The Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan) were some of the most systematic perpetrators of war crimes in modern history.
By R.J. Rummel. From the invasion of China in 1937 to the end of World War II, the Japanese military regime murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war.
War crimes trials, in which Japanese guards were tried for acts of brutality, were held throughout south-east Asia. In Australian trials, 922 men were tried and 641 were found guilty. Of 148 sentenced to death, 137 were actually executed.
It was Russia, not France they feared. After ruining the lives of thousands of Germans, the Russian army turned to ruin the lives of their own people.
The Tokyo trials were not the only forum for the punishment of Japanese war criminals, merely the most visible. In fact, the Asian countries victimized by the Japanese war machine tried far more Japanese -- an estimated five thousand, executing as many as 900 and sentencing more than half to life in prison.
September 29, 1972: Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka said to the people of the People's Republic of China: "The Japanese side is keenly conscious of the responsibility for the serious damage that Japan caused in the past to the Chinese people through war, and deeply reproaches itself.
Russian armed forces are responsible for the vast majority of the violations identified, including war crimes. Ukrainian forces have also committed international humanitarian law violations in some cases, including two incidents that qualify as war crimes.
Secret wartime files made public only in 2006 reveal that American GIs committed 400 sexual offenses in Europe, including 126 rapes in England, between 1942 and 1945. A study by Robert J. Lilly estimates that a total of 14,000 civilian women in England, France and Germany were raped by American GIs during World War II.
The most famous defendant is former President Slobodan Milosevic, whose trial begins in 2002. Milosevic is the first former head of state to be tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide; however, he dies in a UN detention center in 2006 before his trial concludes.
Of the 22,376 Australian prisoners of war captured by the Japanese, some 8,031 died while in captivity. After the end of the war, War Crimes Trials were held to investigate reports of atrocities, massacres and other causes of death.
The Japanese used many types of physical punishment. Some prisoners were made to hold a heavy stone above their heads for many hours. Others might be forced into small cells with little food or water. Tom Uren described how a young Aboriginal soldier was made to kneel on a piece of bamboo for a number of days.
More than 4,000 people were convicted of war crimes in other international tribunals, and about 920 of them were executed. Tojo and the six others who were hanged were among 28 Japanese wartime leaders tried for war crimes at the 1946-1948 International Military Tribunal for the Far East.
the Metgethen massacre: mass murder and rape of 32-3,000 (German claim) German citizens by Red Army soldiers. the Nemmersdorf massacre: mass murder and rape of ~74 German citizens (as well as ~50 French and Belgian POWs) by the Red Army's 2nd Guards Tank Corps.
This book documents Japanese atrocities in World War II, including cannibalism, the slaughter and starvation of prisoners of war, rape and enforced prostitution, the murder of noncombatants, and biological warfare experiments.
Mass killings of civilians and hostages. In retaliation for Partisan actions during the Uprising in Montenegro, Italian forces, under the command of General Alessandro Pirzio Biroli, killed 74 Montenegrin civilians and captured Partisans in Pljevlja on 2 December 1941.
Because the attack happened without a declaration of war and without explicit warning, the attack on Pearl Harbor was later judged in the Tokyo Trials to be a war crime.
During World War II, some members of the United States military mutilated dead Japanese service personnel in the Pacific theater. The mutilation of Japanese service personnel included the taking of body parts as "war souvenirs" and "war trophies".
As the United States Army drove deep into Germany in early-1945, American soldiers stole and appropriated objects on a large scale. While GIs did take items when marching through Allied countries, what occurred in Germany throughout the final campaigns was different and more extensive.
The Axis powers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan) were some of the most systematic perpetrators of war crimes in modern history.
The global economic impact of violence was $16.5 trillion in 2021, equivalent to 10.9% of global GDP, or $2,117 per person. Iceland remains the most peaceful country in 2022, a position it has held since 2008.
If a country is believed to have committed a war crime during conflict, the case is handled by the International Crime Court (ICC) which will investigate the matter and provide punishment where appropriate.
After 60 years there is still no prospect of a true reconciliation between China and Japan. The recent visit by Junichiro Koizumi, Japan's prime minister, to a war shrine in central Tokyo was condemned by the Chinese.
War was finally declared on August 1, 1894. Although foreign observers had predicted an easy victory for the more massive Chinese forces, the Japanese had done a more successful job of modernizing, and they were better equipped and prepared. Japanese troops scored quick and overwhelming victories on both land and sea.
Japan teaches WWII as two different wars: the Greater East Asian War and the Pacific War. This basically poses the fundamental problem with Japanese war memory in that it disconnects the reason for the war with America from its root cause, Japan's aggression in Asia.