Empires at War : A Short History of Modern Asia Since World War II.
Title:
Empires at War : A Short History of Modern Asia Since World War II.
Author:
Pike, Francis.
ISBN:
9780857712387
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (891 pages)
Contents:
Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- A Reader's Guide -- Introduction and Background -- Maps -- PART I: AMERICAN EMPIRE AND ITS COMPETITORS 1621-1945 -- 1 American Empire and Its Competitors: America: 1621-1945 -- The Rise of European Nations and Migration to America -- The Land Motive for Independence -- Westward Expansion and the Louisiana Purchase -- American Setback in Canada -- The Alamo and the Annexation of Texas and Florida -- The Mexican War and the Seizure of California and Oregon -- Railroads and Territorial Consolidation -- Genocide: The Destruction of the American Indian -- Population, Gold and the Pioneer Spirit -- Legends of the Conquest of America -- Hawaii, Cuba and the Philippines: Empire Beyond the American Continent -- Trade and the Expansion of America's Asian Interest -- The Philippines: Conquest and Suppression -- Theodore Roosevelt, the Panama Canal and Economic Imperialism -- The Growth of 'Moralism' in American Politics and Foreign Policy -- Emergence of America as 'the' Global Superpower -- American Isolationism after the First World War -- The Russian Empire: A Competitor to US Hegemony -- Manchuria and the Rise of Japan -- Isolationism Abandoned -- A New Clash of Empires -- PART II: ASIA'S POST-WAR SETTLEMENT -- 2 Potsdam, Hiroshima and the Atom Bomb: Japan: 1945 -- 3 Mao and the Chinese Revolution: China: 1945-54 -- 4 Emperor Hirohito and the Tokyo War Crimes Trial: Japan: 1945-8 -- 5 Mahatma Gandhi: Passive Aggression: India: 1945-7 -- 6 'An Iron Curtain Has Descended': America-Soviet Union: 1945-61 -- 7 Stalin, Mao and Truman: Post-War Alliances: China: 1945-50 -- 8 Chiang Kai Shek and the Flight to Taiwan: Taiwan: 1945-9 -- 9 MacArthur, Yoshida and the American Occupation of Japan: Japan: 1945-54 -- 10 Hô Chí Minh and the Battle of Diên Biên Phu: Vietnam: 1945-54.
11 General Phibun: National Socialist Dictator: Thailand: 1945-58 -- 12 From Independence to Dependency: Philippines: 1945-60 -- 13 Lord Mountbatten and the Partition of India: India-Pakistan: 1945-7 -- 14 Origins of the Korean War: Korea: 1945-50 -- 15 Aung San: Revolutionary and Turncoat: Burma: 1945-9 -- 16 Sukarno: The Founding Father: Indonesia: 1945-50 -- 17 Independence and the Racial Contract: Malaysia: 1945-57 -- 18 Lee Kuan Yew: Pocket Giant: Singapore: 1945-64 -- 19 Capitalist Redoubt: Hong Kong: 1945-97 -- PART III: COLD WAR IN THE BALANCE -- 20 The Korean War: Korea: 1950-3 -- 21 The Great Leap Forward: China: 1949-61 -- 22 Dictatorship and Prosperity: Taiwan: 1947-75 -- 23 Nehru: The Fashioning of a Legend: India: 1945-65 -- 24 Jinnah and Pakistan's Failed Constitution: Pakistan: 1945-65 -- 25 Fall of Rhee and Park's 'Economic Miracle': South Korea: 1954-79 -- 26 Kim II Sung: The 'Great Leader': North Korea: 1945-50 -- 27 The Todai Oligarchs: Japan: 1955-92 -- 28 The Cultural Revolution: China: 1961-70 -- 29 Indira Gandhi: A Study in Nepotism: India: 1966-84 -- 30 Kennedy: Vietnam and the Vienna Summit: America-Vietnam: 1954-63 -- 31 'The Year of Living Dangerously': Indonesia: 1950-68 -- 32 LBJ and the Vietnam Quagmire: Vietnam: 1963-9 -- 33 The Trouble with Tigers: Sri Lanka: 1945-94 -- 34 Nixon in China: America-China: 1969-71 -- 35 The Night of the Intellectuals: Bangladesh-Pakistan: 1965-73 -- 36 Têt Offensive: Lost Victories: America-Vietnam: 1968-75 -- 37 The Bombing of Cambodia: Cambodia: 1969-73 -- 38 Revolution's End: The Deaths of Mao, Zhou Enlai, Lin Biao: China: 1970-6 -- 39 The Murder of Aquino: The Disgrace of Ferdinand Marcos: Philippines: 1960-86 -- 40 Coups d'Etat: A Way of Life: Thailand: 1958-91 -- 41 Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Mohammed Zia ul-Haq: Pakistan: 1973-88.
