The Chinese Civil War – Osprey

This is part of Osprey’s military history series, these are short one volume presentations intended to give the reader a general overview of the subject.  In a volume tha tis less than 100 pages including maps and graphics, the book does exactly that.

The Chinese civil war is a complex topic and one need to reach all way back to the 1920’s (or further) to truely understand the events. During World War 2, the alliance between the official government Nationalists – supported by the US – and the Communists – supported by Russia was tenuous at best.  Often the respective troops spent as much time fighting each other as they did the Japanese. The rapid collapse of the Nationalist forces dispite massive support from the United States after the Japanese surrender is the core of this book.  As stated, this is a short books meant to give a general overview, you can finish this book in one night – 2 maxium.  It has good graphics, maps, and photographs as supporting material.  If you already know the general outlines or are looking for something beyond an outline, this is not your book. Having said that, it’s better presented here than in many sources online, and more importantly events are evenly protrayed.  As with all events that surrounds the founding of the People’s republic of China and it’s relations with Taiwan – its complicated and frought with partisan views.  So it’s no faint praise to find sources that strive to remain neutral.  Recommended.