Japanese Puppet States

[Thor Macklin]

Well I am rather confused about something. During WWII, there is a great deal of
border changes of the japanese empire while the 3rd Reichs borders are relatively
established (most maps show it right before the battle of stalingrad.) But japan
as no such established date to show it's fullest extent, this is because as they
gained land in mainland china while they LOST land in the pacific, the issue is that
I have no idea the size of their 3 puppet states in mainland china:

Provisional Government of the Republic of China
Reformed Government of the Republic of China
Nanjing Nationalist Government

Now I now the first two were merged to make the 3rd, but here is where my problem
lies. According to wikepedia, these puppets consisted of Land not owned by Japan,
or atleast land that belonged to japan were you to make the map anachronous.
So here's all I ask, 3 maps of these puppet states, not of the japanese empire, just
these puppet states. The last one I ask NOT come from wikepedia, as that one doesn't
match up well with the robinsons projection (the map I am using here.)

Thanks!

 

[bombshoo]

I think you are trying to find something to which there isn't any real answer. The Japanese sponsored Chinese governments all claimed to be the legitimate government of all of China (except for Manchukuo and possibly Mengjiang, though in the latter's case I don't think much was ever really resolved in terms of its actual sovereignty). Even with this taken into account the borders in Asia at this time were more like frontlines, not political boundaries and they were very porous, full of enclaves supporting guerrillas and what not. I think the closest you are going to find for "borders" is whatever the Japanese Army or their puppet armies were able to at least sort of control at any given moment.

 

[Thor Macklin]

Well phooey on them for being so disorganized XD.

Anyway thank you for help on this issue. Though I am curious, if
there a decent map of atleast some of the axis puppet states?

 

[zjl56]

I have been doing a bit of reading on the Sino Japanese/ civil war, and at that the puppet governments were swapped out all the time for whoever could assist the Japanese/ stay out of there way way the most. Granted, this is pretty much due to that the war lord era never really ended and the Guomindang was just a really big war lord alliance with a few majr armies/ power centers. When ever these warlords faced a serious power counter to theirs Communists/ Japanese, they would switch from enemies to collaborators.

A great example was after the Communists succeeded in controlling Manchuria, most of the other nationalist forces just melted away despite Chiang officially controling 3/4 of China.

 

[Karalysia]

Though I am curious, if
there a decent map of atleast some of the axis puppet states?

Well you might be able to extrapolate based off the warlord era map:

 

[plarq]

Well I am rather confused about something. During WWII, there is a great deal of
border changes of the japanese empire while the 3rd Reichs borders are relatively
established (most maps show it right before the battle of stalingrad.) But japan
as no such established date to show it's fullest extent, this is because as they
gained land in mainland china while they LOST land in the pacific, the issue is that
I have no idea the size of their 3 puppet states in mainland china:

Provisional Government of the Republic of China
Reformed Government of the Republic of China
Nanjing Nationalist Government

Now I now the first two were merged to make the 3rd, but here is where my problem
lies. According to wikepedia, these puppets consisted of Land not owned by Japan,
or atleast land that belonged to japan were you to make the map anachronous.
So here's all I ask, 3 maps of these puppet states, not of the japanese empire, just
these puppet states. The last one I ask NOT come from wikepedia, as that one doesn't
match up well with the robinsons projection (the map I am using here.)

Thanks!

Provisional Government -- Beijing

Assigned to control Northern China (Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Shanxi). Being supported by North China Expedition Army pf Japan.

After the merge with Wang Jingwei's Nanjing government, the Beijing regime just changed their name and flag, and nothing of administration changed.

Reformed Government -- Nanjing

Established after the fall of Nanjing, in early 1938.
Lacks prominent figurehead for this puppet regime.
Merged with Wang Jingwei's government.
Supported by IJN.

Wang Jingwei's Government -- Nanjing

Established after Wang's escape.
Nominally an alternative Kuomingtang regime.
Nominally controlled all China except Manchukuo. However, Mengjiang (Inner Mongonlia) had closer ties with Kwantung Army and Manchukuo; Northern China was virtually out of reach from Nanjing; Wuhan and Guangzhou ( and areas around them ) were at front lines. So the actual regions administrated by Nanjing government are: Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

 

[zjl56]

BTW there is a great Civ 3 scenario about this, absolutely fun to play.

 

[Thor Macklin]

Ah, well incase this makes things any easier, I only need it for the years:
1937, 1939, and 1942. Or just to make things simple, the puppet states of
those years, what provinces they covered, and whether or not I could use
a modern map of provinces to cover the area with relatively 90% accuracy.

Thanks everyone for your input!

 

[plarq]

1937: We have Manchukuo, Mengjiang (at that time, three autonomous puppet regimes in Southern Chahar, Northern Shanxi, and Suiyuan), and the Provisional Republic of China in Beijing.

1939: As Japanese army advanced into the heartland, Wang Jingwei's regime was founded in Nanjing, incorporates Provisional government, Reformed government and Mengjiang (in 1940). However, Guangdong and Hubei were out of reach for Nanjing regime.

1942: Nothing changed, really.