“China in World War II: New History; New Perspectives for Today" by Richard B. Frank 

Sadly this lecture is still relevant. Despite the popularity of ww2 in media and culture there still a complete lack of awareness of anything that went on in China during ww2.

A clear and formative presentation by a well-informed scholar.

China still has not forgotten the lack of acknowledgement by the Western Allies for its contributions in WW2, especially in the Pacific theater. They still have not forgiven the atrocities done to their civilians by Imperial Japan. (unlike the Jews in Europe)

When are you people going to hire a competent audio technician?

Most of the educated and people with a heart in the world will appreciated very much your great efforts and contribution on the humanity and the horrible WARs that kills millions and millions of innocent human-beings. Thanks.

A very informative lecture that gives points worthy of adding to our high school history curriculum!

Great lecture, my only problem is the low sound when Frank speaks.

A great lecture marred by sound problems. Barbara Tuchman seemed to be in love with Joseph Stilwell in her book "Stillwell and the American Experience in China". Her books on WWI, "The Guns of August" and "The Proud Tower" were great, but her China book was the NY Times version----which was extremely suspect in dealing with events that at all dealt with Communists.

I would be interested in his assessment of Bill Slim's strategic outlook. He said all the air route and the new roads. He said the major effort should be to recapture Rangoon because that would open a road that was much more efficient then all the other options. He would have been far faster in doing this if all the US resource had gone to his effort.

Incredible information. Too bad he didn't use a teleprompter. So many times I had to rewind when he'd look down at his notes thereby talking to the podium instead of the microphone.

A great presentation of the most significant events and personalities in China during WW2.

Operation Ichi-Go is an operation conducted by the Japanese Army on the Chinese mainland from April 17th to December 10th, 1944 during the Sino-Japanese War. It was the last major offensive of the Japanese Army, which caused the National Revolutionary Army to be hit hard and affected during the Chinese Civil War. However, on the other hand, the United States is also mediating the conclusion of the Double Tenth Agreement with Chiang Kai-shek in order to avoid a civil war. According to a study by Barbara W. Tuchman, the results of this operation had a more significant impact on the subsequent war situation than the Japanese had imagined, and had a decisive impact on Japan's fate. According to it, Franklin Roosevelt has consistently strongly trusted and supported Chiang Kai-shek since the beginning of the war, and encouraged him in the war against Japan so that he would not drop out of the Allies in a single peace with Japan during the Cairo Conference. However, he said that he changed his mind because the front of Chiang Kai-shek collapsed due to this operation. In fact, Chiang Kai-shek has not been invited to important Allied conferences ("Yalta Conference" and "Potsdam Conference") since then. According to the Stilwell document, Roosevelt said, "Can China win?" Stilwell said, "There is no choice but to eliminate Chiang Kai-shek." During the 1944 Hengyang battle, he could not sleep at night and twice. He says he thought about suicide. The American side also planned to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek, and three methods of "poisoning", "aircraft incident", and "pretending to be suicide" were considered, but it was canceled in 1944 due to changes in the international situation such as Burma. The successor that the United States envisioned is Sun Fountain. As Roosevelt's Chief of Staff George Marshall and General Joseph Stilwell have long insisted, Chiang Kai-shek's army is actually a demoralized and corrupt organization that does not form an army. It became clear that he had no desire or ability to fight with the United States and other Allied forces. As a result, President Roosevelt changed the scenario of the operation against Japan from the conventional bombing of Japan and other countries from the air bases of mainland China to the one that MacArthur and others claimed to occupy the islands of the Pacific Ocean one after another. China was dismissed at the Yalta Conference, and the Allied nation's footsteps were disturbed, with angry Chiang Kai-shek presenting a peace plan to Japan against the will of the United States. The Japanese Operation Ichi-Go attack left the National Revolutionary Army with 750,000 casualties. This caused the Kuomintang to lose to the Communist Party in the civil war. China would not have been dominated by the dictatorship Communist Party if it had made peace with Japan and cooperated in protecting it from communism.

remember history

Don't get the parable at the beginning

Excellent talk. The Chinese deserve way more credit for what they endured during WWII. I believe that he is way too hard on Stillwell. He forgets that his mission was to get the Chinese to contribute to the defeat of Japan and not just sit there until America defeated Japan for them. Stillwell's failure in North Burma in 1942 had as much due to the convoluted Chinese command structure that made his orders merely strongly worded suggestions as any failure in his assessment of the situation. The only offensive Chinese success of the war was under Stillwell in North Burma in 1944. It should also be noted that it was a grossly under-resourced operation that succeeded anyway. The speaker ignores Chiang's support for Chenault and the B-29's over Stillwell's plans and that Stillwell called out the likely outcome of that decision long before the Japanese launched their Ichi-Go offensive. I believe he gives misleading figures on the supplies over the Hump versus the Ledo Road. The figures are not for the Hump route over the Himalayas but the lower altitude and shorter route over North Burma that was cleared by Stillwell to open the Ledo Road. It also doesn't take into account that even though the Ledo Road had a lower volume than the Lower Hump route, it cost less in supplies to use it. Ideally the Burma Road being re-opened through Rangoon should have been the priority but the British didn't believe it was worth the effort. The biggest problem with assigning Stillwell to this mission wasn't his ability as a General but his ability as a Diplomat. Anyone whose nick name is "Vinegar Joe" is most likely going to be an "anti-Eisenhower". He was not going to do well with a fascist dictator whose greatest successes were largely due to his opponents' limitations and not his own ability. This was demonstrated in his defense at Shanghai, against the Ichi-Go offensive and it also shouldn't be forgotten that Chiang lost the Civil War shortly after the defeat of Japan. His insights as a military commander and political leader didn't hold up well when he faced a Communist opponent that he didn't massively out number and could massively out spend.

The damn microphone is too high so with the guy reading his looking down resulting in terrible audio. Is there not something that can be done to correct this because the knowledge contained I this video is very important

If you are going to record something for publication on RU-vid, do not film it in front of a hard, reflecting backboard. The echo off the wall behind this speaker is really, really unpleasant -- and the guy seems competent and sensible, so it's a pity to so detract from his work.

Mr. Frank is doubtless a brilliant man and his talk ( as much of it as I could make out ) containing a wealth of excellent information but this man desperately needs to hone his public speaking skills. If he must read his presentation, that's OK if the text is strong ( and his was ) , but speak directly to the microphone as you do it.

11:44 predicting a world war & new global allies

Never knew the Himalayas were 4,500 km high.

Brilliant lecture. China deserves more credit for its part in defeating Japan and thereby preventing Hitler’s victory. One question, though. Why did the Alies not make a road and railway from British India to China through Sinkiang?

He should speak louder

The speaker is very well informed. There is no lie about that. But he is very monotonic. Making it hard to pay attention.

This is not a speaker. This is a reader. A bad one at that. A good lecture though.