.  Mussolini pressed for aggressive action; the British, swayed by anti-war public sentiments at home, preferred to negotiate
with Hitler; and France, fearful of a resurgent Germany, simply wanted an alliance with the others. 
Then in June 1935, just two months after the Stresa Front was formed, Britain and Germany signed a naval treaty (the Anglo-German Naval Agreement),
which allowed Germany to build a navy 35% (by tonnage) the size of the British navy.  Italy (as well as France) was outraged, as Britain was openly allowing Hitler to ignore the Versailles provision that restricted German naval size.  Mussolini, whose quest for colonial expansion was only restrained by the
reactions from both the British and French, saw the naval agreement as British betrayal to the Stresa Front.  To Mussolini, it was a green light for him to launch his long desired conquest of Ethiopia 
(then also known as Abyssinia).  In October 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia, overrunning the country by May 1936 and incorporating it into newly formed Italian East Africa.  In November 1935, the League of Nations, acting on a motion by Britain that was reluctantly supported by France, imposed economic sanctions on Italy, which angered Mussolini, worsening Italy’s relations with its Stresa Front
partners, especially Britain.  At the same time, since Hitler gave his support to Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, Mussolini was drawn to the side of Germany.  In December 1937, Mussolini ended Italy’s membership in the League of Nations, citing the sanctions, despite the League’s already lifting the sanctions in July 1936.

In January 1936, Mussolini informed the German government that he would not oppose Germany
extending its sphere of influence in Austria (Germany annexed Austria in March 1938).  And in February 1936, Mussolini assured Hitler that Italy would not invoke the Versailles and Locarno treaties if Germany
remilitarized the Rhineland.  In March 1936, Hitler did just that, eliciting no hostile response from Britain
or France.  Then in the Spanish Civil War, which started in July 1936, Italy and Germany provided weapons and troops to the right-wing Nationalist forces that rebelled against the Soviet Union-backed leftist Republican government.  In April 1939, the Nationalists emerged victorious, and their leader General Francisco Franco formed a fascist
dictatorship in Spain.

In October 1936, Italy and Germany signed a
political agreement, and Mussolini announced that “all other European countries would from then on rotate on the Rome-Berlin Axis”, with the term “Axis” later denoting this alliance, which included Japan as well as other minor powers.  In May 1939, German-Italian relations solidified into a formal military alliance, the “Pact of Steel”.  In November 1937, Italy
joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, which Germany
and Japan signed one year earlier (November 1936), ostensibly only directed against the Communist
International (Comintern), but really targeting communist ideology and by extension, the Soviet Union.  In September 1940, the Axis Powers were
formed, with Germany, Italy, and Japan signing the Tripartite Pact.

In April 1939, Italy invaded Albania (separate
article), gaining full control within a few days, and the country was joined politically with Italy as a separate kingdom in personal union with the Italian crown.  Six months later (September 1939), World War II broke out in Europe, which took Italy completely by surprise.

Despite its status as a major military power, Italy
was unprepared for war.  It had a predominantly agricultural economy, and industrial production for
war-convertible commodities amounted to just 15% that of Britain and France.  As well, Italian capacity for war-important items such as coal, crude oil, iron ore, and steel lagged far behind those of other western powers.  In military capability, Italian tanks, artillery, and aircraft were inferior and mostly obsolete, although the Italian Navy was large, ably powerful, and possessed several modern battleships.  Cognizant of Italian military deficiencies, Mussolini placed great efforts to build up armed strength, and by 1939, some 40% of the national budget was allocated to
national defense.  Even so, Italian military planners had projected that full re-armament and building up of their forces would be completed only in 1943; thus, the unexpected start of World War II in September 1939 came as a shock to Mussolini and the Italian High Command.

September 26, 1950 – Korean War: UN forces recapture Seoul

United Nations (UN) forces at Inchon soon recaptured Kimpo airfield.  There, U.S. planes began to conduct air strikes on North Korean positions in and around Seoul.  UN ground forces then launched a three-pronged attack on the capital.  They met heavy North Korean resistance at the perimeter but soon captured the heights overlooking the city.  On September 25, 1950, UN forces entered Seoul, and soon declared the city liberated.  Even then, house-to-house fighting continued until September 27, when the city was brought under full UN control.    On September 29, 1950, UN forces formally turned over the capital to President Syngman Rhee, who reestablished his government there.  And by the end of September 1950, with remnants of the decimated North Korean Army retreating in disarray across the 38th parallel, South Korean and UN units gained control of all pre-war South Korean territory.

Some key areas during the Korean War

On October 1, 1950, the South Korean Army crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea along the eastern and central regions; UN forces, however, waited for orders.  Four days earlier, on September 27, 1950, President Truman sent a top-secret directive to General MacArthur advising him that UN forces could cross the 38th parallel only if the Soviet Union or China had not sent or did not intend to send forces to North Korea.

Earlier, the Chinese government had stated that UN forces crossing the 38th parallel would place China’s national security at risk, and thus it would be forced to intervene in the war.  Chairman Mao Zedong also stated that if U.S. forces invaded North
Korea, China must be ready for war with the United
States.

At this stage of the Cold War, the United States believed that its biggest threat came from the Soviet Union, and that the Korean War may very well be a Soviet plot to spark an armed conflict between the United States and China.  This would force the U.S. military to divert troops and resources to Asia, and leave Western Europe open to a Soviet invasion.  But after much deliberation, the Truman administration concluded that China was “bluffing” and would not really intervene in Korea, and that its threats merely were intended to undermine the UN.  Furthermore, General MacArthur also later (after UN forces had crossed the 38th parallel) expressed full confidence in
the UN (i.e. U.S.) forces’ military superiority – that Chinese forces would face the “greatest slaughter” if they entered the war.

On October 7, 1950, the UNGA adopted Resolution 376 (V) which declared support for the restoration of stability in the Korean Peninsula, a tacit approval for the UN forces to take action in North Korea.  Two days later, October 9, UN forces, led by
the Eighth U.S. Army, crossed the 38th parallel in the west, with General MacArthur some days earlier demanding the unconditional surrender of the North
Korean Army.  UN forces met only light resistance during their advance north.  On October 15, 1950, Namchonjam fell, followed two days later by Hwangju.

