Regions East Asia

Survey Articles (Regional)

Survey Articles (Regional)

  • This article discusses China’s role in the First World War with a focus on the country’s contribution to the war and the role of the war in shaping Chinese development and its place in the world. … READ MORE

    Regional
  • Hong Kong, a British colony, experienced much social and economic change as the result of the First World War. The expansion of Japanese power in Asia and the destabilizing effect of the war on China … READ MORE

    Regional
  • Taiwan, Japan’s first colony, sat geographically far removed from the European battlefields of the Great War, but closer to the Japanese expeditions to Shandong and Micronesia. Japan’s engagement … READ MORE

    Regional

Regional Thematic Articles

  • Modern Chinese collective remembrance of the First World War is composed of three main pillars – the injustices of imperialism, humiliation due to the sell-out of Chinese rights, and the popular … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • From 1916 to 1928, the Republic China was divided among military cliques in the regions of mainland China. Provincial military power holders, by proving the impotence of Beijing, undermined the … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Like the Sino- and Russo-Japanese Wars, the First World War gave an enormous boost to Japanese military operations and authority. The Imperial Navy deployed for the first time to the South Pacific, … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • China’s attempt to participate in the European war was complicated by domestic turbulence. Japan’s bid for supremacy in China compelled President Yuan Shikai to propose the Twenty-one Demands in … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Despite over 7,000 miles of separation from the Western Front, Imperial Japan underwent a political transformation during the First World War almost as dramatic as that in the vanquished capitals of … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • The First World War has been a neglected topic in Chinese historiography from 1918 to today. Although it was a point of attention among contemporaries, both nationalists and communists did not want … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Still largely overlooked in the international scholarship on the First World War, Japan’s involvement in the conflict has been studied by East Asia specialists chiefly from the standpoint of … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • This essay studies Chinese workers on the Western Front during the First World War with focus on their lives and experiences in Europe and their roles in Chinese and world history. Given the fact … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • For many years it was considered that the First World War had nothing to do with Japanese literature. However, this article shows the war’s influence in two respects. First, World War I was … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Historically, scholars largely disregarded China’s First World War involvement, since the country did not formally declare war until August 1917. I argue that we must re-examine the issue to … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Despite Japan’s critical contribution to the Allied cause, until recent years, historians had paid scant attention to Japan’s participation in the First World War relative to the country’s … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • This article surveys the occupation of the formerly German-leased territory around the Jiaozhou Bay with Qingdao as its capital city by the Japanese during and after the First World War. It first … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • After Germany and its allies were defeated in Tsingtao, their soldiers were captured and sent to Japan. More than 4,600 combatant prisoners of war (POWs) were interned in temporary camps in cities … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • After China had declared its neutrality in the European conflict, the foreign powers quickly employed an increasing variety of propaganda forms to influence public opinion in China. Until 1917, and … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Despite its image as a “European” war, the First World War exerted a tremendous influence on science and technology in Japan. The war’s impact on Japanese military technology was certainly … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Social protest surged in Japan during World War I. Labor strikes, union organizing, and an incipient student movement were the most notable forms through 1917. In the summer of 1918 a spike in rice … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • This article discusses China’s war aims during the First World War, as well as the intra-Chinese discussion over which side to enter the war on. It surveys the extent of the different aims, most of … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • This article discusses Japan’s war aims during the First World War, as well as the different policy approaches Japanese leaders employed to achieve those aims. It explores Japan’s entrance into … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Japan’s participation in the Great War opened up a new chapter in the country’s military history. For the first time, Japanese military forces operated on a global scale, facing new challenges of … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • The majority of Japan’s direct war expenditures during World War I were spent from a Special Account for Emergency War Expenditures. Most of the annual revenues for the Special Account for … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • China’s war losses during World War I were primarily composed of 1) public and private losses amounting to approximately 21.5 million yuan, caused by the Japanese army during its passage across … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • China, which joined the Allied cause in 1917, profited economically from the First World War. This was due less to the young Republic’s direct involvement in the hostilities than the increased … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Although the military and geopolitical relevance of World War I to Japan must be considered limited, its economic impact was considerable. In sharp contrast to the prewar deficit years, Japan saw its … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic

Encyclopedic Entries

  • Invented in France in 1860, barbed wire was further developed in the United States, where it was used to restrict cattle and secure territory. Acquiring far more menacing qualities in the First World … READ MORE

    Entry
  • During the war, the Tsarist government imported large groups of Chinese to the Russian Empire to work behind the front lines. Despite their important contribution to the Russian war effort, Chinese … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Dada, a transnational movement of artists, was founded in Zurich in 1916. It disappeared in 1924, after a sham trial against Maurice Barrès in 1921. Far from pacifism, Dada declared war against war. … READ MORE

    Entry
  • World War I was not simply a conflict among European states but a global war of empires. The fighting took place not only in Europe, but also in Africa, Asia, and across the Middle East, and it … READ MORE

    Entry
  • During World War I, V. K. Wellington Koo worked in the Chinese foreign ministry before becoming Chinese minister to the United States and a member of the Chinese delegation at the Paris Peace … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Japan joined the League of Nations from its outset in 1920 as one of four permanent members of the League Council. Throughout the 1920s, the League was a centerpiece of Japan’s policy to maintain … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Liang Qichao was the driving intellectual force behind the Chinese decision to join the First World War, hoping that China thus could gain national equality and international recognition. When these … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Japanese interest in expansion into the South Pacific began in the 1870s. World War I provided a long sought after chance for the Japanese Imperial Navy to enhance its standing and gain a … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Responding to the British request for further support to the Allied war efforts, the Imperial Japanese Navy dispatched a squadron to the Mediterranean Sea. From April 1917, a Japanese flotilla was … READ MORE

    Entry
  • During World War One, Macau's main problem was its relationship with China. This stemmed from the consequences of its internal tensions and the lack of recognition of the Portuguese borders. However, … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Though of minimal significance for Japan militarily, the Great War helped stimulate the formation of a modern industrial economy in urban centers across the archipelago. The war boom of 1915-1918 … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Japan declared war on Germany in August 1914 and, after a two-month siege, captured the German-leased territory of Jiāozhōu in China. Notwithstanding the limited scope of what Japan called the … READ MORE

    Entry
  • The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, caused by Russian and Japanese expansionism in the Far East, inflicted humiliating defeats on Russia at land and sea. The war contributed to domestic unrest in … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Woodrow Wilson proposed a joint intervention with Japan to “rescue” the Czech legion in 1918. Japan dispatched 72,000 troops to Siberia. Allied intervention ended after the collapse of the White … READ MORE

    Entry
  • The wake of the Great War saw mobilizations against empire across the world, with many adopting the language of self-determination popularized by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. While Wilson and the … READ MORE

    Entry

See also

  • Alliances were an important feature of the international system on the eve of World War I. The formation of rival blocs of Great Powers has previously considered a major cause of the outbreak of war … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • In the modern era, new forms of mourning and meaning-making for fallen soldiers emerged. The human losses of the First World War were largely mourned, honoured and remembered within … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • Innovative historical scholarship played an important role in the shaping of memory during the centenary of the First World War. It guided international public memory, was part of it and as such … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • Total war is a controversial term used in the past by politicians, publicists and military officers as well as by computer specialists and academics in the present. Since its conception by French … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • The extra-European theatres of World War I have received far less scholarly attention than the war in Europe. This state of affairs is hardly surprising given the sheer magnitude of the Western Front … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • One sees a wide range of political regimes from a democratic republic with universal male suffrage (France) to parliamentary, constitutional, or even oligarchical monarchies in the countries that … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • The rapid spread of epidemics ravaged military personnel and civilians in and outside Europe’s warzones during the Great War. Further, the great influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 became a global … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • This article focuses on the extent to which imperialism contributed to the outbreak of the First World War. The first part describes the emergence of specific imperialist cultures and attitudes in … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • By examining the origins, pathways, demographic impact and consequences for the public, the medical profession and governments, of the so-called “Spanish” influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, this … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • The Treaty of Versailles was signed on 28 June 1919, establishing both the League of Nations and another international organization: the International Labour Organization (ILO). The ILO was founded … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • The article examines international efforts to curb states’ war-making prerogatives in the second half of the “long” 19th century. It captures new humanitarian sentiments circulating … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • Militarism is a vague term that has meant different things to different people at different times. It can be analysed as a popular phenomenon, or as a feature more at home in the halls of power, or … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • Many issues surrounding the conduct of war in the years 1914-1918 were impervious to international negotiation or mediation, due either to a complete lack of consensus or to an absence of trust and … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • The Great War was never considered the “war to end all wars” by the states and armed forces in conflict. The war’s legacies were processed in a wide variety of ways depending on forms of … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • Post-war economies were beset with problems, ultimately leading to the Great Depression that ruined the world economy and resulted in “beggar-thy-neighbour” national policies. Roosevelt’s … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • Raw materials were vital during the First World War. Due to the armaments production, the belligerents’ needs increased significantly, while the available resources fell. Each country intended both … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • This article deals with the nature of social conflict during the war. The length of the conflict and growing food shortages on the home front strained relations between individuals and between social … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • This article offers an overview of peacemaking after the First World War from the armistices of 1918 until 1923. It considers the outcomes of the five Parisian treaties (Versailles, Saint-Germain and … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • Imperialism shaped almost every facet of international politics from 1898 to 1914. Imperial concerns brought Britain into entente relationships with France and Russia. This Triple Entente often … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • It may surprise us to learn that some sectors of the European public were in favour of the war in 1914. The impact of modern weapons was not well understood and many people in the government, … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • Female war reporters from belligerent and neutral countries were present in the major war theatres in Europe and the Middle East throughout 1914 to 1918. While admission of journalists to the war … READ MORE

