The Ecology of War in China

Erscheinungsjahr 2015
ISBN: 978-1-107-07156-8
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 312 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 602 g

Reihe: Studies in Environment and History

This book explores the interplay between war and environment in Henan Province, a hotly contested frontline territory that endured massive environmental destruction and human disruption during the conflict between China and Japan during World War II. In a desperate attempt to block Japan's military advance, Chinese Nationalist armies under Chiang Kai-shek broke the Yellow River's dikes in Henan in June 1938, resulting in devastating floods that persisted until after the war's end. Greater catastrophe struck Henan in 1942–3, when famine took some two million lives and displaced millions more. Focusing on these war-induced disasters and their aftermath, this book conceptualizes the ecology of war in terms of energy flows through and between militaries, societies, and environments. Ultimately, Micah Muscolino argues that efforts to procure and exploit nature's energy in various forms shaped the choices of generals, the fates of communities, and the trajectory of environmental change in North China.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Muscolino, Micah S.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Volkskunde Minderheiten, Interkulturelle & Multikulturelle Fragen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Asiatische Geschichte
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Kultur- und Ideengeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Mentalitäts- und Sozialgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Militärgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; 1. A militarized river: the 1938 Yellow River flood and its aftermath; 2. Stories of survival: refugee migration and ecological adaptation; 3. Military metabolism and the Henan famine of 1942–3; 4. Against the flow: hydraulic instability and ecological exhaustion; 5. The ecology of displacement: social and environmental effects of refugee migration; 6. The land needs the people, the people need the land: beginnings of postconflict recovery; 7. Reconstruction and revolution; Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Muscolino, Micah S.
Micah Muscolino is an Associate Professor of History at the University of Oxford.