In North Korea’s eastern coast, the U.S. X Corps made unopposed amphibious landings at Wonsan on October 25, 1950 (with South Korean forces having taken this port town days earlier) and at Iwon, further north, on October 29.  On October 24, 1950, under the “Thanksgiving Offensive” issued by General MacArthur who wanted the war ended before the start of winter, UN forces made a rapid advance to the Yalu River, which serves as the China-North Korea border.

In late October 1950, UN forces clashed with the Chinese Army, and a new phase of the war began. 
Earlier, in June 1950 in Beijing, Chairman Mao had declared his intention to intervene in the Korean conflict, which received strong reluctance from Chinese military leaders.  But with the support of Premier Zhou Enlai, and General Peng Dehuai, (military commander of China’s northwest region, who would be appointed to lead the Chinese forces in the Korean War), the plan for the Chinese Army (officially called the People’s Liberation Army, or PLA) to become involved in Korea was approved.

On October 8, 1950, the day that UN forces crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea,
Chinese forces in Manchuria (the North East Frontier Force, or NEFF) were ordered to deploy at the Yalu River in preparation to enter North Korea from the north.  On October 19, 1950, the day Pyongyang fell, on Chairman Mao’s order, the NEFF crossed into North Korea.  Chinese authorities called this force the “People’s Volunteer Army”, the “volunteer” designation conferring on it a non-official status in order that China would not be directly involved in a war with the US/UN.

The Chinese deployment from Manchuria to Korea was carried out under strict secrecy, and Chinese troops travelled only at night and remained camouflaged during the day.  So successful were the Chinese in using secrecy and concealment that U.S. surveillance planes, even with their full control of the skies, were unable to detect the massive Chinese buildup at the Yalu River.  Chinese forces soon entered North Korea.

On October 25, 1950, using surprise and overwhelming numerical force, the Chinese struck at the UN forces (led by the Eighth U.S. Army), which was moving up the western region toward the Yalu River.  The Chinese particularly targeted the UN
right flank along the Taebaek Mountains, which
consisted of South Korean forces.  In the ensuing four-day encounter at Onjong (Battle of Onjong), the Chinese severely crippled the South Korean forces and punched a hole in the UN lines.  Thousands of Chinese soldiers then poured through the gap and advanced behind UN lines.  On November 1, 1950 at Unsan, the Chinese attacked along three points at the UN line at its center, inflicting heavy casualties on the American and South Korean forces.  At this point, the U.S. high command ordered the Eighth U.S. Army
to retreat south of the Chongchon River.

On November 6, 1950, the Chinese forces also broke contact and withdrew north to the mountains. 
Unknown to UN forces, the Chinese had over-extended their supply lines, which would be a problem that Chinese forces would face constantly during the war.  Furthermore, in this early stage of
their involvement in the war, the Chinese relied on weapons supplied by the Soviet Union.  Later on, the Chinese would also manufacture their own armaments, and reduce their reliance on foreign imports.

The fighting in the north also saw the first air battles between American and Soviet jet planes, leading to many intense dogfights during the war.  Early on, the newly released, powerful Soviet MiG-15 easily outclassed the U.S. first-generation jet planes, the P-80 Shooting Star and the F9F Panther, and
posed a serious threat to the U.S. B-29 bombers.  But with the arrival of the U.S. F-86 Sabre, parity was achieved in the sky in terms of jet fighter aircraft capability on both sides.  Ultimately, U.S. planes
would continue to hold nearly full control of the sky for the duration of the war.

The sudden Chinese withdrawal during the Battle of Onjong perplexed the U.S. military high command.  Weeks earlier, General MacArthur stated his belief that China had some 100,000-125,000 troops north of the Yalu River, and that if half of this number
was sent to Korea, his forces easily could meet this threat.  In the ensuing lull (November 6–24, 1950), U.S. surveillance planes detected no significant Chinese military buildup, and sightings of enemy troop strength on the ground seemed to confirm General MacArthur’s estimates.  Convinced that China was not intending to fully intervene in Korea, General Macarthur launched the “Home-by Christmas” Offensive, a cautious two-sector advance toward the Yalu River: UN forces in the western sector led by the Eighth U.S. Army as the main attacking force, and in the eastern sector led by the U.S. X Corps to support the attack and also cut off enemy supply and communication lines.

September 25, 1964 – The start of Mozambique’s War of Independence against Portugal

In September 1964, the nationalist organization FRELIMO launched small guerilla attacks from bases in Tanzania into Cabo Delgado Province, located in northern Mozambique.  FRELIMO, or the Mozambique Liberation Front (Portuguese:
Frente de Libertação de Moçambique)
was formed in June 1962 from the merger of three ethnic-based independence movements.

Initially, because of limited combat strength, FRELIMO planned to undertake a prolonged guerilla war instead of launching one powerful attack on Lourenço Marques, Mozambique’s capital, in the hope of quickly ousting the colonial government, as proposed by other rebel leaders.  Initially, FRELIMO
was handicapped by a shortage of recruits, weapons, and combat capability, and as a result, rebel operations did not seriously disrupt the government’s capacity to operate normally.

(Taken from Mozambican War of Independence – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 2)

Background During the 17th and 18th centuries, Mozambique, then known officially as the State of East Africa, served little more than as a transit stop for Portuguese and other European ships bound for Asia, as Portugal was focused on supporting its lucrative trade with India and China, and more important, developing Brazil, its prized possession in the New World.

In 1822, however, Brazil gained its independence, and with other European powers actively seeking their share of Africa during the last quarter of the 1800s, Portugal now looked to hold onto and protect its African colonies.  Through an Anglo-Portuguese treaty signed in 1891, Mozambique’s borders were delineated, and by the early twentieth century, Portugal had established full administrative control over its East African colony.

Some thirty years earlier, in 1878, in order to develop Mozambique’s largely untapped northern frontier region, the Portuguese government leased out large tracts of territories to chartered corporations (mostly British), which greatly expanded the colony’s mining and agricultural industries, as well as build these industries’ associated infrastructures, such as roads, bridges, railways, and communication lines.  Black Africans were used as manpower, and
utilized under a repressive forced labor system – slavery had officially been outlawed in 1842, although clandestine slave trading continued until the early twentieth century.  When the chartered
corporations’ leases expired in 1932, the Portuguese government did not renew the contracts, and thenceforth began direct rule of Mozambique from Lisbon, Portugal’s national capital.

