POST-WWII TO PRESENT DAY

ASIA

• Independence for India – Mohandas Gandhi leads non-violent resistance against British rule– Achieves independence in 1947– Religious tensions: Hindus and Muslims don’t get

along• Partition of India– British India is divided into India and East and West

Pakistan• Hindus go to India and Muslims to one of the two

Pakistans– Violence erupts among the two groups as they move• Over a million people are killed and Gandhi

himself is assassinated by a Hindu who blames him for the partition

• Eventually East Pakistan breaks away from West Pakistan in 1971– Civil war, East Pakistan wins and renames itself

Bangladesh• Growing ethnic and religious strife in India– The Sikhs, who follow a religion based on both Hindu

and Muslim ideas, demand independence of the province of Punjab

– Prime Minister Indira Gandhi refuses and in 1984 uses military force against Sikh rebels who have taken refuge in an important Sikh temple • Hundreds are killed and the temple is damaged

– Two members of Gandhi’s personal bodyguards both Sikhs, assassinate her later that year• Sets off a move of anti-Sikh violence and

thousands are killed– Her son, Rajiv Gandhi, replaces her as prime minister

and is assassinated in 1991• Kashmir – India and Pakistan both claim this

area, have been fighting over it for decades– In 1999 Pakistani backed forces invade Kashmir,

cease-fire in 2003, China also has laid claim to Kashmir

• Great Britain ends its colonial rule in Southeast Asia, but France is reluctant after WWII to let Vietnam go free– August 1945 the Vietminh, an alliance of forces under

Communist leadership, seize power throughout most of Vietnam• Ho Chi Minh is elected president

– France won’t accept this new gov’t, tries to regain control• France pulls out after Dien Bien Phu falls and

divides the country, U.S. enters war– Vietnam is reunited in 1975 after the U.S. withdraws• U.S. formally recognizes the united Vietnam in

1995

• Cambodia – in 1975 a Communist group called the Khmer Rouge gained of the country– Led by brutal dictator Pol Pot– Wanted to create a country in which nearly everyone

would work as a simple peasant• All influence of urban life and modern civilization

were destroyed– Anyone who showed any sign of being educated was

killed and many more were worked or starved to death• 1.5 million died out of a population of 7 million,

many fled in boats – Cambodian boat people

– Vietnam invades in 1979 and Pol Pot is forced from power• He leads Khmer Rouge guerillas in a civil war that

lasted through much of the 1980s• Indonesia won independence in 1949 from the Dutch

and in 1975 invaded East Timor– For three decades the East Timorese fought against

the Indonesian invasion in which over 100,000 died– East Timor won independence in 2002

• Japan was under Allied occupation from 1945-1952 under the command of General MacArthur– New constitution renounces war as national policy

and U.S. allowed to maintain military bases in Japan

– Economic miracle, Japan become’s one of the world’s leading economic powers

• Taiwan – should it continue to be an independent state or united with China– The Nationalists gained control of the island after

they were driven from mainland China by the Communists in 1949

– Japan threatens war if China invades Taiwan • Hong Kong – 1997 Great Britain returns the island to

China– China promises economic freedom to Hong Kong for

50 years

• The Asian Tigers– Economic powerhouses: Hong Kong, Singapore,

Taiwan, and South Korea– Received large amounts of aid from the U.S. during

the early part of the Cold War– Focus on exports of consumer goods

• Communist China– By 1942 there were two Chinese gov’ts:• Nationalist gov’t of Chiang Kai-shek• Communist gov’t of Mao Zedong–Worked together to fight the Japanese during

WWII– Mao’s army wins in 1949 and China becomes

Communist

• Kai-shek and his two million followers flee to Taiwan

– Great Leap Forward (1958)• Was designed to increase China’s industrial and

agricultural output• Set up farming communes of 20,000 workers• Was a disaster, food production decreases, 15

million people die of starvation– Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966)• “Great Revolution to create a working class cultur

e”–Eliminate intellectuals, such as teachers, skilled

workers, and artists

–Also eliminate old ideas, culture, customs, and habits

• Little Red Book – collection of Mao’s thoughts• Mao creates the Red Guard to carry out the work

of the Cultural Revolution by criticizing intellectuals and traditional values–Mao loses control of the Red Guards and they

travel through villages looking for offenders, torturing and killing hundreds of thousands

• Highly unpopular, is ended after the death of Mao– Deng Ziaoping follows a policy to modernize the

economy, industry, and technology• Invite foreign investors to China, students sent

abroad

• Works, per capita doubles• However many people who speak out in favor of

democracy were often given long prison terms– Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing (1989)• Student protestors call for an end to corruption

and the resignation of the Communist Party leaders, want democracy–Receives widespread support of the people

• Massive demonstrations in Tiananmen Square by the students• Deng orders tanks and troops to subdue the

students–Over 10,000 casualties, with up to 7,000 killed–Widespread arrests follow, action condemned

by the world

– One Child policy• To deal with a growing population, families are

allowed one child• If the first child is a girl, they can try for a second

child after paying a special fee• Families who have more than one or two children

are monetarily punished