Transcript CONTEMPORARY ASIA AND AFRICA

CONTEMPORARY ASIA AND
AFRICA
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JAPAN, CHINA, KOREA, VIETNAM,
PHILIPPINES, INDIA AND AFRICA
POST-WAR JAPAN
Douglas MacArthur assigned to the
rebuilding of Japan
 Democracy established
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CHINA
Sun Yat-sen: founder of the Guomintang
(nationalist party of China)
 Chiang Kai-shek: takes over for Sun Yat-sen in
1925, but was opposed to land reform and
peasants flocked to his opponent
 Mao Zedong: communist leader of the peasants
and used the Long March to unite all
communists; pushed Chiang Kai-shek off the
mainland to the island of Taiwan; Mao made
China communist in 1949
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Sun Yat-sen
Chiang Kai-shek
Mao Zedong
GREAT LEAP FORWARD
5 Year Economic Plan established by Mao
Zedong
 1959-1963- the plan was to focus on
industry and agriculture and the hope was
to rival the United States
 Unfortunately, 1959 was a bad year and it
is thought that 9 million starved that year,
and by 1963, 20 million starved
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TIANANMEN SQUARE
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Pro-democratic demonstration against the Communist
government in China
June 5, 1989: worst day of violence
Total of 3,000 deaths
KOREAN WAR:
THE FORGOTTEN WAR
1945- The U.N. split the peninsula at the
38th Parallel
 June 1950: Communist North Korea
crossed the 38th Parallel into South Korea
 United States troops under the leadership
of Douglas MacArthur and United Nations
forces responded to the invasion
 Allied forces were pushed to the Pusan
Perimeter by September 1950
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MacArthur called for an amphibious
invasion at Inchon to take pressure off
Allied forces and to cut supply lines of the
North Koreans
 By November 1950 Allied forces had
pushed the North Koreans almost to the
Yalu River (boundary between North Korea
and China)
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Chinese forces crossed over the Yalu River
to help N. Korea
 MacArthur wanted to invade China, but
Truman advised against it. MacArthur and
Truman exchanged words and eventually
MacArthur was fired.
 Chinese and N. Korean forces were able to
cross back across the 38th Parallel
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Allied forces pushed
back
 Fighting stopped in
1951
 Armistice signed in
1953 and the 38th
Parallel was used to
divide North and
South Korea
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THE VIETNAM WAR
Vietnam was part of French Indochina
 Area was taken over by the Japanese in
WWII, but reclaimed by the French after
the war was over
 Nationalist movement in the region
against the French
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Leader of the Nationalists- Ho Chi Minh
 Led the war against the French in the late
1940’s; influenced by communism
 Ho Chi Minh’s followers in North Vietnam
were called the Vietminh
 Ho Chi Minh was supported and financially
backed by the Soviet Union
 The United States backed the French
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The Geneva Conference- divided
Vietnam at the 17th Parallel
North was now communist and leader
was Ho Chi Minh (capital=Hanoi) – ties
to China and USSR
South was democratic and president was
Ngo Dinh Diem (capital=Saigon)
TIMELINE OF U.S. INVOLVEMENT
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1954- SUPPORTIVE OF THE FRENCH
1956-1964- SENT MILITARY ADVISORS AND FINANCIAL
AID
1964- GULF OF TONKIN INCIDENT AND PRESIDENT
JOHNSON GETS PERMISSION TO SEND IN COMBAT
TROOPS WITH THE GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION
1965- 1ST COMBAT TROOPS ARRIVE
1965-1973- AMERICAN COMBAT TROOPS IN VIETNAM
PRESIDENT NIXON RESPONSIBLE FOR
VIETNAMIZATION
UNITED STATES INVOLVEMENT
By 1957 Eisenhower sent in military advisors to
help train South Vietnamese military
 President Kennedy increased American
involvement (financial aid)
 South Vietnam’s army was ineffective against
the Vietcong (South Vietnamese guerillas- also
known as Charlie) which put pressure on the
U.S. to increase its involvement
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Diem turned out to be corrupt
Believed he pocketed much of the aid sent to
them from US
US continued to support him
Openly persecuted Buddhists
Monks protesting persecution set selves on fire
in public square
United States finally supported a coup to
overthrow Diem in 1963
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1964-Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – US spy boat
torpedoed, but US claimed two had been attacked, LB
Johnson urged Congress to write “blank check”
President Johnson sent over troops to take on a lead
military role
By 1967 – war at a stalemate
North planned attack on Saigon on Tet, Vietnamese
holiday (Tet Offensive)
North actually failed, lasted several weeks but they did
not win
North used propaganda to create image of victory
However, US opinion of the war dropped dramatically
because we suffered less casualties, but gained no
land
War portrayed as “unwinnable”
U.S. forces tried to bomb the Ho Chi Minh
Trail- supply route through Cambodia and
