Papers on the inter-war years, 1919-1939

References on this page: LIDDELL HART: 15/3/345-377

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/345-358 Papers dated 1925-1968 on Chinese and Japanese domestic and foreign policies, 1925-1939, including Japanese conquest of Manchuria, China, 1931-1933, and Sino-Japanese War, 1937-1939

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/345

1925-1939

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to Japanese domestic and foreign policy, particularly western European views on Japanese culture; withdrawal from League of Nations in 1933 following condemnation of Japanese conquest of Manchuria, China; political crisis in Feb 1936 after short-lived military coup involving murder of Adm Saito and Finance Minister Takahashi Korekiyo; growth of chauvinist nationalism and political influence of Japanese Army; territorial ambitions in USSR and north China including Sino-Japanese war from 1937; support for military alliance with Italy and Germany in 1939. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/346

1927

Maps, Shanghai Area (Geographical Section General Staff No 3837, War Office, 1927) scale 1:126720, and Map of China Shewing Railways, Telegraphs & Treaty Ports (Geographical Section General Staff No 2361, War Office, 1927) scale 1:5000000. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/347

1927-1938

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to Japanese policy and in northern China, particularly invasion and conquest of Manchuria by Kwantung Army, Sep 1931-Feb 1932, including establishment of Japanese controlled state of Manchukuo; attack on Shanghai, Feb-Mar 1932; withdrawal from League of Nations, Feb 1933, following condemnation of Manchurian conquest; advance into Jehol province, south west of Manchukuo, Feb-Mar 1933; failure of Sino-Japanese Tangku Truce and advance of Kwantung Army into northern China and Inner Mongolia, 1933-1935; Japanese regime in Manchukuo, 1935-1936; Soviet-Japanese tension on Manchukuo frontier, 1935-1938. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/348

1927-1938

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to Chinese politics, civil war and defence, particularly policies of the Kuomintang nationalist party led by Chiang-Kai-shek; anti-communist reaction within Kuomintang from 1927; rise of the Communist Party and army and influence of the Soviet Union; resistance against Japanese military operations in China 1931-1937, including guerrilla tactics. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/349

1931-1938

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to Japanese defence policy, particularly development of the air force and its role during conquest of Manchuria, China, 1931-1933; increase of Japanese air bases in Pacific Ocean; military training and expansion of the reserve army; withdrawal from London Naval Conference, Jan 1936, and escalation of naval construction, 1937. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/350

1932-1933

Papers relating to the Japanese conquest of Manchuria, China, 1931-1933, comprising typescript confidential reports probably by British representatives at League of Nations, Nov 1932 and Feb 1933, on views of delegates, notably German and Japanese, on the Manchurian conflict; condemnation of Japanese military operations by the Lytton Commission report and League Assembly; proposed non-coercive measures against Japan. Also extracts of letter from unnamed British military source in Tientsin, describing conditions at Shan hai Kuan during the Sino-Japanese conflict, [1932-1933]. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/351

1937

Resisting External Aggression and Regenerating the Chinese Nation, by Gen Chiang Kai-shek (The China Information Committee, Hankow, China, 1937), text of lectures delivered to the Officers' Training Corps at Kuling, Jul 1934, with particular reference to the conflict with Japan in Manchuria, 1931-1933. 1 booklet

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/352

1937

Newspaper cuttings relating to military operations in the Sino-Japanese war in China, particularly fighting in Peking-Tientsin area in Jul; Japanese attacks on Shanghai; Japanese air raids on Nanking and Canton including bombing of civilians; Japanese seizure and plunder of Nanking; international condemnation and formal censure by League of Nations. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/353

1938 May-Jul

Papers relating to the Sino-Japanese war in China, sent to LIDDELL HART by the Union of Democratic Control, London, comprising copies of letters from W H Donald, confidential adviser to Chinese nationalist leader Gen Chiang Kai-shek, German economist Johannes Ahlers and unnamed British missionary, on Japanese military strategy, Chinese resistance in Shanghai and effects of war on British and other foreign interests in China; leaflet China Demands (China Campaign Committee, London, 1938), containing text of Dr Wellington Koo's appeal to League of Nations Council against Japanese military operations, 10 May 1938; Notes From China (Jun 1938) issued by the Union of Democratic Control, including articles on recall of German military advisers from China and Chinese guerrillas. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/354

1938

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to military operations in the Sino-Japanese war in China, particularly reports of atrocities committed in Nanking, Dec 1937, by conquering Japanese army; Japanese campaign in Shantung province and advance up Yangtze River; Japanese air bombardment and capture of Canton, Hankow, Hanyang and Winchang; fighting on Soviet-Manchukuo border; intensification of Chinese guerrilla warfare; British and US business losses in Japanese controlled areas of China, notably Shanghai; Japanese plans for long-term occupation of China. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/355

1939 Feb

Far Eastern Service 'incorporating A Morgan Young's Far Eastern Survey', two copies of news sheet issued in London, 8 and 22 Feb, including articles on current military, political and economic situation in the Sino-Japanese conflict in China, notably Japanese capture of Hainan, restrictions on press freedom by Japanese authorities in Shanghai and effect of war on Chinese external communications. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/356

