Why the September 18 Incident Is the Beginning of World War II

The September 18 Incident[1]1 The September 18 Incident (also known as the Mukden Incident) refers to a staged event on September 18, 1931, used by the Japanese Kwantung Army as a pretext to invade and occupy northeast China. is the beginning of China’s War of Resistance and of World War II. Japan’s occupation of northeast China shattered the “Versailles–Washington system”; the resistance of China and other countries carried multiple meanings: defending national dignity, maintaining world peace, and rebuilding world order. The discussion of the starting point of World War II is not merely a question of chronological timing; it also concerns the world status of China’s War of Resistance and the international discursive power of Chinese studies of World War II history.

九一八事变是中国抗战与第二次世界大战的开端。日本侵占中国东北打破了“凡尔赛—华盛顿体系”，中国等国家的抗争具有捍卫民族尊严、维护世界和平、重建世界秩序的多重意义。关于二战开端的讨论不单是时间节点问题，更涉及中国抗战的世界地位，以及中国二战史研究的国际话语权。

Proclaiming the collapse of the old order and the gestation of a new order.

宣告旧秩序的崩溃与新秩序的酝酿

When scholars reflect on the global conflict of 1931–1945, many distinguish between the “World Anti-Fascist War” and “World War II,” treating them as having different beginnings. In fact, they are two sides of one war. World War II was a global conflict that resulted from the collapse of the post-World War I international order; fascist aggression was both the cause and the consequence of the disintegration of world order: the fissures in the international system gave fascist aggression an opening, and fascist aggression in turn completely destroyed world order.

学者们在思考1931年至1945年的全球冲突时，多将“世界反法西斯战争”与“第二次世界大战”加以区分，认为二者有不同开端。事实上，它们是一场战争的两个侧面。二战是一战后国际格局崩溃导致的全球冲突，法西斯国家侵略则是世界秩序瓦解的原因与结果：国际体系裂隙给法西斯侵略留下可乘之机，而法西斯侵略则彻底摧毁了世界秩序。

Japan’s occupation of northeast China was the first challenge by fascism to the Versailles–Washington system[2]2 The Versailles–Washington system was the international order established after World War I, comprising the Treaty of Versailles (1919) and the Washington Naval Treaties (1921–1922), which regulated great-power relations in Europe and the Pacific.. The Western powers hoped, through an appeasement policy, to preserve the existing international order. Thereafter, Japan withdrew from the League of Nations[3]3 The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded in 1920 after World War I, intended to maintain world peace; it proved ineffective in stopping aggression., abrogated the Washington Naval Treaty, and withdrew from the Second London Naval Conference, all of which showed that it had completely abandoned coordinated diplomacy and was accelerating the construction of its own hegemony. If Japanese aggression was a destruction of the international order, then the Western powers’ standing by idly was a betrayal of world order. The indifference of the League of Nations and the United States towards the act of aggression produced bitter fruit, and in the end they themselves were also devoured, drawn into the global strategy of the fascists. It can be said that the so-called “collective security” of the League of Nations collapsed after the September 18 Incident.

日本侵占中国东北是法西斯对“凡尔赛—华盛顿体系”的首次发难。西方大国希望通过绥靖政策，保障国际格局存续。其后，日本退出国联，废止华盛顿海军裁军条约，退出第二次伦敦海军会议，都表明它彻底脱离了协调外交，正加速建立自身霸权。如果说日本侵略是对国际格局的破坏，那么西方国家作壁上观则是对世界秩序的背叛。国联与美国对侵略行径的漠视酿成恶果，其自身最终也被反噬，卷入法西斯全球战略。可以说，国联的所谓“集体安全”在九一八事变后便土崩瓦解。

While shattering the old order, the September 18 Incident also promoted the reconstruction of a new order. The Atlantic Charter explicitly proposed establishing a world of universal security and peace on the basis of eliminating fascism. After the September 18 Incident, international peace forces gradually moved towards unity; through anti-fascist resistance and anti-imperialist movements, colonial states fought for national independence and popular self-determination. A new international system was taking shape: the annihilation of fascist forces, the weakening of imperialist states, the dissolution of the colonial system, the rise of nation-states, and world-wide revolutions and reforms surging forward.

九一八事变在打破旧秩序之时，也推动了新秩序重建。《大西洋宪章》明确提出，在消灭法西斯基础上建立普遍安全与和平的世界。九一八事变后，国际和平力量逐渐走向联合，殖民地国家通过反法西斯抵抗与反帝国主义运动，争取民族独立、民众自决。新的国际体系正在酝酿中——法西斯势力覆灭、帝国主义国家削弱、殖民体系瓦解、民族国家崛起，世界范围的革命与改革风起云涌。

Expressing the continuity of aggressive war and the universality of resistance movements.

