Asian History Final Exam

carzon Auino

"As I came to power peacefully, so shall I keep it." —Corazon Aquino Corazon Aquino Biography (1933-2009) Corazon Aquino was the 11th president (and first female president) of the Philippines. She restored democracy after the long dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos. Synopsis Maria Corazon Aquino was born January 25, 1933, in Tarlac, Philippines. Her husband had been an opponent of Ferdinand Marcos and was assassinated upon returning from exile. When Marcos unexpectedly called for elections in 1986, Corazon Aquino became the unified opposition's presidential candidate. She took office after Marcos fled the country, and served as president, with mixed results, until 1992. Early Years Maria Corazon Sumulong Cojuangco was born January 25, 1933, in the Tarlac Province to a wealthy political and banking family. She attended school in Manila until the age of 13, then finished her education in the United States, first in Philadelphia and later in New York City. She graduated from the College of Mount St. Vincent in New York in 1953, with a bachelor's degree in both French and mathematics. Upon returning to the Philippines, she enrolled in law school in Manila, where she met Benigno Aquino, Jr., an ambitious young journalist who also came from a family with considerable wealth. The couple married in 1954, and would go on to have five children together: one son and four daughters. Benigno soon abandoned a career in journalism for politics. With Corazon at his side, he quickly established himself as one of the country's brightest young leaders. Over the span of just two decades, he was elected mayor, then governor and, finally, senator. Along the way, he challenged the rule of the country's president, Ferdinand Marcos. Elected to the presidency in 1965, Marcos' administration was marred by corruption, human rights violations and political repression. In 1972 Marcos declared martial law, effectively stripping his citizens of their democratic rights and arresting key opposition leaders, including Benigno Aquino, who spent seven years in jail before being permitted to relocate with his family to the United States in 1980. Corazon Aquino stood by her husband's side, playing the role of the supportive wife. During his time in prison, Aquino served as the bridge between Benigno and the outside world, keeping his profile alive and passing his notes on to the press. Unlikely Political Careers After three years in exile, Benigno Aquino returned to the Philippines on August 21, 1983, when he was killed by two soldiers soon after arriving. Marcos was presumed to be behind the killing, and Benigno's assassination set off a wave of protests against Marcos' administration. The opposition coalesced around Corazon Aquino. While she gracefully dealt with her husband's death, Aquino evolved into a national symbol of reform. With international pressure bearing down on his administration, Marcos unexpectedly called for presidential elections in February 1986. Marcos' opposition chose Aquino as their candidate. When she narrowly lost the election, Aquino and her supporters challenged the results. Quickly, Marco's fortunes began to turn. The army, and then the defense minister, soon declared support for Aquino, prompting Marcos to seek exile in Hawaii. Aquino was sworn into office on February 25, 1986, becoming the first female president of the Philippines. That same year, she was named TIME magazine's Woman of the Year. During her six years as the country's president, Aquino fended off coup attempts by Marcos supporters, and struggled to address her country's economic problems. In 1992 she left office, and was succeeded by her former defense secretary, Fidel Ramos. Final Years Aquino did not go quietly into retirement. Instead, she ran a think tank on non-violence and periodically helped lead street protests against the policies of endorsed by her successors. In 2008, she learned she had colon cancer. She passed on August 1, 2009.

Nanjing Decade

-1927-1937 Nationalist Revolution. Strong centralized government. Nationalists have either taken control of or made a deal with the warlords. The Communists were oppressed during this time. There is a growth in the economy. Far more peaceful than warlord era., Chaing Kai-shek ruling from Nanjing

French Indochina War

1945-1953 between the French and the Viet Minh that ended with the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu

Yi Dynasty Korea

Joseon dynasty was a Dynastic kingdom in Korea that lasted for five centuries, it was founded by Yi Seong Gye July 1392 and was replaced by the Korean Empire October 1897.

Kathmandu

Kathmandu is the capital city and largest city of Nepal with a population of around 1 million. Kathmandu is also the largest metropolis in the Himalayan hill region. Nepali is the most spoken language in the city

Sukarno

Leader of Indonesian independence movement; first president of Indonesia

Korean Constitution (1948) amended 1987

The Constitution of the Republic of Korea is the supreme law of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). Between 17 July 1948, the date of adoption of the first Constitution, and 1987, the Constitution was amended nine times and six republics were established. South Korea adopted its current democratic constitution on 29 October 1987. News photo credit: Republic of Korea/flickr17 Oct 2018 In South Korea, parties agree on formation of ad hoc parliamentary panels Credit: Illustration by NISHANT CHOKSI 7 Aug 2018 Op-ed: Can randomly selected groups of people decide complex issues, bring back trust in democracy? photo credit: Republic of Korea/flickr25 Apr 2018 Constitutional reform derailed in South Korea More news The 1948 constitution established a system where the president was elected by the national assembly. The first amendment in 1952 was enacted during Rhee Syngman and introduced a directly elected president and a bicameral parliament, despite initial proposals to establish a parliamentary system. Rhee Syngman was reelected the following year. Syngman subsequently amended the constitution in November 1954 to remove term limits to allow him to run again, following mathematical maneuvers where the 2/3 majority required was approximated to the integer closest to the exact figure. In exact figures, a 2/3 majority meant support from 135.33 members of parliament out of the total 203 members. The amendment only received 135 votes. The government argued that the 2/3 majority was achieved as 135 was the closest integer to 135.33. The unlimited term for the presidency in this controversial amendment was to apply only to the first president of the Republic. Following the popular protests and student revolution in response to rigged elections in 1960, which eventually led to the resignation of Syngman, the constitution was amended in June 1960 to introduce a parliamentary system of government, constituting the Second Korean Republic. This was followed by another amendment in November 1960 which, in response to popular demands for punitive measures, allowed the retroactive punishment of those guilty of election irregularities, corruption and appropriation of public property-under the inclusive designation of 'anti-democratic' acts. The fifth amendment to the constitution in December 1962 gave birth to the Third Republic. The then newly installed government proved incapable of asserting its authority following the departure of strong man Syngman. This precipitated a military coup in December 1962, led by Park Chung-Lee. The military junta dissolved parliament. While the constitution theoretically continued in force, the emergency law had precedence. The ruling junta established a committee to draft a new constitution. Public hearings and panel discussions were held on a nationwide basis and findings were referred to the Supreme Military Council for final review before the draft Constitution was put to a referendum. The presidential system was retained in the new Constitution. The token public engagement in the drafting process was aimed at countering the prevailing complaint that the regime was dictatorial and enjoyed little popular support. The ruling party undertook another (sixth) constitutional amendment in October 1969 to authorize a third term for the general turned President Park Chung-Lee. Despite strong resistance from the opposition, the amendment was passed in the Assembly and approved in a referendum. President Park, then in his third term, suddenly invoked martial law, ostensibly in anticipation of a projected North-South Korean dialogue in December 1972. The constitution was suspended and the National Assembly was dissolved by an extra-constitutional power. Soon the State Council, temporarily substituting the Assembly, took up a constitutional amendment bill, which was approved with 91.5% in a referendum, launching the Fourth Republic. This constitution brought about the so-called 'Yusin Ch'eje' (Restoration Order). Under this constitution, ostensibly designed to expedite reunification and to give legal backing to what was claimed to be the 'Korean style democracy', the president was vested with nearly unlimited powers overriding the other separate branches of government: he was free to serve as many terms as the National Congress for Reunification may decide; he could name one-third of the members of the National Assembly and dissolve the legislature; he could appoint judges, including the chief justice, and; he was authorized to issue extraordinary measures which could suspend constitutional provisions. Process of Adoption of the 1987 (current) Constitution The 'Restoration Order' came to a sudden end with the assassination of the president. Another coup was staged in the ensuing interregnum. On the initiative of the interim president, a new amendment was drafted by the Constitution Deliberation Committee operating under the prime minister, and approved in a referendum in October 1980, establishing the current and Fifth Korean Republic. Under this Constitution, the president would serve only one seven-year term. Although the extension of the presidential term was possible by constitutional amendment, such a change would not apply to the president in office. This explicit prohibition of constitutional amendment for extended rule was a distinctive component of the new constitution. True, the new constitution removed many undesirable provisions in the Restoration Order Constitution; but it still conferred a vast authority on the president. In form, the Constitution of the Fifth Republic was drafted according to established legal processes. Under martial law, however, political activity was banned and freedom of speech suppressed. The constitution was amended in 1987 as a result of the people's aspiration for enhanced democracy. The proposed amendment was submitted to the National Assembly on 18 September 1987, passed at the legislature on 12 October, confirmed through a public referendum on October 27 with 93%, and finally promulgated on 25 February 1988. This amendment was achieved through government-opposition collaboration, for the first time in Korean constitutional history. In this sense, the constitution has more legitimacy than does any earlier amendment. Pivotal in this amendment is the election of a president by direct popular vote, restored after a 15-year aberration of indirect vote. The president is to serve only one five-year term. The power of the legislature is strengthened, and individual rights are further protected under the constitution. While the powers of the legislature were boosted to allow it to check the executive branch, the extensive presidential powers remain, tilting the balance in favor of the latter. The constitution has not been amended since 1987.

Nanjing Massacre

The Nanjing Massacre (Rape of Nanjing) happen in 1937-38 and it was carried out by the Imperial Japanese. The Japanese committed mass murder, rape, and series of attacks on the residents (civilians) and soldiers defending Nanjing. Nanjing was the Capitol city of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. 300,00 Chinese men, women, and children were killed.

China Incident

The second Sino-Japanese war faught by The Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from July 7, 1937 to September 2, 1945. It began with the Marco Polo Bridge incident between the Japanese and Chinese, and it escalated into battle.

Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League:

Was the main political alliance in Burma from 1945 until 1958. It was founded by the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) led by Thakin Soe, the Burman National Army (BNA) led by Aung San,and the peoples Revolutionary party (PPR) at a meeting held between March 1-3, 1945 as a reorganized version of the Anti-Fascist organization (AFO).

Kim Jong-il:

Was the second leader of North Korea, he ruled from the death of his father Kim Il-sung (first leader) 1994 to his own death in 2011. He was an unelected dictator and was often accused of human rights violations.

Hundred Days Reform

: From June 11th to September 21 1898 the Emperor issued over forty edicts in what came to be called the Hundred Days Reform, which aimed to remake entire system of education, economy, and government.

National Liberation Front/Viet Cong

: The Viet Cong, also known as the National Liberation Front, was a mass political organization in South Vietnam and Cambodia with its own army.

Hukbalahap

Between 1946 and 1952, the government of the Philippines fought against a tenacious foe called the Hukbalahap or Huk (pronounced roughly like "hook"). The guerrilla army got its name from a contraction of the Tagalog phrase Hukbo ng Bayan Balan sa Hapon, meaning "Anti-Japanese Army." Many of the guerrilla fighters had fought as insurgents against the Japanese occupation of the Philippines between 1941 and 1945. Some were even survivors of the Bataan Death March who managed to escape their captors. Once World War II was over, however, and the Japanese withdrew, the Huk pursued a different cause: fighting for the rights of tenant farmers against wealthy land-owners. Their leader was Luis Taruc, who had fought brilliantly against the Japanese in Luzon, the largest of the Philippine islands. By 1945, Taruc's guerrillas had retaken most of Luzon from the Imperial Japanese Army, a very impressive result. A Guerrilla Campaign Begins Taruc began his guerrilla campaign to overthrow the Philippine government after he was elected to Congress in April of 1946, but was refused a seat on charges of election fraud and terrorism. He and his followers went to the hills and renamed themselves the People's Liberation Army (PLA). Taruc planned to create a communist government with himself as president. He recruited new guerrilla soldiers from tenant organizations set up to represent poor peasants who were being exploited by their landlords. Assassination of Aurora Quezon In 1949, members of the PLA ambushed and killed Aurora Quezon, who was the widow of former Philippine president Manuel Quezon and the head of the Philippine Red Cross. She was shot dead along with her eldest daughter and son-in-law. This killing of a very popular public figure known for her humanitarian work and personal kindness turned many potential recruits against the PLA. The Domino Effect By 1950, the PLA was terrorizing and killing wealthy land-owners across Luzon, many of whom had ties of family or friendship with government officials in Manila. Because the PLA was a left-wing group, although it was not closely affiliated with the Philippine Communist Party, the United States offered military advisers to assist the Philippine government in combating the guerrillas. This was during the Korean War, so American concern about what would later be termed "the Domino Effect" ensured eager US cooperation in anti-PLA operations. What followed was literally a textbook anti-insurgency campaign, as the Philippine Army used infiltration, misinformation, and propaganda to weaken and confuse the PLA. In one case, two PLA units each became convinced that the other was actually part of the Philippine Army, so they had a friendly-fire battle and inflicted heavy casualties on themselves. Taruc Surrenders In 1954, Luis Taruc surrendered. As part of the bargain, he agreed to serve a fifteen-year prison sentence. The government negotiator who convinced him to give up the fight was a charismatic young senator named Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr.