    Thematic
  • This article provides an overview of xenophobia during the First World War - namely, the ways in which the conflict was justified and sustained by the growth of hatred for external enemies, and … READ MORE

    Thematic

Survey Articles (Regional)

  • This article discusses China’s role in the First World War with a focus on the country’s contribution to the war and the role of the war in shaping Chinese development and its place in the world. … READ MORE

    Regional
  • Hong Kong, a British colony, experienced much social and economic change as the result of the First World War. The expansion of Japanese power in Asia and the destabilizing effect of the war on China … READ MORE

    Regional
  • Taiwan, Japan’s first colony, sat geographically far removed from the European battlefields of the Great War, but closer to the Japanese expeditions to Shandong and Micronesia. Japan’s engagement … READ MORE

    Regional

Regional Thematic Articles

  • Modern Chinese collective remembrance of the First World War is composed of three main pillars – the injustices of imperialism, humiliation due to the sell-out of Chinese rights, and the popular … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • From 1916 to 1928, the Republic China was divided among military cliques in the regions of mainland China. Provincial military power holders, by proving the impotence of Beijing, undermined the … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Like the Sino- and Russo-Japanese Wars, the First World War gave an enormous boost to Japanese military operations and authority. The Imperial Navy deployed for the first time to the South Pacific, … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • China’s attempt to participate in the European war was complicated by domestic turbulence. Japan’s bid for supremacy in China compelled President Yuan Shikai to propose the Twenty-one Demands in … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Despite over 7,000 miles of separation from the Western Front, Imperial Japan underwent a political transformation during the First World War almost as dramatic as that in the vanquished capitals of … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • The First World War has been a neglected topic in Chinese historiography from 1918 to today. Although it was a point of attention among contemporaries, both nationalists and communists did not want … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Still largely overlooked in the international scholarship on the First World War, Japan’s involvement in the conflict has been studied by East Asia specialists chiefly from the standpoint of … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • This essay studies Chinese workers on the Western Front during the First World War with focus on their lives and experiences in Europe and their roles in Chinese and world history. Given the fact … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • For many years it was considered that the First World War had nothing to do with Japanese literature. However, this article shows the war’s influence in two respects. First, World War I was … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Historically, scholars largely disregarded China’s First World War involvement, since the country did not formally declare war until August 1917. I argue that we must re-examine the issue to … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Despite Japan’s critical contribution to the Allied cause, until recent years, historians had paid scant attention to Japan’s participation in the First World War relative to the country’s … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • This article surveys the occupation of the formerly German-leased territory around the Jiaozhou Bay with Qingdao as its capital city by the Japanese during and after the First World War. It first … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • After Germany and its allies were defeated in Tsingtao, their soldiers were captured and sent to Japan. More than 4,600 combatant prisoners of war (POWs) were interned in temporary camps in cities … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • After China had declared its neutrality in the European conflict, the foreign powers quickly employed an increasing variety of propaganda forms to influence public opinion in China. Until 1917, and … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Despite its image as a “European” war, the First World War exerted a tremendous influence on science and technology in Japan. The war’s impact on Japanese military technology was certainly … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Social protest surged in Japan during World War I. Labor strikes, union organizing, and an incipient student movement were the most notable forms through 1917. In the summer of 1918 a spike in rice … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • This article discusses China’s war aims during the First World War, as well as the intra-Chinese discussion over which side to enter the war on. It surveys the extent of the different aims, most of … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • This article discusses Japan’s war aims during the First World War, as well as the different policy approaches Japanese leaders employed to achieve those aims. It explores Japan’s entrance into … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Japan’s participation in the Great War opened up a new chapter in the country’s military history. For the first time, Japanese military forces operated on a global scale, facing new challenges of … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • The majority of Japan’s direct war expenditures during World War I were spent from a Special Account for Emergency War Expenditures. Most of the annual revenues for the Special Account for … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • China’s war losses during World War I were primarily composed of 1) public and private losses amounting to approximately 21.5 million yuan, caused by the Japanese army during its passage across … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • China, which joined the Allied cause in 1917, profited economically from the First World War. This was due less to the young Republic’s direct involvement in the hostilities than the increased … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic
  • Although the military and geopolitical relevance of World War I to Japan must be considered limited, its economic impact was considerable. In sharp contrast to the prewar deficit years, Japan saw its … READ MORE

