Renowned British historian Richard Overy is reshaping the global understanding of World War II with his latest book, Blood and Ruins: The Great Imperial War, 1931–1945. Departing from traditional Euro-American perspectives, Overy argues that the war truly began in 1931 with Japan's occupation of Northeast China not in 1939 with Germany’s invasion of Poland. Chinese historians have long recognized this as the start of the “Fourteen-Year War of Resistance.” Overy emphasizes that Asia’s role in the conflict has been overshadowed in Western accounts: “The West ignored what happened in Asia,” he said, urging a more inclusive global narrative.