Islamabad

Capital of Pakistan

Chinese Civil War

Chinese Civil War, (1945-49), military struggle for control of China waged between the Nationalists (Kuomintang) under Chiang Kai-shek and the Communists under Mao Zedong. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45), China was effectively divided into three regions—Nationalist China under control of the government, Communist China, and the areas occupied by Japan. Each was essentially pitted against the other two, although Chinese military forces were ostensibly allied under the banner of the United Front. By the time Japan accepted the surrender terms of the Potsdam Declaration on August 14, 1945, China had endured decades of Japanese occupation and eight years of brutal warfare. Millions had perished in combat, and many millions more had died as a result of starvation or disease. The end of World War II did not mark the end of conflict in China, however. Japan's defeat set off a race between the Nationalists and Communists to control vital resources and population centres in northern China and Manchuria. Nationalist troops, using transportation facilities of the U.S. military, were able to take over key cities and most railway lines in East and North China. Communist troops occupied much of the hinterland in the north and in Manchuria. The United Front had always been precarious, and it had been tacitly understood by both the Nationalists and Communists that they would cooperate only until Japan had been defeated; until then, neither side could afford to seem to pursue internal aims at the cost of the national struggle. The growing wartime ineffectiveness and corruption of the Nationalists—who seemed, especially to the North Chinese, practically a government-in-exile in far-off Chongqing—left the Communists on a rising tide in 1945. Mao Zedong Mao Zedong Mao Zedong addressing a group of his followers in 1944. © Bettmann/Corbis The Marshall Mission And Early Nationalist Successes (1945-46) The stage was set for renewal of the civil war, but it initially appeared that a negotiated settlement between the Nationalists and the Communists might be possible. Even before the Japanese surrender had been finalized, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek had issued a series of invitations to Communist leader Mao Zedong to meet with him in Chongqing to discuss reuniting and rebuilding the country. On August 28, 1945, Mao, accompanied by American ambassador Patrick Hurley, arrived in Chongqing. On October 10, 1945, the two parties announced that they had reached an agreement in principle to work for a united and democratic China. A pair of committees were to be convened to address the military and political issues that had not been resolved by the initial framework agreement, but serious fighting between government and Communist troops erupted before those bodies could meet. Chaing Kai-shek Chaing Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek, 1945. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-USZ62-39907) Like what you're reading? Start your free trial today for unlimited access to Britannica. Advertisement U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman responded to the outbreak of violence by dispatching George C. Marshall to China in December 1945. The Marshall Mission succeeded in bringing both sides back to the negotiating table, and on January 10, 1946, an armistice was concluded between the government and the Communists. On January 31 the Political Consultative Conference, a body composed of representatives from across the Chinese political spectrum, reached agreements on the following points: reorganization of the government and broadening its representation; convocation of a national assembly on May 5, 1946, to adopt a constitution; principles for political, economic, and social reform; and unification of military command. In late February Marshall brokered an agreement on military force integration and reduction—the Chinese army would consist of 108 divisions (90 government and 18 Communist) under the overall command of a national ministry of defense. Before any of these agreements could be put into practice, renewed fighting broke out in Manchuria. The withdrawal of Soviet occupation troops in March-April 1946 triggered a scramble; Nationalist troops occupied Mukden (Shenyang) on March 12, while the Communists consolidated their hold throughout northern Manchuria. After government troops took Changchun on May 23, a 15-day truce was declared in Manchuria from June 6 to June 22. Fighting intensified elsewhere, however, as government and Communist troops clashed in Jehol (Chengde), northern Kiangsu (Jiangsu), northeastern Hopeh (Hebei), and southeastern Shantung (Shandong). Marshall, George C. Marshall, George C. George C. Marshall. U.S. Department of Defense Marshall and John Leighton Stuart, the newly appointed U.S. ambassador, tried to bring the two sides together in late August to discuss a coalition government, but the effort was fruitless, as neither side wished to give up its military gains. In late September 1946 Nationalist troops laid siege to Kalgan, a major Communist base, and lead Communist negotiator Zhou Enlai responded by withdrawing from peace talks. Kalgan fell to the Nationalists on October 11, and on October 21, Zhou was persuaded to return to the restored Nationalist capital at Nanking (Nanjing) for further negotiations. To induce the Communists and other parties to join the new National Assembly, Chiang issued a qualified cease-fire order on November 11 and postponed the opening of the assembly from November 12 to November 15. On November 20, Zhou flew from Nanking to the Communist stronghold at Yan'an. On December 4 Zhou wired Marshall that "if the Kuomintang would immediately dissolve the illegal National Assembly now in session, and restore the troop positions of January 13 [1946] the negotiations between the two parties may still make a fresh start." Zhou Enlai, a leading architect of China's foreign policy. Zhou Enlai, a leading architect of China's foreign policy. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. On December 25, 1946, the National Assembly, without the Communists or the left wing of the centrist Democratic League, adopted a new constitution. Combining features of both presidential and parliamentary systems with Sun Yat-sen's Five-Power Constitutional democracy, it was to be put into effect on December 25, 1947. Until the new constitution was enacted and a new president elected, the Nationalists would continue to be the ruling party. Advertisement The Tide Turns (1947-48) On January 8, 1947, Marshall left China, one day after he issued a scathing condemnation of the extremists among the Nationalists and Communists for the continuance of the civil war. Peng Hsueh-pei, the government's minister of information, proclaimed the Nationalists' willingness to continue peace negotiations with the Communists. Gen. Zhang Zhizhong was selected to go to Yan'an in an attempt to renew talks, and a proposal was submitted to the Communists through Stuart. The Communists restated their demands for a return to the military positions of January 13, 1946, and for nullification of the new constitution, terms which previously had been rejected by the government. On January 21 the government offered four points as the basis for a resumption of peace talks: cessation of hostilities, with troops retaining their existing positions; army reorganization; reopening of communications; and a just and equitable solution of the problem of regional administration. In the meantime, the Communists resumed their offensive in Manchuria while government troops launched major drives on Communist positions in Shantung and Shensi (Shaanxi). Early in March the government ordered all Communist personnel to leave government territory, and on March 15 Chiang Kai-shek charged the Communists with armed rebellion. The break between warring factions was final and complete. The capture of Yan'an by government troops on March 19 elated the Nationalists, but Communist spokesmen expressed confidence that they would achieve final victory. Indeed, Maoist strategy emphasized the importance of securing a base among the peasantry in the countryside at the expense of holding cities. By the end of the year, government military forces had made no further important gains, with the exception of the capture of Weihaiwei (Weihai) and Chefoo (Yantai) on the coast of Shantung in early October, which cut the Communist sea lane to the southern ports in Manchuria. Communist forces, however, made critical inroads into central China in September and caused the closing of the defensive gates at Nanking on September 18. In Manchuria the Communists succeeded in reducing the government's control to Changchun and Mukden, an isolated pocket in Kirin (Jilin), and the rail line leading from Mukden into China proper. In a report to the Chinese Communist Party's Central Committee in December 1947, an optimistic Mao observed, "The Chinese people's revolutionary war has now reached a turning point....The main forces of the People's Liberation Army have carried the fight into the Kuomintang Area....This is a turning point in history." China's internal strife was closely linked with its diplomatic relations with the United States and the Soviet Union. After more than a year of continuous effort to bring the national government and Communists together, the United States abandoned its task as a mediator. U.S. policy had become unpopular in China, and, to avoid further complication in China's affairs, the U.S. government informed the Soviet Union that its forces in China would be reduced to 6,180 men by June 1, 1947. However, the deterioration of the economic and military situation in China and the spread of communism in East Asia led to the appointment of a U.S. fact-finding mission to China and Korea headed by Lieut. Gen. Albert C. Wedemeyer. Wedemeyer arrived in Nanking on July 22, and his mission was welcomed by the Chinese government but attacked by the Communists as imperialistic. Upon his departure from China on August 24, Wedemeyer stated that "if the Chinese Communists are truly patriotic...they will halt voluntary employment of force" and that "to regain and maintain the confidence of the people, the Central Government will have to effect immediately drastic, far-reaching political and economic reforms." The latter statement displeased the Chinese government, and Nationalist Premier Chang Chun (Zhang Qun) declared on September 2 that China would not alter either its domestic or its foreign policy as a result of Wedemeyer's mission. Wedemeyer's full report warned of an imminent Communist victory unless the U.S. dramatically increased its support for the Nationalist government, and the U.S. Department of State, deeming the report too sensitive, withheld its publication for two years. On November 