GRC - Brief Overview of the Topics, Continued (Lesson)
Brief Overview of the Topics, Continued
Indonesia
Indonesia was a Dutch colony before World War II—then it was a Japanese-conquered territory during the war. After the war, the Indonesians (spread out over ten thousand islands) refused to become a Dutch colony again and fought the Dutch for over four years to prevent their regaining colonial power. Ultimately Indonesia won its independence in 1949 and set up a parliamentary democracy with Sukarno as its first president—a position that should have been limited in power as a prime minister usually rules a parliamentary democracy. Over the next years, though, Sukarno increased his power and moved his government towards a more authoritarian regime with communist leanings. As a result, the Indonesian path to the 21st Century has been bloody and full of controversy.
Indonesia has a very diverse population and they did (and still do) not always agree on how Indonesia should be run. Early on pro-Dutch groups, Indonesian Muslims, unsatisfied voters who questioned election results, various military groups, communists, anti-United States rebels and a plethora of other factions within its 70 million people fought verbally and physically over the future of Indonesia. Another strain on peace within Indonesia came from territorial disputes—you can imagine that within a nation of islands surrounded by other islands there will always be conflicts over which island belongs to whom. Over its history, Indonesia has experienced a parliamentary democracy, a presidential democracy, a couple of dictators and quite a few bloodbaths as a result. In 2004, Indonesians popularly and freely elected their president for the first time in their history.
Indochina
Indochina was a French colony that was overrun by the Japanese during World War II. When the Japanese lost the war and left the area, nationalists there did not want to be French colonials again and set off on a similar path as Indonesia. It took them a little longer than Indonesia, though, to rid themselves of the French. A portion of Indochina gained its independence in 1953 and became Cambodia and started a new story separate from the remaining territories of Laos and Vietnam. In Vietnam, the resistance to French colonial rule mostly stemmed from the League for the Independence of Vietnam (called the Vietminh) and was led by Ho Chi Minh. Originally, the purpose of the Vietminh was to fight against the Japanese occupation during the war but that quickly transformed into a resistance against the return of the French following the end of World War II. They were only partially successful. The Vietminh were able to take control of northern Vietnam and establish a government there—a communist government, known as the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. The French retained control over southern Vietnam. France attempted to regain control of northern Vietnam causing a war to break out in 1946 between the French and the Vietminh. Eight years later, the French-controlled city of Dien Bien Phu fell to the Vietminh and a cease-fire and peace treaty were soon drawn up. This established the border between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (in the north) and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel. The French then pulled out of South Vietnam and handed the reins over to the local Vietnamese who did not establish a communist government. However, there was a stipulation in the peace treaty between France and the Democratic Republic of Vietnam to hold an election in 1956 over whether or not to reunite the two Vietnams. Ngo Dinh Diem—the elected leader of South Vietnam—refused to allow the election and disgruntled South Vietnamese rebels began to organize. Known as the Vietcong, these southern rebels went to work undermining Ngo Dinh Diem's government. This, as it turned out, they were pretty good at. When Diem's own military overthrew him in 1963, he was killed. From that point forward, it became impossible to set up an honest and competent government in South Vietnam. The United States, who had kept a military presence in South Vietnam since its days as a French colony, increased its military personnel in South Vietnam. Before, in line with its policy on containment, the United States supplied the South Vietnam government under Ngo Dinh Diem with military aid even though his style of governing resembled a dictatorship more so than a democracy. When Ngo Dinh Diem fell and South Vietnam's government experienced year after year of chaos, the United States eventually took over the fight against the communist Vietminh attacking from the north and the local Vietcong attacking from within. Over the next decade, the United States escalated its participation in the Vietnam War. Despite the American presence, though, the South Vietnamese government fell to the communists from the north and the two Vietnams were reunited as one nation called the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 1976.
Despite being a major hotspot during the Cold War, Vietnam is very infrequently mentioned in international news these days. Usually when mentioned it is in the context of the Vietnam War. That part isn't surprising though. Following the Vietnam War, the Vietnamese Peninsula was an environmental and humanitarian mess with roughly 4.5 million Vietnamese dead, another 4.5 million injured and almost 9 million without homes. Yet, the Vietnamese had succeeded in ridding their land of one colonial power and one superpower. With that kind of legacy, it is impossible to not mention the Vietnam War when talking about Vietnam. But the end of the Vietnam War came about almost half a century ago and the rest of their history merits discussion.
Although the Vietnam War was over, Vietnam continued its participation in the Cambodia War in an attempt to bring communism there and, perhaps, even to expand Vietnamese territory. Also, as the two Vietnams had lived separate existences for more than two decades prior to their unification, the new nation had a lot to patch up. It started with education—building schools throughout the primarily rural Vietnam and encouraging attendance. Fighting a war and building an infrastructure that included schools cost more money than the Vietnamese had or could get through trade as many Western nations had trade embargos against Vietnam. Therefore, they turned to the Soviet Union for financial backing.
