Content area
Full text
From War to Nationalism: China's Turning Point. 1924-1925. By Arthur Waldron. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Maps. Illustrations. Bibliography. Glossary. Index. Pp. xix, 366.
This is one of the most exciting recent books on Chinese history. The book emphasizes the importance of warlords and warfare in modern China and their overwhelming demands and capriciousness. It takes two familiar but overlooked wars and makes them the focal point of modern history. Focussing tightly on the sequence of events, Waldron sees "the disruption and destruction caused by the wars of 1924" as indispensable preconditions for the May Thirtieth Movement and the Nationalist Revolution that followed. This linear focus convincingly redraws the outline of modern Chinese history, and thus provides several major correctives to our historical interpretations.
The year 1924 marked the end of the ancient northern dominance in the administration of China and its foreign relations. The warlord...