Homer Lea (1876-1912), is a singular figure in American geopolitical history. He overcame massive obstacles, both within himself and the prevailing society, to be part of remarkable achievements in world history, and to be among the first Americans to understand his country’s emerging place in the world of the 20th Century.

Born a hunchback with chronically frail health, he nevertheless was admitted to West Point in 18__ after an early life dedicated to his fascination with Napoleon and all things military. Due to his health and _____, Lea was expelled in 18___. He was later admitted to Stanford University, where in addition to military history and politics, he became enamored with China and Chinese culture.

At Stanford, Lea organized and participated in military exercises and drill for the _____. At night, he disappeared into the Chinatowns of San Francisco and Los Angeles, where he became involved with the growing anti-Monarchist movement. This activity eventually evolved into organizing paramilitary formations in the hope of mounting a revolutionary campaign in China. In 1898, he met Sun Yat-Sen, the Nationalist leader, and they became friends. Lea became Sun’s military advisor and procurer of weapons and support for the Nationalist cause in the United States and elsewhere. In this capacity Lea commanded troops in battle against Manchu and warlord forces during the Boxer Rebellion and the battles which culminated in the rise of the Nationalist government in 1912.

Lea was also an author, who produced works of both fiction and non-fiction, which espoused his geopolitical ideas. Two of these works, The Valor of Ignorance (which predicted the rise of the Japanese Empire and its inevitable conflict with America), and The Day of the Saxon (which predicted the decline of the British Empire in Europe and the rise of Russian political power), are his most well known works. The first work especially, contains remarkably prescient predictions of events in the Pacific Theater of World War 2, right down to exact invasion routes in some cases. Because of this, Lea’s books, works of a gifted amateur which were quickly forgotten by America’s military establishment, gained a revived interest during the war.

Lea was to write a third book to complete his trilogy on geopolitics, but this was prevented by his death in 1912. He was 36.