The Second Sino-Japanese War was yet another war of aggession. More horrific than the first. In September 1931, the Japanese launched the first of a series of events to seize Manchuria in the Mukden Incident. By August 1937, they had taken all of Northern China, including the city of Beijing and launched the Marco Polo Bridge Incident starting the all out war with China. In September 1937, they took over the prized city of Shanghai despite the efforts of 100,000 of Chang Kai-Shek's best troops. In December 1937, they reached the capital city of Nanjing, falling only some 3 odd days after their arrival, it ended in a complete Chinese Army rout across the Yangtze River. The Japanese enter the city in such a sadastic manner that it would become known as one of history's greatest atrocities the Rape of Nanjing.