Empires on the Pacific: World War II and the Struggle for the Mastery of Asia

by Robert Smith Thompson

By moving China to centre stage, Robert Smith Thompson expands the traditional boundaries of the Pacific Theatre of World War II and casts the conflict in an entirely new light. What is commonly viewed as a discrete military conflict between an aggressive Japan with imperial ambitions and a reluctant, passive America becomes the stuff of Greek tragedy. The overreaching British Empire is waning, yet is unwilling to relinquish its foothold in China, while an increasingly ambitious Japan is determined to dominate the region and conquer China as part of that plan. Enter the young upstart, America, with imperial ambitions of its own in Asia. The US meant to replace Britain as the dominant power in Asia and saw Japan as a direct threat to that dominance. For Franklin Delano Roosevelt and for the US, the war with Japan had little to do with revenge for Pearl Harbour. Japan would have to be vanquished so that it would never again be an imperial rival. This recasting of the Asian conflict profoundly alters our understanding not just of World War II in the Pacific but also of what followed in the Korean War and the war in Vietnam.

Genres: History, World War II, Nonfiction

448 pages, Hardcover

First published December 23, 2001

Reviews

[John King · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good, readable history of the Pacific war. However some of the stats don't match with others I've read. Also, as with histories which tackle the entire war there are sins of omission. The battle of Leyte Gulf is presented with no drama even though Halsey took the bait to go north after Ozawa's decoy carriers leaving Kincaid and others alone to face an enemy of superior numbers. No mention that the U.S. was very lucky not to have lost.
I think the author was a little battle fatigued by the time he got to Okinawa. It was reduced to a few paragraphs and no mention of it being that greatest bloodbath of the war.
However, the author filled in a lot of gaps on Chiang Kai-shek's corruption and Stillwell's frustration with him. Also, how Stalin got so much at Yalta for so little: declaring war on Japan two weeks before they surrendered!

[Ryan Kooy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and relatively well paced. Loses lots of steam at the end.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work provides some background on the Japanese and Chinese empires as well as their interactions with the White powers of Europe and America. It traces the pathway to America's entry into World War II and gives an overview of the war.

[Chris Watson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Typical American mythological faux-history.
Myths and American propaganda repackaged with extra adjectives and falsely labeled history.
I read it so you don't have to!

[sologdin · Rating 2 out of 5]

basic thesis is that the US and japan are competitors for control of china.