| Description |
xxx, 826, [16] p. of plates : ill., maps |
| Contents |
Prelude: on the threshold of Free Asia (1924) -- 1. In search of a lost country (1905) -- 2. Fugitive visions (1905-1909) -- 3. Empire's inner demons (1905-1909) -- 4. The fury of enlightenment (1909-1912) -- 5. Pundits of the Seas (1912-1914) -- 6.The Great Asian War (1914) -- 7. Ghost ships (1915) -- 8. The new great game (1915-1917) -- 9. Victory (1917-1919) -- 10. To the New Mecca (1919-1921) -- 11. Rebels in rubber soles (1921-1922) -- 12. The next World War (1922-1924) -- 13. Anarchy loosed (1925-1926) -- 14. The Long March of the Underground (1926-1927) -- Epilogue: out of exile. |
| Summary |
The end of Europe's empires has so often been seen as a story of high politics and warfare. In Tim Harper's remarkable new book the narrative is very different: it shows how empires were fundamentally undermined from below. Using the new technology of cheap printing presses, global travel and the widespread use of French and English, young radicals from across Asia were able to communicate in ways simply not available before. These clandestine networks stretched to the heart of the imperial metropolises: to London, to Paris, to the Americas, but also increasingly to Moscow. They created a secret global network which was for decades engaged in bitter fighting with imperial police forces. They gathered in the great hubs of Asia - Calcutta, Singapore, Batavia, Hanoi, Tokyo, Shanghai, Canton and Hong Kong - and plotted with ceaseless ingenuity, both through persuasion and terrorism, the end of the colonial regimes. Many were caught and killed or imprisoned, but others would go on to rule their newly independent countries |
| Subject |
Asia -- History -- Autonomy and independence movements
|
|
Asia -- History
|
| ISBN |
9781846145629 (hbk.) |
|