11, Marshall, now secretary of state, submitted a program to Congress calling for $300 million in new aid for China. At the end of 1947, official government figures put Nationalist military strength at some 5 million men, roughly half of whom were combat ready. The U.S. military estimated that Communist troop strength was around 1.1 million, but the Communists clearly held the momentum. By early 1948 the Nationalists' military position had degraded to the point that it had lost the initiative on all major fronts; worse, it was gradually but inexorably losing its superiority in numbers, equipment, and training. As the Nationalist war effort shifted to the defensive, the government's strategy was to stabilize the situation in Manchuria by holding the four isolated areas of Changchun, Kirin, Mukden, and Chin Hsien, largely through airborne resupply; to maintain the Nationalist position in the important cities in the north; and to prevent Communist expansion in northwestern, central, and eastern China. Having destroyed or blocked the overland supply routes of the government to its Manchurian posts and major centres in North China, the Communists under Gen. Lin Biao struck at weak points along the Nationalist lines. As 1948 progressed, they steadily pushed the Nationalist army out of Manchuria and North China, and in several instances Communist victory was hastened by defections among government forces. In Manchuria, the Communists took Kirin on March 12, Chin Hsien on October 15, Changchun on October 20, and Mukden on October 30. With the capture of Mukden and the surrender of the city's 140,000-man garrison, Manchurian operations virtually came to a close. In North China, the Communists took Lo-yang (Luoyang) on April 7 and recaptured their former capital of Yan'an on April 22. Other major urban centres of the north fell before year's end: Tsinan (Jinan) was taken on September 25, Cheng-chou (Zhengzhou) on October 24, and Kalgan on December 26. All the seaports of Shantung, with the exception of Tsingtao (Qingdao), were occupied by the Communists. Lin Biao, 1967 Lin Biao, 1967 Eastfoto Communist-held territory had increased from about one-tenth of China in early 1946 to one-third in late 1948—an area of some 1 million square miles (2.6 million square km) containing more than 200 million inhabitants. The Communists had gained complete control of Manchuria, about half of Inner Mongolia, and large portions of the provinces of Hopeh (Hebei), Honan (Henan), Shantung (Shandong), Shansi (Shanxi), Shensi (Shaanxi), Kiangsu (Jiangsu), and Anhwei (Anhui). The Yangtze River was essentially the Nationalists' last remaining line of defense against a Communist attack on the cities of Nanking (Nanjing) and Shanghai. Communist troop strength now exceeded that of the Nationalists, and the Communists had captured such huge stocks of small arms, artillery, and armour that they were better equipped than the Nationalists. On September 1, 1948, the Communists proclaimed the North China People's Government as a forerunner to a people's republic that would encompass all of China. China China Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The continuous Communist offensive cut off the Nationalists from natural resources, paralyzed communication and commerce in the war zones, and intensified the financial crises in government-held areas. Public morale was further lowered as the Nationalist government failed to check galloping inflation and soaring living costs. The Nationalists had financed much of the war effort by simply printing more money and had, in the process, destroyed the purchasing power of their currency, the yuan. Some 9 trillion yuan were in circulation in late 1946, but by August 1948 that number had increased to 700 trillion. Professionals and middle-class workers in the Nationalist heartland saw their savings wiped out as the government seemed unwilling or unable to help. Strikes, student demonstrations, and labour unrest became commonplace, and black market traffic dramatically increased. In desperation, the government introduced rigid price and wage controls and began enforcing harsh criminal penalties for economic crimes such as hoarding. These measures, along with the creation of a new currency called the gold yuan, temporarily halted the economic meltdown. The Chinese public, however, noted that those with close ties to the Nationalist government avoided prosecution for even the most glaring violations of the new laws, and morale was further eroded by the return of inflation. Nearly 300 billion gold yuan were introduced into circulation in August 1948; within eight months, more than 5 quadrillion gold yuan had been printed. Chiang concluded the year by indicating his willingness to negotiate a peace that would be acceptable to all parties. The Communists marked the end of 1948 by publishing a list of 25 "war criminals" that was topped with Chiang's name. Nationalist Collapse And The Establishment Of The People's Republic Of China (1949) The two-decade struggle for China between the Nationalists and the Communists reached its conclusion in 1949. The year began with a Nationalist appeal to the "Big Four" (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union) to mediate a settlement with the Communists. The United States, which had for so long supported the Nationalist cause, immediately replied that such an effort would not serve any useful purpose. On January 14 Mao declared his willingness to negotiate on the following terms: (1) punishment of "war criminals," (2) abrogation of the 1946 constitution, (3) abolition of the existing form of government, (4) reorganization of Nationalist armies, (5) confiscation of "bureaucratic" capital from Nationalist Party elites and functionaries, (6) land reform, (7) abrogation of "treasonous" treaties, and (8) establishment of a democratic coalition government without the participation of "reactionary" (Nationalist) elements. Meanwhile, the Communist advance continued, and Tientsin (Tianjin) fell on January 15, 1949. Chiang announced his resignation as president of China on January 21, and Nationalist leadership passed to Gen. Li Tsung-jen (Li Zongren). On January 22, Li accepted Mao's eight conditions as a basis for peace negotiations, and Nationalist forces began their withdrawal from Peking (Beijing). With the fall of Peking, the Communist drive on the Nationalist capital of Nanking could begin in earnest. Following a meeting with a preliminary peace delegation from Nanking, Mao, now in Peking, agreed on February 9 to call an official peace conference within a month. On February 20 Li flew to Canton (Guangzhou), the newly designated Nationalist capital, in an effort to rally the various Nationalist contingents behind his peace efforts. Premier Ho Ying-chin (He Yingqin) designated Gen. Chang Chih-Chung (Zhang Zhizhong) as head of the Nationalist peace delegation, while the Communists selected Zhou Enlai to head their mission. Talks were scheduled to begin on April 1 in Peking, a timetable that gave the Communists sufficient time to regroup their forces along the Yangtze and near Nanking. From April 2 to April 12 the delegates exchanged views informally over three fundamental Communist demands: (1) Communist armies must be allowed to cross the Yangtze to help reorganize Nationalist troops; (2) an interim government with Mao as chairman and Li as one of the vice-chairmen must be established; (3) the Chiang, Soong, Kung, and Chen families must be punished. Formal negotiations opened on April 13, and within three days Mao's peace program had expanded to 24 items, with the crossing of the Yangtze by Communist armies and the elimination of the national government as the key issues. On April 17 the Communists gave the Nationalists three days to respond. Li's government formally rejected Mao's peace draft on April 19, and within hours the Communists had launched an all-out offensive. The fall of Nanking on April 24 marked the beginning of the disintegration of the Nationalist government. In rapid succession, the Communists captured Hankow (Hankou) on May 17, Tsingtao (Qingdao) on May 25, and Shanghai on June 2. To consolidate Nationalist forces, a supreme council was created at Canton with Chiang Kai-shek as chairman, Li Tsung-jen as deputy, and Yen Hsi-shan (Yan Xishan) as premier. In July the Communists launched offensives into South China and the northwest. The vital commercial centre of Changsha fell on August 5, the port of Foochow (Fuzhou) on August 17, and the northwestern fortress city of Lanchow (Lanzhou) on August 28. It was clear that the end was rapidly approaching for the Nationalist cause on the mainland. From his capital at Peking, Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic of China on October 1, 1949. Within days the Soviet Union and the communist bloc recognized it as the legitimate government of China, and by year's end several other countries had followed suit. On October 10 the Nationalist government officially informed foreign diplomats that it was relocating its capital again, this time to Chungking (Chongqing). The Communists took Canton on October 15 and Amoy (Xiamen) on October 17. By this time, the Communists had penetrated the southwest, and the Nationalists abandoned Kweiyang (Guiyang), about 200 miles (320 km) south of Chungking, on November 13. On November 20 Li flew to Hong Kong, and on December 5 he traveled to the United States for medical treatment. On November 24 the Nationalists designated Chengtu (Chengdu) as the seat of a much-reduced national government. Chungking fell on November 30, and on December 8 the national capital was moved to Taipei, Formosa (Taiwan). After the Communists took Nanning in far southern China on December 6, one of the last remaining Nationalist armies in the field, under Gen. Pai Chung-hsi, disintegrated and fled to Hainan and French Indochina. By December 10, when Chiang left the mainland for Formosa, the exodus of people, goods, and institutions was largely complete. Assets of the Nationalist air force had begun relocating to the island as early as August 1948, and they were soon followed by the navy and the government's gold reserves. The remaining pockets of Nationalist control eroded as generals and provincial governors in Sinkiang (Xinjiang), Yunnan, and Sikang (Xikang) switched their allegiances to the Communists in early December 1949. By the end of 1949, virtually all of mainland China was under Communist control. The cost of the war was enormous. Official Communist figures counted some 1.5 million dead and wounded among the People's Liberation Army. Some 600,000 Nationalists troops were killed in combat, while roughly three times that many defected to the Communists. Nearly 7 million Nationalist troops were captured during four years of combat. Approximately 5 million civilians died as a result of combat, famine, and disease. Siping Cenotaph Siping Cenotaph

