25. The Economic Crisis and the Northeast Incident
In 1929, an economic crisis swept the world.
The economic recession started with the New York stock market. On September 3, 1929, the U.S. stock market reached its peak and then began to slowly decline. At that time, this did not attract the attention of the U.S. government and the financial community at all, thinking that this was just a normal and short-term adjustment of the stock market.
Phenomenon. Public statements from the government and predictions from financial experts have assured people that this is nothing to make a fuss about.
But the reality is very cruel. On October 24, known as "Black Thursday" in history, the New York stock market fell wildly. In order to reduce losses, people frantically sold their stocks.
The collapse of the stock market first affected the financial industry, followed by the bankruptcy of hundreds of private banks, and people's life savings were wiped out in this wave of bankruptcy. The collapse of the stock market and the bankruptcy of the financial industry were only the beginning of this economic crisis.
Next, Americans withdrew a large number of investments in Germany and Austria due to the financial crisis, causing the economies of Germany and Austria, which relied heavily on the United States, to collapse. Then the British stock market collapsed, and the British economy also fell into crisis. The French economy
The French economy is relatively more independent, but it cannot get rid of its dependence on the international market. Moreover, the French economy itself has already experienced overheating of investment. In this way, a Great Depression sweeping the world began.
Japan's situation is quite similar to that of Germany. Although Japan is a victorious country, its industrial capacity is very weak and cannot withstand the industrial blows of the United States and Europe. Just after the First World War, the economies of Britain, France, Germany and other countries have not yet recovered.
, Japan received a large number of orders from American industries. A large number of silk fabrics and ships were exported to the United States, and the economy was prosperous for a time. But then, a large number of European and American goods flooded into Japan and the Asian market, and Japanese goods were retreating, leading to an unprecedentedly severe economic crisis.
As the birthplace of the economic crisis, the United States became the biggest victim of the global economic crisis. At its lowest point in 1932, the U.S. gross national product dropped from US$104 billion before the crisis to US$55.9 billion, and about 140,000 businesses
Industrial companies collapsed during this great crisis, and the unemployment rate reached 28%. Due to the outflow of gold and the run on deposits, the entire U.S. banking system was paralyzed by March 1933.
Fifteen million people are unemployed and rely on government relief, and more than 3 million people are homeless and living on the streets. What was once a capitalist paradise has now become a hell.
The economic crisis that swept the world in 1929 changed the political landscape of European and American countries to a great extent. Britain and France were trapped in finances and adopted conservative strategies in industry and military. The Germans chose Hitler, and the Japanese also wanted to use their national
The path of economic militarization has gotten rid of the crisis, but the most direct consequence is that war has become inevitable.
China and Soviet Russia became the only two winners from the Great Economic Crisis of 1929.
Long before the great economic crisis, the Chinese government had already launched a large-scale national investment plan aimed at improving domestic transportation, water conservancy and other infrastructure, and increasing the country's industrial scale and technological level. The expansion of domestic investment coupled with the relative decline in industrial products
The shortage has allowed the Chinese economy to maintain growth during this major crisis, although the major crisis in the United States has caused a certain degree of damage to China's agricultural production.
Due to the implementation of the gold standard and strict domestic financial controls, the impact and impact of the international financial crisis on China has been minimized.
The situation of the Russians is similar to that of China. Due to the ongoing large-scale industrialization plan, the Russians obtained various machinery and equipment, industrial technology, and even large bank loans that they could not have obtained from the West during the world economic crisis.
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Soviet Russia, which had a relative shortage of industrial products, could not possibly understand what "overproduction" was.
Within a few years, the Russians received loans worth nearly one billion U.S. dollars and much-needed industrial equipment from the West. These funds and equipment laid a solid foundation for the Russians to achieve industrial take-off.
In comparison, the Chinese are not interested in the old equipment of the Americans, and the Republic has no intention of helping the Americans eliminate excess backward production capacity to alleviate the crisis in the United States. What they value is the hundreds of millions of dollars accumulated by the big American capitalists.
billion U.S. dollars of remaining capital and strong scientific and technological strength.
In just six years from 1930 to 1936, the Chinese government and the Communist Party introduced as many as 160 billion yuan from the West in the form of intergovernmental loans, interbank loans, industrial investment loans, joint ventures, joint factories, mines, railways, highways and ports.
Billions of dollars in foreign investment and the continued expansion of investment scale have been driving the sustained and rapid development of China's economy.
The sustained development of China's economy has become a special case among the world's capitalist countries.
More and more scientists, scholars, engineers and senior technicians are coming to China. Scientists can get the much-needed government funding here, while engineering technicians can get wages that are twice as high as in their own countries.
Besides, it is very difficult to find a job in Western countries now.
