Economist, May 5, 2018 (III)

choi

America and the Chinese civil war | Feet of Clay.
https://www.economist.com/news/b ... ism-george-marshall
(book review on Daniel Kurtz-Phelan, The China Mission; George Marshall's unfinished war, 1945-1947. Norton, 2018)

Note:
(a)
(i) This is a second review on the same book I have introduced to you. The first was published on Saturday, May 5, 2018 at Wall Street Journal.
(ii) feet of clay
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feet_of_clay

is from Old Testament.

(b) "as chief of staff of the army, he had already been, in Winston Churchill's estimation, the true 'organiser of victory' in the second world war. A new book recounts what he did between winning the war and securing the peace [Marshall Plan]: he spent a year [Dec 20, 1945-Jan 7, 1947] in China, trying to save it.  He failed, leaving behind a bloody civil war followed by communist dictatorship."
(i) George Marshall (all happening in US army, Department of War: as brigadier general/deputy chief of staff became acting chief of staff on July 1, 1939; after his promotion to general, hwas sworn in as chief of staff on Sept 1, 1939 which he held until Nov 18, 2045)  en.wikipedia.org.
(ii) US set up Department of War (colloquially as War Department) in 1789 (when federal government was formed), and then Department of the Navy inn 1798 (leaving only army in the hand of Department of War). In 1907 US army established Army Air Forces, which in 1947 split from the army to become another branch of US Armed Forces; also in 1947 navy came into jurisdiction of Department of War. Finally in 1949 Department o fWar changed its name to Department of Defense.  en.wikipedia.org.

(c) "Yet, as Mr Kurtz-Phelan makes clear, his embassy started in late 1945 in a mood of great optimism, founded largely on veneration of the man himself. It is 200 pages into the story before any [Chiang Kai-shek] of its characters voice anything other than awe for its hero."

embassy (n; etymology: share with ambassador with the same Latin root: noun masculine ambactus servant):
"1 : the official residence or offices of an ambassador
2: historical  a deputation or mission sent by one ruler or state to another"
https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/embassy

(d) "The book hints at reasons for the grim outcome. One is that, for once, Marshall was not up to the job. He made blunders. In May 1946 he lent Chiang his own aircraft to fly from Nanjing to north-eastern China for four days, to stop Nationalist troops fighting the Communists. Chiang stayed 11 days, leading the offensive himself. Communist propaganda saw proof of America's duplicity and imperialism."
(i) Chiang and his wife flew to Mukden.

VIII. Negotiations Leading to Fifteen-Day Truce in Manchuria (May 22–June 6, 1946). In Ralph R Goodwin (ed), Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, The Far East: China, Volume IX. US Department of State, 1972
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1946v09/ch8
("[484] Madame Chiang Kai-shek to General Marshall  Mukden , 28 May 1946.  Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270
[485] Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek to General Marshall [ Mukden ,] May 28, 1946   Marshall Mission Files, Lot 54–D270") (brackets original)
(ii) Shenyang
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenyang
(section 1 History, section 1.2 Manchu capital: In 1625 name changed to Mukden (Manchu) / 盛京)