Dien Bien Phu

City in the North West region of Vietnam.

J. Nehru

First prime minister of india, was in office for 17 years. He had to deal with conflicts between india and pakistan. Made india not allies with the US and the soviet union He reorganized the states of india, pushed for industrialization and promoted social reforms. Died in 1964.Jawaharlal Nehru, byname Pandit (Hindi: "Pundit" or "Teacher") Nehru, (born November 14, 1889, Allahabad, India—died May 27, 1964, New Delhi), first prime minister of independent India (1947-64), who established parliamentary government and became noted for his neutralist (nonaligned) policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India's independence movement in the 1930s and '40s. India READ MORE ON THIS TOPIC India: The Nehru era, 1947-64 India's first years of freedom were plagued by the tragic legacy of partition. Refugee resettlement, economic disruption and inadequate... Early Years Nehru was born to a family of Kashmiri Brahmans, noted for their administrative aptitude and scholarship, who had migrated to Delhi early in the 18th century. He was a son of Motilal Nehru, a renowned lawyer and leader of the Indian independence movement, who became one of Mohandas (Mahatma) Gandhi's prominent associates. Jawaharlal was the eldest of four children, two of whom were girls. A sister, Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, later became the first woman president of the United Nations General Assembly. Until the age of 16, Nehru was educated at home by a series of English governesses and tutors. Only one of those—a part-Irish, part-Belgian theosophist, Ferdinand Brooks—appears to have made any impression on him. Jawaharlal also had a venerable Indian tutor who taught him Hindi and Sanskrit. In 1905 he went to Harrow, a leading English school, where he stayed for two years. Nehru's academic career was in no way outstanding. From Harrow he went to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he spent three years earning an honours degree in natural science. On leaving Cambridge he qualified as a barrister after two years at the Inner Temple, London, where in his own words he passed his examinations "with neither glory nor ignominy." The seven years Nehru spent in England left him in a hazy half-world, at home neither in England nor in India. Some years later he wrote, "I have become a queer mixture of East and West, out of place everywhere, at home nowhere." He went back to India to discover India. The contending pulls and pressures that his experience abroad were to exert on his personality were never completely resolved. Like what you're reading? Start your free trial today for unlimited access to Britannica. Four years after his return to India, in March 1916, Nehru married Kamala Kaul, who also came from a Kashmiri family that had settled in Delhi. Their only child, Indira Priyadarshini, was born in 1917; she would later (under her married name of Indira Gandhi) also serve (1966-77 and 1980-84) as prime minister of India. In addition, Indira's son Rajiv Gandhi succeeded his mother as prime minister (1984-89). Political Apprenticeship On his return to India, Nehru at first had tried to settle down as a lawyer. Unlike his father, however, he had only a desultory interest in his profession and did not relish either the practice of law or the company of lawyers. For that time he might be described, like many of his generation, as an instinctive nationalist who yearned for his country's freedom, but, like most of his contemporaries, he had not formulated any precise ideas on how it could be achieved. Nehru's autobiography discloses his lively interest in Indian politics during the time he was studying abroad. His letters to his father over the same period reveal their common interest in India's freedom. But not until father and son met Mahatma Gandhi and were persuaded to follow in his political footsteps did either of them develop any definite ideas on how freedom was to be attained. The quality in Gandhi that impressed the two Nehrus was his insistence on action. A wrong, Gandhi argued, should not only be condemned but be resisted. Earlier, Nehru and his father had been contemptuous of the run of contemporary Indian politicians, whose nationalism, with a few notable exceptions, consisted of interminable speeches and long-winded resolutions. Jawaharlal was also attracted by Gandhi's insistence on fighting against British rule of India without fear or hate. Nehru met Gandhi for the first time in 1916 at the annual meeting of the Indian National Congress (Congress Party) in Lucknow. Gandhi was 20 years his senior. Neither seems to have made any initially strong impression on the other. Gandhi makes no mention of Nehru in an autobiography he dictated while imprisoned in the early 1920s. The omission is understandable, since Nehru's role in Indian politics was secondary until he was elected president of the Congress Party in 1929, when he presided over the historic session at Lahore (now in Pakistan) that proclaimed complete independence as India's political goal. Until then the party's objective had been dominion status. Nehru's close association with the Congress Party dates from 1919 in the immediate aftermath of World War I. That period saw an early wave of nationalist activity and governmental repression, which culminated in the Massacre of Amritsar in April 1919; according to an official report, 379 persons were killed (though other estimates were considerably higher), and at least 1,200 were wounded when the local British military commander ordered his troops to fire on a crowd of unarmed Indians assembled in an almost completely enclosed space in the city. When, late in 1921, the prominent leaders and workers of the Congress Party were outlawed in some provinces, Nehru went to prison for the first time. Over the next 24 years he was to serve another eight periods of detention, the last and longest ending in June 1945, after an imprisonment of almost three years. In all, Nehru spent more than nine years in jail. Characteristically, he described his terms of incarceration as normal interludes in a life of abnormal political activity. His political apprenticeship with the Congress Party lasted from 1919 to 1929. In 1923 he became general secretary of the party for two years, and he did so again in 1927 for another two years. His interests and duties took him on journeys over wide areas of India, particularly in his native United Provinces (now Uttar Pradesh state), where his first exposure to the overwhelming poverty and degradation of the peasantry had a profound influence on his basic ideas for solving those vital problems. Though vaguely inclined toward socialism, Nehru's radicalism had set in no definite mold. The watershed in his political and economic thinking was his tour of Europe and the Soviet Union during 1926-27. Nehru's real interest in Marxism and his socialist pattern of thought stemmed from that tour, even though it did not appreciably increase his knowledge of communist theory and practice. His subsequent sojourns in prison enabled him to study Marxism in more depth. Interested in its ideas but repelled by some of its methods—such as the regimentation and the heresy hunts of the communists—he could never bring himself to accept Karl Marx's writings as revealed scripture. Yet from then on, the yardstick of his economic thinking remained Marxist, adjusted, where necessary, to Indian conditions. Struggle For Indian Independence After the Lahore session of 1929, Nehru emerged as the leader of the country's intellectuals and youth. Gandhi had shrewdly elevated him to the presidency of the Congress Party over the heads of some of his seniors, hoping that Nehru would draw India's youth—who at that time were gravitating toward extreme leftist causes—into the mainstream of the Congress movement. Gandhi also correctly calculated that, with added responsibility, Nehru himself would be inclined to keep to the middle way. After his father's death in 1931, Nehru moved into the inner councils of the Congress Party and became closer to Gandhi. Although Gandhi did not officially designate Nehru his political heir until 1942, the Indian populace as early as the mid-1930s saw in Nehru the natural successor to Gandhi. The Gandhi-Irwin Pact of March 1931, signed between Gandhi and the British viceroy, Lord Irwin (later Lord Halifax), signalized a truce between the two principal protagonists in India. It climaxed one of Gandhi's more-effective civil disobedience movements, launched the year before as the Salt March, in the course of which Nehru had been arrested. Hopes that the Gandhi-Irwin Pact would be the prelude to a more-relaxed period of Indo-British relations were not borne out; Lord Willingdon (who replaced Irwin as viceroy in 1931) jailed Gandhi in January 1932, shortly after Gandhi's return from the second Round Table Conference in London. He was charged with attempting to mount another civil disobedience movement; Nehru was also arrested and sentenced to two years' imprisonment. The three Round Table Conferences in London, held to advance India's progress to self-government, eventually resulted in the Government of India Act of 1935, which gave the Indian provinces a system of popular autonomous government. Ultimately, it provided for a federal system composed of the autonomous provinces and princely states. Although federation never came into being, provincial autonomy was implemented. During the mid-1930s Nehru was much concerned with developments in Europe, which seemed to be drifting toward another world war. He was in Europe early in 1936, visiting his ailing wife, shortly before she died in a sanitarium in Lausanne, Switzerland. Even at that time he emphasized that in the event of war India's place was alongside the democracies, though he insisted that India could fight in support of Great Britain and France only as a free country. Advertisement When the elections following the introduction of provincial autonomy brought the Congress Party to power in a majority of the provinces, Nehru was faced with a dilemma. The Muslim League under Mohammed Ali Jinnah (who was to become the creator of Pakistan) had fared badly at the polls. Congress, therefore, unwisely rejected Jinnah's plea for the formation of coalition Congress-Muslim League governments in some of the provinces, a decision that Nehru had supported. The subsequent clash between the Congress and the Muslim League hardened into a conflict between Hindus and Muslims that was ultimately to lead to the partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. Imprisonment During World War II At the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, the viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, had committed India to war without consulting the autonomous provincial ministries. The Congress Party's high command withdrew its provincial ministries as a protest, but Congress's action left the political field virtually open to Jinnah and the Muslim League. Nehru's views on the war differed from those of Gandhi. Initially, Gandhi believed that whatever support was given to the British should be given unconditionally and that it should be of a nonviolent character. Nehru held that nonviolence had no place in defense against aggression and that India should support Great Britain in a war against Nazism but only as a free country. If it could not help, it should not hinder. In October 1940, Gandhi, abandoning his original stand, decided to launch a limited civil disobedience campaign in which leading advocates of Indian independence were selected to participate one by one. Nehru, the second of those leaders, was arrested and sentenced to four years' imprisonment. After spending a little more than a year in jail, he was released, along with other Congress prisoners, three days before the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. When the Japanese carried their attack through Burma (now Myanmar) to the borders of India in the spring of 1942, the British government, faced by that new military threat, decided to make some overtures to India. Prime Minister Winston Churchill dispatched Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the British War Cabinet who was politically close to Nehru and also knew Jinnah, with proposals for a settlement of the constitutional problem. Cripps's mission failed, however, for Gandhi would accept nothing less than independence. Advertisement The initiative in the Congress Party then passed to Gandhi, who called on the British to leave India; Nehru, though reluctant to embarrass the war effort, had no alternative but to join Gandhi. Following the Quit India resolution passed by the Congress Party in Bombay (now Mumbai) on August 8, 1942, the entire Congress working committee, including Gandhi and Nehru, was arrested and imprisoned. Nehru emerged from that—his ninth and last detention—only on June 15, 1945. Within two years after his release, India was to be partitioned and free. A final attempt by the viceroy, Lord Wavell, to bring the Congress Party and the Muslim League together failed. The Labour government that had meanwhile displaced Churchill's wartime administration dispatched, as one of its first acts, a Cabinet mission to India and later replaced Lord Wavell with Lord Mountbatten. The question was no longer whether India was to be independent but whether it was to consist of one or more independent states. Hindu-Muslim antagonism, culminating in late 1946 in clashes that killed some 7,000 people, made the partition of the subcontinent inevitable. While Gandhi refused to accept it, Nehru reluctantly but realistically acquiesced. On August 15, 1947, India and Pakistan emerged as two separate independent countries. Nehru became independent India's first prime minister. Achievements As Prime Minister In the 35 years from 1929, when Gandhi chose Nehru as president of the Congress session at Lahore, until his death, as prime minister, in 1964, Nehru remained—despite the debacle of the brief conflict with China in 1962—the idol of his people. His secular approach to politics contrasted with Gandhi's religious and traditionalist attitude, which during Gandhi's lifetime had given Indian politics a religious cast—misleadingly so, for, although Gandhi may have appeared to be a religious conservative, he was actually a social nonconformist trying to secularize Hinduism. The real difference between Nehru and Gandhi was not in their attitudes toward religion but in their attitudes toward civilization. Whereas Nehru talked in an increasingly modern idiom, Gandhi was harking back to the glories of ancient India. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru being greeted by U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman at the start of Nehru's visit to the United States in October 1949; Nehru's daughter, Indira, who later served as prime minister, is on the right. Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru being greeted by U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman at the start of Nehru's visit to the United States in October 1949; Nehru's daughter, Indira, who later served as prime minister, is on the right. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The importance of Nehru in the perspective of Indian history is that he imported and imparted modern values and ways of thinking, which he adapted to Indian conditions. Apart from his stress on secularism and on the basic unity of India, despite its ethnic and religious diversities, Nehru was deeply concerned with carrying India forward into the modern age of scientific discovery and technological development. In addition, he aroused in his people an awareness of the necessity of social concern with the poor and the outcast and of respect for democratic values. One of the achievements of which he was particularly proud was the reform of the ancient Hindu civil code that finally enabled Hindu widows to enjoy equality with men in matters of inheritance and property. Internationally, Nehru's star was in the ascendant until October 1956, when India's attitude on the Hungarian Revolution against the Soviets brought his policy of nonalignment (neutralism) under sharp scrutiny by the noncommunist countries. In the United Nations, India was the only nonaligned country to vote with the Soviet Union on the invasion of Hungary, and it was thereafter difficult for Nehru to command credence in his calls for nonalignment. In the early years after independence, anticolonialism had been the cornerstone of his foreign policy. His interest in the issue waned, however, after Zhou Enlai, the Chinese prime minister, stole the spotlight from him at the Bandung Conference of African and Asian countries that was held in Indonesia in 1955. By the time of the first conference of the nonaligned movement in Belgrade, Yugoslavia (now Serbia), in 1961, Nehru had substituted nonalignment for anticolonialism as his most-pressing concern. The Sino-Indian conflict of 1962, however, exposed Nehru's wishful thinking on nonalignment. When Chinese forces threatened to overrun the Brahmaputra River valley in the northeast as a result of a long-standing border dispute regarding Arunachal Pradesh state, they exposed the hollowness of Nehru's proclamation, "Hindu-Chini bhai bhai" ("Indians and Chinese are brothers"). Nehru's subsequent call for Western aid made virtual nonsense of his nonalignment policy. China soon withdrew its troops. Nehru, Jawaharlal; Segni, Antonio Nehru, Jawaharlal; Segni, Antonio Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru with Italian Pres. Antonio Segni, September 1962. Presidents of the Italian Republic The Kashmir region—claimed by both India and Pakistan—remained a perennial problem throughout Nehru's term as prime minister. In the months after the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, he made tentative efforts to settle the dispute between the two new countries while Hari Singh, the maharaja of Kashmir, decided on which country he would join. When Singh chose India, however, fighting broke out between the two sides. The UN brokered a cease-fire line in the region, and Nehru proposed territorial adjustments along the line that failed. That demarcation became the line of control that still separates the Indian- and Pakistani-administered portions of the region. Nehru was more fortunate in his efforts to solve the problem of the Portuguese colony of Goa, the last remaining foreign-controlled entity in India. Although its military occupation by Indian troops in December 1961 raised a furor in many Western countries, in the hindsight of history, Nehru's action is justifiable. With the withdrawal of the British and the French, the Portuguese colonial presence in India had become an anachronism. Both the British and the French had withdrawn peacefully. If the Portuguese were not prepared to follow suit, Nehru had to find ways to dislodge them. After first trying persuasion, in August 1955 he had permitted a group of unarmed Indians to march into Portuguese territory in a nonviolent demonstration. Even though the Portuguese opened fire on the demonstrators, killing nearly 30, Nehru stayed his hand for six years, appealing meanwhile to Portugal's Western friends to persuade its government to cede the colony. When India finally struck, Nehru could claim that neither he nor the government of India had ever been committed to nonviolence as a policy. Nehru's health showed signs of deteriorating not long after the clash with China. He suffered a slight stroke in 1963, and a more-debilitating attack followed in January 1964. He died a few months later from a third and fatal stroke. Legacy While consciously assertive in his Indianness, Nehru never exuded the Hindu aura and atmosphere clinging to Gandhi's personality. Because of his modern political and economic outlook, he was able to attract the younger intelligentsia of India to Gandhi's movement of nonviolent resistance against the British and later to rally them around him after independence had been gained. Nehru's Western upbringing and his visits to Europe before independence had acclimatized him to Western ways of thinking. Nehru did not conceal his differences with Gandhi on many basic social, economic, and political issues. He did not share Gandhi's aversion to industrialization, and he saw to it that India's early five-year plans after independence were geared toward heavy manufacturing. If Nehru accepted Gandhi's nonviolence, he did so not as a matter of principle but because he regarded nonviolence as a useful political weapon and the right policy for India under the prevailing political conditions. Of all the leaders of the Congress Party—including Gandhi—Nehru alone had given serious thought to India's place in the world community. That enabled him not only to educate the Indian populace on foreign affairs before independence but to project his own views on Indian foreign policy when freedom came. If Gandhi made Indians aware of India, Nehru made them also aware of others. When India achieved independence, the image it presented to the world was really Nehru's image: in the early years of Indian nationhood, the world identified India with Nehru. Throughout his 17 years in the prime minister's office, he held up democratic socialism as the guiding star, emphasizing that India needed to achieve both democracy and socialism. With the help of the overwhelming majority that the Congress Party maintained in the parliament during his term of office, he advanced toward that goal. The four pillars of his domestic policies were democracy, socialism, unity, and secularism. He succeeded to a large extent in maintaining the edifice supported by those four pillars during his lifetime.

Zhou Enlai

He is the first premier of the Peoples Republic of China, serving China from October 1949 to his death in January 1976.

