The Key to the South: Britain, the United States, and Thailand during the Approach of the Pacific War, 1929-1942 (South-East Asian Historical Monographs)

It has been fifty years since Thailand's 1942 declaration of war on Britain and the United States. This study examines the accelerating Western struggle with Japan for control over "independent" Thailand, a country at the strategic crossroads of Southeast Asia and recognized as "The Key to the South." On the eve of Pearl Harbor this culminated in arguments between Roosevelt, Churchill, and Eden as to whether the West should attack or defend this neutral country.