Book Recommendation: "War and National Reinvention: Japan in the Great War, 1914–1919"

Greetings, I have another book recommendation for you all.

I firmly believe that any study of the Second World War, modern warfare, current world events, or international politics will eventually lead the researcher to the First World War. The conflict caused the end of four empires, and the deaths of 17 million people, and its failed peace settlement shaped the future of the modern world. While it's easy to see the fault lines today in the Balkans and the Middle East, the lines drawn (and not drawn) in Asia are just as important. As Japan was the only Asian nation to sit at the table of the 'Big Five' in Paris in 1919, a study of her actions during the war and at the conference is essential to understanding how the peace led to war less than 20 years later.

I first discovered Frederick Dickinson after watching one of his lectures on youtube, offered at the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City in 2015. I immediately ordered both of his books, both of which changed my approach to Japanese history. At first, my studies were focused on the empire in general, often through the lens of its Navy. The more I read on the subject, however, the more I realized that the IJN was the engine of imperial growth, and not simply a tool of the government. Dickinson's book led me to fully appreciate this.

I moved, therefore, to the study of Japan's exponential growth in the period between 1894 to 1914. This 20-year period captures the First Sino-Japanese War, Boxer Rebellion, Russo-Japanese War, and First World War, in which Japan annexed Korea, Taiwan, and a wide swath of Micronesia, in addition to gaining a foothold in Manchuria and China. By 1914, the stage was set for furthern Japanese expansion in the Pacific, and a close look at the geography will show how Japan had every advantage over its nominal allies in the west.

I cannot recommend this book enough; if you want to understand the politics, geography, and economics that factored into the decisions taken during early 20th-century Japanese thinkers, this is a must-read. I realized when I was finished that it had to added to the list of books on Japan that I feel every foreigner should read, all of which are listed on the Pacific History Guide reading list.

War and National Reinvention - Japan in The Great War 1914-1919