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Marco Polo Bridge Incident

July 7, 1937 · 20th Century

War

On July 7, 1937, Japanese and Chinese forces clashed at the Marco Polo Bridge (Lugou Bridge) near Beijing, when Japanese troops demanded entry to the walled town of Wanping to search for a reportedly missing soldier. The incident escalated into full-scale conflict and marked the beginning of the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Key Figures

Ji XingwenSong ZheyuanMasakazu Kawabe

Locations

Marco Polo BridgeWanping FortressFengtaiYongding River

Topics

japanChinaww2sino-japanese

Connected Events — 1 Connection

The Manchurian Incident established Japan's aggressive expansion pattern and military presence in northern China, creating the tense conditions and forward positioning that made the Marco Polo Bridge confrontation inevitable Japan invades Manchuria

September 18, 1931 · War · 20th Century

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