42 Pol Pot: Deconstructionism and Genocide: Cambodia: 1973-79 -- PART IV: COMMUNISM IN RETREAT -- 43 The Gang of Four: China: 1976-9 -- 44 The End of the Tyrants: Korea: 1979-2001 -- 45 Dr Mahathir: The Acerbic Autocrat: Malaysia: 1981-2003 -- 46 Suharto: Rule of the Kleptocrats: Indonesia: 1965-98 -- 47 Rogue State: North Korea: 1980-2005 -- 48 Bloodlust and Revenge: Bangladesh: 1971-96 -- 49 Cory Aquino and the Rocky Path to Democracy: Philippines: 1986-2000 -- 50 Deng Xiaoping: 'Capitalist Roader No. 2': China: 1974-96 -- 51 Benazir and Sharif: Rise and Fall of the Demagogues: Pakistan: 1988-99 -- 52 The Narcotic State: Burma: 1948-2005 -- 53 Rajiv Gandhi: The Reluctant Pilot: India: 1984-9 -- 54 The Tiananmen Square Massacre: China: 1987-9 -- 55 Property Crash and the Lost Decade: Japan: 1990-2000 -- 56 Narasimha Rao and the Quiet Revolution: India: 1990-2003 -- 57 The Savaging of the Tiger Economies: Asia: 1996-8 -- 58 A Bungled Surrender: Hong Kong: 1980-7 -- 59 One China or Two?: Taiwan: 1947-2005 -- 60 Nukes and Mullahs: Pakistan: 1973-2005 -- PART V: END OF AMERICA'S ASIAN EMPIRE -- 61 Asia Redux: Asia: 1990-2010 -- China -- Taiwan -- Japan -- South Korea -- North Korea -- Thailand -- Malaysia -- Singapore -- The Philippines -- Indonesia -- Burma -- India -- Pakistan -- Bangladesh -- Sri Lanka -- Vietnam -- Cambodia -- 62 From Cold War to End of Empire: America-Asia: 1945-2010 -- 'To Serve and Not to Dominate the World' -- The Soviet Dynamic -- America's Post-War Asian Empire -- The Damning of America -- Reagan and Thatcher: Anglo-Saxon Revival -- Collapse of the 'Evil' Empire -- Peace Dividend: Global Expansion of American Values -- Beginning of the End of America's Empire -- Empires in Renewed Conflict? -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.
Abstract:
As the major geopolitical power bloc, Asia - with 4 billion people, two-thirds of the world's population, a huge land-mass and the fastest-growing economies - has shifted the global political balance. "Empires at War" gives a dramatic narrative account of how 'Modern Asia' came into being. Ranging over the whole of Asia, from Japan to Pakistan, the modern history of this important region is placed in the context of the struggle between America and the Soviet Union. Francis Pike shows that America's domination of post-war Asia was a continuation of a 100-year competition for power in the region. He also argues cogently that, contrary to the largely 'Western-centric' viewpoint, Asian nations were not simply the passive and biddable entities of the superpowers, but had a political development which was both separate and unique, with a dynamic that was largely independent of the superpower conflict. And, in conclusion, the book traces the unwinding of American influence and the end of its Empire - a crucial development in international history which is already having repercussions throughout the world.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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