Kim Jung-on

Kim Jong-un became the supreme leader of North Korea in 2011, succeeding his father Kim Jong-il. Who Is Kim Jong-un? Much of the early life of Kim Jong-un is unknown to Western media. Presumably born in North Korea, Kim is the son of Ko Young-hee, an opera singer, and Kim Jong-il, the dictatorial leader of the country until his death in 2011. Although Kim Jong-un implemented some economic and agricultural reforms, human rights violations and brutal suppression of opposition continue to be reported under his rule. He also continued the country's nuclear testing and development of missile technology in the face of international condemnation, though he announced intentions to be more cooperative in that area via historic meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump in 2018. Early Life The birthdate and early childhood of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is shrouded in mystery. It is known that he is the third and youngest son of Korean military leader Kim Jong-il (also written Jong Il), who, under the Communist Worker's Party, had ruled North Korea since 1994; and the grandson of Kim Il-sung, his father's predecessor. Kim Jong-un's mother was opera singer Ko Young-hee, who had two other children and is thought to have campaigned for Kim Jong-un to be his father's successor before her death in 2004. Kim Jong-il reportedly took a liking to Kim Jong-un, noting that he saw in the youth a temperament similar to himself. It is also thought that Kim Jong-un may have been educated abroad in Switzerland before attending the Kim Il-sung Military University (named after his grandfather) in the capital of Pyongyang in the mid-2000s. Kim Jong-il began to prepare Kim Jong-un for succession to leadership in 2010. Upon his father's death in December 2011, Kim Jong-un assumed power. He was believed to be in his late 20s at the time. Suppression of Opposition After Kim assumed supreme leadership of North Korea, he reportedly executed or removed many senior officials that he had inherited from his father's regime. Among those purged was his own uncle, Jang Song-thaek (also known as Chang Sŏng-t'aek), who is believed to have played an important role during Kim Kim Jong-il's rule and had been considered one of Kim Jong-un's top advisers. In December 2013, Jang was reportedly arrested and executed for being a traitor and plotting to overthrow the government. It is also believed that members of Jang's family were executed as part of the purge. In February 2017, Kim's older half-brother Kim Jong-nam died in Malaysia. Although many details remained unclear, it was believed he was poisoned at Kuala Lumpur airport, and multiple suspects were arrested. Kim Jong-nam had been living in exile for many years, during which time he served as a vocal critic of his half-brother's regime. Weapons Testing Under Kim Jong-un's authority, North Korea continued its weapons-testing programs. Though agreeing in February 2012 to halt nuclear testing and to a cessation on long-range missile launching, in April 2012 the country launched a satellite that failed shortly after takeoff. Then, in December of the same year, the government launched a long-range rocket that put a satellite in orbit. The U.S. government believed that these launches were meant to cover up work and testing on ballistic missile technology. In February 2013, North Korea held its third underground nuclear test. The act was roundly condemned by the international community, including the United States, Russia, Japan and China. In the face of further sanctions, analysts stated that Kim's continued focus on armament while calling for U.S. peace talks was a strategy of positioning North Korea as a formidable entity and cementing his standing as a regional leader. By September 2016, the country reportedly conducted its fifth underground nuclear test, despite a history of sanctions imposed by the U.S. Other countries staunchly denounced the move and called for North Korea's denuclearization, with South Korean president Park Geun-hye particularly concerned about the security implications of the continued weapons testing and Kim's mental state. In February 2017, North Korea launched what its state media described as a medium long-range ballistic missile, with Kim said to be present at the site to supervise. The test sparked more outrage from the international community and calls for an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting. Kim notably butted heads with Donald Trump after the latter's election to the U.S. presidency in November 2016. The two exchanged numerous threats of warfare, and even took to personally insulting the other. In November 2017, during a stop on a tour of Asia, President Trump took a softer stance, urging North Korea to "come to the table" to discuss disarmament. After the conclusion of Trump's tour, North Korean officials said the regime would continue to expand its nuclear capabilities as long as South Korea and the U.S engaged in joint military exercises. Kim punctuated that statement by calling Trump a "depraved and stupid guy," and the U.S. president responded on November 20 by officially designating North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. In late November, North Korea crossed another threshold with the launch of its Hwasong-15 missile, which reached a height of approximately 2,800 miles above ground, before splashing down off the coast of Japan. Afterward, Kim declared that North Korea had "finally realized the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force." U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis admitted that the test missile soared "higher, frankly, frankly, than any previous shot they have taken" and confirmed that North Korea was now capable of reaching any location on the planet with a strike. The launch drew swift condemnation from Japan and South Korea, while President Trump tersely noted, "We will take care of it." In April 2018, before his summit with President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, Kim announced that he would suspend the country's nuclear and missile testing and shut down the site where the previous six nuclear tests were held. "We no longer need any nuclear test or test launches of intermediate and intercontinental range ballistic missiles, and because of this the northern nuclear test site has finished its mission," he said, according to the Korean Central News Agency. Relations With South Korea Kim struck a measured tone during his New Year's Day speech to open 2018, in which he stressed the need to "lower the military tensions on the Korean Peninsula" and suggested he would send a delegation to compete in the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. Nevertheless, he made sure to issue one of his usual threats to his overseas antagonists, warning the U.S. that "the button for nuclear weapons is on my table." His overtures, viewed by some analysts as an attempt to drive a wedge between U.S.-South Korea relations, were welcomed by his neighbors: "We have always stated our willingness to talk with North Korea any time and anywhere if that would help restore inter-Korean relations and lead to peace on the Korean peninsula," said a spokesman for South Korean President Moon. On January 9, 2018, representatives from North and South Korea met at the Panmunjom truce village, on the border between the two countries, for their first discussions in more than two years. The talks led to an arrangement in which North Korea would participate in the following month's Winter Olympics. "The North said that they will send a high-level delegation, including Olympic committee representatives, athletes, a cheering squad, an art performance group, spectators, taekwondo demonstrators and press," reported South Korean vice minister of unification Chun Hae-sung. Along with its delegation, North Korea made its mark on the Games with the high-profile appearance of Kim Yo-jong, the leader's younger sister and the first member of the North's ruling family to visit South Korea. She offered hope for peace during a dinner with President Moon, saying, "Here's to hoping that we could see the pleasant people (of the South) again in Pyeongchang and bring closer the future where we are one again." Shortly after the conclusion of the Olympics, two of President Moon's top aides traveled to Pyongyang for the first visit by South Korean officials since Kim took power in 2011. Although few details about the discussions emerged, the meeting did produce plans for a summit between the North and South Korean leaders at the demilitarized zone separating the two countries. Summit with South Korean President On April 27, 2018, Kim and Moon met at Panmunjom and crossed over to the South Korean side, the first time a North Korean ruler had done so. The partly televised meeting was marked by moments of levity, with Kim jokingly apologizing for interrupting his counterpart's sleep with late-night missile testing. But they also addressed the serious matters at hand, discussing a possible conference with the U.S. and China that would formally end the Korean War, as well as efforts to do away with the nuclear weapons that Kim's regime had been developing. "South and North Korea confirmed the common goal of realizing, through complete denuclearization, a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula," read a statement signed by both leaders. Visit to China In late March 2018, a green train pulled into the central station of Beijing, China, bearing hallmarks of the armored types previously used by North Korean leaders. It was later confirmed that the train was carrying Kim and his top aides, on what was believed to be his first foreign trip since taking power in 2011. According to Chinese and North Korean outlets, Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks at the Great Hall of the People. Additionally, Xi hosted a banquet for Kim and his wife, and treated them to an art performance. Kim reportedly offered the toast, "It is appropriate that my first trip abroad is in China's capital, and my responsibility to consider continuing NK-China relations as valuable as life." The surprise meeting came shortly before North Korea's scheduled talks with the South, and another historic summit, with the United States, on the horizon. Meetings with U.S. President Trump On June 12, 2018, Kim and Trump shook hands at the secluded Capella resort in Singapore, before heading off for private talks with their interpreters. Their meeting, the first between a member of the Kim ruling family and sitting U.S. president, came just weeks after the latest round of belligerent rhetoric threatened to torpedo the effort. After top staffers joined them for extended discussions, the two leaders signed a joint statement in which Trump "committed to provide security guarantees" to North Korea and Kim "reaffirmed his firm and unwavering commitment to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." The statement was short on specifics, though the two men said that negotiations would resume in short order. "We had a historic meeting and decided to leave the past behind," said Kim at the signing ceremony, noting that "the world will see a major change." Despite Kim's expressed commitments to the peace process, North Korean factories continued to produce fissile material used in the creation of nuclear weapons. In late July, The Washington Post reported that the regime was potentially building new liquid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missiles. Kim and Trump met for a second time, at the Metropole hotel in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27, 2019. The leaders shared friendly words, with Trump noting the country's great economic potential and Kim praising his counterpart's "courageous decision" to engage in talks. However, the two sides abruptly finished their talks on the second day, reportedly over American refusal of North Korea's offer to dismantle its main nuclear facility— but not its entire weapons program — in exchange for the end of all sanctions. Trump said that the meeting ended on good terms, regardless, and that Kim had pledged to continue refraining from nuclear and ballistic missile tests. Meeting with Vladimir Putin In late April 2019, Kim traveled by armored train to Vladivostok, Russia, to visit President Vladimir Putin. The train ride mirrored the one taken by his father, who met Putin in the same Russian city in 2002. The meeting seemed designed to show solidarity between the two leaders at a time when North Korean discussions with the United States had stalled. No official agreements came out of the engagement with Putin, though Kim described their talks as "very meaningful." Public Persona In the summer of 2012, it was revealed that Kim had taken a wife, Ri Sol-ju. While the couple's exact wedding date is unknown, one source reported it as 2009. In the months after the marriage was uncovered, the country's first lady frequently appeared in the media—a striking departure from previous protocols. It has also been speculated that the couple has a child. Kim Jong-un, part of the cyber-generation, is seen as having a more mediagenic style then his father, with the younger Kim having given a New Year's broadcast, taking in musical performances with his wife and being seen as more engaging with soldiers and workers. He has also embraced more Western cultural tastes, notably highlighted when former American professional basketball player Dennis Rodman paid North Korea a two-day visit in February 2013. During Rodman's stay, Kim accompanied him to watch a basketball game. Rodman claimed that he wanted to help improve relations between the United States and North Korea. By 2018, when he was extending an olive branch to South Korea for denuclearization talks, Kim was also seeking to portray a kinder, gentler side of himself. The new version of Kim was apparent when he attended a concert for South Korean pop group Red Velvet in Pyongyang, which he called a "present" to his citizens. Cyber Warfare North Korea demonstrated its capacity for cyber attacks in 2014 with the release of Sony's The Interview, a Seth Rogen/James Franco comedy in which a tabloid reporter is recruited to assassinate a fictional Kim. After North Korean authorities railed against the film, the FBI asserted that the country was responsible for a subsequent breach of Sony Pictures files, leading to the release of emails and other private information. In December 2017, the Trump administration fingered North Korea as the source of the powerful WannaCry computer virus, which had affected approximately 230,000 computers worldwide that year. "This was a reckless attack and it was meant to cause havoc and destruction," said Thomas P. Bossert, Trump's homeland security adviser. He admitted that the U.S. had few means of retaliation left against the already heavily sanctioned country, but said it was nonetheless important to call out North Korea for its cyber crimes. Economic Plight of North Korea North Korea has been mired in poverty and economic ruin, with a devastating famine and food shortages in the 1990s. The country also reportedly has a concentration camp system with torturous, horrifying conditions for thousands of prisoners. Kim has vowed to focus on educational, agricultural and economic reforms for the betterment of North Koreans. Nonetheless, South Korea has asserted that human rights violations have continued within the borders of their northern neighbor, with dozens of officials executed by the state under Kim. In July 2016, the administration of President Barack Obama placed sanctions on Kim for human rights abuses, marking the first time the North Korean leader received a personal sanction from the U.S. Prison Camps In December 2017, the International Bar Association published a report describing North Korea's political prison system. According to Thomas Buergenthal, one of the association's three jurists and a survivor of the infamous Auschwitz camp in Nazi Germany, Kim's prisoners endured conditions that were unmatched in their brutality. "I believe that the conditions in the [North] Korean prison camps are as terrible, or even worse, than those I saw and experienced in my youth in these Nazi camps and in my long professional career in the human rights field," he said. The panel heard from former prisoners, prison guards and others as part of their investigation into North Korea's prison system from 1970 to 2006. They concluded that Kim's political prison camps were guilty of 10 of the 11 internationally recognized war crimes, including murder, enslavement and sexual violence.

Plantation System

Mainly in India and some Southern Asian colonies, the British used their land as plantation as a means to generate cash crops like tobacco, cotton, and textiles.

Attack on Pearl Harbor (1941)

On December 7th 1941, Japan attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor forcing the U.S. to enter the war.

Kashmir Conflict

SINCE 1947, INDIA and Pakistan have been locked in conflict over Kashmir, a majority-Muslim region in the northernmost part of India. The mountainous, 86,000-square-mile territory was once a princely state. Now, it is claimed by both India and Pakistan. The roots of the conflict lie in the countries' shared colonial past. From the 17th to the 20th century, Britain ruled most of the Indian subcontinent, first indirectly through the British East India Company, then from 1858 directly through the British crown. Over time, Britain's power over its colony weakened, and a growing nationalist movement threatened the crown's slipping rule. CONTESTED TERRITORY India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir—a disputed region of some 18 million people. India administers the area south of the Line of Control; Pakistan administers northwestern Kashmir. China took eastern Kashmir from India in a 1962 war. Though it feared civil war between India's Hindu majority and Muslim minority, Britain faced increasing pressure to grant independence to its colony. After World War II, Parliament decided British rule in India should end by 1948. Britain had historically had separate electorates for Muslim citizens and reserved some political seats specifically for Muslims; that not only hemmed Muslims into a minority status, but fueled a growing Muslim separatist movement. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a politician who headed up India's Muslim League, began demanding a separate nation for India's Muslim population. "It is high time that the British Government applied their mind definitely to the division of India and the establishment of Pakistan and Hindustan, which means freedom for both," Jinnah said in 1945. Hot Zone As religious riots broke out across British India, leaving tens of thousands dead, British and Indian leaders began to seriously consider a partition of the subcontinent based on religion. On August 14, 1947, the independent, Muslim-majority nation of Pakistan was formed. The Hindu-majority independent nation of India followed the next day. TODAY'S POPULAR STORIES SCIENCE & INNOVATION Mysterious ancient human found on the 'roof of the world' See images from the 2019 Nat Geo Travel Photo Contest SCIENCE & INNOVATION Fossil of 85-foot blue whale is largest ever discovered Under the hasty terms of partition, more than 550 princely states within colonial India that were not directly governed by Britain could decide to join either new nation or remain independent. Picture of Hari Singh The maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh, in June 1946. PHOTOGRAPH BY AP At the time, the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, which had a majority Muslim population, was governed by maharaja Hari Singh, a Hindu. Unlike most of the princely states which aligned themselves with one nation or the other, Singh wanted independence for Kashmir. To avert pressure to join either new nation, the maharaja signed a standstill agreement with Pakistan that allowed citizens of Kashmir to continue trade and travel with the new country. India did not sign a similar standstill agreement with the princely state. As partition-related violence raged across the two new nations, the government of Pakistan pressured Kashmir to join it. Pro-Pakistani rebels, funded by Pakistan, took over much of western Kashmir, and in September 1947, Pashtun tribesmen streamed over the border from Pakistan into Kashmir. Singh asked for India's help in staving off the invasion, but India responded that, in order to gain military assistance, Kashmir would have to accede to India, thus becoming part of the new country. Singh agreed and signed the Instrument of Accession, the document that aligned Kashmir with the Dominion of India, in October 1947. Kashmir was later given special status within the Indian constitution—a status which guaranteed that Kashmir would have independence over everything but communications, foreign affairs, and defense. The maharaja's fateful decision to align Kashmir with India ushered in decades of conflict in the contested region, including two wars and a longstanding insurgency.

