Peace In Their Time

China's decay by the end of 1911 reaches a point of no return and a revolution sweeps the country. The old Qing Empire ends in ignominious fashion as its hand-picked commander decides to parley with the revolution instead. The Qing went away, but the question of what came after would take over 35 years to be answered. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, Part 1 Cambridge University Press 1983

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Today is the start of a new miniseries where I finally get to cover China. This is going to be a fun one because the history of China during this time period is one that gets left out of the vast majority of popular histories. The reason is because it's a hectic mess, which is good because hectic messes are one of the reasons I do this show. This week though we just get the table set, with the fall of the Qing Empire, and China's entry into an extended period of misery. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Fairbank, John K & Kwang-Ching Liu The Cambridge History of China, Volume 11: Late Ch'ing, 1800-1911, Part 2 Cambridge University Press 1980

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

This week we wrap up Japan in the 1920s. While the nation didn't finish the decade gripped by the militarism that would drag the nation into its later disasters, warning signs were already there. The country's ruling class became fearful of the changing times, a shift reflected in the change of monarch as Hirohito takes the throne, and Japan once again had an active emperor. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. McClain, James L A Modern History of Japan WW Norton & Company Inc, 2002

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Returning back to normal episodes on Japan, the country enjoys its most democratic period of the years I'll be covering. Too bad for them, it's also the same time that the economy craters and one of the worst natural disasters in the country's history strikes. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. McClain, James L A Modern History of Japan WW Norton & Company Inc, 2002

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

After almost a year of back and forth, Japan and the Entente launched their biggest intervention into Civil War-era Russia, the Siberian Expedition. The years-long effort was marred by muddled objectives and a hostile populace, and its long-term impact was mostly confirming the Soviet Union as an enemy and undermining the people's faith in Japan's institutions. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Morley, James William The Japanese Thrust Into Siberia, 1918 Columbia University Press, 1954

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Support for an intervention into Siberia begins to build momentum as apprehensions over the new Bolshevik government in Russia grow. But it's the appearance of tens of thousands of armed Czechs in the region that really knocks down any barriers to sending an armed force in. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Morley, James William The Japanese Thrust Into Siberia, 1918 Columbia University Press, 1954

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

This week begins a 3-part miniseries within a miniseries covering in detail Japan's involvement in the Siberian Expedition, a haphazard military intervention into Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East. But it's the twists and turns of actually getting the venture off the ground that are the most insightful bits of history, as the conflicts and cross-purposes of the Japanese elites were on full display on the long road leading north.  

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Morley, James William The Japanese Thrust Into Siberia, 1918 Columbia University Press, 1954

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

What went up eventually came down, and the wartime boom for Japan's economy ended not long after the hostilities. Japan entered the 20s far more uncertain than it had been just a generation ago, as the world was fast changing. The people in both the cities and countryside demanded more rights and material benefits, and the elites were slow to oblige them. This set the stage for the Taisho era to be remembered as a vibrant time, but also one that those with power would want to get away from. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. McClain, James L A Modern History of Japan WW Norton & Company Inc, 2002

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

The Meiji era is concluded this week, and the transition to the Emperor Taisho ushers in a new period of experimentation in Japanese life. Taisho himself was incapacitated with medical ailments for most of his reign, and the throne did not present the solid center it had under Meiji. In addition, the genro which had formed the core of Japan's leadership began aging out, and Ito's constitution turned out not to be foolproof at resisting demands for representative government. The nation now had to reckon with its own modernization and the unsustainability of the old status quo. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. McClain, James L A Modern History of Japan WW Norton & Company Inc, 2002

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Years before they swept over East Asia in the 30s and 40s, the Japanese... well they swept over East Asia before then too. Seeing overseas possessions as the next logical step towards making their own nation secure, Japan started going to war with the neighbors. Fortune smiled on them in these years and they humbled empires far larger than they. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. McClain, James L A Modern History of Japan WW Norton & Company Inc, 2002

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]