Modern Chinese history
One of the signature achievements of the Guomindang in the Nationalist Decade was the recovery of sovereignty in many of its affairs with foreign powers and used diplomacy, trade, and cultural ties with the Soviet Union, US, and Germany to build the foundations of a modern government in Nanjing. At the same time many of its political tools—boycotts, demonstrations, diplomatic missions, playing off one power against another, etc—failed to effectively manage relations with Japan in the north. Why? Assess the Guomindang/Chiang Kai-Shek’s approach to managing the growing aggression of Japan in the early 1930s. Was it at all possible to avoid war or check Japan’s growing expansion in the North? Why or Why not?
