Sublime

East Asia and the Pacific (sometimes referred to as “Asia” here for simplicity) is the largest, wealthiest (when measured by overall output), and most populous region of the world, although the populations of both South Asia and Africa are growing at a much faster rate. Asia, like Europe, was a principal venue of World War II and the Cold War; it

For these empire-builders, the vast grassy steppe that stretched across Eurasia from Manchuria to Hungary was an open road to commercial wealth and almost limitless power. The trading cities of the Near and Middle East were a natural target.

cold-blooded need for control.

Interestingly, there was more than a little optimism in the wake of World War I, and diplomatic efforts to shape what was to be the postwar world began while fighting was still under way. Woodrow Wilson, the twenty-eighth president of the United States, prioritized the creation of a standing international organization (which became the League of