Part I. Fear and Ambition: Japan, China, and Russia: 1. Introduction: the Asian roots of World War II; 2. Japan 1931–6: the containment of Russia and national restoration; 3. China 1926–36: chaos and the quest for the mandate of heaven; 4. Russia 1917–36: impending two-front war and world revolution; Part II. Nested Wars: A Civil War within a Regional War within a Global War: 5. Flashback to 1911 and the beginning of the long Chinese Civil War; 6. The regional war: the Second Sino-Japanese War; 7. The global war: World War I; 8. The final act of the long Chinese Civil War; 9. Conclusion: civil war as the prologue and epilogue to regional and global wars.
This book shows that the Western treatment of World War II, the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Chinese Civil War misrepresents their connections and causes.
S. C. M. Paine is Professor of Strategy and Policy at the United States Naval War College. Paine is the author of Nation Building, State Building, and Economic Development (2010), The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895 (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and Imperial Rivals: China, Russia, and their Disputed Frontier (1996). She co-authored Modern China: Continuity and Change, 1644 to the Present (2010) and co-edited Naval Power and Expeditionary Warfare (2011), Naval Coalition Warfare (2008) and Naval Blockades and Seapower (2006).
'Paine's study offers new perspectives on imperialist wars and
interventions in twentieth-century Asia. Based on multi-archival
research, it addresses a range of issues in the fraught relations
of Japan, China, Russia, and the United States. Students of
comparative history will find Paine's analytical framing
particularly interesting.' Herbert P. Bix, Binghamton
University
'The author has written a highly original and provocative work,
organized around the thesis that 'nested' civil, regional, and
international wars defined East Asian politics and international
relations over the first half of the twentieth century. By artful
use of the latest Russian, Japanese, Chinese, and U.S. primary and
secondary sources, Professor Paine succeeds in showing how war
changed the face of East Asia.' Stephen R. MacKinnon, Arizona State
University
'The first integrated study of Asia's forty years of war. A major
intellectual contribution.' Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of
International Relations, University of Pennsylvania
'… a fascinating account of how modern East Asia was shaped by war.
By disaggregating the three main wars in the first half of the
twentieth century, the author succeeds in showing how their causes
and conditions were linked but still separate.' O. A. Westad,
author of Restless Empire: China and the World since 1750
'This excellent and ambitious book deals with state-building and
warfare in twentieth-century Asia. It underlines the critical role
of war in modern Asian history and shows how often war trumped
diplomacy. It shows too the terrible toll that warfare has exacted
on China, Japan, and Russia. Paine gives an original, perceptive,
and long-overdue reinterpretation of twentieth-century Asia.' Diana
Lary, author of The Chinese People at War
'… Paine's book provides us with an important tool through which we
can learn the lessons of the past. This in turn will hopefully
allow us to plot a safer course in order to avoid any future wars
for Asia.' Tosh Minohara, Pacific Affairs
'An excellent one-volume survey of Chinese military history in the
first half of the twentieth century, The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949
will be of value to anyone interested in World War II and
particularly the causes of the Pacific War.' A. A. Nofi, Editor,
The NYMAS Review
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