{"product_id":"the-reluctant-combatant-japan-and-the-second-sinojapanese-war-9780761863243","title":"The Reluctant Combatant Japan and the Second","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Reluctant Combatant offers proof that Japanese political leaders were reluctant to engage China in a full-scale conflict during the Second Sino-Japanese War. This book identifies several key aspects of the political context surrounding the Second Sino-Japanese War, including the extreme fragility of the national united front against Japan, the view of Soviet Russia as Japan's principal potential adversary, and the potential threat to Japanese national defense a protracted war with China would pose. This book reveals that the Communists, the National Government, local gentry, peasants, and bandits occasionally collaborated with the enemyJapanese troopsto expand their spheres of influence.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe mainstream view on the Second Sino-Japanese War is that Imperial Japan was bent on destroying China, and the rest of Asia, for purely selfish reasons. However, careful analysis of the global situation, particularly of the social and political development of China and the attitudes of the Chinese leadership, indicates that the Chinese were not the innocent victims of ‘aggression’ as is currently claimed. -- Terumasa Nakanishi, Kyoto University\u003cbr\u003eAuthors Kitamura and Lin recount the circumstances that ultimately lead to the Second Sino-Japanese War, demonstrating that the war was neither a Japanese ‘brutal war of aggression’ or that China was a ‘helpless’ victim. -- Haruo Tohmatsu, Tamagawa University, Tokyo\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePREFACE  INTRODUCTION: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND WAR I. The Second Sino-Japanese War and world history II. Aggressive wars not considered crimes III. Japan: victim of circumstance  CHAPTER 1: EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE SECOND SINO-JAPANESE WAR I. Japan and China join European-oriented international order II. Russo-Japanese War spawns a new conflict III. Tension between Japan and China heightens  CHAPTER 2: CHINA AND THE SECOND SINO-JAPANESE WAR I. Behind the groundswell of support for war against Japan II. From the Marco Polo Bridge Incident to full-blown war  CHAPTER 3: JAPAN AND THE SECOND SINO-JAPANESE WAR I. Japan’s response to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War II. Initial peace overtures III. The war in the context of international politics  CHAPTER 4: THE SECOND SINO-JAPANESE WAR AND CHINESE SOCIETY I. Who fought in the war? II. Recruitment of soldiers in China  CHAPTER 5: WAR DYNAMICS ALTER CHINESE SOCIETY I. The effect of Japanese occupation II. Establishment of pro-Japan governments  CHAPTER 6: FROM THE SECOND SINO-JAPANESE WAR TO THE PACIFIC WAR\t I. Japanese government’s efforts to negotiate peace with Nationalist government II. The road to the Pacific War  CHAPTER 7: THE CHINESE PERCEPTION OF HISTORY I. Chinese views about crimes and punishment II. Confucian ethics encourage lying: the bihui syndrome  AFTERWORD  SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY","brand":"University Press of America","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51037879370071,"sku":"9780761863243","price":31.5,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780761863243.jpg?v=1750937981","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/the-reluctant-combatant-japan-and-the-second-sinojapanese-war-9780761863243","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}