r/TerrifyingAsFuck • u/TheMrMorbid • Mar 14 '24

war Chinese prisoners being buried alive by their Japanese captors outside the city of Nanjing, during the infamous Rape of Nanjing, 1937.

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u/vorono1 Mar 15 '24

Why were the Japanese particularly cruel? Both sides committed warcrimes but the Japanese took it to another level.

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u/birehcannes Mar 15 '24

Increasingly extreme fanatical nationalism and militarism coupled with a belief of being superior to other races and nations. This developed over a relatively short period of time too, e.g. during the Japanese-Russian war at the beginning of the century the Japanese military was not like that and had treated Russian POWs relatively well.

3

u/Dry_Leek78 Mar 15 '24

Because by surrendering, their enemies were considered worse than dogs (no honor), at least no longer "human", without dignity. A japanese was not supposed to surrender, but fight till death for the emperor and their honor.