After World War II ended in 1945, nationalist aspirations sprung up and spread rapidly across Africa.  By the 1960s, most of the continent’s
colonies had become independent countries. 
Portugal, however, was determined to maintain its empire.  In 1951, Portugal ceased to regard its African (and Asian) possessions as “colonies”, but integrated them into the motherland as “overseas provinces”.  Tens of thousands of Portuguese citizens migrated to Mozambique, as well as to Angola and Portuguese Guinea under the prodding of the national government to lead the development of the new “provinces”.

Because of the immigration, racial tensions, which already were prevalent, escalated in Portugal’s
African territories.  Portugal took great pride in its official policy of racial inclusiveness, and upheld in its
constitution the “democratic, social, and multi-racial” features of Portuguese society.  However, the Portuguese Overseas Charter also recognized distinct socio-ethnic classes: citizens – European Portuguese who had full political rights; “assimilados” – black
Africans who had assimilated the Portuguese way of life, could read and write, and were eligible to run for local and provincial elected office; and natives –
the great majority of black Africans who retained their traditional ways of life. 

The Portuguese monopolized the political and economic systems of the colony, while the general population had limited access to education and upward social and economic mobility.  By the early 1960s, less than 1% of black Africans had attained “assimilado” status.  The colonial government repressed political dissent, forcing many Mozambican nationalists into exile abroad, and used PIDE (Policia Internacionale de Defesa do Estado), Portugal’s
security service, to turn Mozambique
into a police state.

In June 1962, exiled Mozambican nationalists met in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika, and merged three ethnic-based independence movements into one nationalist organization, FRELIMO or Mozambique Liberation Front (Portuguese: Frente de Libertação de Moçambique).  Led by Eduardo Mondlane, FRELIMO initially sought to gain Mozambique’s independence by negotiating with the Portuguese government.  FRELIMO regarded the Portuguese as foreigners
who were exploiting Mozambique’s human and natural resources, and were unconcerned with the development and well-being of the indigenous black population.

By 1964, Portugal’s intransigence and the Mozambican colonial government’s repressive acts,
including the so-called Mueda Massacre, where security forces opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators, had radicalized FRELIMO into believing that Mozambique’s independence could only be gained through armed struggle.  Further motivating FRELIMO into starting a revolution was that Mozambique’s neighbors recently had achieved their independences, i.e. Tanzania in 1961, and Malawi and Zambia in 1964, and these countries’ black-ruled governments would be expected to support Mozambique’s struggle for independence as well.

September 24, 1973 – Guinea-Bissau declares independence from Portugal

On September 24, 1973, Guinea-Bissau declared its independence in the town of Madina do Boe during its ongoing revolution against Portugal (Guinea-Bissau War of Independence) that had begun in January 1963. The infant state was immediately recognized by many African and communist countries.

Guinea’s independence struggle was led by the African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde or PAIGC (Portuguese: Partido Africano da Independência da Guiné e Cabo Verde), established in 1956 with the aim of ending Portuguese colonial rule and gaining independence for Guinea and Cape Verde.  Initially, the PAIGC wanted to achieve its aims through dialogue and a negotiated settlement.  By the late 1950s, however, the Guinean nationalists had become more militant.

The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence forms part of the Portuguese Colonial War.

(Taken from Portuguese Colonial Wars – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)

Portugal’s African colonial possessions consisted of Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese-Guinea, Cape Verde, and Sao Tome & Principe.

During the colonial era, Portugal’s territorial possessions in Africa consisted of Angola, Mozambique, Portuguese Guinea, Cape Verde, and São Tomé and Príncipe (Map 24).  When World War II ended in 1945, a surge of nationalism swept across the various African colonies as independence groups emerged and demanded the end of European colonial rule.  As these demands soon intensified into greater agitation and violence, most of the European colonizers relented, and by the 1960s, most of the African colonies had become independent countries.

Bucking the trend, Portugal was determined to hold onto its colonial possessions and went so far as to declare them “overseas provinces”, thereby formally incorporating them into the national territories of the motherland.  Nearly all the black
African liberation movements in these Portuguese “provinces” turned their attention from trying to gain independence through negotiated settlement to
launching insurgencies, thereby starting revolutionary wars.  These wars took place through the early 1960s
to the first half of the 1970s, and were known collectively as the Portuguese Colonial War, and pitted the Portuguese Armed Forces against the African guerilla militias in Angola, Mozambique,
and Portuguese Guinea.  At the war’s peak, some 150,000 Portuguese soldiers were deployed in Africa.

By the 1970s, these colonial wars had become extremely unpopular in Portugal, because of the mounting deaths in Portuguese soldiers, the irresolvable nature of the wars through military force, and the fact that the Portuguese government
was using up to 40% of the national budget to the wars and thus impinging on the social and economic development of Portuguese society.  Furthermore, the wars had isolated Portugal diplomatically, with the United Nations constantly putting pressure on the Portuguese government to decolonize, and
most of the international community imposing a weapons embargo and other restrictions on Portugal.  In April 1974, dissatisfied officers of the military carried out a coup that deposed the authoritarian regime of Prime Minister Marcelo Caetano.  The coup, known as the Carnation Revolution, produced a sudden and dramatic shift in the course of the colonial wars.

September 23, 1943 – World War II: Mussolini establishes the Italian Social Republic

On September 23, 1943, Benito Mussolini founded the Italian Social Republic (Italian: Repubblica Sociale Italiana, RSI), a fascist state centered on the small town of Salo in northern Italy (hence its more commonly known name, “Republic of Salo”). RSI claimed sovereignty over most Italy, but de facto exercised authority only in the northern region, since by this time, the Allies had captured territory in southern Italy and were fighting their way north, and the defending German forces controlled the non-liberated regions. RSI had an armed force of about 150,000 troops but was totally dependent on Germany. It had been set up just after Mussolini was freed by German commandos on September 12, 1943. Mussolini had been sacked as Prime Minister and imprisoned in July 1943 after the Allies captured Sicily. The new Italian government opened secret peace talks with the Allies, leading to the Armistice of Cassibile, where Italy surrendered to the Allies. Fearing German reprisal, King Victor Emmanuel II and the new government fled to Allied-controlled southern Italy, where they set up their headquarters. In October 13, 1943, Italy declared war on Germany. But as a consequence of the armistice, German forces took over power in Italy.

