Nanking Massacre Research Paper

1739 Words7 Pages

Genocide is a part of history that no person would like to remember. It is a matter that can never be undone but must live with as time passes. Genocides are some of the world’s darkest parts of history, the unspeakable parts. The Nanking Massacre is one of those events in history that has traumatized many. This specific genocide is thought to be one of Japan’s most notorious war crimes during their expansion into Asia. It was truly a horrendous crime with mass killings of Chinese men, women, and children. Not only was it the mass killing of countless Chinese citizens, but the raping of numerous chinese woman and young girls. During this period of imperialism the Japanese committed many atrocious acts without considering the possible consequences. …show more content…

The defense system of Nanking borders were quite weak and the ones who defended Nanking were prisoners of war and soldiers who had no skill. The Japanese army took advantage of the unstable security and was able to take over Nanking easily (Kajimoto 2000). Following the defeat of Nanking they began to commit numerous war crimes. The Japanese exterminated many Chinese through established killing games by decapitation. It was between soldiers by the names of Mukai and Noda “to see which of them will first fell one hundred Chinese in individual sword combat” (Chang 1991). During the killing “contests”, they raised the value after reaching one hundred. The Japanese also stabbed Chinese citizens to death as bayonet “practice”(Bowen 2009). Many Chinese citizens were also buried alive, as soldiers found amusement in doing so (Bowen 2009). The Japanese Imperial army would then kill almost two thousand to three thousand Chinese citizens from Nanking. (History 2009) Extermination is one of the eight stages of genocide that was show in the Nanking Massacre. The mass killing of the Nanking citizens was a significant part of showing extermination, and militaristic