You might wonder why they didn't turn to their neighbor China? The reason for that was simple—they didn't get along. Despite both being communist, they had different views on how communism should look. This became evident when Vietnam overthrew the regime in Cambodia supported by China in 1978. The Vietnamese set up a different, albeit communist, government in Cambodia following its invasion and the Chinese were not impressed. Also, China was (and is) Vietnam's next-door-neighbor to the north as they shared a border. But it wasn't a border without disputes. During the 1970s, 80, and 90s, China and Vietnam argued over exactly where their 740-mile border should be. Although they resolved their border conflict in 1999, China and Vietnam still have a very tremulous relationship. As recently as 2011, they were arguing over China's naval drills in the seas off of Vietnam.
It would seem the reason we haven't heard much about Vietnam since the war, then, is that there hasn't been much to tell. Following the Vietnam War, the nation went to work repairing and rebuilding itself. It spent some time, from 1978 to 1989, trying to expand into Cambodia; but eventually gave that up as a lost cause. It spent some time trying to rehabilitate the thoroughly western-minded southern Vietnamese into a more communist society; but eventually decided to let live their western tendencies as long as they didn't interfere with communist goals. Vietnam currently holds elections for public offices—of course, most of the candidates come from the same (Communist) party—sends its children to school—makes plans to improve the infrastructure—worships its various religions (which is a pretty unique activity within a communist nation)—and conducts business on a daily basis. In short, it is now just a nation doing what nations do.
Egypt
Beginning at the turn of the 20th Century, Egyptian nationalists pushed for an independent Egypt. During World War I, Great Britain pledged to help Egypt become a sovereign nation if Egypt would allow its territory to serve as a base for the British fight against the Ottoman armies. Egypt held up its end of the bargain and at the conclusion of the Great War demanded their promised independence. However, at the time, Great Britain was only in the mood to give Egypt sovereignty in name only. The British protectorate over Egypt "officially" ended in 1922—but the nationalists didn't have much to celebrate since Great Britain retained control over Egypt's foreign policy, defense and communications. The Egyptian government only had control over its domestic policy—but even that could be reversed by the British if they didn't like it. Surely, you can imagine how the Egyptian nationalists felt about this turn of events. And it didn't help that the Egyptian government created a constitutional monarchy with a king who seriously distrusted the Egyptian nationalists and suspected they were trying to overthrow him. Nationalist dissatisfaction with the Egyptian monarch and the British interlopers continued to grow until its peak in 1948. At that time, the Egyptian army (which was full of Egyptian nationalists) along with other Arab nations attacked the fledgling nation of Israel. The Egyptian army lost and they blamed their own government for providing lousy weapons and incompetent leaders. Dissatisfaction with the government turned into outright disgust and the nationalists began planning to overthrow the monarch.
One of the leaders to help plan the removal of the Egyptian king was Gamel Abdel Nasser. The nationalists (who had now become revolutionists) "convinced" King Farouk to surrender his crown in 1952 and Nasser became the second president of the new Republic of Egypt just four years later. (A job he got by forcing the resignation of the first president.) President Nasser had a list of goals for the new Egypt. First—he wanted to restore Egypt's dignity. Second—he wanted all of the British out of Egypt. And third— based on his Pan-Arab Movement roots, he wanted Egypt to become the leader of a united Arab world.
In some ways, President Nasser was successful in achieving his goals—the British packed their bags in 1956 and Egypt regained control of the Suez Canal for the first time since 1869. He soon sparked an international crisis, however, when he nationalized the Suez Canal. But for the most part, Nasser was very skilled at his new role. He played the United States and the Soviet Union off of one another to the benefit of Egypt and developed a financially beneficially relationship with the Soviet Union while maintaining good enough relations with the United States that they came to his aid during the Suez Crisis. In other ways, President Nasser was not successful—despite over a decade of attempts, he never could unite the Arab world; which meant Egypt never led it. And under his watch, the Egyptian army lost a war and territory to the much younger and smaller Israel.
He was also fairly secular in his governing. Do you remember an earlier mention on the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood from the previous unit—the group that hoped to restore stricter Muslim traditions and laws to Egypt during the 1920s? Well, Nasser banned that group during his tenure and the Muslim Brotherhood disappeared from the scene for the next five decades as the next two presidents weren't fans of theirs either.
Did you notice something about that last sentence? That's right—from the time Nasser became president in 1956 until 2011, Egypt had only three presidents (two of which only left office because they died.) This is despite the fact that an Egyptian president's term in office is only six years. The main reason Egypt only had three presidents over a fifty-year span is that the 4th president—Hosni Mubarak—stepped into the office in 1981 and stayed for the next three decades as no one was allowed to run against him during reelections. (That will definitely improve one's chances on getting reelected for three decades.) But, after thirty years without much change in political structure or economic opportunities, the Egyptians finally had had enough of their authoritarian government posing as a democracy. In 2011, President Mubarak stepped down as president during the Arab Spring.
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