Second Sino-Japanese War Begins; Nanjing Massacre

On July 7, 1937, a skirmish at Marco Polo Bridge near Beijing escalated into full-scale Japanese invasion of China, beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. Japanese forces captured Shanghai in November and entered Nanjing, China's capital, on December 13. Over six weeks, Imperial Japanese Army soldiers killed an estimated 100,000-300,000 Chinese civilians and prisoners of war, and raped approximately 20,000 women. German businessman John Rabe established an International Safety Zone that sheltered roughly 250,000 civilians. The war continued until Japan's surrender in 1945, costing China an estimated 14-20 million lives and weakening the Nationalist government relative to the Communists.