U.S. presidential candidate Roosevelt won the favor of Americans by "learning from the Chinese, improving state intervention and management of macroeconomics, and increasing public investment to ensure employment." He was elected as the new U.S. president and began his "new
Economic Policy”.
The ongoing economic crisis has caused all countries to erect high trade barriers, and the reduction in international trade has caused the market to shrink, aggravating the crisis.
On September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army planned the "Northeast Incident". When the "Northeast King" Zhang Zuolin took a train to Shanhaiguan, when the special train passed the Daling River Iron Bridge, the train was blocked by the Japanese Manchurian Railway Guards.
*Blowed up and Zhang Zuolin was killed on the spot.
Zhang Zuolin was about to go to Shanhaiguan to sign a "change of flag" agreement with the central government. Lao Zhang judged the situation and made a decisive decision to give up his territory and army in the Northeast in exchange for the future peace and prosperity of his family.
That night, the Japanese army launched an attack on the Northeastern Army stationed in Fengtian under the pretext of "maintaining public order." Zhang Xueliang, who rushed to the scene of the Daling River accident, made a misjudgment. He believed that the Japanese were just looking for an excuse to provoke a dispute, and issued a "No" to the garrison in Fengtian.
"Resist" order, the Kwantung Army easily occupied the entire Fengtian with only one brigade and two railway garrison troops.
Afterwards, the Japanese troops began to march into the Northeast continuously, and only the spontaneous volunteers in the Northeast were resisting tenaciously.
After President Lin Shuo learned of the "Northeast Incident" and the news of the Japanese invasion, he strictly ordered Zhang Xueliang to organize a counterattack, and immediately mobilized four groups of the Republican Army to march into the Northeast in three directions at night from Hulunbuir, Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia and Jehol.
The "Northeast Incident" was caused by a group of young soldiers from the Kwantung Army and the Japanese Military Department. There was no strict combat plan in advance. It was not until the Kwantung Army successively occupied major cities such as Fengtian and Changchun that the Military Department was led by the nose.
Send troops into China one after another.
The Japanese army that occupied the Northeast had less than three divisions with more than 70,000 troops. Under the strong pressure of the Republican Army's four group armies with more than 300,000 troops, the Japanese army had to abandon Changchun and retreat to the Liaohe River line and the mountainous areas of Jilin and eastern Heilongjiang. The Communist Party
After the army recaptured Changchun, they were ordered to stay in place and maintain a stalemate with the Japanese army across the mountains and not continue to attack.
The Republican Army and the Japanese Army each occupied half of the territory in the three eastern provinces.
Foreign Minister-General Wang Chonghui was ordered to negotiate with the Japanese government and complain to the League of Nations, demanding that Japanese troops withdraw from occupied Chinese territory.
The Japanese ignored the resolution passed by the League of Nations requiring them to withdraw their troops, and supported the former Northeastern Army general Xi Qia, a Manchu, to establish a "Puppet Manchukuo" in Fengtian. Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply, but did not lead to a full-scale war.
The Japanese were poorly prepared for the war, and the Republican government was mainly due to the abnormal mobilization of the Soviet Red Army. In addition, it also wanted to gain a few more years of development. Although the words were flying everywhere and the notes were sent one after another, the armies of both sides on the northeastern front were
A buffer zone was opened tacitly.
On the contrary, the Northeast region presents a strange kind of tranquility.
Zhang Xueliang was reviled by his countrymen for giving up Fengtian so easily. He had no choice but to resign from his post as Northeast Border Defense Supervisor and Commander-in-Chief of the Northeastern Army and "study abroad." Nearly 100,000 Fengtian troops subsequently began to be reorganized by the Republican Army.
Although the fighting between the two sides in the "Northeast Incident" was not intense, with the Japanese and Republican forces each suffering more than 10,000 casualties, senior officials from both sides realized that a war between the two countries was inevitable in the end, unless the Japanese were now willing to withdraw from Northeast China and return the Lushun military port
.Both sides are sharpening their swords and stepping up military preparations.
The Republican Party was worried that the Soviet Red Army would take the opportunity to attack Siberia and Central Asia, which were not very stable. At this time, a full-scale war would break out and affect its industrial development plan, so it adopted a restrained attitude, which also encouraged militarism in Japan.
After all, the Kwantung Army's adventure in the Northeast has achieved great results, occupying nearly one-third of "Manchuria". At home, including President Lin Shuo, Prime Minister Lu Zhengxiang, and Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui have become the three major
"Traitor".
Foreign Minister Wang Chonghui was besieged by students during a speech at Peking University and was severely beaten. He later resigned in anger. Lin Shuo's efforts to retain him were ineffective and had to re-appoint Shi Zhaoji as foreign minister.