The History of Manchuria, 1840-1948

The History of Manchuria, 1840-1948

A Sino-Russo-Japanese Triangle

In A History of Manchuria, Ian Nish describes the turbulent times which the three Northeastern Provinces of China experienced in the last two centuries. The site of three serious wars in 1894, 1904 and 1919, the territory rarely enjoyed peace though its economy progressed because of the building of arterial railways. From 1932 it came under the rule of the Japanese-inspired government of Manchukuo based at Changchun. But that was short-lived, being brought to an end by the punitive incursion and occupation of the country by Soviet forces in 1945. Thereafter the devastated territory was fought over by Chinese Nationalist and Communist armies until Mukden (Shenyang) fell to the Communists in October 1948. Manchuria, under-populated but strategically important, was the location for disputes between China, Russia and Japan, the three powers making up the 'triangle' which gives the name to the sub-title of this study. These countries were hardly ever at peace with one another, the result being that the economic growth of a potentially wealthy country was seriously retarded. The story is illustrated by extracts drawn from contemporary documents of the three triangular powers.
  • VOLUME 1: HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
    • Cover
    • Half Title
    • Title
    • Copyright
    • Dedication
    • Contents
    • Preface
    • Acknowledgements
    • Name Conventions
    • List of Abbreviations
    • List of Maps
    • Chapter One: Manchuria and Russian Ambition,1840s–1890s
      • Manchuria : Country and People
      • Manchu rulers encounter the Taiping
      • Rusia’s activity on the Manchurian Amur
      • The Crimean War and Manchuria
      • Treaties of Aigun , Tientsin and Peking
      • 1880s Developments
      • Railways in Northeast Asia
    • Chapter Two: Sino-Japanese War and After, 1894–1900
      • Sino-Japanese War of 1894–5
      • Shimonoseki Treaty and after
      • Manchurian ports, 1898
      • Progres of Rusian Railways
      • Boxers in North China, 1900–1901
    • Chapter Three: Prelude to the Russo-Japanese War, 1900–1905
      • Boxer disturbances in Manchuria
      • Storms at the gateway to Manchuria
      • Delayed evacuation
      • Inspections of Rusian Manchuria
      • Delays in trop evacuation
      • Manchuria at war
      • Peace treaties
    • Chapter Four: Railways, Reforms and Revolutions,1906–1914
      • Foreign railway developments
      • Chinese railway ambitions
      • Ito’s mision , 1909
      • Foreign railway observers
      • The Xinhai Revolution (1911) and Manchuria
      • Anti-Republicanism or Ching restoration
      • Trade and port rivalry
      • Rusia setles down
    • Chapter Five: Wartime Turmoil in Manchuria,1915–1922
      • Twenty -one Demands and after
      • Ruso -Japanese Alliance , 1916
      • Manchuria : Domestic
      • Manchuria and the Rusian Revolutions (1917–August 1918)
      • Manchuria and the Siberian intervention (August 1918–1922)
      • Chinese nationalism in the international arena , 1919–22
    • Chapter Six: Chang Tso-Lin’s Manchuria,1922–28
      • Chang Tso-Lin
      • Chinese Eastern Railway
      • Education
      • The Dynasty Creps Out
      • Last Years of Chang Tso -Lin , 1926–1928
      • ‘The Final Act ’
    • Chapter Seven: Chinese Nationalism and Foreign Railways,1929–1931
      • Chang Hsueh-Liang
      • Mukden and the Kuomintang
      • Relations with Japan
      • The First Manchurian Incident , 1929
      • Divergent Japanese Opinions About Manchuria
      • Comercial Considerations
      • Deteriorating Manchurian -Japanese Relations , 1931
    • Chapter Eight: Lytton Commission in Manchuria,1931–1932
      • ‘War in Disguise ’
      • League of Nations Comision Goes East
      • Comision moves to Manchuria
      • Contacts Official and Unoficial
