24.3- Independent States in South & Southeast Asia

India Divided

• After World War II, British India was divided into two countries based on religion– (Hindu) India– (Muslim) Pakistan

• Pakistan consisted of two regions separated by India– West Pakistan– East Pakistan

India Divided

• In 1947, India and Pakistan became independent

• Muslims fled to Pakistan, Hindus to India

• The mass migrations led to great violence

• Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu militant

The New India

• The newly independent India had a parliamentary form of government led by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress Party

• Nehru wanted India to have a moderate socialist economic structure

• India developed a large industrial sector

• Industrial production almost tripled between 1950 and 1965

The New India

• Indira Gandhi became prime minister of India after the death of Nehru, her father

• She ruled for most of the time from 1966 to 1984

• India’s growing population, high poverty rates, and ethnic and religious differences caused problems

The New India

• Militant Sikhs demanded that Punjab become independent from India

• Gandhi used military force against Sikh rebels, killing many of them

• She was assassinated in retaliation

The New India

• Indira Gandhi’s son, Rajiv Gandhi, became prime minister after his mother’s death

• He encouraged private enterprise and foreign investment

• There was a growth in India’s middle class

• He was assassinated in 1991 while campaigning for reelection

The New India

• Tension between Hindus and Muslims continues to threaten India’s stability

• Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated when each country became a nuclear power.

Pakistan• East Pakistan and West Pakistan are very different in nature• West Pakistan is a dry and mountainous area

• East Pakistan has marshy land densely populated with rice farmers

• East Pakistanis felt that the government located in West Pakistan ignored their needs

• After a brief civil war, East Pakistan became the new nation of Bangladesh

• Pakistan (as West Pakistan is now called) and Bangladesh have had difficulty establishing stable governments

Southeast Asia• Colonies in Southeast Asia

gained their independence after World War II

• In 1946, the United States granted total independence to the Philippines

• Great Britain granted independence to Burma in 1948 and to Malaya in 1957

• In 1949, the United States pressured the Netherlands into granting independence to Indonesia and the non-Communist government set up by Achmed Sukarno

Southeast Asia

• The local Communist Party and Ho Chi Minh led the independence movement against France in Vietnam

• In 1945, the Vietminh–an alliance of forces under Communist leadership–took control of most of Vietnam

• The French, however, refused to accept the new government and took control of the southern part of the country

Southeast Asia

• France fought Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh for control of Vietnam

• In 1954, France agreed to a peace settlement

• Vietnam was divided–the Communists were based in Hanoi in the north and the non-Communists were based in Saigon in the south

• By early 1965, the South Vietnamese Communist guerrillas known as Viet Cong were ready to seize control of the entire country

Southeast Asia• The United States had been providing

aid to South Vietnam, but in March 1965, President Lyndon Johnson decided to send U.S. troops there to prevent a Communist victory

• By the end of the 1960s, the Vietnam War reached a stalemate–neither side was able to make significant gains

• In 1973, President Nixon reached an agreement with North Vietnam that allowed the United States to withdraw

its forces

• Within two years, Vietnam was forcibly reunited by Communist armies

Southeast Asia• By the end of 1975, Laos

and Cambodia also had Communist regimes

• The dictator Pol Pot, leader of the Khmer Rouge, established a brutal revolutionary regime in Cambodia

• The Communist victory in Indochina did not lead to the “falling dominoes” that many U.S. policy makers had feared

Southeast Asia

• At first, many of the newly independent states in Southeast Asia hoped to form democratic, capitalist states

• By the end of the 1950s, rapid economic growth had not occurred

• This weakened newly democratic countries and opened the way for military and one-party autocratic regimes

Southeast Asia

• Recently, some Southeast Asian countries have again moved toward more democratic governments

• In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos came to power in 1965

• After Marcos was forced from office in 1986, Corazon Aquino became president and worked for democratic reforms

• In 2001, Gloria Arroyo was elected. She focused on the economy and terrorism