Singapore

Stamford Raffles is often called the founder of modern Singapore. He gave shape to many sections of Singapore's city centre, which flourished as an important port and business centre in the region. After the British secession of Dutch possessions in Southeast Asia, Raffles gained permission to establish a station in the region, to secure British trade interests there. He had initially set his heart on Riau, an island near Singapore, but the Dutch had already beat him to it. He then decided on Singapore, then under the empire of Johor. When Raffles first landed in Singapore in 1819, there was a division within the Johor Sultanate. The old Sultan had died in 1812, and his younger son had ascended to the throne when the eldest son and legitimate heir, Hussein, was away. Raffles threw his support behind Hussein, proclaiming him Sultan and installing him in Singapore. He also signed a treaty with the Temenggong, or senior judge, of Johor, setting him up in Singapore as well. In so doing, he hoped to legitimise British claims on the island. Initially, Raffles acquired the use of Singapore after agreeing to make annual payments to Sultan Hussein and the Temenggong. In 1824, in exchange for a cash buyout, Singapore officially came under the ownership of the British East India Company. Two years later, the island, along with Malacca and Penang, became part of the British Straits Settlements. The Straits Settlements were controlled by the East India Company in Calcutta but administered from Singapore. Raffles initiated a town plan for central Singapore. The plan included levelling one hill to set up a commercial centre (today's Shenton Way) and constructing government buildings around Fort Canning. Raffles, and the first Resident of Singapore, William Farquhar, gradually moulded Singapore from a jungle-ridden backwater with poor sanitation and little modern infrastructure to a successful entrepôt and colonial outpost. Hospitals, schools and a water supply system were built. Soon, boatloads of immigrants from India and China were coming to Singapore, in search of prosperity and a better life. Today, you'll find that many institutions and businesses choose to use Raffles' name, out of certain respect or perhaps to portray a sense of history and gravitas. You will find the Raffles name linked to a boulevard, a school, a college, a hotel, a shopping mall, the business class of Singapore Airlines, a golf club, and a lighthouse. Legend has It... The beginnings of Singapore are steeped in local Malay legend. The island is said to have received its name from a visiting Sumatran prince in the 14th century, who saw a fearsome creature - later identified to him as a lion - on his arrival. Taking this as a good omen, the prince founded a new city on the spot, changing the name of the island from Temasek to Singapura. In Sanskrit, "singa" means lion and "pura" means city. Thus the Lion City was born, and today the symbol of the merlion - a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish - is a reminder of Singapore's early connections to this legend and the seas. The March of Empires Traders travelling between China and India have been ploughing the waters around Singapore since the 5th century AD. Later, Singapore became a trading outpost of the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Srivijaya, which had its centre in Palembang, Sumatra, and influenced the region from the 7th to the 10th centuries. In the 13th century, Srivijaya was overshadowed by the rise of Islam, and Singapore came under the influence of the Muslim empire of Malacca. Malacca, situated on the western coast of present-day Peninsula Malaysia, rapidly developed into a thriving free port and commercial centre. Malacca's decline began in 1511 when it fell under the sway of the Portuguese. The Muslim merchants and traders that had founded the commercial success of Malacca fled from the new Catholic rule, and another, smaller sultanate established itself in Johor, at the southern end of the Malaysian peninsula, across the causeway from Singapore. In 1641, the Dutch wrested Malacca from the Portuguese. They held power until 1875, when Holland's defeat in a war in Europe saw the British seizing Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia, including Malacca. With the end of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, the British agreed to hand back Dutch possessions in 1818. Some British were disappointed by this anticlimax to their country's bid to expand its influence in Southeast Asia. One of them was Stamford Raffles, the Lieutenant Governor of Java. From the Second World War to Today Economically, Singapore went from strength to strength throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. But in the 1940s and 1950s, political storm clouds were gathering over Asia. Japan's quest for more power, land and natural resources saw it invading China in 1931 and 1937, a move which was opposed by the Chinese immigrants in Singapore. On February 15, 1942, with Europe in the throes of World War II, the Japanese sprung a quick and successful invasion of Singapore. The British, who had prepared for an invasion from the sea in the south, were taken by surprise by the Japanese penetration via the jungles of Thailand and Malaysia (on bicycle). The British surrender was quick, and many of the Europeans were herded to the Padang, then sent to Changi Prison. The next few years were a dark period in Singapore's history. The Japanese treated the Chinese with particular suspicion, and many of them were tortured, incarcerated and killed, often on the flimsiest of pretexts. As the war progressed, food and other essential supplies ran low, and malnutrition and disease were widespread. By 1945 however, it was clear that Japan, and its allies, were losing the war. The Japanese surrendered Singapore on August 14, 1945. The British returned, but their right to rule was now in question. Gaining Independence After the war, the British grouped the peninsula Malay states and the British-controlled states of Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo under the Malayan Union. Singapore, which unlike the other states had a predominantly Chinese population, was left out of this union. Rebuilding itself after the war was a slow and difficult task. In the post-war climate of poverty, unemployment and lack of ideological direction, communist groups such as the Malayan Communist Party and the Communist General Labour Union, and the socialist Malayan Democratic Union, gained popular support. In the late 1940s, the Communists launched a campaign of armed struggle in Malaya, prompting the British to declare a state of emergency where the Communists were outlawed. Twelve years of guerilla warfare from the Communists on the peninsula ensued, and left-wing politics was gradually snuffed out in the Malay states and Singapore. Lee's Legacy In the 1950s, a rising star emerged in the local political scene - Lee Kuan Yew, who headed the socialist People's Action Party (PAP). Lee, a shrewd politician, is a 3rd-generation Straits-born Chinese with a law degree from Cambridge University. When the PAP won a majority of seats in the newly-formed Legislative Assembly in 1959, he became the first Singaporean to hold the title of prime minister. In 1963, the British declared Singapore, the Malay states and Sabah and Sarawak as one independent nation - Malaysia. But Singapore's membership in this union lasted only 2 years. In 1965, it was booted out of the federation, owing to disagreements on several fronts including racial issues. Left on its own, Singapore embarked on an ambitious industrialisation plan - building public housing, roads and modernising its port and telecommunications infrastructure. English was chosen as the official language, to facilitate communication between the different races, and to put the nation at the forefront of commerce. In about 25 years, by the late 1980s, Singapore had moved from a fragile and small country with no natural resources to a newly industrialised economy. Singapore History in Brief The island of Singapore was first described by a 3rd-century account as "Pu Luo Chung", meaning "isle at the end of the peninsula". This description, would in the future, prove very offhand and unassuming, for even as Singapore entered the 14th century, it had gained might as part of the romantic, albeit tragic, Srivijayan Empire. The "little island" was then known to many as "Temasek", which meant "Seatown". It was then the point where the sea routes of Southeast Asia converged; and the harbour where floating vessels of every kind, from Indian boats and Chinese junks to Buginese schooners, Arabic dhows and Portuguese battleships, visited. Legend has it that as the winds of change blew into Temasek, a prince of Srivijaya paid a visit to the island and saw a lion. This wondrous sight so compelled him that he renamed the island "Singapura", meaning "Lion City". It didn't seem to matter that lions had never inhabited Singapore and that many believed he must have actually seen a tiger! And so, Singapore's modern day name was born out of a sighting believed to be a good omen, and the region was established as a trading post for the Srivijayan Empire. In the 18th century, the British were searching for a harbour in which to refit, provide for and protect their fleet of vessels. This harbour would also be a demarcation point to forestall the advances of the Dutch in Southeast Asia. Singapore's strategic location caught the attention of Sir Stamford Raffles, who then established Singapore as a British trading station in 1819, with a free trade policy to attract merchants throughout Asia, and even all the way from the Americas and the Middle East. By 1832, Singapore was the centre for the government of the Straits Settlements of Penang, Malacca and Singapore. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the advent of the steamship expanded the trade between the East and West, and also Singapore's importance. Singapore continued to grow well into the 20th century until World War II when the freeport became the scene of the war's significant fighting. The end of World War II saw Singapore becoming a Crown Colony, but the rise of nationalism put Singapore on the path of self-government in 1959. Singapore formed a union with Malaya in 1963, but opted for independence and became an independent republic on August 9, 1965, with Lee Kuan Yew as Prime Minister. Singapore Today Singapore today is a thriving centre of commerce and industry, with intense economic growth. Singapore is not merely a single island but is actually the main island surrounded by at least 60 islets. Measuring a compact 720 sq km, its size really belies its capacity for growth. Singapore is now a rapidly developing manufacturing base. The Republic, however, still remains the busiest port the world over with more than 600 shipping lines herding supertankers, container ships, passenger liners, fishing vessels and even wooden lighters in its waters. It is also a major oil refining and distribution centre, and an important supplier of electronic components. Its rich history as a popular harbour has turned it into a leader in shipbuilding, maintenance and repair. Singapore has also become one of Asia's most important financial centres, housing at least 130 banks. Both business and pleasure are made more accessible and smooth flowing by the Republic's excellent and up-to-date communications network, linking it to the rest of the world through satellite and round the clock telegraph and telephone systems. Now fully grown into an Asian Dragon, Singapore is, somehow unsurprisingly, a leading destination for both business and pleasure.

Ilustrados:

The Filiipino educated class or the "enlightened ones."

Japanese School Girl:

