Where Empires Collided

Michael Share explores the historical relationship between Russia and the Chinese Eastern Periphery (Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macao). Share's extensive research of archived materials shows that Russian and Soviet dealings with the Chinese Eastern Periphery were inextricably linked to broader international relationships with Great Britain, Japan, and the United States.

Collision of Empires is the first major historical work on the Eastern Front during World War I since the 1970s. One of the primary triggers of the outbreak of World War I was undoubtedly the myriad alliances and suspicions that existed between the Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian empires in the early 20th century. Yet much of the actual fighting between these nations has been largely forgotten in the West. Driven by first-hand accounts and detailed archival research, Collision of Empires seeks to correct this imbalance. The first in a four-book series on the Eastern Front in World War I, Prit Buttar's dynamic retelling examines the tumultuous events of the first year of the war and reveals the chaos and destruction that reigned when three powerful empires collided. A war that was initially seen by all three powers as a welcome opportunity to address both internal and external issues would ultimately bring about the downfall of them all.

Linking two defining narratives of the twentieth century, Sutton’s comparative study of Hong Kong and Cyprus – where two of the empire’s most effective communist parties operated – examines how British colonial policy-makers took to cultural and ideological battlegrounds to fight the anti-colonial imperialism of their communist enemies in the Cold War. The structure and intentional nature of the British colonial system grants unprecedented access to British perceptions and strategies, which sought to balance constructive socio-political investments with regressive and self-defeating repression, neither of which Britain could afford in the Cold War conflict of empires.

Japan's invasion of China in 1937 saw most major campaigns north of the Yangtze River, where Chinese industry was concentrated. The southern theater proved a more difficult challenge for Japan because of its enormous size, diverse terrain, and poor infrastructure, but Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek made a formidable stand that produced a veritable quagmire for a superior opponent--a stalemate much desired by the Allied nations. In the first book to cover this southern theater in detail, David Macri closely examines strategic decisions, campaigns, and operations and shows how they affected Allied grand strategy. Drawing on documents of U.S. and British officials, he reveals for the first time how the Sino-Japanese War served as a "proxy war" for the Allies: by keeping Japan's military resources focused on southern China, they hoped to keep the enemy bogged down in a war of attrition that would prevent them from breaching British and Soviet territory. While the most immediate concern was preserving Siberia and its vast resources from invasion, Macri identifies Hong Kong as the keystone in that proxy war-vital in sustaining Chinese resistance against Japan as it provided the logistical interface between the outside world and battles in Hunan and Kwangtung provinces; a situation that emerged because of its vital rail connection to the city of Changsha. He describes the development of Anglo-Japanese low-intensity conflict at Hong Kong; he then explains the geopolitical significance of Hong Kong and southern China for the period following the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Opening a new window on this rarely studied theater, Macri underscores China's symbolic importance for the Allies, depicting them as unequal partners who fought the Japanese for entirely different reasons-China for restoration of its national sovereignty, the Allies to keep the Japanese preoccupied. And by aiding China's wartime efforts, the Allies further hoped to undermine Japanese propaganda designed to expel Western powers from its Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere. As Macri shows, Hong Kong was not just a sleepy British Colonial outpost on the fringes of the empire but an essential logistical component of the war, and to fully understand broader events Hong Kong must be viewed together with southern China as a single military zone. His account of that forgotten fight is a pioneering work that provides new insight into the origins of the Pacific War.

Chapter 1: One World--Two EmpiresChapter 2: The Steep Stairs to GodChapter 3: War Over the WordChapter 4: The Demon's DomainChapter 5: Back to the GardenChapter 6: The Lamb That RoarsChapter 7: My Children, My BloodChapter 8: Who Owns the Future

The long struggle which led to the British take-over of Burma in the 1880s was not a typical one-sided colonial conflict. It was an epic cultural, political, economic, and military confrontation between two confident and self-interested empires, one traditional and Asian in outlook, the other modern, commercial, and aggressive. This fascinating book is the first scholarly treatment of a critical phase in British-Burmese relations.

The Cold War was a distinct and crucial period in Hong Kong's evolution and in its relations with China and the rest of the world. Hong Kong was a window through which the West could monitor what was happening in China and an outlet that China could use to keep in touch with the outside world. Exploring the many complexities of Cold War politics from a global and interdisciplinary perspective, Hong Kong in the Cold War shows how Hong Kong attained and honed a pragmatic tradition that bridged the abyss between such opposite ideas as capitalism and communism, thus maintaining a compromise between China and the rest of the world. The chapters are written by nine leading international scholars and address issues of diplomacy and politics, finance and economics, intelligence and propaganda, refugees and humanitarianism, tourism and popular culture, and their lasting impact on Hong Kong. Far from simply describing a historical period, these essays show that Hong Kong's unique Cold War experience may provide a viable blueprint for modern-day China to develop a similar model of good governance and may in fact hold the key to the successful implementation of the One Country Two Systems idea. “This is a timely collection of essays on the role of Hong Kong in a global context and its multifaceted relationship with mainland China. It is emerging at a particularly appropriate moment when the local community has been provoked to reflect on its common fate under the notion of ‘one country, two systems.’” —Ray Yep, City University of Hong Kong “Hong Kong, the ‘Berlin of the East,’ was transformed by the Cold War, an existential conflict between capitalism and communism. Consequently, this fine volume is a must-read for political, cultural, and economic historians of Hong Kong. International historians should also add this collection of essays and cutting-edge empirical studies to their reading lists: it will enrich their understandings of the Global Cold War.” —David Clayton, University of York

This book aims at providing an accessible introduction to and summary of the major themes of Hong Kong history that has been studied in the past decades. Each chapter also suggests a number of key historical figures and works that are essential for the understanding of a particular theme. However, the book is by no means merely a general survey of the recent studies of Hong Kong history; it tries to suggest that the best way to approach Hong Kong history is to put it firmly in its international context.