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The "October Surprise": the Shanghai Incident
Thanks everyone for their kind comments and feedback
To answer some questions:
P.S Hitler will visit China in TTL or was cancelled(butterflied by minor details)
- He still might ....
P.S.2. We gonna have an action update in the next one?
Yes this one will be an action update
- sorry for lack of updates - I went hitchiking with my girlfriend and uni has started and things have been crazy busy
__________________________________________________________
The "October Surprise": the Shanghai Incident
Seemingly minor events in a day can ripple out of cosmic proportions and cause reprucussions which still revebrate in history today. Marie Antoniette's throwaway remark was an explosive match that lit the French Revolution - the embers burn bright even today. And who could forget the famous proverb :
"For want of a nail the shoe was lost
For want of a shoe the horse was lost
For want of a horse the rider was lost
For want of a rider the batte was lost
For want of a battle the kingom was lost
All for want of a nail"
Who could have predicted that a mug thrown in a moment of drunken folly could cause so much pain and misery across the world?
Perhaps no one. At the time the events that would spark the general conflagration of the Second Great War would be hard to trace from this event - it laid the foundation of jingoism and "victory disease" in the hearts of China however.
The facts of the incident need to be ascertained. Apparently in September 28 a drunken fool that history doesn't remember threw his mug at a group of elderly Japanese monks in the Japanese concession. The Japanese guards shot him dead. A mob gathered immediately and lynched the guards and the monks. The city erupted in a frenzy. The Japanese moved reinforcements to their concession. The crowd gathered in front chanting anti-japanese slogans and burning effigees. A bullet cracks through the air - perhaps as a warning or as a signal? Perhaps in ideal conditions that Japanese Garrison may have been able to hold their cool. But this was not ideal conditions.
By the end of the month the conflagration has spread. Chiang, in the middle of an election campaign demands the return of the Japanese concession and the end of "Japanese Provocation-Agrression." The Japanese respond by moving more reinforcements to the city. The Chinese counter-respond by ordering a partial mobilization and moving heavy assets to the city. There is no firing yet - but the damn will break very soon.
Members of the Nationall Revolutionary Army charging into Shanghai despite fierce Japanese resistance
On October 9 they rise up "Resistance Groups" in Japanese held Shanghai seize buildings such as Japanese factories and take shots at Japanese troops and appeal to the President for help. The order is given - the tanks, armoured cars, men roll in. The Shanghai Volunteer Corps and Shanghai Police join in. The belagured Japanese Garrisson surrounded on all sides and being attacked by ferocious resistance fighters are cut off and destroyed in short order.
Shanghai Burns
By October 13 Japanese Shanghai is Chinese. President Chiang declares: "Let the world know that our great nation is awakening!" The match that would spark the general conflagration has been thrown. The question remained: How long would it take to reach the powderkeg?
To answer some questions:
P.S Hitler will visit China in TTL or was cancelled(butterflied by minor details)
- He still might ....
P.S.2. We gonna have an action update in the next one?
Yes this one will be an action update
- sorry for lack of updates - I went hitchiking with my girlfriend and uni has started and things have been crazy busy
__________________________________________________________
The "October Surprise": the Shanghai Incident
Seemingly minor events in a day can ripple out of cosmic proportions and cause reprucussions which still revebrate in history today. Marie Antoniette's throwaway remark was an explosive match that lit the French Revolution - the embers burn bright even today. And who could forget the famous proverb :
"For want of a nail the shoe was lost
For want of a shoe the horse was lost
For want of a horse the rider was lost
For want of a rider the batte was lost
For want of a battle the kingom was lost
All for want of a nail"
Who could have predicted that a mug thrown in a moment of drunken folly could cause so much pain and misery across the world?
Perhaps no one. At the time the events that would spark the general conflagration of the Second Great War would be hard to trace from this event - it laid the foundation of jingoism and "victory disease" in the hearts of China however.
The facts of the incident need to be ascertained. Apparently in September 28 a drunken fool that history doesn't remember threw his mug at a group of elderly Japanese monks in the Japanese concession. The Japanese guards shot him dead. A mob gathered immediately and lynched the guards and the monks. The city erupted in a frenzy. The Japanese moved reinforcements to their concession. The crowd gathered in front chanting anti-japanese slogans and burning effigees. A bullet cracks through the air - perhaps as a warning or as a signal? Perhaps in ideal conditions that Japanese Garrison may have been able to hold their cool. But this was not ideal conditions.
By the end of the month the conflagration has spread. Chiang, in the middle of an election campaign demands the return of the Japanese concession and the end of "Japanese Provocation-Agrression." The Japanese respond by moving more reinforcements to the city. The Chinese counter-respond by ordering a partial mobilization and moving heavy assets to the city. There is no firing yet - but the damn will break very soon.
Members of the Nationall Revolutionary Army charging into Shanghai despite fierce Japanese resistance
On October 9 they rise up "Resistance Groups" in Japanese held Shanghai seize buildings such as Japanese factories and take shots at Japanese troops and appeal to the President for help. The order is given - the tanks, armoured cars, men roll in. The Shanghai Volunteer Corps and Shanghai Police join in. The belagured Japanese Garrisson surrounded on all sides and being attacked by ferocious resistance fighters are cut off and destroyed in short order.
Shanghai Burns
By October 13 Japanese Shanghai is Chinese. President Chiang declares: "Let the world know that our great nation is awakening!" The match that would spark the general conflagration has been thrown. The question remained: How long would it take to reach the powderkeg?
- CCA
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