The RSI existed until May 1, 1945 when German forces in Italy surrendered. Mussolini and other RSI leaders were captured by Italian partisans four days earlier, on April 27, and executed the following day.

(Taken from Mussolini and his Quest for an Italian Empire – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

In the midst of political and social unrest in October 1922, Benito Mussolini and his National Fascist Party came to power in Italy, with Mussolini being appointed as Prime Minister by Italy’s King Victor Emmanuel III.  Mussolini, who was popularly called “Il Duce” (“The Leader”), launched major infrastructure and social programs that made him extremely popular among his people.  By 1925-1927, the Fascist Party was the only legal political party, the Italian legislature had been abolished, and Mussolini wielded nearly absolute power, with his government a virtual dictatorship.

By the late 1920s through the 1930s, Mussolini pursued an overtly expansionist foreign policy.  He
stressed the need for Italian domination of the Mediterranean region and territorial acquisitions, including direct control of the Balkan states of Yugoslavia, Greece, Albania, Bulgaria, and Romania,
and a sphere of influence in Austria and Hungary, and colonies in North Africa. Mussolini envisioned a modern Italian Empire in the likeness of the
ancient Roman Empire.  He explained that his empire would stretch from the “Strait of Gibraltar [western tip of the Mediterranean Sea] to the Strait of Hormuz [in modern-day Iran and the Arabian Peninsula]”.  Although not openly stated, to achieve this goal, Italy would need to overcome British and French naval domination of the Mediterranean Sea.

Furthermore, in the aftermath of World War I, a strong sentiment regarding the so-called “mutilated victory” pervaded among many Italians about what they believed was their country’s unacceptably small
territorial gains in the war, a sentiment that was exploited by the Fascist government.  Mussolini saw his empire as fulfilling the Italian aspiration for “spazio vitale” (“vital space”), where the acquired territories would be settled by Italian colonists to ease the
overpopulation in the homeland.  Mussolini’s government actively promoted programs that encouraged large family sizes and higher birth rates.

Mussolini also spoke disparagingly about Italy’s
geographical location in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, about how it was “imprisoned” by islands and territories controlled by other foreign powers (i.e. France and Britain), and that his new empire would include territories that would allow Italy direct access to the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the Indian Ocean in the east.

In October 1935, the Italian Army invaded independent Ethiopia, conquering the African nation by May 1936 in a brutal campaign that included
the Italians using poison gas on civilians and soldiers alike.  Italy then annexed Ethiopia into the newly formed Italian East Africa, which included Eritrea
and Italian Somaliland.  Italy also controlled Libya in North Africa as a colony.

The aftermath of Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia saw a rapprochement in Italian-Nazi German relations arising from Hitler’s support of Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia.  In turn, Mussolini dropped his opposition to Germany’s annexation of Austria.  Throughout the 1920s-1930s, the major European powers Britain, France, Italy, the Soviet Union and Germany, engaged
in a power struggle and formed various alliances and counter-alliances among themselves, with each power hoping to gain some advantage in what was seen as an inevitable war.  In this power struggle, Italy
straddled the middle and believed that in a future conflict, its weight would tip the scales for victory in its chosen side.

In the end, it was Italy’s ties with Germany that prospered; both countries also shared a common political ideology.  In the Spanish Civil War (July 1936-April 1939), Italy and Germany supported the rebel Nationalist forces of General Francisco Franco, who emerged victorious and took over power in Spain.  In October 1936, Italy and Germany formed an alliance called the Rome-Berlin Axis.  Then in 1937, Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact, which had been signed by Germany and Japan in November 1936.  In April 1939, Italy moved one step closer to forming an empire by invading Albania, seizing control of the Balkan nation within a few days.  In May 1939, Mussolini and Hitler formed a military alliance, the Pact of Steel.  Two months earlier (March 1939), Germany completed the dissolution and partial annexation of Czechoslovakia.  The alliance between Germany and Italy, together with Japan, reached its height in September 1940, with the signing of the Tripartite Pact, and these countries came to be known as the Axis Powers.

On September 1, 1939 World War II broke out when Germany attacked Poland, which immediately embroiled the major Western powers, France and Britain, and by September 16 the Soviet Union as well (as a result of a non-aggression pact with Germany, but not as an enemy of France and Britain).  Italy did not enter the war as yet, since despite Mussolini’s frequent blustering of having military strength capable of taking on the other great powers, Italy
in fact was unprepared for a major European war.

Italy was still mainly an agricultural society, and industrial production for war-convertible commodities amounted to just 15% that of Britain and France.  As well, Italian capacity for vital items
such as coal, crude oil, iron ore, and steel lagged far behind the other western powers.  In military capability, Italian tanks, artillery, and aircraft were inferior and mostly obsolete by the start of World War II, although the large Italian Navy was ably powerful and possessed several modern battleships. 
Cognizant of these deficiencies, Mussolini placed great efforts to building up Italian military strength, and by 1939, some 40% of the national budget was allocated to the armed forces.  Even so, Italian military planners had projected that its forces would
not be fully prepared for war until 1943, and therefore the sudden start of World War II came as a shock to Mussolini and the Italian High Command.

In April-June 1940, Germany achieved a succession of overwhelming conquests of Denmark,
Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.  As France verged on defeat and with Britain
isolated and facing possible invasion, Mussolini decided that the war was over.  In an unabashed display of opportunism, on June 10, 1940, he declared war on France and Britain, bringing Italy into World War II on the side of Germany, and stating, “I only need a few thousand dead so that I can sit at the peace conference as a man who has fought”.