Laos
 Sparked protests – Kent State and Jackson
State– students were shot by national
guard
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Paris Accords – Jan 31, 1973
Brought US withdrawal and release of POWs
US pulls out- Vietnamization
North continues to take South
World watches dramatic rescue of US Embassy
workers from the embassy rooftop
February ’73 – South fell to communism, Laos
went peacefully slowly after
NAPALM
MY LAI
MASSACRE
HANOI HILTON
JOHN McCAIN- POW
HANOI JANE
CAMBODIA AND
THE KHMER ROUGE
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As a result of the communist takeover of
Vietnam and because of the Ho Chi Minh Trail,
communism filtered into Cambodia
Pol Pot established the Khmer Rouge, a
communist regime in Cambodia
Ruled from 1975-1979
He began a genocide against the intelligencia
and former political leaders of Cambodia
Killed approximately 1 million people before he
was overthrown and placed under house arrest
Died in 1998 while still under house arrest
POL POT
THE KILLING FIELDS
PHILIPPINES
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President Ferdinand Marcos was a corrupt leader who
embezzled a huge amount of the national treasury for
his own personal gain (1965-1986)
He was accused of having his political opponent,
Benigno Aquino, murdered in 1983
In the 1986 election, the wife of the murdered
opponent, Corazon Aquino, ran against Marcos and won.
She became the first female democratically elected
President of the Philippines. Stayed in power until 1992.
Marcos and his wife fled the Philippines and sought
refuge in the U.S. They were arrested and served time
in U.S prison. Ferdinand died in 1989 and Imelda
returned to the Philippines.
INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT
OF INDIA
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Following WWII: desire for independence
from the British and the concern of
Muslims and their place in India
dominated by Hindus
INDEPENDENCE
Mohandas Gandhi- leader of the INC had been
fighting for independence for many years and
WWII forced Britain to address the issue
 The last British viceroy of India carried out a
plan to create an independent India in 1947
 The British were persuaded because of a
nonviolent resistance movement (passive
resistance) led by Gandhi, who was eventually
given the name Mahatma (Great Soul)
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RESULTS OF INDIAN
INDEPENDENCE
The agreement that created an independent
India also established a two-part Pakistan
 A Hindu upset over the partition assassinated
Gandhi in 1948
 In 1971, the eastern section of Pakistan became
Bangladesh
 The island of Ceylon was also granted
independence and was eventually renamed
Sri Lanka
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AFRICAN INDEPENDENCE
MOVEMENTS
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African independence efforts followed three
general patterns:
– Peaceful transition to independence
– Violent transition to independence or violence
following the transition due to conflicts among
Africans in the region
– Areas where large European populations had settled
in the colony faced conflicts such as resisting the
desires of natives and the colonial power’s plans to
establish African majority rule
Peaceful Transition
Common in colonies that had small
European populations and minimal tension
among African groups in the colony
 British West Africa is a good example
 They were already using indirect rule so
they just handed power over to the
Africans
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Violent Transition
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Nigeria’s independence was delayed by
complicated negotiations among African
ethnic groups and eventually civil war
erupted
Europeans were the obstacle
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Algeria- French simply refused to consider
independence. Finally in 1962, following a war that
killed thousands of French soldiers and hundreds of
thousands of Algerians, the country gained
independence
South Africa: gained independence after WWII, but by
1948 the government started apartheid (national policy
of segregation). The policy ended in 1990.
Nelson Mandela led the movement against apartheid.
He was imprisoned for several years.
President F.W. deKlerk ended apartheid and allowed for
free elections which allowed Mandela to take over
continued
Kenya: Europeans made up less than 1% of population,
but had tremendous power
 Jomo Kenyatta became the leader of the independence
movement in Kenya
 He was jailed by the British from 1953 to 1961
 Became the Prime Minister of independent Kenya in
1963
 Encouraged Europeans to stay and invest in the country
 Economically prosperous until mid-1970’s, when the oneparty system became corrupt. Corruption intensified
after Kenyatta’s death in 1978.
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Rwandan Genocide
Rwanda and Burundi were given to
Belgium according to the Treaty of
Versailles.
 The Tutsi (ethnic minority) were given
preferential treatment by the Belgians.
 The 1994 genocide was the slaughter of
approximately 1 million Tutsi by the Hutu
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