A Council at War: Whickham Urban District Council 1939-45

This article will examine the responses to the dangers of the Second World War by a local authority in north-east England, Whickham Urban District Council. Councillors and officials received guidance from central Government, Durham County Council and from military authorities to prepare for the anticipated effects of total war, including invasion, bombing and chemical warfare against the civilian population. Detailed monthly reports to the Urban District Council reveal the extensive and expensive preparations made by the Council to counter these threats. Newspaper articles demonstrate the willingness of inhabitants to support the Council and participate in patriotic initiatives including voluntary work and fundraising.     

The Foreign Enlistment Act and the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939

This article examines the official response to the policy problemsraised by the over two thousand Britons who went to fight forthe Republic during the Spanish Civil War, with particular referenceto the Foreign Enlistment Act (1870). Revived in January 1937as a means of reducing the flow of volunteers and curbing therecruiting efforts of the Communist Party of Great Britain,the act proved embarrassingly unenforceable. Ambiguity overits applicability to the situation in Spain, combined with problemsof evidence, meant that no charges were ever laid against volunteerscaught attempting to leave for Spain or members of the recruitingorganization of the CPGB. Though a complete failure as a legaltool, the Foreign Enlistment Act nevertheless symbolically underlinedthe British government's declared support for internationalnon-intervention in Spain, and was never rescinded.     

Allies at Loggerheads: Sino-U.S.Military Cooperation During the Pacific War, 1941-1945

In the late 1960s,with many American intellectuals frustrated by the Vietnam War,plus the opening of U.S.World War Ⅱ records,the history of the spoiled relations between China and the U.S.were,again,combed through by historians.The "Stilwell Incident," as known by the Chinese (especially in Taiwan),together with the experience of the "China hands," were often the core of historical inquiry.In 1970,Barbara Tuchman published her renowned work:Stilwell and the American Experience in China,1911-1945;and soon her interpretation became prevailing.Over the years,the perception of Stilwell and the China hands,as presented by Tuchman,regarding the conflict between "vinegar Joe" Stilwell and the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek,as well as the fall of the Generalissimo had been accepted as an accurate representation of China's war time history.     

1939—1941年苏德经贸外交及后果

1939年—1941年苏德战争前,苏德两国从各自的战略和利益出发都要求改善两国关系。如何打破自希特勒上台后两国关系的僵局?苏德双方都力图从经贸外交入手。苏德战争前,苏德之间开展的经贸外交使双方的经贸关系异乎寻常地热起来。这种关系对第二次世界大战的爆发和扩大,对苏德双方产生了什么影响,造成了什么后果,我国学对此研究较少。本就这一问题略抒己见。