As the major geopolitical power bloc, Asia - with 4 billion people, two-thirds of the world's population, a huge land-mass and the fastest-growing economies - has shifted the global political balance. "Empires at War" gives a dramatic narrative account of how 'Modern Asia' came into being. Ranging over the whole of Asia, from Japan to Pakistan, the modern history of this important region is placed in the context of the struggle between America and the Soviet Union. Francis Pike shows that America's domination of post-war Asia was a continuation of a 100-year competition for power in the region. He also argues cogently that, contrary to the largely 'Western-centric' viewpoint, Asian nations were not simply the passive and biddable entities of the superpowers, but had a political development which was both separate and unique, with a dynamic that was largely independent of the superpower conflict. And, in conclusion, the book traces the unwinding of American influence and the end of its Empire - a crucial development in international history which is already having repercussions throughout the world.

A Reader's GuideIntroduction and Background PART I - AMERICAN EMPIRE AND ITS COMPETITORS 1. AMERICA: 1621-1945: American Empire and Its Competitors The Rise of European Nations and Migration to America; The Land Motive for Independence; American Continental Expansion - the first bite; American Setback in Canada; The Alamo and the Annexation of Florida and Texas; The Mexican War and the seizure of California and Oregon; Railroads and Territorial Consolidation; Genocide - The Destruction of the American Indian; Population, Gold and the Pioneer Spirit; Legends of the Conquest of the West; Hawaii, Cuba and the Philippines; Empire beyond the American Continent; Trade and the Expansion of America's Asian Interest; The Philippines - Conquest and Suppression; Theodore Roosevelt, the Panama Canal, and Economic Imperialism; The Growth of 'Moralism' in American politics and foreign policy; Emergence of America as 'the' global super power; American Isolationism after The First World War; The Russian Empire - A Competitor to United States Hegemony; Manchuria and the Rise of Japan; Isolationism Abandoned; A New Clash of Empires PART II - ASIA'S POST WAR SETTLEMENT 2. Potsdam, Hiroshima and the Bomb: Japan 1945 3. Mao and the Chinese Revolution: China 1945 - 1954 4. Emperor Hirohito and the Tokyo War Crimes Trial: Japan 1945 -1948 5. Mahatma Gandhi: Passive Aggression: India 1945 -1947 6. 'An iron curtain has descended': America-Soviet Union 1945-1961 7. Stalin, Mao and Truman: Post-War Alliances: North East Asia1945 - 1950 8. Chiang Kai Shek and the Flight to Taiwan: Taiwan 1945 - 1949 9. MacArthur, Yoshida, and the American Occupation of Japan: Japan 1945-1954 10. Hô Chí Minh and the Battle of Diên Biên Phu Vietnam 1945-1954 11. General Phibun: National Socialist Dictator Thailand: 1945-1958 12. From Independence to Dependency Philippines: 1945-1960 13. Lord Mountbatten and the Partition India-Pakistan 1945-1947 14. Origins of the Korean War Korea: 1945-1950 15. Aung Sang: Revolutionary and Turncoat Burma:1945-1949 16. Sukarno: The Founding Father Indonesia: 1945-1950 17. Independence and the Racial Contract Malaysia: 1945-1957 18. Lee Kuan Yew: Pocket Giant Singapore: 1945-1964 19. Capitalist Redoubt Hong Kong: 1945-1997 PART III - COLD WAR IN THE BALANCE 20. The Korean War Korea: 1950-1953 21. The Great Leap Forward China: 1949-1961 22. Dictatorship and Prosperity Taiwan: 1947-1975 23. Nehru: The Fashioning of