Summary: The Rape Of Nanking

Oscar Paris 11/7/2015
Genocide Research Paper
The Rape of Nanking was an act of genocide that was carried out by personnel from the Japanese military against Chinese civilians during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which lasted from 1937 to 1945. It bears its infamous name due to the fact that many women were subject to forcible rape en masse by soldiers. However, it also featured extrajudicial killings, beheadings, looting, arson, and other gruesome acts. It is still remembered by many Chinese as a solemn event, and to some, unforgivable.
Even before the massacre and the brutal conflict …show more content…
Japanese troops attacked in their masses, as artillery pounded the city’s defenses and structures. The soldiers in the city defended it for a total of thirteen days before being overwhelmed by the numerically superior Japanese forces. Thousands were killed during the fighting, soldiers on both sides and civilians in Nanking itself. Pouring into the ruined city, the Japanese began a “mopping-up operation” which rounded up, disarmed, and arrested any resisters. However, what came after this was a brutal, horrendous atrocity which scarred the city of Nanking, …show more content…
There were also instances of people being killed with gunto, translated to military sword in Japanese, which was basically the equivalent to the katana of previous eras. There was also bayoneting of civilians as well, which only added to the death toll in Nanking, which were about 60,000.
Then there were the extrajudicial killings of former Chinese soldiers. When captured, they would be tied up and executed with gunto, but in this case, by beheading. There was also mass machine gunning, which led to the previously mentioned mass graves, and the usage of petrol and land mines as forms of execution. Bayoneting was also used, which in fact, became common practice amongst Japanese troops, in terms of killing.
Before continuing, why, just why would they do this? Were they this ruthless that they had to go around raping and murdering innocent people in Nanking? The Japanese had huge nationalistic sentiments amongst them, and believed that they were the superior to all the other Asians. The Chinese, who are the victims of this massacre, Koreans, Manchurians, and to a lesser extent the Russians, were all discriminated against by this fervent nationalism. Also add the militaristic and expansionist policies that were adopted by the Japanese, and it creates a force of fanatical, dedicated, and often, brutal fighters for the “Emperor and

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