L2 - Geopolitics

SE Asia has been greatly affected by…

World War II, European decolonization, communism, and the Cold War

Much of SE Asia was occupied by the…

Imperial Japanese army during WWII

when Japanese were defeated, some places were occupied by the USA, and attempts were made by various colonial powers to re-establish control over their former colonies

Philippines

the U.S. gained control of here in 1898 at the end of the Spanish American War

it fought the Philippine-American War (1899-1902) to keep it

the USA ruled it as an overseas territory until 1946

Japanese invaded and controlled it from 1942-1945

gained independence in 1946

Indonesia

after Japanese occupation, the Dutch tried to recolonize in 1946

fought the Indonesian War of Independence (1946-49) and kicked them out

in 1965, a communist coup attempt was repelled by the army led by Suharto who later became ruler

was a major American ally in SE Asia during the Cold War

Coup d’etat

literally, “a blow against the state,” is when a government is overthrown by unconstitutional means, usually by the military or a political faction

East Timor

in 1974, a left-wing coup occurred in Portugal and overthrew dictatorship there

many Portuguese colonies gained independence as a result

almost immediately, Indonesia who controlled west Timor, invaded with US assistance

fear was a communist government in E.T. forming after independence

French Indochina

was occupied by the Japanese during WWII

also, the French government during WWII turned into a pro-Nazi regime called Vichy France

Vichy regime allowed Japanese control during WWII

after war, the French tried to re-establish control

in the North, Ho Chi minh led a communist guerilla force called the Viet Minh with aid from the Soviet Union and later, Communist China (after the 1949 Chinese Civil War was over)

First Indochina War

between the French and Viet Minh for control of it

ended with Viet Minh victory

The Viet Minh …

defeated the French and the 1954 Geneva Conference settled the Korean and Indochina conflicts

territory was partitioned into 4 countries: the democratic republic of Vietnam (communist), the State of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos

Viet Cong

Viet Minh helped create an insurgency in the State of Vietnam called..

which carried out attacks against the government there

the US became the primary supporter of the State of Vietnam against communist expansion

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

the USS Maddox was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin by Vietnamese torpedo boats

caused the US to become directly involved in the conflict

was the casus belli for the second Indochina war called the Vietnam War in the US

Casus Belli

literally, ‘cause for war’ an even that starts the fighting or provides justification for fighting to start

Second Indochina War (Vietnam War)

a war between North and South Vietnam with the US supporting the south and the Soviet Union and China supporting the north

it ended in a stalemate but two years after US ceasefire, the north invaded the south, unifying Vietnam as a communist country which remains today

millions of Vietnamese fled from the south and became refugees abroad

some people evacuated by US, many fled in boats and were known as boat people

Laos

has a similar story to that of Vietnam

was once part of French Indochina and occupied by the Japanese

the Laotian monarch was reestablished

a communist revolution led by the Pathet Lao took control in 1975

many Hmong refugees resulted and were settled in the USA

Hmong

an ethnic group native to Vietnam, China, and Loas

Cambodia

was created in 1954 from French Indochina and a monarch was reestablished

in 1975, a communist coup saw the Khmer Rouge take power

they were originally aided by the Viet Minh

the dictator Pol Pot installed a brutal system where urbanites were forced to live as farmers

Autarky, agrarianism, and isolation were the goals of Khmer’s policies

money was abolished

the Khmer Rouge killed more than 3 million people in genocide

later, Vietnam invaded and took control from 1978 until 1992

monarchy was once again reestablished after 1992

Geopolitics

the interrelationship between political behaviors of countries and the physical geography of the world

has had an enormous influence on the modern world

played a major role in colonialism, race theory, the World Wars, and especially the Cold War

One of the 1st major geopolitical theories proposed was by…

Halford Mackinder, who is today called “the father of geopolitics” and “the father of British geography”

Halford Mackinder

in 1904 he wrote The Geographic Pivot of History

in it he outlined a theory that has come to be known as Heartland Theory

wrote this paper to warn the British about the possibilities of losing their colonial empire

feared that the British as a tranditional naval power would lose this power to any alliance that could control the heartland aided by railroad transportation

Heartland Theory

the inland of Eurasia is the most geographically strategic place on earth to control and whoever controls it can threaten to take over the world

Halford Mackinder foresaw 3 possibilities:

a German invasion of Russia

a Russo-German alliance

conquest of Russia by a Chinese/Japanese alliance

Charles Darwin

the most influential biologist of all time

his most famous works were “The Descent of Man” and “On the Origin of Species”

his theories on evolution and natural selection influenced many other academic disciplines and were adopted to them for use, especially in the social sciences. these adaptations are called Social DarwinismS

Social Darwinism

the adaptation of Darwin’s biological theories to social sciences like sociology, and geography

German geographer Friedrich Ratzel and a Swede named Rudolf Kjellen

adapted Darwin’s theories to a new fled called Political Geography, sometimes Geostrategy

develop the concept of the state as an organism

race theory suggested that some groups (like the Germans) were more and better evolved that other groups

R coined the term lebensraum

The state as an organism

this is the idea that countries behave just like organisms

their borders are fluid because they must grow in order to survive

they will grow into and at the expense of lesser evolved peoples and countries

Lebensraum

literally, ‘living space’

was the idea that the Germans as a genetically superior race needed more space to live and occupy

those spaces would be in a future German colonial empire and in Eastern Europe where the genetically inferior Slavs lived

Karl Haushofer

German geographer

created a theory called Pan-Regions theory, suggesting that all northern hemisphere powers naturally had a southern hemisphere resource base available to them

Germany needed an African colonial empire as a resource base

combination of Mackinder and Ratzel’s theories

Rudolf Hess

student of Haushofer’s

later became Hitler’s first collaborator

both jailed together after the Beer Hall Putsch where Hitler wrote Mein Kampf with Hess’s help

Haushofer brought them reading materials in jail and Hess communicated Haushofer, Kjellen, and Ratzel’s ideas to Hitler

during WWII the Nazis acted on many of the elements of these theories

Nicholas Spkyman

American geographer at Yale revised Mackinder’s Heartland Theory based on the emergence of new technologies

his new theory called Rimland Theory

Rimland Theory

new tech like submarines and aircraft carriers once again made the inland of Eurasia reachable by sea power

so sea power was nor more important again, making the southern coastal areas of Eurasia the most strategic places to control

this area was called the rimland

Spykman warned …

about any country trying to take over and capture the rimland because naval bases in the rimland would allow that country to project their military power all over the world in every direction and thus, take over the world

he became known as the godfather of containment

Containment Strategy

communism must be contained and not allowed to expand into the rimland of Eurasia

later this strategy began to focus on East and SE Asia, where the US fought wars to contain the spread of communism

Dwight Eisenhower

adopted the concept of Domino Theory, which stated that all potential communist countries in SE Asia were like dominos

if one fell to communism, it would knock the next one over and they would all become communist

explains our strategy in fighting the Korean War & Vietnam War

China’s Belt and Road Policy

China plans to connect itself with the economies of Eurasia via one belt (road and rail transportation across Eurasia) and one belt (shipping lanes to connect itself to Eurasian coastal countries)