A victory march is a musical form generally reflecting a triumph, victory or great joy.

Many composers have written a victory march, with maybe the best known one being by Italian opera composer, Giuseppe Verdi for his 1871 grand opera, Aida.

In the second act, Radames leads the Egyptian army on its return following their victory over the Ethiopians. The Egyptians have captured and enslaved Aida, an Ethiopian princess.

An Egyptian military commander, Radamès, struggles to choose between his love for her and his loyalty to the Pharaoh.

To complicate the story further, the Pharaoh’s daughter Amneris is in love with Radamès, although he does not return her feelings.

Radamès returns victorious and the troops march into the city. The Egyptian king decrees that on this day the triumphant Radamès may have anything he wishes.

Claiming the reward promised by the King, Radamès pleads with him to spare the lives of the prisoners and to set them free.

Eyewitness accounts of Westerners and Chinese present at Nanking in the weeks after the fall of the city say that, over the course of six weeks following the fall of Nanking, Japanese troops engaged in mass rape, murder, theft, arson, and other war crimes.

Other accounts include first-person testimonies of Nanking Massacre survivors, eyewitness reports of journalists (Western and Japanese), as well as the field diaries of military personnel.

A large number of rapes were done systematically by the Japanese soldiers as they went from door to door, searching for girls, with many women being captured and gang raped.

The women were often killed immediately after being raped, often through explicit mutilation or by penetrating vaginas with bayonets, long sticks of bamboo, or other objects.

Young children were not exempt from these atrocities and were cut open to allow Japanese soldiers to rape them.