1939

Newspaper cuttings relating to military operations in the Sino-Japanese war in China, particularly Anglo-Japanese tension over alleged British pro-China policy, Japanese blockade of British Concession at Tientsin, hostile treatment of Britons by Japanese soldiers and bombing of British ships at Treaty Port of Ichang on Yangtze River near Hankow; Anglo-Japanese negotiations to secure British authority and neutrality in Tientsin Concession; bombardment of Chungking by Japanese air force; clashes between Soviet and Japanese troops on Manchukuo-Mongolian border; Chinese guerrilla tactics in northern China. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/357

1966 Oct 12

Text of lecture 'Attrition and escalation: the Japanese experience in China' on Sino-Japanese conflict, 1937-1945, by Alvin D Coox, department of history, San Diego State College. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/358

1968 Aug 29

Typescript essay 'High command, field army and government: the Kwantung army, 1939' on Japanese army operations in the People's Republic of Mongolia, USSR, and influence on domestic and foreign policies of Japan, by Alvin D Coox, San Diego State College, written for Pacific Coast Branch of the American Historical Association, University of Santa Clara. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/359-377 Papers on Italian domestic and foreign policy, 1927-1936, including war with Ethiopia, 1935-1936

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/359

1927-1928

Papers relating to Italian defence policy, comprising text of a lecture on the role, organisation, training and finance of the fascist militia, by Baron Quaranta di San Severino, Rome, 17 Dec 1927, and programmes of the military training courses at the Scuola de Guerra, Turin, 1927-1928, issued by Gen Pietro Gazzera, school commandant. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/360

1927-1939

Newspaper cuttings relating to Italian foreign and domestic policy, particularly propaganda and censorship of the press; relations with Roman Catholic Church and Jewish community; unification of Italian colonies Tripolitania and Cyrenaica into Libya, 1932; withdrawal from League of Nations, Dec 1937; relations with Britain notably Anglo-Italian Agreement on Mediterranean, Near East and Middle East interests, Nov 1938; hostile relations with France, 1938-1939, over Italian intervention in Spanish Civil War and claims to French territories Tunisia, Corsica and Nice; role of Mussolini at Munich conference on German occupation of Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Sep 1938; 'Pact of Steel', Italo-German military alliance, May 1939. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/361

1928-1939

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to Italian foreign and defence policy, particularly expansion, organisation, reform and training of military forces; role of fascist militia in consolidation and maintenance of the fascist state; introduction of compulsory military service, 1935; increase of air and naval manoeuvres and bases in the Mediterranean; military intervention in Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939; tension with France over military manoeuvres in Libya and Tunisia, 1939; Italo-German joint military strategy following the 'Pact of Steel', May 1939. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/362

1930-1938

Newspaper cuttings relating to European fascism, particularly the domestic and foreign policies of Italian leader Benito Mussolini and views on the ideology and practice of fascism, including reviews of Mussolini's Italy by Prof Herman Finer (Victor Gollancz, London, 1935). 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/363

[1930-1939]

Letter from 'A Boston Protestant' alleging the existence of an Italian-Irish Catholic conspiracy to overthrow Protestantism and democratic governments worldwide. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/364

1931

Italy Today Nos 11 and 12, Nov-Dec 1931 (Hendersons, London, 1931, for Friends of Italian Freedom) on the life and career of anti-fascist activist Lauro de Bosis, 1901-1931, including extracts of his letters and texts of leaflets air dropped on Rome, 1930-1931. 1 booklet

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/365

1933

Texts of lectures delivered at Corporate State Group meetings in London, 1933, mainly on Italian fascism, sent to LIDDELL HART for his comments, criticisms and suggestions, comprising 'The historical background of the corporate state' by Dr Camillo Pellizzi; 'Social services and the corporate state' and 'The economic activities of the corporate state' by Dr Gabriele Paresce; 'Banking in the corporate state' by Signor Zuccoli; 'The XIII Confederation (professional men and artists)' by Comm Villari; notes on a lecture delivered by Sir George Young 'The corporate experiment in Spain and Portugal'. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/366

1935 May-Dec

Newspaper cuttings on Italo-Ethiopian relations, particularly Mussolini's colonial objectives in Ethiopia; appeals by Emperor Haile Selassie for League of Nations settlement of the dispute arising from fighting between Ethiopian and Italian Somali troops at the Italian armed post at Wal Wal, over fifty miles within the Ethiopian boundary, Dec 1934; Italian negotiations with Britain and France and rejection of a League arbitration commission settlement, 3 Sep; Italian mobilisation, anti-Ethiopian propaganda and invasion on 3 Oct including attack on Adowa; international condemnation of Italy and imposition of partial economic sanctions by the League, Nov. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/367

