![]() ![]() In 1937, IJA night maneuvers directed from nearby Fengtai town quickly snowballed into an assault on Wanping and the bridge, prompting a Chinese response. ![]() ![]() The eponymous 11-arched stone bridge, dating from the 1180s and mentioned by Marco Polo (hence the name in English), leads into Wanping’s Western Gate. The Marco Polo Bridge Incident transpired a mere dozen or so miles southwest of Beijing’s Forbidden City in the vicinity of the walled municipality of Wanping. They soon found themselves at the center of a violent conflict to shape and reshape the world order. A clash between troops from the Republic of China (ROC) and the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) may have had little immediate importance for Americans and Europeans but it mattered a great deal to those living throughout East and Southeast Asia. Although it is generally accepted that World War II began with Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, the roots of that global conflict actually reach back to the Marco Polo Bridge Incident of July 7, 1937. ![]()
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