The Eagle And The Dragon: Sino-German Military Cooperation 1919-1938

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Abstract/Contents

Abstract: In an age when a politically and militarily resurgent China is beginning to reshape the liberal international order, it is instructive to look backward to a time when a weak and fragmented China turned to foreign powers for tutelage. My thesis explores the evolution of Sino-German military cooperation between 1919, when Germany was stripped of her colonial possessions, and 1938, when the last German military advisors were recalled from service in China, to show how the German military missions created the first truly national Chinese armed forces. To this end, I use English-, German,- and Chinese-language sources across a variety of media and disciplines to shed light upon this little-known chapter of diplomatic history, about which little scholarly material exists in English. I conclude that the Sino-German was, to a remarkable degree for its time, grounded in reciprocity, and equality, and it was National Socialist ideology, German bureaucratic politics, and a shift in German geopolitical motives that unilaterally ended their military cooperation and possible alliance. Throughout my examination of what the German military missions to China could and could not accomplish, a recurring lesson is for policymakers to "mind the gap" between expectations and reality. By examining an earlier period of cooperation with a Western power, I hope my thesis can be of use in predicting how and why China decides to cooperate within the international system.

Type of resource	text
Date created	May 15, 2019

Author	Kinnie, Kyle
Advisor	Ferguson, Niall

Location	https://purl.stanford.edu/sd454mk0858

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License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).

Preferred Citation: Kinnie, Kyle. (2019). The Eagle And The Dragon: Sino-German Military Cooperation 1919-1938. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/sd454mk0858

Stanford University, Program in International Relations, Honors Theses

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