Korea Since 1850

Deals exclusively and in detail with the modern period. Employing Korean and Japanese scholarship, the book: is a political history tracing the growth of nat. consciousness among ordinary Korean people; emphasizes the important role of external influence in determining modern Korea's fate; explains how Korea's geographical position made the country a repeated battleground for imperialist rivalries between 1880 and 1910; explains how, under Japanese dominion 1910-1945, Korea was transformed into a colonial dependency; and deals with the explosion of internal and international politics following liberation in 1945 and the attempts of both regimes to develop while maintaining vast armies. Illus.