September 22, 1980 – Iraq invades Iran

An escalation of hostilities, including artillery exchanges and air attacks, took place in the period preceding the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War.  On September 22, 1980, Iraq opened a full-scale offensive into Iran with its air force launching strikes on ten key Iranian airbases, a move aimed at duplicating Israel’s devastating and decisive air attacks at the start of the Six-Day War in 1967.  However, the Iraqi air attacks failed to destroy the Iranian air force on the ground as intended, as Iranian planes were protected by reinforced hangars.  In response, Iranian planes took to the air and carried out retaliatory attacks on Iraq’s vital military and public infrastructures.

Iran, Iraq, and adjacent countries.

Throughout the war, the two sides launched many air attacks on the other’s economic infrastructures, in particular oil refineries and
depots, as well as oil transport facilities and systems, in an attempt to destroy the other side’s economic capacity.  Both Iran and Iraq were totally dependent on their oil industries, which constituted their main source of revenues.  The oil infrastructures were nearly totally destroyed by the end of the war, leading to the near collapse of both countries’ economies.  Iraq was much more vulnerable, because of its
limited outlet to the sea via the Persian Gulf, which served as its only maritime oil export route.

(Taken from Iran-Iraq War – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 4)

Background

In January 1979, anti-royalist elements (Islamists, nationalists, liberals, communists, etc.) in Iran forced the reigning Shah (king) Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to leave for exile abroad, and this event, known as the Iranian Revolution, effectively ended Iran’s monarchy.  The following month, February 1979, Ayatollah (Shiite Muslim religious leader) Ruhollah Khomeini, the inspirational and spiritual leader of the revolution, returned from exile in France and set up a provisional government led by Prime Minister Mehdi Bazargan.  After a brief period of armed resistance put up by royalist supporters, the revolution prevailed and Ayatollah Khomeini consolidated political power.

Then in a national referendum held in March 1979, Iranians overwhelmingly voted to abolish the monarchy (ending 2,500 years of monarchical rule) and allow the formation of an Islamic government.  Then in November 1979, the Iranian people, in
another referendum, adopted a new constitution that turned the country into an Islamic republic and raised Ayatollah Khomeini to the position of Iran’s Supreme
Leader, i.e. head of state and the government’s highest ranking political, military, and religious authority.  Prime Minister Bazargan, whose liberal democratic and moderate government had held
only little power, resigned in November 1979.  By February 1980, Iran had fully transitioned to a theocracy under Ayatollah Khomeini, with executive
functions run by a subordinate civilian government led by President Abolhassan Banisadr.

The political unrest in Iran had been watched closely by Iraq, Iran’s neighbor to the west, and particularly by Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi dictator.  In the period following the Iranian Revolution, relations between the two countries appeared normal, with Iraq even offering an invitation to new Iranian Prime Minister Bazargan to visit Iraq.  But with Iran’s transition to a hard-line theocratic regime, relations between the two countries deteriorated, as Iran’s
Islamist fundamentalism contrasted sharply with Iraq’s secular, socialist, Arab nationalist agenda.

This breakdown in relations was only the latest in a long history of Arab-Persian hostility that resulted from a complex combination of ethnic, sectarian, political, and territorial factors.  During the period when the Ottoman Empire ruled over the Middle East
(16th – 19th centuries, to early 20th century), the Ottoman Empire and Persian Empire fought for possession of sections of Mesopotamia, (present-day Iraq), including the Shatt el-Arab, the 200-kilometer long river that separates present-day southern Iraq and western Iran.  In 1847, the Ottomans and Persians agreed to make the Shatt al-Arab their common border; the Persian Empire also was given control of Khoramshahr and Abadan, areas on its western shore of the river that had large Arab populations.

Then in 1937, the now independent monarchies of Iraq and Iran signed an agreement that stipulated that their common border on the Shatt al-Arab was located at the low water mark on the eastern (i.e. Iranian) side all across the river’s length, except in the cities of Khoramshahr and Abadan, where the border was located at the river’s mid-point.  In 1958, the Iraqi monarchy was overthrown in a military coup.  Iraq then formed a republic and the new government made territorial claims to the western section of the Iranian border province of Khuzestan, which had a large population of ethnic Arabs.

In Iraq, Arabs comprise some 70% of the population, while in Iran, Persians make up perhaps 65% of the population (an estimate since Iran’s population censuses do not indicate ethnicity).  Iran’s demographics also include many non-Persian ethnicities: Azeris, Kurds, Arabs, Baluchs, and
others, while Iraq’s significant minority group comprises the Kurds, who make up 20% of the population.  In both countries, ethnic minorities have pushed for greater political autonomy, generating unrest and a potential weakness in each government of one country that has been exploited by the other country.

The source of sectarian tension in Iran-Iraq relations stemmed from the Sunni-Shiite dichotomy. 
Both countries had Islam as their primary religion, with Muslims constituting upwards of 95% of their total populations.  In Iran, Shiites made up 90% of all Muslims (Sunnis at 9%) and held political power, while in Iraq, Shiites also held a majority (66% of all Muslims), but the minority Sunnis (33%) led by Saddam and his Baath Party held absolute power.

In the 1960s, Iran, which was still ruled by a
monarchy, embarked on a large military buildup, expanding the size and strength of its armed forces.  Then in 1969, Iran ended its recognition of the 1937 border agreement with Iraq, declaring that the two countries’ border at the Shatt al-Arab was at the
river’s mid-point.  The presence of the now powerful Iranian Navy on the Shatt al-Arab deterred Iraq from
taking action, and tensions rose.

Also by the early 1970s, the autonomy-seeking Iraqi Kurds were holding talks with the Iraqi government after a decade-long war (the First
Iraqi-Kurdish War, separate article); negotiations collapsed and fighting broke out in April 1974, with the Iraqi Kurds being supported militarily by Iran.  In turn, Iraq incited Iran’s ethnic minorities to revolt,
particularly the Arabs in Khuzestan, Iranian Kurds, and Baluchs.  Direct fighting between Iranian and Iraqi forces also broke out in 1974-1975, with the Iranians prevailing.  Hostilities ended when the two countries signed the Algiers Accord in March 1975, where Iraq yielded to Iran’s demand that the midpoint of the Shatt al-Arab was the common border; in exchange, Iran ended its support to the Iraqi Kurds.