The beginning of the Japanese school uniform can be traced back to 1879, when the male children of Japan's nobility, then called <@kazoku|,i@> started wearing uniforms as they attended private schools. For women, the school uniform tradition started around 1900. Back then, said uniform was a kimono and hakama. One of the reasons for the introduction of school uniforms was to adapt to a new kind of classroom - one with desks and chairs - and to give students mobility to properly participate in gym class. Another factor was that the old social status system was still in place. The school uniform should help everyone to learn equally, no matter what social status they had.During that time, Japan's general public was still mainly clad in kimono. Compared to men's fashion, the switch to Western-style clothes came late for the female population. The change started with the Rokumeikan, a Western-style building created to welcome (and impress) diplomats and high-ranking visitors from the West. There, Japanese women wore the latest fashion from Paris while indulging in Western ballroom dancing, French cuisine, and more. However, Western fashion was limited to the women of Japan's high society during that time. Following that, a style that blended Japanese and Western aesthetics arose, pairing Western-style accessories with authentically Japanese kimono. Eventually, around 1920, girls' school uniforms made the full change from hakama to Western fashion. Especially sailor-inspired uniforms enjoyed great popularity among female students. The modern sailor uniform gained popularity as it pushed other styles aside. During this time, the uniforms weren't ready-made garments, but people had to make them at their own expense. If you had the fabric and pattern at hand, making a sailor-style uniform was relatively easy - another reason for its popularity Experimenting with Different Styles According to Tomoko Namba, girls have tried to wear their uniforms in cute or cool ways since the very beginning."The school uniform started as a symbol of the elite, so just by wearing one, you were sure to attract admiration and envious glances. Besides, the uniform regulations were not strict before the war, so it was possible to use nice fabric and to adjust it to your own body shape, or style it in a way you like." Even today, a lot of middle school uniforms have a high collar and are in the sailor style. However, there are also schools that switch to blazers, as many go abroad for school trips and the high collar looks too much like a military uniform. "From the 1920s, girls' uniforms sported a shorter top combined with a long skirt. If the students didn't like the standard style, they seemed to have changed it to a more fashionable version. At that time, pleated skirts were en vogue. Even at schools that had a regulation for how many folds a skirt needs to have, records show that the students would wear the small pleated style on days without uniform inspection." A direct result of these strict rules was the movement to abolish school uniforms altogether, stressing personal freedom and individuality. It was also the time when uniforms started to put value on looking stylish and switched to the now-popular blazer style, which has been thought of as rather unfashionable until then. In the wake of a declining birth rate, schools used stylish uniforms to attract students more aggressively and the clothes became a symbol of a school's charm. This fashion-oriented strategy hit the mark just perfectly - the uniform you see in the image below created a flood of applications for its school. It was created in 1984 and enjoyed immense popularity, thus becoming an epoch-making school uniform for the blazer style. "The blazer and tartan skirt look so cute!" was the reception of the uniform of a school called Kaetsu Gakuen. This uniform was created by Makoto Yasuhara of the long-established uniform manufacturer Tombow, established in 1876. "I thought that it was necessary to introduce a new style, so I promptly created the blazer style, hinting towards traditional fashion. I am thankful and extremely happy that the uniform is so well received and becomes a charm of the school," says Makoto Yasuhara himself. Following this success, Tombow teamed up with various designers to create brand uniforms, such as the KANSAI SCHOOL FORM by Kansai Yamamoto, COMME CA DU MODE School Label. The Kogal Brings Street Culture to School Uniforms But back to the topic of the history of Japanese school uniforms. The next milestone was the 90s, when fashion-focused Japanese high school girls became global trendsetters. Even manufacturers asked for their input in regard to product development, relying on their opinion to create a hit product. These girls were called kogal, or kogyaru. Gyaru is the Japanese term for "gal" and refers to fashion- and trend-conscious young women. The "ko" in "kogyaru" specifically refers to high school students. And while the kogals didn't have any political influence, they nonetheless changed school uniforms through the power of their opinions. Standard fashion items of the kogal are a Burberry muffler to go with the loose socks and knitwear by Ralph Lauren. At first, this fashion style was particularly worn by the most popular high school students at schools in Central Tokyo. In 1995, however, the pop icon Namie Amuro popularized the kogal style all around the country. She appeared singing and dancing with tanned skin, long hair, and dressed in chunky boots and a mini skirt. By that, she became an "ambassador of kogal," so to speak, and enjoyed great popularity among high school girls throughout Japan. This style was incorporated in school uniforms, leading to very short miniskirts. The iconic long, white, and loose-fitting socks were used to hide bowlegs, and to make one's legs seem longer and slimmer. School girls took to reading magazines such as Popteen and Tokyo Street News! carefully, following all kinds of kogal trends with great attention while honing their own style. The kogals looked for what they suited them best, between rolling their skirts up at the waist to make them stylishly short and having to revert them back to their regular length when the teacher took note of it. The basic composition of a blazer-style school uniform is a jacket, skirt, shirt blouse, and necktie ribbon. The iconic loose socks were worn in white only. On the boys' side, the trend kept being influenced by rowdy culture. Since the late 80s, Shibuya Center Street has acted as a gathering spot for various groups, including teenagers, high school students, and young ruffians. Their dress style came to be known as shibu-kaji, "Shibuya casual," while the youngsters themselves got the nickname teamers. Their wild fashion consisted of long hair paired with leather jackets, sagging jeans, and boots - it created a trend that was quickly picked up by TV personalities, entertainers, and all sorts of fashion-forward folk. Of course, Tokyo's high school students were more than aware of the teamer trend. Adjusted to a school uniform, it meant oversized slacks and loose shirts that weren't tucked in. From 1994, this style has kept spreading as surfer and skateboarder fashion. From there on, school uniform trends and styles keep changing rapidly. The kogal fashion which started as somewhat of a niche style went on to become a general trend - at least until people started thinking it was pretty ugly around 2000 and put an end to it. School Uniforms Join Global Trends Japan's school uniform manufacturers keep a close eye and global trends and update their designs accordingly. "The designs of school uniforms are greatly influenced by fashion trends. Of course, school regulations are always followed, but aspects such as the number of buttons on a jacket or the depth of a V-neck do change with fashion. Currently, the V-necks are shallow and while slacks have had two pleats up until now, the current fashion is with only one or without any pleats. Schools that offer slacks for girls change their silhouette to a slimmer form." Offering girls the option to wear pants instead of a skirt seems to be a result of the growing social awareness of the needs of LGBTQIA students. Other factors that play a role in changes such as these are the general needs of both pupils and parents, functionality, and an environmental consciousness. "Stretch and water-repellent finishing, antibacterial deodorization, longer sleeves, and the ability to wash the uniform at home instead of going to the cleaner's. Eco uniforms are also increasing, made from recycled polyester," explains Makoto Yasuhara. Wearing School Uniforms, Even for Fun Wearing School Uniforms, Even for Fun Eri Sato, who was chosen as the high school girl with the best uniform styling in 2017. Right now, middle school uniforms boast the sailor style with a stand-up collar, while the trend for girls' high school uniforms is the blazer style. The number of schools that do not decide on a uniform is also increasing and regulations and rules are generally getting more relaxed. Some examples are a free choice between uniform and regular clothes, giving students the freedom to arrange the standard uniform in a way they personally like, and to generally make a look fashionable and more personal. But why do so many students wear a uniform instead of private clothes, even if given the choice? "When we asked the students," explains Tomoko Namba, "they told us two main reasons. Because now is the only time they can wear it, and because they can't be bothered to put together an outfit every day. The first reason stems from the desire to show one's status as a high school girl and to show one's charm and abilities. In case of the other reason, especially adolescent students often worry about others thinking their outfit is ugly, so it's easier to stick to a school uniform that decides ones look to a certain extent. That gets rid of the worry of doing something wrong." Thanks to the continuous efforts of manufacturers and the students' own style and sense, the uniform evolved from ugly to stylish, and now is an irreplaceable part of student fashion. On top of that, Japanese people have rather special feelings about school uniforms. According to Tomoko Namba, "The school uniform is a symbol of one's own teenage years and youth for adults, and for the students itself, it is a clear mark of their status as a middle or high school girl. In other words, school uniforms are a symbol of the passing of time, a chapter of one's life open only for a limited time. The students themselves are very aware of this as well and find special value in their uniforms. The topic of Japanese school uniforms is strangely similar to the country's iconic cherry blossoms. The filigree flowers bloom only for a brief time before being scattered by the wind, so people enjoy their enigmatic beauty while it lasts. "I can only wear this now," "I'm only a high school girl for three years," these are the thoughts that a school uniform represents. As such, its look isn't only important for the students themselves but the adults who make them, and it becomes a unique cooperation for the most stylish look. Because the school uniform represents something so special and precious, this striving comes naturally. As far as the international interest for Japan's school uniforms goes, Tomoko Nanba has the theory that idol groups who wear uniforms as costumes are a major reason for the global popularity. "This isn't from an academic point of view, but I wonder if just like a guy in a suit looks cool, a young woman in a high school uniform looks even more stylish and cute? Clothing can portray a person's personality and sense in a good or bad way and have an impact on whether they're popular among peers, but if you wear a uniform, I think you'll impress quite a lot of people in a positive way." As school uniforms started to appear in movies, manga, anime, and all sorts of media more and more, it became a symbol of young people and gained fame all around the world. Makoto Yasuhara pinpoints one specific event that made him realize this. "I was impressed when I saw a female high school student wearing a summer uniform in Tokyo's promotional video during the Closing Ceremony of the Rio Olympics in 2016." Indeed, the uniform-clad student gave people a taste of what the Olympic Games in Japan will be like, right at the beginning of the video. As she drops her bag and starts to run, she represents youth, energy, and spirit, a positive image all around, all while wearing her uniform. For Japanese people, this image does not seem strange at all. School uniforms exist in all kinds of different styles all around the world. What makes Japan's school uniforms so special, however, are the thoughts and memories connected to it, earning it a unique place on the global fashion stage. Be sure to read our follow-up article on "free uniforms" to find out more about the trend of wearing the school uniform even as a leisure outfit!

Long March (1934-1935)

Trek over 10,000 kilometers by Mao Zedong and his Communist followers to establish a new base of operations.

Syngman Rhee

Was a South Korean politician who served as the first president of South Korea from 1948 to 1960. Rhee was also the first and last President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea from 1919 to 1925 and 1947 to 1948, and he was elected President of South Korea in the 1948 presidential Election.

Suu Kyi

Woman fighting for democracy in Myanmar. She was on house arrest for many years.n 1991, "The Lady", as Aung San Suu Kyi is known, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the committee chairman called her "an outstanding example of the power of the powerless". But since becoming Myanmar's de facto leader in 2016 after a democratic opening, Ms Suu Kyi has been rounded on by the same international leaders and activists who once supported her. Outraged by the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar into neighbouring Bangladesh due to an army crackdown, they have accused her of doing nothing to stop rape, murder and possible genocide by refusing to condemn the powerful military or acknowledge accounts of atrocities. Her few remaining international supporters counter that she is a pragmatic politician trying to govern a multi-ethnic country with a complex history and a Buddhist majority that holds little sympathy for the Rohingya. ADVERTISEMENT They also point out the military still retains serious political power and will not relinquish control of the security forces. But critics say she has lost moral standing - and certainly her towering reputation as someone willing to stand up for human rights despite the personal cost. Path to power Ms Suu Kyi, now 73, spent much of her time between 1989 and 2010 in some form of detention because of her efforts to bring democracy to then military-ruled Myanmar (also known as Burma) - a fact that made her an international symbol of peaceful resistance in the face of oppression. She led the National League for Democracy (NLD) to a majority win in Myanmar's first openly-contested election in 25 years in November 2015. The win came five years to the day since she was released from 15 years of house arrest. Image copyrightAFP Image caption The Obama administration lifted sanctions on Myanmar in return for democratic reforms Although the Myanmar constitution forbids her from becoming president because she has children who are foreign nationals, Ms Suu Kyi is widely seen as de facto leader. Her official title is state counsellor. The president, Win Myint, is a close aide. Political pedigree Aung San Suu Kyi is the daughter of Myanmar's independence hero, General Aung San. He was assassinated during the transition period in July 1947, just six months before independence, when Ms Suu Kyi was only two. In 1960 she went to India with her mother Daw Khin Kyi, who had been appointed Myanmar's ambassador in Delhi. Four years later she went to Oxford University in the UK, where she studied philosophy, politics and economics. There she met her future husband, academic Michael Aris. After stints of living and working in Japan and Bhutan, she settled in the UK to raise their two children, Alexander and Kim, but Myanmar was never far from her thoughts. Image copyrightARIS FAMILY COLLECTION/GETTY IMAGES Image caption Aung San Suu Kyi with Michael Aris and son Alexander in London in 1973 When she arrived back in Rangoon (now Yangon) in 1988 - to look after her critically ill mother - Myanmar was in the midst of major political upheaval. Thousands of students, office workers and monks took to the streets demanding democratic reform. "I could not as my father's daughter remain indifferent to all that was going on," she said in a speech in Rangoon on 26 August 1988, and was propelled into leading the revolt against the then-dictator, General Ne Win. Inspired by the non-violent campaigns of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King and India's Mahatma Gandhi, she organised rallies and travelled around the country, calling for peaceful democratic reform and free elections. Has Suu Kyi turned her back on free press? Myanmar leader plaque will be removed But the demonstrations were brutally suppressed by the army, who seized power in a coup on 18 September 1988. Ms Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest the following year. The military government called national elections in May 1990 which Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD convincingly won - but the junta refused to hand over control. House arrest Ms Suu Kyi remained under house arrest in Rangoon for six years, until she was released in July 1995. She was again put under house arrest in September 2000, when she tried to travel to the city of Mandalay in defiance of travel restrictions. She was released unconditionally in May 2002, but just over a year later she was imprisoned after a clash between her supporters and a government-backed mob. Image copyrightAFP Image caption Huge crowds greeting Aung San Suu Kyi on her release from house arrest in 2010 She was later allowed to return home - but again under effective house arrest. During periods of confinement, Ms Suu Kyi busied herself studying and exercising. She meditated, worked on her French and Japanese language skills, and relaxed by playing Bach on the piano. At times she was able to meet other NLD officials and selected diplomats. But during her early years of detention she was often in solitary confinement. She was not allowed to see her two sons or her husband, who died of cancer in March 1999. The military authorities had offered to allow her to travel to the UK to see him when he was gravely ill, but she felt compelled to refuse for fear she would not be allowed back into the country. Re-entering politics Ms Suu Kyi was sidelined from Myanmar's first elections in two decades on 7 November 2010 but released from house arrest six days later. Her son Kim Aris was allowed to visit her for the first time in a decade. As the new government embarked on a process of reform, Aung San Suu Kyi and her party rejoined the political process. When by-elections were held in April 2012, to fill seats vacated by politicians who had taken government posts, she and her party contested seats, despite reservations. "Some are a little bit too optimistic about the situation," she said in an interview before the vote. "We are cautiously optimistic. We are at the beginning of a road." She and the NLD won 43 of the 45 seats contested, in an emphatic statement of support. Weeks later, Ms Suu Kyi took the oath in parliament and became the leader of the opposition. The following May, she embarked on a visit outside Myanmar for the first time in 24 years, in a sign of apparent confidence that its new leaders would allow her to return. 'Overly optimistic' However, Ms Suu Kyi became frustrated with the pace of democratic development. In November 2014, she warned that Myanmar had not made any real reforms in the past two years and that the US - which dropped most of its sanctions against the country in 2012 - had been "overly optimistic" in the past. And in June 2015, a vote in Myanmar's parliament failed to remove the army's veto over constitutional change. Four months later, on 8 November 2015, Myanmar held its first openly-contested election in 25 years. Ms Suu Kyi's NLD won a landslide victory. Suu Kyi 'should have resigned' on Rohingya Aung San Suu Kyi stripped of Scots honour The country where Facebook posts whipped up hate Although she was not allowed to become president due to a constitutional restriction barring candidates with foreign spouses or children, Ms Suu Kyi became de facto leader in 2016, in a "state counsellor" role. Since taking power, apart from the Rohingya crisis, Ms Suu Kyi and her NLD government have also faced criticism for prosecuting journalists and activists using colonial-era laws. Progress has been made in some areas, but the military continues to hold a quarter of parliamentary seats and control of key ministries including defence, home affairs and border affairs. In August 2018, Ms Suu Kyi described the generals in her cabinet as "rather sweet". Myanmar's democratic transition, analysts say, appears to have stalled.

