The Much Troubled Alliance

USChina Military Cooperation During the Pacific War, 19411945

The topics of World War II and US-China relationship have been of much interest to academics and general public alike. This book challenges the conventional wisdom that has been produced on the topics over the past 50 years and offers the readers a new and balanced treatment of the topics. The scope of this book covers all the major political-military events from the Pearl Harbor attack in December 1941 to the victory over Japan in August 1945.

The scholarship in this subject area has long suffered from one serious flaw, i.e., unbalanced treatment. Although the leading works in the English language have aspired to conform to high professional standards, their intrinsic limitation is that they have only consulted English language materials, but have virtually failed to consult Chinese language materials. This phenomenon is unsatisfactory since wartime US-China alliance was a highly complicated "bilateral" relationship which can only be adequately narrated and analyzed by taking into account both countries' data and perspectives. This book addresses this glaring deficiency by employing a large amount of original Chinese source materials, but also by discovering a considerable amount of new English language materials as well as subjecting other often-used English materials to a close scrutiny.

This book enables the readers to take a completely fresh look at that important period of US-China relations.

Contents:

• The Outbreak of the Pacific War and China's Immediate Reactions
• An American General Went to China
• The First Burma Campaign — March–April, 1942
• The Burma Campaign — May–June, 1942: Disastrous Defeat and Its Ramifications
• Multiple Crises in Sino-American Relations — June–July, 1942
• Currie's Peace-Making Mission — July–August, 1942
• Planning the Next Burma Campaign: June 1942–June 1943
• False Optimism and Real Strains: July 1943–June 1944
• The Second Burma Campaign and Its Ramifications
• America's Bid for Full Command Power
• The Final Showdown Between Chiang and Stilwell
• Wedemeyer's New Path — Not Too Little, But Definitely Too Late
• Conclusion

Readership: Academics, professionals, policy makers, graduate, undergraduate students and general public interested in US–China Military Cooperation during the Pacific War.
Key Features:

• Offers a narrative of the major events in US-China alliance that is radically different from the conventional treatment
• Well-illustrated with new examples including the background of Stilwell's appointment, the First Burma Campaign, Chiang Kai-shek's private views toward the UK and the US, and the crisis management of Stilwell's recall
• Offers a new perspective of evaluating the over-all US-China relations and also offers food for thought for contemporary American and Chinese leaders