Intro

• It is no exaggeration to say that the development of the ancient world began in Asia
• Four cradles of human civilization

  • Yellow River of China
  • Indus and the Ganges of India
  • Tigris and the Euphrates of Mesopotamia
  • Nile of Egypt
• All the major religions originated in Asia
• Religions originated in Asia


  • Confucianism and Taoism in China
  • Buddhism and Hinduism in India
  • Mohammedanism in Arabia
  • Christianity in Palestine (Israel)
• These ancient civilizations and religions could not spill over Asia's borders to other parts of the earth because Asians were unaware of continents other than their own
• When these ancient civilizations were accepted by Europeans, they made great strides and spread throughout the world
• This was possible because the people of Europe had been aware of a world made up of Asia and many other areas besides Europe
• The peoples of Europe made their presence and influence felt all over the world by accumulating knowledge about the existence of people other than their own
• The centre of the world moved from the East to the West somewhere along the line between ancient times and the Middle Ages
• The Europeans put themselves into position to chart the course of events of the world
• Foremost among these events was the invasion of Asia by Alexander the Great of Greece, resulting in the colonization of Arabia and India
• In the Middle Ages, Greco-Roman civilization decayed and European countries ran into the Dark Ages
• The break came when Europeans started incorporating what had grown in the East out of the Greek civilization first brought in by Alexander the Great, and also transplanting Arabian, Persian and Indian cultures into Europe
• This enabled the West to resuscitate its civilization, thereby bringing about the remarkable phenomenon of the Renaissance
• After going through the Navigation and Discovery Ages of the 15th and 16th centuries, the Asian, African and Australian continents came under the cultural and political influence of Europe
• Thereafter, those European civilized countries embarked on the domination of the world, and made it a common practice to make inroads into backward areas and made a conquest of them
• First countries to colonize many areas of the world


  • Portugal
  • Spain
  • Holland
  • Britain
  • France
  • Germany
  • Belgium
• The first to put up resistance against such domination by European countries were the thirteen states of North America, which became independent between 1773 and 1776
• This marked the first upheaval of the anti-European civilization forces in a place other than Europe
• Both Britain, which had its colony revolt, and the United States, which won independence after revolting against its ruler, were countries inhabited by peoples of European origin
• Japan made history by staving off a possible invasion into the East by Russia, the greatest absolute monarchy of Europe in those days, when she won the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905
• This was the first occasion when the European domination of the world encountered direct opposition from other than European or American countries
• The fact that Japan, an Asiatic country, put up resistance against Europe drew the attention of the world, particularly of Europe and America, to the significance of Asia, a cradle of the civilization and religions of the world
• This went down in history as an epoch-making event which awakened the peoples of the world to the coming of a new era
• Sun Yat-sen of China realized that the time was ripe for the "Greater Asia" doctrine, with the newly rising Japan as its leader, to become a reality
• This may be interpreted as a sign of the awakening of the Asians to the cause of the renaissance of Asia
• Sir Arnold Toynbee, a famous British historian, said categorically that the Pacific War changed the tide of the whole history of the world
• After the last war, the colonies of the advanced countries had almost disappeared from the earth
• The emergence of the A-A group and the development of these new independent nations now constitute a problem of the first magnitude
• The all-important East-West problem is being replaced by the South-North problem as a major issue of the world
• The Japanese Military and Government leaders imposed oppressive policy on their own people and forced aggressive policy on the neighbouring peoples, antagonizing their own people at home and sowing the seeds of discontent among peoples whose colonies they invaded as well as among the peoples of the colonized areas
• One of the Japanese purposes in waging the Pacific War was to liberate European colonies in Asia and that Japan provided these colonized peoples an opportunity to take advantage of the Pacific War to carry on their movement for independence
• Asian leaders who assumed the post of President or Prime Minister when their countries won independence after World War II

  • Roxas and Laurel of the Philippines
  • Ba Mau of Burma
  • Sukarno of Indonesia
• Subhas Chandra Bose, the last phase of whose life is fully documented in this book, died an untimely death as a result of the aeroplane accident that occurred in the Matsuyama Aerodrome, Taipeh
• The circumstances concerning Bose's last moment are still shrouded in mystery
• The author, Mr. Hayashida, is a devoted student of Mr. Kentaro Shibata, who practises law in Fukuoka City and has been a good friend of the author since his First Higher School (Tokyo) days, about half a century back
• Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi: 'Expressed his indignation at Britain's perfidy'
• The White Paper issued on 17 October 1939 by Governor-General Linlithgow "gave stone to those who sought bread."
• Congress Party adopted resolution


  Urging the Indian Ministries of all the provinces to resign from their posts immediately
• Anti-British movement started in all the provinces