The Russo Japanese War In Global Perspective

Like Volume one, Volume two of The Russo-Japanese War in Global Perspective examines the Russo-Japanese War in its military, diplomatic, social, political, and cultural context. In this volume East Asian contributors focus on the Asian side of the war to flesh out the assertion that the Russo-Japanese War was, in fact, World War Zero, the first global confl ict of the 20th century.

The study uses recently declassified Russian and Japanese documents to re-examine the military, diplomatic, social, political, economic, and cultural history of the Russo-Japanese War. This research provides fascinating new information about the decline of Imperial Russian and the rise of Imperial Japan in the early 20th century.

In this volume east Asian contributors focus on the Asian side of the war to flesh out the assertion that the Russo-Japanese war was, in fact, World War Zero, the first global conflict of the 20th century.

Many questions and issues related to the Russo-Japanese War remain unsolved, or call for a reexamination. This volume, the first of two, provides a comprehensive reexamination of the origins of the conflict, the various dimensions of the nineteen-month conflagration, the legacy of the war, and its place in the history of the twentieth century.

Clouds above the Hill is one of the best-selling novels ever in Japan, and is now translated into English for the first time. Volume I describes the growth of Japan's fledgling Meiji state, a major character in the novel. We are also introduced to our three heroes, born into obscurity, the brothers Akiyama Yoshifuru and Akiyama Saneyuki, who will go on to play important roles in the Japanese Army and Navy, and the poet Masaoka Shiki, who will spend much of his short life trying to establish the haiku as a respected poetic form. An epic portrait of Japan in crisis, Clouds above the Hill combines graphic military history and highly readable fiction to depict an aspiring nation modernizing at breakneck speed.