Iraq was displeased with the Shatt concessions and to combat Iran’s growing regional military power, embarked on its own large-scale weapons buildup (using its oil revenues) during the second half of the 1970s.  Relations between the two countries remained stable, however, and even enjoyed a period of rapprochement.  As a result of Iran’s assistance
in helping to foil a plot to overthrow the Iraqi government, Saddam expelled Ayatollah Khomeini, who was living as an exile in Iraq and from where the Iranian cleric was inciting Iranians to overthrow the Iranian government.

September 21, 1953 – Korean War: A North Korean pilot defects to South Korea in his MiG jet fighter

On September 21, 1953, Senior Lieutenant No Kum-sok of the North Korean Air Force defected in his MiG-15 jet fighter into South Korea. No’s defection came about two months after the end of hostilities in the Korean War.

His flight of 17 minutes was not detected by the Korean Air Force nor was it spotted by U.S. air defenses, as the nearest American radar had been temporarily shut down for routine maintenance. Upon his arrival, he surrendered to U.S. authorities. He was later granted asylum in the United States and received a reward of U.S. $ 100,000 ($ 940,000 in 2018) for being the first pilot to defect with an operational aircraft.

His defection brought about reprisals in North Korea, where authorities there demoted the North Korean Air Force’s top commander and executed five of No’s comrades. His father had already passed away while his mother had earlier defected to South Korea. The fate of his other relatives in North Korea is not known.

(Excerpts taken from Korean War – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)

Meanwhile, armistice talks resumed, which culminated in an agreement on July 19, 1953.  Eight days later, July 27, 1953, representatives of the UN Command, North Korean Army, and the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army signed the Korean Armistice Agreement, which ended the war.  A ceasefire came
into effect 12 hours after the agreement was signed.  The Korean War was over.

War casualties included: UN forces – 450,000 soldiers killed, including over 400,000 South Korean and 33,000 American soldiers; North Korean and Chinese forces – 1 to 2 million soldiers killed (which included Chairman Mao Zedong’s son, Mao Anying). 
Civilian casualties were 2 million for South Korea and 3 million for North Korea.  Also killed were over 600,000 North Korean refugees who had moved to South Korea.  Both the North Korean and South Korean governments and their forces conducted large-scale massacres on civilians whom they suspected to be supporting their ideological rivals.  In South Korea, during the early stages of the war, government forces and right-wing militias executed some 100,000 suspected communists in several massacres.  North Korean forces, during their occupation of South Korea, also massacred some 500,000 civilians, mainly “counter-revolutionaries”
(politicians, businessmen, clerics, academics, etc.) as well as civilians who refused to join the North Korean Army.

Under the armistice agreement, the frontline at the time of the ceasefire became the armistice line, which extended from coast to coast some 40 miles north of the 38th parallel in the east, to 20 miles south of the 38th parallel in the west, or a net territorial loss of 1,500 square miles to North Korea.  Three days after the agreement was signed, both sides withdrew to a distance of two kilometers from
the ceasefire line, thus creating a four-kilometer demilitarized zone (DMZ) between the opposing forces.

The armistice agreement also stipulated the repatriation of POWs, a major point of contention during the talks, where both parties compromised and agreed to the formation of an independent body, the Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission (NNRC), to implement the exchange of prisoners.  The NNRC, chaired by General K.S. Thimayya from India, subsequently launched Operation Big Switch, where in August-December 1953, some 70,000 North Korean and 5,500 Chinese POWs, and 12,700 UN POWs (including 7,800 South Koreans, 3,600 Americans, and 900 British), were repatriated.  Some 22,000 Chinese/North Korean POWs refused to be repatriated – the 14,000 Chinese prisoners who refused repatriation eventually moved to the Republic of China (Taiwan), where they were given civilian status.  Much to the astonishment of U.S. and British authorities, 21 American and 1 British (together with 325 South Korean) POWs also refused to be
repatriated, and chose to move to China.  All POWs on both sides who refused to be repatriated were given 90 days to change their minds, as required under the armistice agreement.

The armistice line was conceived only as a separation of forces, and not as an international border between the two Korean states.  The Korean Armistice Agreement called on the two rival Korean governments to negotiate a peaceful resolution to reunify the Korean Peninsula.  In the international Geneva Conference held in April-July 1954, which aimed to achieve a political settlement to the recent
war in Korea (as well as in Indochina, see First Indochina War, separate article), North Korea and South Korea, backed by their major power sponsors,
each proposed a political settlement, but which was unacceptable to the other side.  As a result, by the end of the Geneva Conference on June 15, 1953, no resolution was adopted, leaving the Korean issue unresolved.

Since then, the Korean Peninsula has remained divided along the 1953 armistice line, with the 248-kilometer long DMZ, which was originally meant to be a military buffer zone, becoming the de facto border between North Korea and South Korea.  No peace treaty was signed, with the armistice agreement being a ceasefire only.  Thus, a state of war officially continues to exist between the two Koreas.  Also as stipulated by the Korean Armistice
Agreement, the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) was established, comprising contingents from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland, tasked with ensuring that no new foreign military personnel and weapons are brought into Korea.

Because of the constant state of high tension between the two Korean states, the DMZ has since remained heavily defended and is the most militarily fortified place on Earth.  Situated at the armistice line in Panmunjom is the Joint Security Area, a conference center where representatives from the two Koreas hold negotiations periodically.  Since the end of the
Korean War, there exists the constant threat of a new war, which is exacerbated by the many incidents initiated by North Korea against South Korea.  Some of these incidents include: the hijacking by a North Korean agent of a South Korean commercial airliner in
December 1969; the North Korean abductions of South Korean civilians; the failed assassination attempt by North Korean commandos of South Korean President Park Chung-hee in January 1968; the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, the ROKS Cheonon, in March 2010, which the South Korean government blamed was caused by a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine (North Korea denied any involvement), and the discovery of a number of underground tunnels along the DMZ which South Korea has said were built by North Korea to be used
as an invasion route to the south.

Furthermore, in October 2006, North Korea announced that it had detonated its first nuclear bomb, and has since stated that it possesses nuclear weapons.  With North Korea aggressively pursuing
its nuclear weapons capability, as evidenced by a number of nuclear tests being carried out over the years, the peninsular crisis has threatened to expand to regional and even global dimensions.  Western observers also believe that North Korea has since been developing chemical and biological weapons.

