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Spelling, grammar, and general cleanup, typos fixed: ’s → 's, 1935-1939 → 1935–1939 (2)
Stilwell, already noted for his language skills, became the army's first language officer in China, with service in Beijing (1920-1923), where he learned to speak Chinese. He helped the International Famine Relief Committee of the Red Cross as chief engineer on road-building projects in Shensi and Shansi provinces. There he lived and worked in the field with Chinese laborers and village officials, marched with the warlord armies, and came to know a China far beyond the foreigner's usual ken. His immense curiosity and powers of observation found expression, then and later, in his diary, where he recorded his impressions in vivid and voluminous detail.
Stilwell, already noted for his language skills, became the army's first language officer in China, with service in Beijing (1920-1923), where he learned to speak Chinese. He helped the International Famine Relief Committee of the Red Cross as chief engineer on road-building projects in Shensi and Shansi provinces. There he lived and worked in the field with Chinese laborers and village officials, marched with the warlord armies, and came to know a China far beyond the foreigner's usual ken. His immense curiosity and powers of observation found expression, then and later, in his diary, where he recorded his impressions in vivid and voluminous detail.
After attending the army's Infantry school at Ft. Benning and the Command and General Staff school at Fort Leavenworth, Stilwell returned to China (1926-1929) as battalion commander and later executive officer of the Fifteenth Infantry an American regiment stationed in Tientsin as a result of the Boxer Rebellion. He watched the [[KMT|Kuomintang]] under [[Chiang Kai-shek]] unify the nation, assessing Chinese affairs a series of weekly articles for the journal of the Fifteenth Infantry. His third China duty came in 1935-1939, when he returned as military attaché to observe, judge, and report the Japanese invasion, which began in 1937 and soon captured the major cities. Stilwell formed a negative opinion of KMT leadership and came to believe that Chinese soldiers, so hopelessly weak, ill-armed and poorly led in the war with Japan, could some day become the equal of any in the world, if they were properly led, trained, nourished, and equipped.
After attending the army's Infantry school at Ft. Benning and the Command and General Staff school at Fort Leavenworth, Stilwell returned to China (1926-1929) as battalion commander and later executive officer of the Fifteenth Infantry an American regiment stationed in Tientsin as a result of the Boxer Rebellion. He watched the [[KMT|Kuomintang]] under [[Chiang Kai-shek]] unify the nation, assessing Chinese affairs a series of weekly articles for the journal of the Fifteenth Infantry. His third China duty came in 1935–1939, when he returned as military attaché to observe, judge, and report the Japanese invasion, which began in 1937 and soon captured the major cities. Stilwell formed a negative opinion of KMT leadership and came to believe that Chinese soldiers, so hopelessly weak, ill-armed and poorly led in the war with Japan, could some day become the equal of any in the world, if they were properly led, trained, nourished, and equipped.
==Army promotions==
==Army promotions==
From 1929 to 1933, Stilwell served as chief of the tactical section at the Infantry School, under the direction of Col. [[George C. Marshall]]. Marshall had high praise for Stilwell as "a genius for instruction," who was "ahead of his time in tactics and technique," and, although personally unassuming, was one of the "exceptionally brilliant and cultured men of the army."<ref>Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45'' (1970) [https://books.google.com/books?id=cmGWftWcnL4C&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22exceptionally+brilliant+and+cultured+men+of+the+army%22&source=web&ots=nc0ZTCXnHd&sig=5QCySrbhYCCnss35-30JTHTMK8o&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result online p.125]</ref> Stilwell was instantly repelled by incompetence or pretentiousness. A man of utter integrity, he was a fighter and a doer, whose too-quick disgust for anything less in others made him at times, as Marshall later said, "his own worst enemy."<ref>Tuchman, ''Stilwell,'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=cmGWftWcnL4C&pg=PA425&vq=%22worst+enemy%22&dq=%22exceptionally+brilliant+and+cultured+men+of+the+army%22&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U3clQ1j8FouWoHL3flvbkSx3xRRXw p. 425 online]</ref> His unsparing and acid critiques earned him the nickname "Vinegar Joe."
From 1929 to 1933, Stilwell served as chief of the tactical section at the Infantry School, under the direction of Col. [[George C. Marshall]]. Marshall had high praise for Stilwell as "a genius for instruction," who was "ahead of his time in tactics and technique," and, although personally unassuming, was one of the "exceptionally brilliant and cultured men of the army."<ref>Barbara Wertheim Tuchman, ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45'' (1970) [https://books.google.com/books?id=cmGWftWcnL4C&pg=PA125&lpg=PA125&dq=%22exceptionally+brilliant+and+cultured+men+of+the+army%22&source=web&ots=nc0ZTCXnHd&sig=5QCySrbhYCCnss35-30JTHTMK8o&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result online p.125]</ref> Stilwell was instantly repelled by incompetence or pretentiousness. A man of utter integrity, he was a fighter and a doer, whose too-quick disgust for anything less in others made him at times, as Marshall later said, "his own worst enemy."<ref>Tuchman, ''Stilwell,'' [https://books.google.com/books?id=cmGWftWcnL4C&pg=PA425&vq=%22worst+enemy%22&dq=%22exceptionally+brilliant+and+cultured+men+of+the+army%22&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U3clQ1j8FouWoHL3flvbkSx3xRRXw p. 425 online]</ref> His unsparing and acid critiques earned him the nickname "Vinegar Joe."
