Asia After WWII (not including China)

Indian National Congress (f. 1885)

Pressed for a unified, secular India w/ freedom of worship and division of religion from politics

Muslim League (f. 1906)

under Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s leadership; insisted on their own national state

Partition of India

India partitioned into predominantly Hindu India, predominantly Muslim West and East Pakistan

Partition of India results

Politically peaceful but there was a lot of chaos, communal riots between the Hindu and Muslim communities, mass explusions

Jawaharlal Nehru (PM 1947-1964)

Parliamentary democracy, private capitalism with some planning/controls → mixed economy, nonalignment in the Cold War

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Pakistan’s independence leader, British-educated lawyer; not an extremist, but died shortly after independence

Sukarno

Indonesian Nationalist leader; started w/ democratic ideology but eventually turned into a populist dictator

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader (of the Viet Minh) who headed the independence movement in Vietnam

Filipino Independence

Ferdinand Marcos → authoritarian dictator 1972-1980s, Corazon Aquino won in 1986 and restored democratic elections, civil rights, etc.

Khmer Rouge

Communist group ruling Cambodia after independence

Pol Pot

leader of the Khmer Rouge (1976-1979); brutal dictator who denied human rights

Cambodian Genocide

Pol Pot executed 2 million people within the nation trying to rid it of foreign infuence, leading to an exodus of people

Japan Allied Occupation (1945–52)

MacArthur-led reforms led to democratic constitution, women’s suffrage, labor unions, economic foundations

Japan Economic Miracle

Rapid industrial growth, became world’s #3 economy, strong U.S. ties under Cold War umbrella

Korean War (1950–53)

1945 division at 38th Parallel; US/Chinese intervention, ends in stalemate and armistice

First Indochina War (1946-1954)

French vs. Viet Minh, Geneva Accords split country in 1954

Vietnam War (1955–75)

US-backed South vs. communist North, reunification under Ho Chi Minh; followed by poverty and the Đổi Mới market reforms in 1986

Bandung Conference (1955)

leaders of 29 new nations celebrated their sovereignty, condemned Western imperialism and capitalist exploitation, pledged neutarlity and nonalignment