体现侵略战争的连续性与抵抗运动的普遍性

World War II was a war of external aggression by fascist states and of resistance by anti-fascist states. From the former perspective, Japan’s occupation of northeast China sent a global warning of the fascist threat. The September 18 Incident accelerated the fascistization of Japanese politics and paved the way for Japan to launch larger-scale wars. Japan’s aggression also provided a model for Germany and Italy to disrupt the international order. Moreover, by dominating its diplomacy with Germany, Japan laid the foundation for the fascist Axis of aggression. From 1931 to 1939, fascism provoked multiple local wars in Europe, Asia, and Africa. These military actions concealed the malicious intent to partition the world; they were not directed against a few countries alone, but against the entire world. Taking the September 18 Incident as the starting point allows a clearer view of the steps by which fascism expanded its aggression.

二战是一场法西斯国家对外侵略与反法西斯国家奋起抵抗的战争。从前者角度看，日本侵占中国东北向全世界发出法西斯威胁的预警。九一八事变加速了日本政治法西斯化，为其发动更大规模战争铺平了道路。日本侵略也为德意提供了破坏国际秩序的范式。此外，日本通过主导对德外交，奠定了法西斯侵略轴心的基础。1931年至1939年，法西斯在欧亚非挑起多次局部战争。这些军事行动下包藏着瓜分世界的祸心，它们并不是与某几国为敌，而是与全世界为敌。以九一八事变为开端，可以更清晰地看到法西斯扩大侵略的步伐。

The September 18 Incident raised the curtain on world peace forces uniting in common hatred to resist the violent enemy. Before Britain and France entered the war, although the countries suffering aggression by fascism were far apart, a shared national crisis produced common demands. They drew on each other’s experience in resistance and encouraged each other’s spirit of struggle. Fascist atrocities aroused humanitarian activities among international peace forces; through direct participation in combat, medical aid, and public opinion support, they threw themselves into the great cause of resisting aggression. Although at this stage the anti-fascist struggle of the world’s peoples was regional and temporary, it also displayed persistence and interconnectedness. Sometimes, even when military struggle was crushed, political, cultural, and economic resistance never ceased. If this war, as a resistance movement in which the world’s people together defended peace and justice, is taken as beginning only with the entry of Britain and France into the war, its world significance cannot be expressed.

九一八事变拉开了世界和平力量同仇敌忾共抗暴敌的序幕。英法参战前，尽管遭受法西斯侵害的国家相距遥远，但共同的民族危机使它们产生了一致诉求。它们在抵抗经验上彼此借鉴，在斗争精神上相互激励。法西斯暴行激发了国际和平力量的人道主义活动，他们通过直接参战、医疗援助、舆论声援等方式，投身于反抗侵略的伟大事业中。尽管这一阶段世界民众的反法西斯斗争是区域性、阶段性的，但其中又显现出持久性、联动性。有时虽然军事斗争被瓦解，但政治、文化、经济层面的抗争从未停止。这场战争作为世界人民共同捍卫和平与正义的抵抗运动，如果仅以英法参战为起点，便无法体现其世界意义。

Reflecting on the responsibility of great powers for world peace.

反思大国对世界和平应承担的责任

After the September 18 Incident, the impotence of the League of Nations was partly due to institutional deficiencies, but even more because Britain, the United States, the Soviet Union, and other countries each had their own calculations and sought to divert the danger elsewhere. Britain hoped, through making concessions to Japan, to obtain a guarantee that Japan would not expand into Britain’s core spheres of interest in China. The United States, in pursuit of economic benefits, continued to export oil and steel to Japan. At the same time, the United States and Britain also attempted to induce Japan to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union, seeking self-preservation, declared “non-intervention” in the Sino-Japanese conflict so as to avoid being caught in a pincer between Germany and Japan. This policy of appeasement stemmed from the short-sighted, self-interested thinking of the great powers. In the subsequent Spanish Civil War, and especially in the Munich Agreement[4]4 The Munich Agreement was a 1938 settlement permitting Nazi Germany’s annexation of parts of Czechoslovakia, a byword for the failed appeasement of fascist aggression., the great-power governments’ standing by and watching, and even aiding the aggressor, was displayed even more starkly.

