Journey To The East The German Military Mission In China 19271938 Robyn L Rodriguez by Robyn L. Rodriguez instant download after payment.

This dissertation examines the experience of German military advisors in China during the interwar period. It explores the political, cultural, and social dimensions of military advising and the concept of military advisors as vehicles of transnational exchange. Between 1927 and 1938 over one hundred high-ranking German military officers traveled to China to advise Chiang Kai-shek and the Guomindang on military modernization and industrialization. The German advisors quickly learned that they could not impose German institutions and technology on China but rather, they needed to adapt to the foreign environment and situate their reforms within the Chinese context. The project required extensive archival research in Germany and the United States. Close readings of primary sources, including reports from the German military mission and the German Foreign Office as well as the personal papers, correspondence, and recollections of the advisors, have shed light on their experience and efforts to transform the Chinese army from a conglomeration of poorly trained and armed feudal warlord armies into a modern national military capable of defending the country against Japanese encroachment.