The Road to Pearl Harbor : Great Power War in Asia and the Pacific

The Road to Pearl Harbor offers a timely examination of the conflict in the Pacific prior to the attacks on Pearl Harbor and offers lessons applicable to understanding contemporary Great Power flash points between Asia and the West. This volume brings together renowned historians and analysts of grand strategy to map out the fateful decisions that culminated in war. The contributors take a pragmatic view of the policy and strategy options, as well as the decisions made by the leaders of the great powers. This important history underscores that the choices made by political, military, and naval leaders mattered in determining questions of war and peace. Highlighting Japan’s war against China and the protracted resistance of Chiang-Kai-shek’s Nationalist regime, The Road to Pearl Harbor provides historical context for understanding the struggle for mastery in Asia and decisions for war. The book also makes an important contribution to interwar naval history by examining the views of the Japanese navy’s leaders, who wanted to build up their navy to defeat Britain and the United States at sea. This history is certainly relevant, as the concluding chapter demonstrates in an eye-opening examination of the current views held by Chinese naval officers about how to fight a future war in the Pacific. Why Pearl Harbor? / John H. Maurer And Erik Goldstein -- Constructing A Liberal International Order: David Lloyd George And Peacemaking / Erik Goldstein -- Return To Great Power Competition: Imperial Japan's Rejection Of The Washington System / Peter Mauch -- Tasting Gall: Chiang Kai-shek And China's War With Japan / Grant F. Rhode -- Winston Churchill And The Gathering Storm In Asia / John H. Maurer -- FDR And America's Road To War In The Pacific / Walter A. Mcdougall -- Igniting The U.S.-Japan War 1941 / Richard B. Frank -- Chinese Views Of Future Warfare In The Indo-Pacific: First Strike And U.S. Forward Bases In Japan / Toshi Yoshihara This volume looks at conflict in the Pacific prior to the attacks on Pearl Harbor for lessons applicable to understanding Great Power conflicts between Asia and the West today