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During 1938 the border tensions between the Soviet Union and Japan would explode on the hill of Changkufeng near Lake Khasan. Sources: Anti-Russian and Anti-Soviet Subversion: The Caucasian-Japanese Nexus, 1904-1945 by Hiroaki Kuromiya and Georges Mamoulia Japanese Geopolitics and the Mongol Lands, 1915-1945 by Li Narangoa Khalkin-Gol: The Forgotten War by Amnon Sella The Lake Khasan Affair of 1938: Overview and Lessons by Alvin D. Coox (1973) Soviet-Japanese Confrontation in Outer Mongolia: The Battle of Nomonhan-Khalkin Gol by Larry W. Moses (1967 Nomonhan: Japan Against Russia, 1939 by Alvin D. Coox Nomonhan, 1939: The Red Army's Victory That Shaped World War II by Stuart D. Goldman

We begin our multipart series looking at various primary documents covering the events in the years before the war with a read through the French Yellow Book, which you can read online here: French Yellow Book Table of Contents and Preface (ibiblio.org)

As war began in Europe, the entire structure of American plans for the Pacific had to quickly evolve.

During the 1930s there would be more evolution in American War Plans in the Pacific, until it eventually lost the Orange moniker in favor of more all encompassing Rainbow Plans.

Throughout the interwar period a major topic of conversation in the United States Navy was what should be done if there was a war with Japan. The results of those conversations was War Plan Orange.

After an abysmal showing in the Spanish-American War, the United States Navy begins a long series of improvements.

A quick audio update about the podcast and future plans.

This time I am trying something new as we take a deep dive into some of the diplomatic communications that occurred among the British government and its embassies in Berlin and Prague during the May Crisis in 1938.

Trying something a bit different here, with a review of Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully.

We have spent a lot of time discussing the budgets, ships, and plans of the Royal Navy. How did those plans begin to shift as war seemed to be more and more imminent.

Aviation would be seen as a critical component of naval power in the 1930s, but the Royal Navy had one problem: it did not control the pilots or the planes.

As the Washington Naval Treaty system collapsed, the British had to get back to what they did best, building battleships.