* Dod, Karl C. ''The Corps of Engineers: The War against Japan.'' (1966),
* Dod, Karl C. ''The Corps of Engineers: The War against Japan.'' (1966),
* Liang, Chin-Tun. ''Gen. Stilwell in China, 1942-1944'' (1972), a pro-Chiang view
* Liang, Chin-Tun. ''Gen. Stilwell in China, 1942-1944'' (1972), a pro-Chiang view
* Newell, Clayton R. ‘’Burma, 1942'’ [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-C-Burma/index.html online edition], focus on Stilwell’s operations
* Newell, Clayton R. ‘’Burma, 1942'’ [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-C-Burma/index.html online edition], focus on Stilwell's operations
* Prefer, Nathan N. ''Vinegar Joe's War: Stilwell's Campaigns for Burma.'' (2000), 314pp; scholarly history [http://www.questia.com/read/82055748?title=Vinegar%20Joe%27s%20War%3a%20Stilwell%27s%20Campaigns%20for%20Burma online edition]
* Prefer, Nathan N. ''Vinegar Joe's War: Stilwell's Campaigns for Burma.'' (2000), 314pp; scholarly history [http://www.questia.com/read/82055748?title=Vinegar%20Joe%27s%20War%3a%20Stilwell%27s%20Campaigns%20for%20Burma online edition]
* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Mission to China'' (1953), official U.S. Army history [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Mission/index.html online edition]
* Romanus, Charles F. and Riley Sunderland. ''Stilwell's Mission to China'' (1953), official U.S. Army history [http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/USA-CBI-Mission/index.html online edition]
* Schaller Michael. ''The U.S. Crusade in China, 1938-1945.'' (1979). [http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-us-crusade-in-china-1938-1945-by-michael-schaller.jsp online edition]
* Schaller Michael. ''The U.S. Crusade in China, 1938-1945.'' (1979). [http://www.questia.com/library/book/the-us-crusade-in-china-1938-1945-by-michael-schaller.jsp online edition]
* Tuchman, Barbara. ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45,'' (1972), 624pp; Pulitzer prize (The British edition is titled ''Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45,'') [https://www.amazon.com/Stilwell-American-Experience-China-1911-45/dp/0802138527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214005449&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Tuchman, Barbara. ''Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-45,'' (1972), 624pp; Pulitzer prize (The British edition is titled ''Against the Wind: Stilwell and the American Experience in China 1911-45,'') [https://www.amazon.com/Stilwell-American-Experience-China-1911-45/dp/0802138527/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214005449&sr=8-1 excerpt and text search]
* Ven, Hans Van De. "Stilwell in the Stocks: the Chinese Nationalists and the Allied Powers in the Second World War." ''Asian Affairs'' 2003 34(3): 243-259. Issn: 0306-8374 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]], revisionist argument that Stilwell was incompetent, had no command training or experience, and did not appreciate air power. Ven suggests that Roosevelt's needs in the presidential election of 1944, the strategic decision to defeat the Nazi menace in Europe before giving full attention to Japan, and the unwise yielding to the needs of the Soviet Union during World War II all led to the defeat of the Chinese Nationalists.
* Ven, Hans Van De. "Stilwell in the Stocks: the Chinese Nationalists and the Allied Powers in the Second World War." ''Asian Affairs'' 2003 34(3): 243–259. Issn: 0306-8374 Fulltext: [[Ebsco]], revisionist argument that Stilwell was incompetent, had no command training or experience, and did not appreciate air power. Ven suggests that Roosevelt's needs in the presidential election of 1944, the strategic decision to defeat the Nazi menace in Europe before giving full attention to Japan, and the unwise yielding to the needs of the Soviet Union during World War II all led to the defeat of the Chinese Nationalists.
* Ven, Hans van de. ''War and Nationalism in China: 1925-1945'' (2003), negative on Stilwell
* Ven, Hans van de. ''War and Nationalism in China: 1925-1945'' (2003), negative on Stilwell
* Young, Kenneth Ray. "The Stilwell Controversy: A Bibliographical Review," ''Military Affairs,'' Vol. 39, No. 2 (Apr., 1975), pp. 66–68 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1986929 in JSTOR]
* Young, Kenneth Ray. "The Stilwell Controversy: A Bibliographical Review," ''Military Affairs,'' Vol. 39, No. 2 (Apr., 1975), pp. 66–68 [http://www.jstor.org/pss/1986929 in JSTOR]