Chinese Military History

The Chinese Civil War was a decades-long struggle between the Nationalists and Communists that reshaped China and reverberated across the globe. This concise yet comprehensive book covers the war’s early battles, the impact of the Japanese invasion during World War II, and the final showdown that saw Chiang Kai-shek’s retreat to Taiwan. Listen about the ideologies and strategies of both sides and explore the global consequences of this war, which marked a pivotal moment in Cold War history.

He was born a prince, the son of one of Mao Zedong’s most trusted revolutionary comrades, destined for a life of privilege within the protected walls of the leadership compound. He would instead spend his teenage years as a political pariah, publicly humiliated and exiled to a flea-infested cave dwelling in a remote, impoverished village. This crucible of suffering did not break him; it forged a will of iron and a deep, patient understanding of the brutal realities of power. For decades, he moved through the Communist Party apparatus as a gray man, a competent but seemingly unremarkable ...

Some of the cruelest deeds of Japan's war in Asia did not occur on the battlefield, but in quiet, antiseptic medical wards in obscure parts of China. Far from front lines and prying eyes, Japanese doctors and their assistants subjected human guinea pigs to gruesome medical experiments in the name of science and Japan's wartime chemical and biological warfare research. Author Hal Gold draws upon a wealth of sources to construct a portrait of the Imperial Japanese Army's most notorious medical unit, giving an overview of its history and detailing its most shocking activities.

The audiobook covers the first stages of the war, from 1927-1937, the interlude from 1938-1945 during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, and the final and most well-known phase of the war from 1946-1949. Learn about the causes, events, and lasting effects of the Chinese Civil War and about the warfare tactics and political strategy of the Chinese Communist Party and the Nationalist Kuomintang during these integral years. This is the story about how a group of young, inexperienced Chinese revolutionaries changed the destiny of China.

Possibly the foremost classic of military strategy. The Art of War was written by Sun Tzu (Sunzi, Sun Wu), a quasi-legendary figure. The work dates from the 6th to the 3rd century BCE. It is known worldwide as required reading for students of political and military science and history. Most editions of this work include a great amount of commentary from various editors, making the work more difficult to understand. We have dispensed with that here, and only include the core treatise in straightforward, modern prose.

This global history as the Chinese would write it gives brilliant and unconventional insights for understanding China's role in the world, especially the drive to "Make China Great Again." We in the West routinely ask: "What does China want?" The answer is quite simple: the superpower status it...

THE MOST QUOTED AND LEAST UNDERSTOOD TEXT IN HUMAN HISTORY—NOW IN A DEFINITIVE NEW TRANSLATION For twenty-five centuries, Sun Tzu's Art of War has shaped how generals, statesmen, and strategists think about conflict. Yet most readers encounter this ancient masterpiece through translations that obscure its original power—Victorian prose that dilutes the text's brutal compression, or corporate repackagings that strip away its meaning. This edition is different. NEW TRANSLATION — Neither Victorian nor corporate. This translation restores the density of the original: verse by verse, line ...

Defending Heaven brings together, for the first time in one volume, a complete history of the Jin, Song, and Ming dynasties' wars fought against the Mongols. Lasting nearly two centuries, these wars, fought to defend Chinese civilization against a brutal and unrelenting foe, pitted personal heroics against the inexorable Mongol war machine and involved every part of the Chinese state.

This volume in a series of world history case studies presents the life of the Chinese general who amazingly survived the political turmoil of the Long March, the Chinese Revolution, the Cultural Revolution, and the Deng era, despite not always having been allied with Mao Zedong. Xu Xiangqian’s career with the People’s Liberation Army inspires and frightens, appalls and confounds. What emerges is the story of a survivor who provides a new look at an era the world is only beginning to understand This book is a volume in the Understanding World History Through Biography series.

Military Strategy Classics of Ancient China presents modern translations of eight of the most important and relevant military texts from antiquity, which have gained new prominence among Western students of Eastern military strategy and philosophy. In a collection spanning twenty centuries, each text in Chen Song’s groundbreaking translation is presented in modern English, followed by Chinese characters. These texts provide background for a wide range of disciplines, including history, linguistics, wuxia, martial arts, business and legal doctrine. Contents include: The Six Secret ...

In a world of renewed great power competition, the challenges facing the United States in managing its relations with China and Russia are daunting. But with "A New Cold War Global Strategy," you can get ahead of the curve in understanding this complex conflict. This comprehensive analysis of the relationships among these three global powers draws on insights from history, economics, law, and philosophy to provide a strategic roadmap for the United States. From the resource dependence and demographic constraints of dictatorship to the isolationism and withdrawal of democracy, the book ...

Brought to you by Penguin. Chris Harding's enormously enjoyable new book distils Japan's long, complex and fascinating history into the stories of twenty remarkable individuals. These vivid and entertaining portraits take the reader from the earliest written accounts of Japan right through to...

Dr Michael Lynch provides a concise overview of the Chinese Civil War, a defining conflict in world history. Between the end of World War II and the dawn of the Cold War, one of the most important conflicts in modern history reached its climax. Delving into the political background and complex ramifications of the conflict, he assesses Mao and Chiang’s millions-strong armies, their strategies and commanders, and the critical campaigns that won and lost China.

The so-called Tiananmen Square “Massacre” is one of the most misleading events the US government and the Western media have used to demonize the Chinese government each and every year since 1989. There was ample silent evidence in the images produced by the Western media that told the story of a highly restrained and caring Chinese government facing a protest similar to those in the West at various stages of their economic development. However, the West and anti-communist forces had capitalized on the situation in 1989 to fuel the public’s anger, intending to overthrow a good ...

One of Library Journal’s 10 Best Books of 2015 Following his acclaimed Atlantic and The Men Who United the States, New York Times bestselling author Simon Winchester offers an enthralling biography of the Pacific Ocean and its role in the modern world, exploring our relationship with this...

This nation's Cold War and Global War on Terror defense structures need an update. U.S. Naval Power in the 21st Century provides such a framework for the changed world we live in, offering a roadmap that shows how the U.S. can field a war-winning fleet that can also compete aggressively in peacetime against dangerous competitors.

Without the Marines the entire United Nations core strength was at risk of collapse which would have changed the outcome of the Korean War. This is a compelling history of the Marines’ incredible tenacity and of woeful combat leadership as the Chinese gambled away their men’s lives and ultimately victory.

The Korean War is often labeled “the forgotten war”, and though it has received renewed attention in recent years, it still pales compared to others in recent history like the Vietnam War or even the more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What’s mostly overlooked is that the Korean War was one of the most intense conflicts the United States fought, and the soldiers who served in it were arguably in greater peril than in any other war over the last 75 years.

From the former New York Times Asia correspondent and author of China's Second Continent, an incisive investigation of China's ideological development as it becomes an ever more aggressive player in regional and global diplomacy. For many years after its reform and opening in 1978, China...

From the #1 bestselling author of Flags of our Fathers and Flyboys, a startling new look at the events that set the stage for WWII. In 1905 President Teddy Roosevelt dispatched Secretary of War William Howard Taft on the largest U.S. diplomatic mission in history to Hawaii, Japan, the...