the nanjing massacre essays

the nanjing massacre essays Since World War II lots has said about the holocaust. Seen as the most terrible thing to happen to a group in history it has inspired books and movies and is now universally known. But not much has been said about the Nanjing massacre. The actions of Japanese troops during this massacre lead even German nazi leaders to describe Japan as a violent war machine that should be taken very carefully. During my research I found a lot of individual stories of atrocities. There were far too many to include all of them in this project, although all of the first hand accounts I thought were just too graphic and generally disturbing for me to write down. The massacre started on December 12th 1937. The Chinese army pulled out of its old capital Nanjing and changed it to Chongquing in the face of the Japanese armies assault. Most of those in the city ran to hide in the safety zone. A district set up by Americans and British for housing and hopefully protecting civilians. Although some people did stay behind to guard property and businesses. People from rural areas started to enter the city in masses in hope of trying to hide in the safety zone, but the safety zone was full and all those who tried to enter were turned away. With nowhere to go they tried to exit the city through the Northern Peace gate and the North West Yijang gate. Earlier, the Chinese troops who had stayed behind to guard the city had decided to run away. Fearing that the refugees were probably going to try to escape the Japanese and would impede their own escape and so they shut the gates behind them. The refugees were then trapped between the advancing tro ops and their own gate. The Japanese swept into the city and killed all many of those who had stayed. Then they advanced up the two paths to the gates. The opened fire on the masses of people they came across killing almost every single person there. For another ...