<div>&ldquo;A well-written, modern narrative of the political and military events leading up to, during and after the German-Japanese War of 1914.&rdquo;&mdash;The Australian Naval Institute The German-Japanese War was a key, yet often neglected, episode in the opening phase of the First World War. It had profound implications for the future, particularly in respect of Japan&rsquo;s acquisition of Germany&rsquo;s Micronesian islands. Japan&rsquo;s naval perimeter was extended and threatened the United States naval strategy of projecting force westward. The campaign to relieve Germany of Tsingtau, the port and naval base in China, and its hinterland posed a grave threat to Chinese independence. The course of the Second World War in China and the Pacific cannot be explained without reference to these events. Charles Stephenson&rsquo;s account makes fascinating reading. The siege of Tsingtau by the Japanese, with token British participation, forms the core of his story. He draws on Japanese and German primary sources to describe the defenses, the landings, the course of the siege, and eventual German surrender. His study will be absorbing reading for anyone interested in the campaigns of the First World War outside of Europe, in German colonial expansion and the rise to power of Japan. &ldquo;Overall the volume delivers a much needed, interesting and often highly detailed overview of operations in the Pacific and the siege of Tsingtau. The volume excels especially in its detailed narrative of naval and land operations in the Pacific and in China. The geopolitical background provides a most useful introduction to the history of the region.&rdquo;&mdash;International Journal of Maritime History</div>

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The Siege of Tsingtau

<div>This WWII military study examines the critical yet overlooked Soviet offensive on Japan&rsquo;s puppet state and its influence on winning the Pacific War. Did Japan surrender in 1945 because the Americans dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Or because of the crushing defeat inflicted by the Soviet Union in Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in north-east China? In Stalin&rsquo;s War on Japan, Charles Stephenson describes the Soviet offensive from the top-level decision-making and early planning stages to its decisive outcome on the ground. He also considers to what extent Japan&rsquo;s capitulation is attributable to the atomic bomb or the stunningly successful entry of the Soviet Union into the conflict. Stephenson combines a vividly detailed narrative of the invasion itself with an absorbing account of the political and diplomatic process that gave rise to the offensive&mdash;with particular focus on the Yalta conference. There, Stalin allowed the Americans to persuade him to join the war in the east; a conflict he was determined on entering anyway. Stalin&rsquo;s War on Japan sheds new light on the last act of the Second World War. </div>

Stalin's War on Japan

<div>A study of the British Royal Navy&rsquo;s activities in the Indian Ocean during World War II, led by Admiral Sir James Somerville. The story of the British Eastern Fleet, which operated in the Indian Ocean against Japan, has rarely been told. Although it was the largest fleet deployed by the Royal Navy prior to 1945 and played a vital part in the theatre it was sent to protect, it has no place in the popular consciousness of the naval history of the Second World War. So Charles Stephenson&rsquo;s deeply researched and absorbing narrative gives this forgotten fleet the recognition it deserves. British pre-war naval planning for the Far East is part of the story, as is the disastrous loss of the battleship Prince of Wales and battlecruiser Repulse in 1941, but the body of the book focuses on the new fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir James Somerville, and its operations against the Japanese navy and aircraft as well as Japanese and German submarines. Later in the war, once the fleet had been reinforced with an American aircraft carrier, it was strong enough to take more aggressive actions against the Japanese, and these are described in vivid detail. Charles Stephenson&rsquo;s authoritative study should appeal to readers who have a special interest in the war with Japan, in naval history more generally and Royal Navy in particular. Praise forThe Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942&ndash;1944 &ldquo;This meticulously researched, outstandingly clear, well written and absorbing account is long overdue and will most likely become a standard work. The text is most helpfully supported by over 80 pages of detailed end notes referenced to each chapter and a detailed index. This is not only a book for naval historians but also for anyone with an interest in the War in the Indian Ocean region. Highly recommended.&rdquo; &mdash;Military Historical Society &ldquo;I enjoyed this book &ndash; it gives us an account of an often neglected part of the war at sea, and of the achievements of Admiral Somerville, who kept his fleet intact in the face of a potentially overwhelming opponent, then was willing to acknowledge that his fleet needed to improve massively before it could take on the Japanese.&rdquo; &mdash;Dr John Rickard, author and webmaster of the &lsquo;Military History Encyclopedia on the Web&rsquo;</div>

The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942–1944

<div>There can be few statesmen whose lives and careers have received as much investigation and literary attention as Winston Churchill. Relatively little however has appeared which deals specifically or holistically with his first senior ministerial role; that of Secretary of State for the Home Office. This may be due to the fact that, of the three Great Offices of State which he was to occupy over the course of his long political life, his tenure as Home Secretary was the briefest. The Liberal Government, of which he was a senior figure, had been elected in 1906 to put in place social and political reform. Though Churchill was at the forefront of these matters, his responsibility for domestic affairs led to him facing other, major, challenges departmentally; this was a time of substantial commotion on the social front, with widespread industrial and civil strife. Even given that ‘Home Secretaries never do have an easy time’, his period in office was thus marked by a huge degree of political and social turbulence. The terms ‘Tonypandy’ and ‘Peter the Painter’ perhaps spring most readily to mind. Rather less known is his involvement in one of the burning issues of the time, female suffrage, and his portrayal as ‘the prisoners’ friend’ in terms of penal reform. Aged 33 on appointment, and the youngest Home Secretary since 1830, he became empowered to wield the considerable executive authority inherent in the role of one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and he certainly did not shrink from doing so. There were of course commensurate responsibilities, and how he shouldered them is worth examination.</div>

Charles Stephenson
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Books By Charles Stephenson (4 Books)

The Siege of Tsingtau

Stalin's War on Japan

The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942–1944

Churchill as Home Secretary

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© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Charles StephensonFollow this author

Books By Charles Stephenson (4 Books)

The Siege of Tsingtau

Stalin's War on Japan

The Eastern Fleet and the Indian Ocean, 1942–1944

Churchill as Home Secretary

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© 2024 OPEN ROAD INTEGRATED MEDIA

Charles Stephenson
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