九一八事变后，国联的无能一方面是由于机制缺陷所致，另一方面更是因为英、美、苏等国各怀心思、祸水他引。英国希望通过对日妥协，换取其不向英国在华核心利益区扩张。美国为追求经济利益，持续向日本出口石油和钢铁。同时，美英也企图诱导日本进攻苏联。而苏联谋求自保，为避免陷入德日夹击，宣布“不干预”中日冲突。这种绥靖政策出自大国短视的利己思维。在其后西班牙内战，尤其是慕尼黑阴谋中，大国政府的隔岸观火、助纣为虐表现得更为淋漓尽致。

The absence of great-power responsibility planted the seeds for escalation of the war. If these countries had seen through the global ambitions of fascist aggression in time and adopted a firm anti-aggression stance, they might have curbed the spread of the flames of war. Taking the September 18 Incident as the beginning of World War II and reflecting on history can serve as a warning: when confronted with aggressive war, no country can isolate itself. Contemporary great powers must never tolerate or compromise with acts of aggression, still less beggar their neighbors or sacrifice the interests of small and weak states. Instead, they should assume great-power responsibility, uphold justice, and impose effective sanctions on aggressive states.

大国责任缺位为战争升级埋下隐患。如果这些国家能及时识破法西斯全球侵略野心，展现出坚定的反侵略姿态，或许能遏制战火扩散。以九一八事变为二战开端反思历史，能警示今人，面对侵略战争，任何国家都无法独善其身。当代大国面对侵略行径，绝不可姑息迁就，更不能以邻为壑或牺牲弱小国家利益，而应承担大国责任，坚守正义，对侵略国家实施有力制裁。

Highlighting the historical subject status of all the world’s peoples.

彰显世界各民族的历史主体地位

The September 18 Incident profoundly changed the course of Chinese history and also aroused the consciousness of resistance among oppressed peoples, promoting their subjective practice in world history. From its very beginning, China’s War of Resistance carried the significance of defending national dignity, maintaining world peace, and encouraging oppressed peoples to fight for liberation. After the war, the newly independent countries grew and developed, providing basic strength for building a community with a shared future for mankind. Reviewing history by taking the September 18 Incident as the starting point of World War II enables us to understand the sacrifices of all countries’ people in this catastrophe, and to understand their contributions to maintaining world peace and rebuilding the international order.

九一八事变深刻改变了中国历史进程，也激发了被压迫民族的反抗意识，推动了它们在世界历史中的主体实践。从一开始，中国抗战便具有捍卫民族尊严、维护世界和平、鼓舞被压迫民族争取解放的意义。战后新独立国家发展壮大，又为构建人类命运共同体提供了基本力量。以九一八事变为二战开端回顾历史，能理解各国民众在这场浩劫中的牺牲，理解他们为维护世界和平、重建国际秩序作出的贡献。

For a long time, the international discursive power over the history of World War II has been in the hands of Britain, the United States, and other countries, giving rise to a “Western-centric” historical narrative. China was the earliest to resist fascist aggression, fought the longest, and made the greatest sacrifices. China’s War of Resistance smashed Japan’s global strategy, supported the Allies’ “Europe first, Asia later” strategy, and promoted the establishment of the world anti-fascist alliance. Yet China, the main Eastern theatre[5]5 The “main Eastern theatre” refers to China’s role as the primary battlefield against Japan during World War II, distinguished from the European and Pacific theatres. of the anti-fascist war, remains at the margins of Western historiography; Africa and Oceania have almost fallen into a state of losing their voice. The history of the anti-fascist struggle was written collectively by people all over the world who fought for freedom; the contribution of each people should be remembered, and the voice of each people should be heard.

长期以来，二战史的国际话语权掌握在英美等国手中，形成历史叙事的“西方中心论”。中国是最早抵抗法西斯侵略、抗击法西斯时间最久、付出牺牲最大的国家。中国抗战粉碎了日本全球战略，支撑了盟军“先欧后亚”战略，推动了世界反法西斯联盟的建立。然而，中国作为反法西斯东方主战场，却处于西方历史书写的边缘，非洲、大洋洲更是几乎陷入失语境地。反法西斯历史由全世界为自由而战的人民共同书写，每个民族的贡献都应被铭记，每个民族的声音都应被听到。

(This article is a stage result of the National Social Science Fund project “Research on the Cognition of the Chinese Communist Party among American Observers during World War II and the Adjustment of U.S. Strategy toward China” (24CSS015).)

（本文系国家社科基金项目“二战期间美国观察家的中共认知及美国对华战略调整研究”（24CSS015）阶段性成果）

(The author is a lecturer at the School of History and Culture, Shanxi University.)

（作者系山西大学历史文化学院讲师）

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心