"This general history, based on archival and monographic sources, some of which were not available to earlier writers, is designed to be a balanced and comprehensive synthesis. Seldom does a historian come upon a richer mix of colorful personalities, dramatic action, Byzantine intrigue, and momentous historical issues." "The impact of Americans on China during the war was enormous. Much of U.S. activity in China, because of inadequate knowledge of China's culture, government, and military capabilities, was harmful to China and Chiang's regime. Moreover, U.S. efforts to induce Chiang to make reforms designed to improve his regime's war effort and chances for post-war survival were ineffective." "The sulfurous American General Joseph Stilwell, assigned to serve as Chiang's chief of staff, underestimating the fighting ability of the Japanese and disregarding Chiang's advice, followed a strategy in the first Burma campaign that contributed to the loss of Chiang's best divisions and the chance of holding north Burma. Stilwell's obsessive demand for a new Burma campaign involved him in bitter controversies with Chiang, the British, and U.S. Air Commander Claire Chennault." "When the British demanded that Stilwell be removed from Burma, he, with Roosevelt's support, demanded that Chiang turn over to him the command of China's armed forces, which was equivalent to control of China. But Americans could not enforce this demand on Chiang, who expelled Stilwell from China. Ambassador Patrick Hurley then attempted to arrange a coalition government between Chiang and the Communists, a proposal Chiang rejected." "At Roosevelt's insistence, Chiang allowed America to send U.S. personnel, the "Dixie Mission," to the Communist headquarters at Yennan. Mao Tse-Tung convinced Foreign Service Officer John Service and others that he sought a cooperative relationship with America (in order, among other reasons, to reduce his dependence on Russia). Before Stilwell's dismissal Americans had decided to arm the Communists, but the removal of Stilwell defeated that purpose, and U.S. aid continued to go exclusively to Chiang. It appeared that the ideological preferences of Americans brought about a postponement of cooperation with the ultimately victorious Chinese Communists, despite an eventual common interest in keeping Soviet influence in East Asia in check." "This comprehensive study is illustrated and includes a chronology, glossary, bibliography and index."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

When a young dragon rider named Mkel and his dragon, Gallanth, begin having visions of the last horrendous war that the Dragon Alliance Republic fought against the Morgathian Empire, they realize that these visions are warning them of a rising darkness and battle yet to come. But as they train their soldiers for the war ahead, they discover that the Morgathians arent their only enemy; someone within the Alliance is conspiring against them. To make matters worse, a group of power-hungry senators known as the Party of the Enlightened is collaborating to bring about the Alliances destruction. Worried by their newfound foes and forever haunted by the death of his father, Mkel must find a way to put the past behind him and bring his troops together if he and Gallanth hope to win the war. But with the odds stacked against them and many difficult battles ahead, Mkel cant help but wonder if heor the Alliancewill survive.

Some sixty years after the Far Eastern War ended, this innovative new collection brings together five distinguished UK-based scholars and five from Japan to reappraise their respective country's leadership in the Malaya and Burma campaigns. This leadership is analyzed on various levels, ranging from the grand strategic to operational. The Japanese contributors examine the reasons for their forces, brilliant advances in 1941-42, whereas the British writers have to account for the disastrous defeat, characterized by the poor leadership of senior commanders such as Bennett and Percival. Between 1943 and 1945, the tables were turned dramatically, so the failure of Japanese command decisions then comes under critical scrutiny and the British have to explain how defeat was transformed into victory. Above all, this volume should stimulate interest in different methods and styles of military leadership in view of the contrasting approaches of the British and Japanese in the Second World War.

Drawing on a wealth of new sources, this work documents the evolving relationship between Moscow and Peking in the twentieth century. Using newly available Russian and Chinese archival documents, memoirs written in the 1980s and 1990s, and interviews with high-ranking Soviet and Chinese eyewitnesses, the book provides the basis for a new interpretation of this relationship and a glimpse of previously unknown events that shaped the Sino-Soviet alliance. An appendix contains translated Chinese and Soviet documents - many of which are being published for the first time. The book focuses mainly on Communist China's relationship with Moscow after the conclusion of the treaty between the Soviet Union and Kuomingtang China in 1945, up until the signing of the treaty between Moscow and the Chinese Communist Party in 1950. It also looks at China's relationship with Moscow from 1920 to 1945, as well as developments from 1950 to the present. The author reevaluates existing sources and literature on the topic, and demonstrates that the alliance was reached despite disagreements and distrust on both sides and was not an inevitable conclusion. He also shows that the relationship between the two Communist parties was based on national interest politics, and not on similar ideological convictions.

The Dragon Alliance Republic, the beacon of light and hope of freedom for the world, is now being threatened by dark clouds on its horizon. In Dark Storm, the second book in the Dragon Alliance series, the dragons and sorcerers of the Morgathian Empire on the offensive. Mkel and his might gold dragon, Gallanth the most powerful rider and dragon in the Alliance are faced with both formidable challenges from the evil chromatic dragons as well as difficult decisions that could cost their lives and those of their soldiers. They must also be on guard as their adversary, the evil arch dragon Tiamat and her Talon Covenant, starts to execute their diabolical plan. Meanwhile, a large-scale battle erupts in the fire giant lands as their huge army tries to invade the eastern border of the Alliance. The dragon riders, targeted by a secret order of assassins, must prepare to fight the deadliest threat the Alliance has since the Great War.

The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949 shows that the Western treatment of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War as separate events misrepresents their overlapping connections and causes. The Chinese Civil War precipitated a long regional war between China and Japan that went global in 1941 when the Chinese found themselves fighting a civil war within a regional war within an overarching global war. The global war that consumed Western attentions resulted from Japan's peripheral strategy to cut foreign aid to China by attacking Pearl Harbour and Western interests throughout the Pacific in 1941. S. C. M. Paine emphasizes the fears and ambitions of Japan, China and Russia, and the pivotal decisions that set them on a collision course in the 1920s and 1930s. The resulting wars together yielded a viscerally anti-Japanese and unified Communist China, the still-angry rising power of the early twenty-first century.

In 1937, the Nationalists under Chiang Kaishek were leading the Chinese war effort against Japan and were lauded in the West for their efforts to transform China into an independent and modern nation; yet this image was quickly tarnished. The Nationalists were soon denounced as militarily incompetent, corrupt, and antidemocratic and Chiang Kaishek, the same. In this book, van de Ven investigates the myths and truths of Nationalist resistance including issues such as: the role of the US in East Asia during the Second World War the achievements of Chiang Kaishek as Nationalist leader the respective contributions of the Nationalists and the Communists to the defeat of Japan the consequences of the Europe First strategy for Asia. War and Nationalism in China offers a major new interpretation of the Chinese Nationalists, placing their war of resistance against Japan in the context of their prolonged efforts to establish control over their own country and providing a critical reassessment of Allied Warfare in the region. This groundbreaking volume will interest students and researchers of Chinese History and Warfare.