Today the focus shifts back to the misadventures of Chiang Kai-shek and the Nanjing government. The Central Plains War had been won, and it looked for the briefest of moments that things were going to be fine for them. Then the new campaigns against the Communists fell into disarray, and in September 1931 the Japanese invaded Manchuria. For Chiang, there would be no breaks. Ever. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983
2. Fairbannk, John K & Albert Feuerwerker The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1983
3. Sheridan, James E. China in Disintegration: The Republican Era in Chinese History 1912-1949 Macmillian Publishing Co, Inc 1975
4. Taylor, Jay The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-shek and the Struggle for Modern China Harvard University Press 2011
5. Van de Ven, Hans J. War and Nationalism in China, 1925-1945 Routledge 2003

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