The Other Great Game: The Opening of Korea and the Birth of Modern East Asia

In the 19th century, Russia participated in two "great games" with Britain and Japan, competing for dominance of the Korean Peninsula. Sheila Miyoshi Jager argues that the contest over Korea set the course for the future of East Asia and the larger global order, as it involved Korean domestic disputes and great-power rivalry. Japan's victories in the Sino-Japanese War and Russo-Japanese War dislodged Imperial China and sealed the fate of the declining tsarist empire.

Format: Hardback
Length: 624 pages
Publication date: 30 June 2023
Publisher: Harvard University Press

In the 19th century, Russia engaged in two significant "great games": one well-known pitted the tsar's empire against Britain in Central Asia, while the other, previously unrecognized but no less significant, saw Russia, China, and Japan vying for dominance over the Korean Peninsula. In this captivating account, brought to life through lucid narrative prose, Sheila Miyoshi Jager argues that the contest over Korea, driven by both Korean domestic disputes and great-power rivalry, set the course for the future of East Asia and the larger global order.

When Russia's eastward expansion brought it to the Korean border, an impoverished but strategically located nation was wrested from centuries of isolation. Korea became a prize of two major imperial conflicts: the Sino-Japanese War at the close of the 19th century and the Russo-Japanese War at the beginning of the 20th. Japan's victories in the battle for Korea not only earned the Meiji regime its long-sought colony but also dislodged Imperial China from centuries of regional supremacy. And the fate of the declining tsarist empire was sealed by its surprising military defeat, even as the United States and Britain sized up the new Japanese challenger.

A vivid story of two geopolitical earthquakes sharing Korea as their epicenter, The Other Great Game rewrites the script of 20th-century rivalry in the Pacific and enriches our understanding of contemporary global affairs. From the origins of Korea's bifurcated identity, a legacy of internal politics amid the imperial squabble, to China's irredentist territorial ambitions and Russia's nostalgic dreams of recovering its lost glory, this book offers a fresh perspective on the complex web of alliances and conflicts that shaped the 20th century.

Dimension: 235 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674983397