After just one year of the Spanish Civil War, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident
led to the Sino-Japanese War, both conflicts remaining for two years as daily
reminders of the world conflicts of the time. This article attempts to emphasize
the importance of the coincidence in time of those conflicts in delimiting each
bloc, especially through a decision that was particularly divisive for the
Japanese government, such as recognition of Franco’s rebel government after
the outbreak of the war in China. Efforts by Japanese Foreign Minister Hirota
KÄki to avoid a decision that would further Japan’s pro-Axis drift show the
lines of division in the government. His maneuvers progressively failed, including
the November 1937 proposal for negotiations to include the recognition of
Manchukuo, accepted first by Franco’s Spain, later by Italy and finally by the
Germans. The article emphasizes the role of Italy in Asia, the reasons for
Spanish actions, and the aims of other key persons in this period, such as Prime
Minister Konoe, the postwar leader Yoshida Shigeru, or Ishihara Kanji, the
officer who masterminded the 1931 invasion of Manchuria.