September 20, 1942 – World War II: The German SS kills 3,000 Jews in Letychiv

On September 20, 1942, German SS units murdered 3,000 Jews in Letychiv town in western Ukraine.

The Germans captured Letychiv in July 1941 and segregated the Jewish population in a ghetto and a separate slave labor camp. The prisoners were sent to work on a road building project. Upon completion of the project, the SS was called in. Three separate mass shootings took place: in September 1942, where 3,000 Jews were killed (comprising about half of the ghetto), in November 1942, where 4,000 were killed (the rest of the ghetto’s population), and in November 1943, where 200 Jews from the labor camp were killed (this time, by the local police). Further mass executions of the remaining workers in the labor camp were carried out in the following months.

(Taken from Genocide and Slave Labor – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

Because of the failure of Operation Barbarossa and succeeding campaigns, Germany was unable to implement the planned mass-scale transfer of targeted populations to the Russian interior.  Elimination of the undesired populations began almost immediately following the outbreak of war, with the conquest of Poland.  The killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians occurred in hundreds of incidents of massacres and mass shootings in towns and villages, reprisals against attacks on German troops, scorched earth operations, civilians trapped in the cross-fire, concentration camps, etc.

By far, the most famous extermination program was the Holocaust, where six million Jews, or 60% of the nine million pre-war European Jewish population, were killed in the period 1941-1945.  German anti-Jewish policies began in the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and violent repression of Jews increased at the
outbreak of war.  Jews were rounded up and confined to guarded ghettos, and then sent by freight trains to
concentration and labor camps.  By mid-1942, under the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question” decree, Jews were transported to extermination camps, where they were killed in gas chambers.  Some 90% of Holocaust victims were Jews.  Other similar exterminations and repressions were carried out against ethnic Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, and other Slavs and Romani (gypsies), as well as communists and other political enemies, homosexuals, Freemasons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses.  In Germany itself, a clandestine program implemented by German public health authorities under Hitler’s orders, killed tens of thousands of mentally and physically disabled patients, purportedly under euthanasia (“mercy killing”) procedures, which actually involved sending patients to gas chambers, applying lethal doses of medication, and through starvation.

Some 12-15 million slave laborers, mostly civilians from captured territories in Eastern Europe, were rounded up to work in Germany, particularly in munitions factories and agriculture, to ease German labor shortage caused by the millions of German men fighting in the various fronts and also because Nazi policy discouraged German women from working in
industry.  Some 5.7 million Soviet POWs also were used as slave labor.  As well, two million French Army prisoners were sent to labor camps in Germany, mainly to prevent the formation of organized resistance in France and for them to serve as hostages to ensure continued compliance by the Vichy government.  Some 600,000 French civilians also were conscripted or volunteered to work in German plants.  Living and working conditions for the slave laborers were extremely dire, particularly for those from Eastern Europe.  Some 60% (3.6 million of the 5.7 million) of Soviet POWs died in captivity from various causes: summary executions, physical abuse, diseases, starvation diets, extreme work, etc.

September 19, 1944 – World War II: Finland and the Soviet Union sign an armistice

On September 19, 1944, Finland and the Soviet Union signed the Moscow Armistice, ending hostilities between them. The armistice contained the same provisions as the 1940 Moscow Peace Treaty that had ended the Winter War, with some additions. Finland was compelled to cede parts of Karelia and Salla, as well as some islands in the Gulf of Finland, as in the 1940 treaty. In the Moscow Armistice, Finland was also required to grant a 50-year lease right for the Soviets to construct a naval base at Porkkala (the area was returned to Finland in 1956). Other Soviet-imposed stipulations were that Finland pay war reparations to the Soviet Union in the form of commodities for six years, legalize the Finnish Communist Party, ban parties and organizations that were deemed fascist, and arraign Finnish officials “responsible for the war” (the so-called “War-responsibility trials in Finland”; Finnish: Sotasyyllisyysoikeudenkäynti). Finland also had to expel German forces from its territory, leading to the Lapland War (September 1944 – April 1945).

Finland and nearby states.

(Taken from The Soviet Counter-offensive – Wars of the 20th Century – World War II in Europe)

In June 1941, Finland had joined Germany in attacking the Soviet Union (albeit not as a member of the Axis) with the aim of regaining lost territory in the Winter War (separate article), and perhaps a secondary motive to gain a little more territory in support of “Greater Finland”.  With these objectives, the Finnish Army made no attempt to attack Leningrad from the north, and rejected the urging by the Germans who were positioned west and south of the city.

For Stalin, however, Finland was a German ally, and shared Hitler’s plan to destroy the Soviet Union.  By spring 1944, the Finnish Army at Karelia was isolated and in a precarious situation after the Red Army drove back the Germans from Leningrad into the Estonian border.  The Soviet High Command then made preparations to knock Finland out of the war, which would also improve the strategic position of the Red Army as it continued its drive to the west.

In June 1944, the Soviet Leningrad and Karelian Fronts, with a combined 550,000 troops, 10,500 artillery pieces, 800 tanks, and 1,600 planes, attacked the Finnish Army (which was outnumbered 2:1 in personnel, 5:1 in artillery, 8:1 in tanks, and 6:1 in planes) in the Karelian Isthmus and eastern Karelia.  The Soviets broke through the Finns’ first two defense lines, taking eastern Karelia and Viipuri
(Vyborg), and by July 1944, had pushed back the Finns 60 miles (100 km) to the third line (VKT Line).  There, the Red Army advance was stopped, with the Finns greatly benefiting from the recently delivered
German anti-tank weapons that halted the Soviet armored spearheads.

In late August 1944, Finland feared that its forces
could not withstand another major Soviet offensive, and sued for peace.  The Soviets accepted, and on September 4, a ceasefire came into effect.  Two weeks later, an armistice was signed, where the Soviets imposed harsh conditions which the Finnish government reluctantly accepted, including that Finland pay war reparation, cede territory, lease territory for a Soviet naval base, and force the Germans from Finnish territory.  Regarding the last stipulation, the Finns did turn against the Germans,
who were still occupying northern Finland.

