Huanggutun Incident
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Huanggutun Incident (Chinese: 皇姑屯事件; Japanese: 張作霖爆殺事件) was an assassination plotted by Japanese Kantogun that targeted Fengtian warlord Zhang Zuolin. It took place on June 4, 1928 at Huanggutun rail station near Shenyang in which Zhang's train was destroyed by an explosion. This incident was concealed in Japan at the time and was referred only as "満州某重大事件" (Manshuboujudaijiken A Certain Important Incident in Manchuria).
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[edit] Background
The Beiyang Army split up into various factions after the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916. Zhang Zuolin, being the leader of the Fengtian clique, was one of the most powerful warlords as he held complete authority over Manchuria.
At the time of the First United Front (1924), the foreign support in China was generally divided as below:
- Fengtian Army (Zhang Zuolin) - Japan
- Zhili clique - European & American
- Kuomintang - Soviet Union
The Fengtian clique's support from abroad was Japan, which wanted to gain more benefits such as natural resources from Manchuria, while the Kantogun was the army supporting the clique. The "co-operation" between Fengtian and Japan satisfied each other's benefit demands. At first, they were quite friendly to each other. Zhang admitted Japan for different kinds of priorities in Manchuria. The many anti-Japanese movements in Manchuria were suppressed strictly by Zhang; whereas the Kantogun helped Zhang in two Zhili-Fengtian Wars, suppressed the anti-Fengtian uprising by Guo Songling (a senior general of the Fengtian clique) and gained absolute control of the Beijing government. However, Zhang just needed Japan's aid for consoildating and expanding his territory whereas Japan wanted to occupy Manchuria with Zhang. After Zhang achieved his targets, he tried to improve relations with the United States and the United Kingdom and kept Japan at a distance. The US and Britain got the same rights as Japan, which irritated the Japanese and dissatisfied them with Zhang.
In 1927, Japan suffered from the Great Kanto Earthquake and successive economic depressions. The Japanese government wanted to expand Japan's power economically and militarily, and at the time, China was a target. The nationalists in Japan would often use Toyotomi Hideyoshi's failed invasion of Ming China as a context to this effect. Another one of the purposes was to establish a good image in front of the Japanese people. In accordance with the Tanaka Memorial, the Japanese would invade Manchuria first. Therefore, some officials in the Japanese government suggested eliminating Zhang as quick as possible and installing a puppet, because he did not obey them.
On the other hand, the Northern Expedition led by Chiang Kai-shek of the National Revolutionary Army gained great success as they successively defeated Sun Chuanfang, Wu Peifu and other warlords of the Northern Faction, as well as the Beijing government controlled by Zhang Zuolin. After the Nationalist army restored their rule in Northern China, they seemed to want to restore their rule over Manchuria which was still officially part of the Republic of China. Zhang left Beijing for Shenyang on 3 June 1928.
The Japanese were also anxious as the Nationalists, the Communists and other elements in the Northern Expedition at the time were supported by the Soviet Union. The Soviets as the successors of Japan's traditional enemy, the Russian Empire, was looking to restore its influence over Manchuria, Korea and possibly Sakhalin. They had already made puppet governments in nearby Mongolia and Tannu Tuva. Japan needed a context to effectively establish control over Manchuria without combat or foreign intervention and they believed splitting up the Fengtian clique via assassination would do so.
[edit] Outline of the Incident
[edit] The explosion
Zhang left Beijing to go to Shenyang on the night of the 3rd of June by train. The train traveled along the Jingfeng Railway, a railway from Beijing to Shenyang. This railway was patrolled by Zhang's troops. The only location along the railway that was not under Zhang's control was a bridge several kilometres east of Huanggutun railway station, where the South Manchuria Railway crossed the Jingfeng Railway on the bridge. The South Manchuria railway was a railway operated by the Japanese and guarded by the Kwantung Army. An officer of the Guandong Army planted a bomb on the bridge. When Zhang's train passed the bridge at 5:23 a.m. on the 4th of June 1928, the bomb exploded suddenly. Several of Zhang's officials such as Wu Junsheng (吳俊升), the governor of Heilongjiang province died immediately. Zhang was fatally wounded and sent back to his home in Shenyang. (Huanggutun is in the outskirts of Shenyang.) He died several hours later.
[edit] Direct plotters
- Staff officer Daisaku Koumoto (planned the assassination)
- Captain Kaneo Toumiya (responsible for executing the plan)
- Sapper 1st Lieutenant Fujii Sadatoshi (Set the explosives)
[edit] Aftermath
The purpose of the assassination was to make the Fengtian clique split up. This can be understood through the fact that Kantogun was providing support to Yang Yuting (楊宇霆), a senior general in the clique as an understudy of Zhang who would give more priority to Japan and consolidate Japan's power over Manchuria. Also, another purpose was to create chaos in Manchuria, which the Japanese army could exploit to create a base in Manchuria, for a possible future Japanese invasion and occupation of Manchuria and to dissuade Soviet or KMT involvement.
However, Japanese planners failed to anticipate the role that Zhang Xueliang (張學良/张学良), the son and successor of Zhang Zuolin, would play in the aftermath of his father's assassination. The younger Zhang, in order to avoid any conflict with Japan and chaos in Manchuria, did not directly accuse Japan of complicity in his father's murder. Instead, Zhang quietly carried out a policy of cooperation with the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek, with the result that within a short period of time the reunification of China was effected.
The assassination, which was conducted by low-ranking officers, did not have the prior consent of the Japanese military or government. In fact, Emperor Hirohito harshly criticized the event and would later dismiss the Japanese Prime Minister of that time, Tanaka Giichi for the incident. Zhang was the de jure head of state because he held absolute power over the internationally recognized Beiyang government based in Beijing. These events after Zhang's death culminated in the Invasion of Manchuria and the establishment of a puppet government under Henry Puyi Aisin Goro (Puyi).
Zhang fled Manchuria after the Japanese invasion, taking his forces inland and eventually ending up in the areas around Xi'an in the mid-1930's. In time, due to his military prowess, Zhang Xueliang became an important figure in the Kuomintang. Angry at the Japanese for the murder of his father, and at Chiang Kai-shek for the latter's refusal to resist Japan's incursions into China, Zhang ultimately turned against Chiang, kidnapping him in late 1936 so as to force him to end his battle against the Communists and turn against the Japanese. In exchange for Chiang's agreeing to form a new united front with the Communists to resist Japan, Zhang freed Chiang and agreed to be arrested for his actions. He spent the next several decades in prison under the Kuomintang, first in China and later in Taiwan. He was eventually given freedom and died in Hawaii in 2001.
[edit] See also
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