Description

Utilising hitherto untranslated sources, Sunstruck Giant Volume Two provides a complete campaign history of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95, detailing not only battles but the underlying strategic motivations behind them. Eight full colour plates bring key battles of the war to life, both vividly and authentically.

Marking the death-rattle of one empire and the ascendancy of another, the First Sino-Japanese War is often portrayed as the ultimate contrast between a backwards China and a fully modernised Japan. This often nationalism-tinted lens has led many to completely gloss over the redeeming features of the Chinese military and the terrible shortcomings of the Japanese. Drawing on hitherto untranslated sources, Sunstruck Giant is the first English-language work to offer a truly comprehensive view of both sides in this forgotten war.

English language sources draw exclusively from Japanese sources, leaving out the incredibly valuable Chinese perspective, as well as facts less creditable to the Japanese side. Therefore, Sunstruck Giant examines "the other side of the hill," analysing the successes, failures, mistakes, and misfortunes of both sides. Indeed, the "backwards" Chinese had their share of heroic deeds, and contrariwise the "modernised" Japanese were not immune to horrendous blunders.