September 18, 1931 – The Mukden Incident takes place, giving Japan a pretext to invade Manchuria

On the night of September 18, 1931, Kwantung Army Lieutenant Suemori Kawamoto set off a small explosive on a small section of the South Manchuria Railway line near Mukden.  The explosion caused only minor damage to the rail track and a Mukden-bound train passed through it later without encountering any difficulty.  Kwantung Army conspirators, led by officers Itagaki and Ishiwara, initiated this action,
which historically is called the Mukden Incident, in order to accuse the Chinese of armed provocation and thereby justify a Japanese military reaction that would lead to a full-scale conquest of Manchuria.

Japan controlled the South Manchuria Railway from Ryojun (formerly Port Arthur) to Mukden and further north by the time of its invasion of Manchuria in 1931.

Immediately following the Mukden Incident, on Colonel Itakagi’s orders, Japanese forces attacked the Chinese Army garrison at Mukden.  The 7,000-man garrison Chinese force did not resist the 500 Japanese attackers, but fled their garrison and Mukden.  Col. Itakagi also mobilized Japanese forces all across the 1,100-km long South Manchuria Railway and as per the pre-arranged plan, moved to seize towns and cities throughout Manchuria.

In Ryojun (Port Arthur), Kwantung Army commander General Honjo was infuriated that junior officers had initiated military action without his
approval.  But after being counseled by Col. Ishiwara and the other conspirators, General Honjo was won over, and immediately requested more troops to be brought in from Korea.  A few hours after the start of hostilities, on September 19, 1931, General Honjo transferred the Kwantung Army headquarters to Mukden, which by now was under full Japanese control.

Within a few days, Japanese forces seized much of Liaoning and Kirin (Jilin) provinces, including virtually all regions, towns, and cities such as Anshan, Haicheng, Kaiyuan, Tieling, Fushun, Changchun, Yingkou, Antung, Changtu, Liaoyang, Kirin, Chiaoho, Huangkutun, and Hsin-min.  In Tokyo, the central government was stunned by this latest act of gekokujō (military insubordination, which was widespread among junior officers), but gave its
consent and sent more Japanese troops to Manchuria
to support the Kwantung Army’s spectacular successes.

Thereafter, Japanese military authorities successfully co-opted many Chinese military commanders (including Generals Xi Qia, Chang
Ching-hui, and Chang Hai-peng), warlords, and officials to form local and provincial administrations in the various jurisdictions, replacing the deposed
pro-KMT governments.  By October 1931, many such pro-Japanese local governments had been established in Kirin (Jilin) and Liaoning provinces.  The Japanese conquest of southern Manchuria was completed in early January 1932 with the capture of Chinchow (Jinzhou) and Shanhaiguan, with Chinese forces offering no resistance and withdrawing south of the Great Wall into Hebei Province.

Earlier in October 1931, pro-Japanese General Xu Jinglong led an army north to take Heilongjiang Province, but met strong resistance at the Nen River crossing near Jiangqiao.  But with the support of Japanese troops that protected work crews repairing the bridge, the attack soon broke through and by
November 18, 1931, Tsitsihar (Qiqihar), the provincial capital, was taken, with loyalist General Ma Zhanshan and his troops escaping to the east of Heilongjiang
Province.  Following the conquest of southern Manchuria, Japanese authorities tried to win over through negotiations Ma Zhanshan and the other defiant northern KMT commander, General Ting Chao, but failed.  Japanese forces then launched an offensive to take Harbin, the last KMT stronghold in Manchuria, which fell in early February 1932.  In this battle, the Japanese came to the assistance of their collaborationist Chinese allies whose attack earlier had been thrown back by loyalist Chinese forces.

To provide legitimacy to its conquest and occupation of Manchuria, on February 18, 1932, Japan established Manchukuo (“State of Manchuria”), purportedly an independent state, with its capital at Hsinking (Changchun).  Puyi, the last and former emperor of China under the Qing dynasty, was named Manchukuo’s “head of state”.  In March 1934, he was named “Emperor” when Manchukuo was declared a constitutional monarchy.

Manchukuo was viewed by much of the international community as a puppet state of Japan, and received little foreign recognition.  In fact, Manchukuo’s government was controlled by Japanese military authorities, with Puyi being no more than a figurehead and the national Cabinet providing the front for Japanese interests in Manchuria.

Beset by internal turmoil, Chang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government in Nanjing was unable to military oppose the Japanese invasion, for a number of reasons.  First, in the period after reunifying China in 1928, Chiang struggled to maintain control of the country, as large parts of China remained de facto autonomous and were dominated by powerful warlords who pledged only nominal allegiance to the central government.  Second, even Chiang’s own government was racked by power struggles, and
political rivals tried to set up alternative regimes in other parts of the country.  Third, Chiang also faced a
growing communist insurgency (under the Communist Party of China), which in the years ahead, would become a major threat to his authority.  To confront these domestic problems and also
deeming that China was yet military incapable of facing Japan in war, Chiang adopted the policy of “First internal pacification, then external resistance”, that is, first, defeat the communists, warlords, and political rivals, and then confront Japan.

China sought international diplomatic support. 
On September 19, 1931, one day after the start of hostilities, it appealed to the League of Nations to exert pressure on Japan.  On September 22, the League called on the two sides to resolve their disputes peacefully.  But with Japan continuing armed action, on October 24, 1931, the League passed a resolution demanding that Japanese forces withdraw from Manchuria by November 16, which was rejected by the Japanese government.

The League then formed the investigative Lytton Commission (named after the British administrator Victor Bulwer-Lytton, 2nd Earl of Lytton), which arrived in China in January 1932, to determine the causes of the conflict.  In October 1932, the Lytton Commission released a report, whose findings included the following: that Japan was the aggressor and its claim of acting in self-defense was untrue; and that China’s anti-Japanese policies and rhetoric, and refusal to compromise, aggravated the crisis.  No mention was made of the side responsible for causing the Mukden Incident.  The Commission also refused to recognize Manchukuo, stating that it did not come from a “genuine and spontaneous independence
movement”.  In February 1933, the League of Nations approved the Lytton Commission’s report; the following month, Japan revoked its membership in the League and left.

(Taken from Japanese Invasion of Manchuria – Wars of the 20th Century – Twenty Wars in Asia)