Nanking : anatomy of an atrocity / Masahiro Yamamoto.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Yamamoto, Masahiro, 1959-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nanking Massacre, Nanjing, Jiangsu Sheng, China, 1937.

Nanjing (Jiangsu Sheng, China)--History.

Nanjing (Jiangsu Sheng, China).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (367 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The December 1937 incident that has come to be known as the Rape of Nanking is, without doubt, a tragedy that will not soon be forgotten. While acknowledging that a tremendous loss of life occurred, this study challenges the current prevailing notion that the incident was a deliberate, planned effort on the part of the Japanese military and analyzes events to produce an accurate estimate of the scale of the atrocities. Drawing on Chinese, Japanese, and English sources, Yamamoto determines that what happened at Nanking were unfortunate atrocities of conventional war with precedents in both Eastern and Western military history. He concludes that post-war events such as the war crimes trials and the impact of the Holocaust in Europe affected public opinion regarding Nanking and led to a dramatic reinterpretation of events. The Rape of Nanking consisted of two distinct phases: the mass execution of prisoners of war (as well as conscription age men who appeared to be combatants) and the delinquent acts of individual soldiers. The first phase, which occurred immediately after Nanking's fall and which claimed most of the atrocity victims, was the result of the Japanese military's attempt to clear the city of Chinese soldiers thought to be in plain clothes. The second phase, which lasted approximately six weeks, was horrible, but resulted in a much smaller number of fatalities. It was characterized by numerous criminal acts, ranging from rape and murder to arson and theft, committed by unrestrained Japanese soldiers. The root cause for both phases was the Japanese military's bureaucratic inefficiency and command irresponsibility. While both Chinese and American contemporary sources initially attributed the incident to these causes, subsequent Japanese atrocities against both military and civilian Allied personnel during World War II and evidence presented at war crimes trials would come to reshape perceptions of the Nanking events as an Asian counterpart to the Nazi Holocaust.

Contents:

Cover

NANKING

Contents

Illustrations

MAPS

CHARTS

Acknowledgments

Abbreviations

Introduction

NOTES

1 What Causes War Atrocities: A Historical Analysis

HISTORY OF WAR ATROCITIES

From Ancient Time to Napoleonic Wars

19th Century

Hague Convention and World War I

ATROCITIES IN ASIA

Chinese Military Conduct through the 19th Century

Japanese Military Conduct through the 19th Century

Massacre at Port Arthur

2 The Battle of Shanghai and the Prelude to Nanking

THE OUTBREAK OF THE SECOND SINO-JAPANESE WAR AND THE BATTLE OF SHANGHAI

JAPANESE ARMY'S MARCH TO NANKING

FALL OF NANKING

3 Nanking: Analysis of Military Actions and Number of Victims

CASUALTIES FOR WHICH THE CHINESE FORCES WERE RESPONSIBLE

COMBAT CASUALTIES

EXECUTION OF PLAINCLOTHES SOLDIERS, POWS, AND MEN OF CONSCRIPTION AGE

Cases of the SEF: Mass Surrenders and Mass Executions

Cases of Tenth Army: Sporadic Killings

TOTAL NUMBER OF VICTIMS

4 Nanking: Analysis of Individually Committed Crimes and Nature of Atrocities

CRIMES INDIVIDUALLY COMMITTED

Murder

Disorder and Looting

Incendiarism

Rape

NATURE AND CAUSES OF ATROCITIES IN NANKING

Execution of Plainclothes Soldiers, POWs, and Men of Conscription Age

Crimes Individually Committed

Historical Analysis

5 Aftermath and Reaction until 1945

JAPAN

CHINA

THE WEST (ESPECIALLY THE UNITED STATES)

6 War Crimes Trials

CHINESE PREPARATIONS FOR WAR CRIMES TRIALS

TRIAL OF TANI HISAO

TRIAL OF THREE OFFICERS-MUKAI, NODA, AND TANAKA

TOKYO WAR CRIMES TRIAL

The Prosecution's Case

The Case for the Defense

The Verdict

The Origins of Controversy

7 Sounds of Controversy

START AND RENEWAL OF CONTROVERSY

CRITICAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF REVISIONIST VIEWS.

CRITICAL REVIEW AND ANALYSIS OF TRADITIONALIST VIEWS

THE EMERGENCE OF CENTRIST VIEWS AND THE BALANCE SHEET OF THE DEBATE

RECENT CHINESE AND WESTERN VIEWS

NANKING AND THE HOLOCAUST: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS

SUMMARY OF THE RAPE OF NANKING DEBATE: ANALOGY WITH A COURT OF LAW

Conclusion

Appendix A: Japanese and Chinese Forces in Nanking

JAPANESE ARMY UNITS IN NANKING

Central China Area Army [Matsui Iwane]

CHINESE ARMY UNITS IN NANKING

Nanking Garrison Force [T'ang Sheng-chih (Wade-Giles)/ Tang Shengzhi (Pinyin)]

Appendix B: Burial Statistics of Red Swastika Society in Nanking

Appendix C: Burial Records of Ch'ung-shan-t'ang

Appendix D: Civilian Losses Based on Smythe's Data

Bibliography

PUBLISHED COLLECTIONS OF PRIMARY MATERIALS

UNPUBLISHED COLLECTIONS OF PRIMARY MATERIALS

ARCHIVAL MATERIALS IN ENGLISH (1): CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS

ARCHIVAL MATERIALS IN ENGLISH (2): IMTFE DOCUMENTS

ARCHIVAL MATERIALS IN JAPANESE (1): DIPLOMATIC RECORDS

ARCHIVAL MATERIALS IN JAPANESE (2): MILITARY RECORDS [IN THE ORDER OF COMMAND SUPERIORITY]

ARCHIVAL MATERIALS IN CHINESE (1): MILITARY RECORDS

ARCHIVAL MATERIALS IN CHINESE (2): WAR CRIMES TRIALS

DIARIES AND PRIVATE TESTIMONIES

SECONDARY SOURCES: (A) ENGLISH

SECONDARY SOURCES: (B) FOREIGN LANGUAGES

NEWSPAPERS AND MAGAZINES

VIDEOS, INTERNET WEB SITES, AND OTHER SOURCES (ALL WEB PAGE ADDRESSES ARE THOSE AVAILABLE AT THE TIME OF RESEARCH)

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-343) and index.

ISBN:

9798400689246

9780313000966

0313000964

OCLC:

55002848