A Continent Erupts: Decolonization, Civil War, and Massacre in Postwar Asia, 1945-1955 Spector Ronald H.

The end of World War II led to the United States' emergence as a global superpower. Within weeks of the famous surrender ceremony aboard the U.S.S. For war-ravaged Western Europe it marked the beginning of decades of unprecedented cooperation and prosperity that one historian has labeled "the long peace." Yet half a world away, in China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Korea, and Malaya--the fighting never really stopped, as these regions sought to completely sever the yoke of imperialism and colonialism with all-too-violent consequences.East and Southeast Asia quickly became the most turbulent regions of the globe.

By early 1947, full-scale wars were raging in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam, with growing guerrilla conflicts in Korea and Malaya. Missouri, civil war, communal clashes, and insurgency engulfed the continent, from Southeast Asia to the Soviet border. Within a decade