ABSTRACT
This chapter considers developments ''east of Suez'' during the period extending from the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 to the conclusion of World War II and its immediate aftermath. The overview of international relations in Asia begins with four great powers, Britain, the United States (US), Japan, and Russia/USSR, each maneuvering for position in the Indian Ocean basin and the Far East. In the wake of the Russo-Japanese War, the US increasingly came to see Japan as the principal threat to American objectives in the Western Pacific. While military and naval operations in the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific during World War I were comparatively limited, the post-war impact was substantial. The overview of international relations in Asia ends with the total annihilation of Japan, a severely weakened Britain, and the emergence of two superpowers that would dominate the post-war international system – the US and the USSR.
