POST-WWII TO PRESENT DAY

1. POST-WWII TO PRESENT DAY ASIA

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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 culture” • Eliminate intellectuals, such as teachers, skilled workers, and artists

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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