    Regional Thematic

Encyclopedic Entries

  • Invented in France in 1860, barbed wire was further developed in the United States, where it was used to restrict cattle and secure territory. Acquiring far more menacing qualities in the First World … READ MORE

    Entry
  • During the war, the Tsarist government imported large groups of Chinese to the Russian Empire to work behind the front lines. Despite their important contribution to the Russian war effort, Chinese … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Dada, a transnational movement of artists, was founded in Zurich in 1916. It disappeared in 1924, after a sham trial against Maurice Barrès in 1921. Far from pacifism, Dada declared war against war. … READ MORE

    Entry
  • World War I was not simply a conflict among European states but a global war of empires. The fighting took place not only in Europe, but also in Africa, Asia, and across the Middle East, and it … READ MORE

    Entry
  • During World War I, V. K. Wellington Koo worked in the Chinese foreign ministry before becoming Chinese minister to the United States and a member of the Chinese delegation at the Paris Peace … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Japan joined the League of Nations from its outset in 1920 as one of four permanent members of the League Council. Throughout the 1920s, the League was a centerpiece of Japan’s policy to maintain … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Liang Qichao was the driving intellectual force behind the Chinese decision to join the First World War, hoping that China thus could gain national equality and international recognition. When these … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Japanese interest in expansion into the South Pacific began in the 1870s. World War I provided a long sought after chance for the Japanese Imperial Navy to enhance its standing and gain a … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Responding to the British request for further support to the Allied war efforts, the Imperial Japanese Navy dispatched a squadron to the Mediterranean Sea. From April 1917, a Japanese flotilla was … READ MORE

    Entry
  • During World War One, Macau's main problem was its relationship with China. This stemmed from the consequences of its internal tensions and the lack of recognition of the Portuguese borders. However, … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Though of minimal significance for Japan militarily, the Great War helped stimulate the formation of a modern industrial economy in urban centers across the archipelago. The war boom of 1915-1918 … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Japan declared war on Germany in August 1914 and, after a two-month siege, captured the German-leased territory of Jiāozhōu in China. Notwithstanding the limited scope of what Japan called the … READ MORE

    Entry
  • The Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, caused by Russian and Japanese expansionism in the Far East, inflicted humiliating defeats on Russia at land and sea. The war contributed to domestic unrest in … READ MORE

    Entry
  • Woodrow Wilson proposed a joint intervention with Japan to “rescue” the Czech legion in 1918. Japan dispatched 72,000 troops to Siberia. Allied intervention ended after the collapse of the White … READ MORE

    Entry
  • The wake of the Great War saw mobilizations against empire across the world, with many adopting the language of self-determination popularized by U.S. President Woodrow Wilson. While Wilson and the … READ MORE

    Entry