      • Comision ’s Second Visit to Tokyo
      • Preparing the Final Report
      • League Enquiry Report: Assesment
      • Report ’s Progres Through Commitees
      • Pesimistic Optimism
    • Chapter Nine: Manchukuo: From Republic to Empire,1933–1937
      • Tangku Truce
      • Trade and Recognition
      • Promotion of PuYi, 1934
      • Sale of Chinese Eastern Railway , 1933–1935
      • Industrialization of Manchuria
      • From Manchukuo into North China
      • Marco Polo Bridge Incident Before and After
      • The Fiction of Manchurian Independence
    • Chapter Ten: A Decade of Wars,1938–1948
      • The Nomonhan War,1939
      • Economy in Wartime Manchukuo, 1940–1945
      • The Yalta Conference and After
      • Soviet Invasion
      • Japanese Response
      • Manchurian Civil War
      • General Marshal ’s Mision
      • The Path to Comunist Ascendancy
    • Epilogue
    • Select Bibliography
    • Index
    • Back Cover
  • VOLUME 2: SELECT PRIMARY SOURCES
    • Cover
    • Half Title
    • Title
    • Copyright
    • Dedication
    • Contents
    • Chapter 1: 1840–1894
      • 1. Exploits of Nicholas Muraviev, Governor-general of Eastern Siberia
      • 2. Military Review of the Amùr Country
      • 3. China’s Relations with Russia
      • 4. Vice-Admiral Sir H. Keppel to the Secretary to the Admiralty reporting on Russian activity on the Amur river
      • 5. Memorandum on the Russian Settlement of Vladivostok by Captain Colomb of HMS Audacious, 14 August 1875
      • 6. The Tsar’s instructions to the Crown Prince to lay the foundation stone for the railway at Vladivostock, 29 March 1891
    • Chapter 2: 1895–1899
      • 1. The Treaty of Peace concluded between China and Japan – excerpts only
      • 2. ‘Visit to Manchurian Port of Newchang, 1899’
      • 3. Start of the Sino-Russian War: Report from Sir Charles Scott to the Marquess of Salisbury, July 1900
      • 4. General Kuropatkin’s defence of Russian policy in Manchuria
    • Chapter 3: 1900–1905
      • 1. Genro Ito in St Petersburg, November - December 1901
      • 2. Ito chooses between russia and Britain
      • 3. ‘Manchuria under Russian occupation, October 1902’
      • 4. The Fall of Port Arthur, January 1905
    • Chapter 4: 1905–1914
      • 1.‘Western businessman visitsManchurian cities, 1907’
      • 2. ‘A Japanese visits Manchuria, 1909’
      • 3. Notes by Lieutenant Binstead on the Position and Policy of Russia in Northern Manchuria at the present moment. Peking, April 3, 1914
    • Chapter 5: 1915–1922
      • 1a. Twenty-one Demands - Group V
      • 1b. Japanese military attitudes during negotiations (British intercept)
      • 2a. Russo-Japanese Alliance, 1916
      • 2b. Commentary on the Russo-Japanese Alliance
      • 3. Siberian expedition
      • 4. The Chientao Incident (1920)
    • Chapter 6: 1922–1928
      • 1. The Mukden Agreement
      • 2. Ex-emperor leaves Peking for Tientsin [1925]
      • 3. Italian Assessment of Chang Tso-lin
      • 4. Assassination of Chang Tso-lin
    • Chapter 7: 1929–1931
      • 1. Chinese attitudes following the New Unification Government
      • 2. ‘The curious affair’ of the Sino-Soviet conflict, 1929
      • 3. Chinese Response to Japanese Military Intervention
    • Chapter 8: 1931–1932
      • 1. Ma Chan-shan letter and the League of Nations
      • 2. The Lytton Commision and the search for Ma Chan-shan
      • 3. Residents’ View of the new Manchoukuo
    • Chapter 9: 1933–1937
      • 1. ‘Political Reorganisation in Manchukuo (1939)’
      • 2. Four Years of Manchukuo Administration
      • 3. Chiang Kai-shek on China’s resistance to the Japanese
    • Chapter 10: 1938–1948
      • 1. Manchukuo – A British Perspective
      • 2. Sino-Soviet Treaty, 14 August 1945
      • 3. The Fall of Mukden, [8 November] 1948
    • Apendix Appeal by the Chinese Government
    • Back Cover

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