By early 1947, full-scale wars were raging in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, with growing guerrilla conflicts in Korea and Malaya. Within a decade, almost all of the countries of South, East, and Southeast Asia that had been Japanese conquests or European colonies experienced wars. These resulted in the deaths of 2.5 million combatants and millions of civilians. This lecture will provide a comprehensive military history and analysis of these shockingly violent conflicts that forever changed the shape of Asia and the world as we know it today.
Ronald H. Spector, PhD, is an emeritus professor of history and international relations at George Washington University. He is an award-winning scholar of modern military history and has taught at the National War College and the U.S. Army War College. He has taught as a visiting professor in universities around the world.