1935 Oct-1936 May

Newspaper cuttings and journal articles relating to military operations in the Italo-Ethiopian war, particularly Italian attack on Adowa and conquest of Makale, Harar, Gorahi and Dessie; Ethiopian guerrilla tactics; Italian air raids and use of mustard gas; recall of Gen Emilio de Bono and replacement by Gen Pietro Badoglio, Nov 1935; stagnation of Italian campaign, Nov 1935-Jan 1936; extensive road building by advancing Italian forces; Italian occupation of Addis Ababa, May 1936. Also Sketch map of Ethiopia and surrounding countries (War Office, 1935) and Gulf of Aden, map showing Yemen, Aden Protectorate, Ethiopia, Eritrea, British and Italian Somaliland, Kenya, Uganda and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, scale 1:4000000, sheet 44 (Geographical Section General Staff No 2957, War Office, 1934). 2 files

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/368

1935 Dec

The British-Italian Bulletin, 27 Dec 1935, mainly containing articles on the Italian war in Ethiopia, with supplement historical map of Ethiopia, scale 1:4125000, issued by the London Geographical Institute. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/369

1935 Dec-1938 May

Newspaper cuttings relating to Italo-Ethiopian relations, particularly rejection of peace proposals negotiated by British and French foreign ministers Sir Samuel John Gurney Hoare and Pierre Laval, Dec 1935; reports of League of Nations Experts Committee on inclusion of oil in economic sanctions against Italy, Feb 1936; criticism of Italian air raids on Ethiopian civilians and use of poison gas, Mar-Apr 1936; Italian annexation of Ethiopia, May 1936; views on League validity after failure to bring about peace negotiations; British support for end to economic sanctions, Jun 1936; Italian regime in Ethiopia, including reprisals in Addis Ababa following an attempt to assassinate Viceroy Marshal Rodolfo Graziani, Feb 1937. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/370

1935

Memorandum of the Italian Government on the Situation in Abyssinia, part 1, 1935 including sections on Ethiopian treaty infringements, raids and incursions into neighbouring Italian colonies Eritrea and Italian Somaliland and attacks on the position of Italians in Ethiopia. 1 vol

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/371

1935

Memoria del Governo Italiano circa la situazione in Etiopia, part 2, 1935 copies of correspondence, reports, telegrams and memoranda by Italian and British authorities and official representatives in Italy, Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, Ethiopia, England, Sudan and Egypt, regarding the position of Italy in Eritrea, Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia, May 1908-Aug 1935; Ethiopian raids and incursions into British colonies Kenya, British Somaliland and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan; a series of military incidents in the border area between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland, Dec 1934-May 1935, including fighting between Ethiopian and Italian Somali troops at the Italian armed post at Wal Wal, Ethiopia, Dec 1934. 1 vol

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/372

1935

Memorandum of the Italian Government on the Situation in Abyssinia, annex to part 2 official documents (see 15/3/371), 1935 photographs of alleged oppression and injustice under Ethiopian rule, including Ethiopian prisoners and slaves in Harrar, leper beggars, corporal punishment, public flogging and mutilation in Addis Ababa and children emasculated by raiders at Mabra, frontier of Eritrea, 31 May 1935. 1 vol

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/373

1935

The Abyssinian Dispute by Freda White (League of Nations Union, London, 1935) including origins of the conflict; fighting between Ethiopian and Italian Somaliland troops at the Italian armed post at Wal Wal, Ethiopia, Dec 1934; Italian mobilisation in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, 1935; League of Nations arbitration commission on Wal Wal incident, 1935. 1 booklet

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/374

1935

Papers relating to Italo-Ethiopian relations, mainly comprising Weekly Foreign Newsletter (Foreign Affairs Research and Correspondents' Bureau, New York, 23 Sep 1935) on British concern over Italian build-up of troops in Libya and possible peaceful settlement of the Italo-Ethiopian dispute; typescript notes by Tracy Phillips on Mussolini's colonial and military objectives in Ethiopia [1935]; copy of an open letter, 3 Sep 1935, from Sir Leo (George)Chiozza Money to W Kean, President of the Trades Union Congress, praising the fascist system and condemning the Ethiopian state; extracts from Slaves and Ivory by Maj Henry Read Darley (H F and G Witherby, London, 1926), on Ethiopian culture. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/375

[1935]

Behind Dictatorship by Marcus Brutus (The Webb Printing Co, London, probably 1935), on restriction of civil liberties in the Italian fascist state under Mussolini, particularly treatment of anti-fascist protesters by the courts and collaboration with fascism by the Italian King, Victor Emmanuel III. 1 booklet

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/376

1935-1937

Papers relating to the Italian war with Ethiopia, 1935-1936, mainly comprising letter from [L H Kelly] of Cairo, 22 May 1935, on Italian colonial objectives in Ethiopia; text of speech by Italian delegate Baron Aloisi to the League of Nations Assembly, 9 Oct 1935, explaining reasons for the invasion of Ethiopia on 3 Oct and the Italian position towards the League; translation of article in Corriere della Sera, 17 Apr 1936, deriding reports on the Italo-Ethiopian war in The Times. 1 file

LIDDELL HART: 15/3/377

1936

Italian Civilization in Ethiopia by Mario Pigli (Dante Alighieri Society, London Committee, 1936), tracing Italian involvement in Ethiopia from the 14th century Venetian Republic to the Italo-Ethiopian war, 1935-1936. 1 booklet