Yuan Shikiai

Yuan Shikai, Wade-Giles romanization Yüan Shih-k'ai, courtesy name (zi) Weiting, literary name (hao) Rong'an, (born Sept. 16, 1859, Henan province, China—died June 6, 1916), Chinese army leader and reformist minister in the twilight of the Qing dynasty (until 1911) and then first president of the Republic of China (1912-16). Yuan was from a landed military family of Xiangcheng in Henan province. In his youth he showed a propensity for pleasure-seeking and excelled in physical activity rather than scholarship, although he was obviously a man of remarkable astuteness. He failed to win even the lowest of the classical-examination degrees but was to have the distinction of being the first Han Chinese to hold a viceroyalty and to become a grand councillor without any academic qualification. In the last days of the empire, he was made a marquess. Yuan began his career in the Qing brigade of the Anhui army, commanded by Li Hongzhang, which was dispatched to Korea in 1882 to try to prevent Japanese encroachment in the area. The political crises of that remote kingdom repeatedly offered him opportunities to prove the correctness of his judgment and the promptness of his action, especially in military and economic affairs. In 1885 he was made Chinese commissioner at Seoul, and his energetic and loyal service to the throne contributed to the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-95. With the destruction of China's navy and army by Japan in the war, the Qing capital of Beijing was exposed to external and internal attack; in consequence, the training of a new army became an urgent task that fell on Yuan. As the division under his command was the only remnant of China's army that survived the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, Yuan's political stature became greater than that of all others, and in 1901 he was given the viceroyalty of the metropolitan province. In that office, and later as a grand councillor, he was to play a decisive part in China's modernization and defense programs; throughout, he enjoyed the trust and unflinching support of the dowager empress Cixi. On the death of the empress (1908), his opponents, notably the regent for the infant emperor, stripped him of all his offices and sent him home. Nevertheless, when the tide of revolution threatened to engulf the Qing dynasty, the throne was to need his service once more. At this critical juncture, Yuan appeared to conservatives and revolutionaries alike as the only man who could lead the country to peace and unity, and so both the emperor in Beijing and the provisional president in Nanjing recommended Yuan to be the first president of China. The treasury then was empty; the provinces were in the hands of local war lords; a permanent constitution was still in the making; and the newly elected National Assembly was, to Yuan, too quarrelsome and too cumbersome for the good of the country. When his plan for a gigantic foreign loan was obstructed by the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang) in the National Assembly, he ruthlessly murdered the chairman of the party and undermined the assembly, thus bringing about a revolt against him in 1913. His victory in that struggle marked the end of all hopes for parliamentary democracy in China. Thereafter, he contrived to make himself president for life and then boldly announced a new imperial dynasty with himself as emperor in 1915-16. Yuan's last attempt, ironically, sowed dissension even among the conservative civilian and military forces that had supported him. Widespread opposition, backed by Japan, rose to challenge his authority. Yuan found his European friends preoccupied by World War I and his old lieutenants unwilling to fight. He was forced to abolish the newly announced monarchy in March 1916 and died three months later.

Tamil Tigers

a terrorist organization in Sri Lanka that began in 1970 as a student protest over the limited university access for Tamil students

Muslim League

an organization formed in 1906 to protect the interests of India's Muslims, which later proposed that India be divided into separate Muslim and Hindu nations

Kim Young Sam

became the first civilian president of South Korea since the early 1960s

viet minh

he Viet Minh formally take over Hanoi and control of North Vietnam. The Vietnam Doc Lap Dong Minh (Vietnam Independence League), or Viet Minh as it would become known to the world, was a Communist front organization founded by Ho Chi Minh in 1941 to organize resistance against French colonial rule and occupying Japanese forces. With the end of the Japanese occupation in 1945, the French attempted to reimpose colonial rule. The Viet Minh launched a long and bloody guerrilla war against French colonial forces in what came to be known as the First Indochina War. Ultimately, the Viet Minh, under the leadership of General Vo Nguyen Giap, decisively defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in May 1954. On August 1, the armistice ending the war went into effect. The triumphant Viet Minh marched into Hanoi as the French prepared to withdraw their forces. Under the provisions of the agreement signed at the Geneva Conference in July, Vietnam was to be temporarily split into approximately equal halves. The two halves were to be separated by a Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) running along the 17th parallel. The northern half was to be governed by the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which had been proclaimed by Ho Chi Minh, and the southern half would be governed by the noncommunist State of Vietnam until 1956, at which time the two zones were to be reunified following internationally supervised elections. Ngo Dinh Diem, who had become premier of the State of Vietnam in June, was a Catholic and staunchly anticommunist. Diem disliked the Geneva Accords and set about to consolidate his power in the south. By the middle of 1955, Diem had effectively gained control of most of South Vietnam, and in July of that year, he declared his refusal to permit the elections called for at Geneva. This announcement led to a stepped-up insurgency in the south and ultimately to the Second Indochina War, when North Vietnamese regular units were committed in the south and U.S. forces arrived. Vietnam was not reunited until April 1975, when North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon. Citation Information Article Title Viet Minh take control in the north Author History.com Editors Website Name HISTORY URL https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/viet-minh-take-control-in-the-north Access Date May 8, 2019 Publisher A&E Television Networks Last Updated August 21, 2018 Original Published Date November 16, 2009 TAGSVIETNAM BY HISTORY.COM EDITORS by TaboolaSponsored LinksYou May Like Search For Any High School Yearbook, It's Free Classmates It Was The Most Iconic Line Of All Time, But He Was Never Meant To Say It In The First Place NinjaJournalist The Cast of Dirty Dancing Isn't Holding Back Any Longer On What Happened During Filming BridesBlush The App That's Teaching Millennials Spanish in 20 Minutes a Day Babbel What the 'Game of Thrones' Cast Looks Like in Real Life Elle Decor This Is The Smartest Dog Breed According To Veterinarians Science101 FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! ALSO ON THIS DAY ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY 1975 Bruce Springsteen scores his first pop hit with "Born to Run" By 1975, 26-year-old Bruce Springsteen had two heavily promoted major-label albums behind him, but nothing approaching a popular hit. Tapped by Columbia Records as the Next Big Thing back in 1973, he'd been marketed first as the "New Dylan" and then as America's new "Street ...read more GENERAL INTEREST 1962 Pope opens Vatican II Pope John XXIII convenes an ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church—the first in 92 years. In summoning the ecumenical council—a general meeting of the bishops of the church—the pope hoped to bring spiritual rebirth to Catholicism and cultivate greater unity with the ...read more GENERAL INTEREST 1899 Boer War begins in South Africa The South African Boer War begins between the British Empire and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State. The Boers, also known as Afrikaners, were the descendants of the original Dutch settlers of southern Africa. Britain took possession of the Dutch Cape colony in 1806 ...read more GENERAL INTEREST 1776 Benedict Arnold and the Battle of Valcour Island During the American Revolution, a British fleet under Sir Guy Carleton defeats 15 American gunboats under the command of Brigadier General Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain, New York. Although nearly all of Arnold's ship were destroyed, it took ...read more GENERAL INTEREST 1968 Apollo 7 launched Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, is launched with astronauts Walter M. Schirra, Jr.; Donn F. Eisele; and Walter Cunningham aboard. Under the command of Schirra, the crew of Apollo 7 conducted an 11-day orbit of Earth, during which the crew transmitted the first live ...read more LEAD STORY 2002 Jimmy Carter wins Nobel Prize On this day in 2002, former President Jimmy Carter wins the Nobel Peace Prize "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development." Carter, a peanut farmer ...read more Get More History! Sign up now to learn about This Day in History straight from your inbox. SIGN UP WORLD WAR II 1942 United States defeats Japanese in the Battle of Cape Esperance On this day in 1942, the American Navy intercepts a Japanese fleet of ships on their way to reinforce troops at Guadalcanal. The Navy succeeded in its operation, sinking a majority of the ships. The battle for Guadalcanal began in August, when the Marines landed in the first ...read more VIETNAM WAR 1961 Kennedy ponders the Vietnam situation At a meeting of the National Security Council, President John F. Kennedy is asked by his advisers to accept "as our real and ultimate objective the defeat of the Vietcong." The Joint Chiefs of Staff estimated that 40,000 U.S. troops could clean up "the Vietcong threat" and ...read more SPORTS 2003 Martinez-Zimmer scuffle interrupts ALCS On October 11, 2003, a bench-clearing brawl between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees interrupts the third game of the American League playoffs in Boston. During the fight, 73-year-old Yankee bench coach Don Zimmer charged out of the dugout and tried to tackle Red Sox ...read more PRESIDENTIAL 1975 Bill Clinton marries Hillary Rodham On this day in 1975, William Jefferson Clinton marries Hillary Rodham in Little Rock, Arkansas. Bill and Hillary met in 1972 while both were studying law at Yale University; both also worked on George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign. After marrying, they settled in ...read more WESTWARD EXPANSION 1809 Meriwether Lewis dies along the Natchez Trace, Tennessee On this day in 1809, the famous explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances in the early hours of the morning after stopping for the night at Grinder's Tavern along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee. Three years earlier, Lewis and his co-commander, William Clark, ...read more ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY 1925 Elmore Leonard is born Novelist Elmore Leonard was born on this day in New Orleans in 1925. His father worked for General Motors, and the family moved frequently during Leonard's childhood, finally settling in Detroit. During World War II, Leonard served in the U.S. Naval Reserve, then graduated from ...read more ART, LITERATURE, AND FILM HISTORY 1975 Saturday Night Live debuts On this day in 1975, Saturday Night Live (SNL), a topical comedy sketch show featuring Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman, makes its debut on NBC; it will go on to become the longest-running, highest-rated show on ...read more DISASTER 1793 Yellow fever breaks out in Philadelphia The death toll from a yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia hits 100 on this day in 1793. By the time it ended, 5,000 people were dead. Yellow fever, or American plague as it was known at the time, is a viral disease that begins with fever and muscle pain. Next, victims often ...read more CRIME 1923 A mail car explodes in a train robbery Three men blow up the mail car of a Southern Pacific train carrying passengers through southern Oregon in a botched robbery attempt. Just as the train entered a tunnel, two armed men jumped the engineer. A third man appeared with a bomb that the thieves intended to use to open ...read more COLD WAR 1986 Reagan and Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik Following up on their successful November 1985 summit meeting in Geneva, President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev meet in Reykjavik, Iceland, to continue discussions about curbing their intermediate missile arsenals in Europe. Just when it appeared that ...read more CIVIL WAR 1862 Stuart hits Pennsylvania Confederate cavalry leader General J.E.B. Stuart loots Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on a daring raid in the aftermath of the bloody Battle of Antietam in Maryland. Stuart left Virginia on October 9 with 1,800 cavalrymen. At the time, the Union Army of the Potomac was still camped ...read more INVENTIONS & SCIENCE 2008 Blind driver breaks land-speed record On this day in 2008, a man from Belgium named Luc Costermans sets a new world speed record for blind drivers: 192 mph. Costermans set the record in a borrowed Lamborghini Gallardo on a long, straight stretch of airstrip near Marseilles, France. He was accompanied by a carload of ] Ad Choices Advertise Closed Captioning Copyright Policy Corporate Information Employment Opportunities FAQ/Contact Us Privacy Notice Terms of Use TV Parental Guidelines RSS Feeds © 2019 A&E Television Networks, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Norordom Sihanouk

orodom Sihanouk, in full Preah Bat Samdech Preah Norodom Sihanouk, (born October 31, 1922, Phnom Penh, Cambodia—died October 15, 2012, Beijing, China), twice king of Cambodia (1941-55 and 1993-2004), who also served as prime minister, head of state, and president. He attempted to steer a neutral course for Cambodia in its civil and foreign wars of the late 20th century. Sihanouk was, on his mother's side, the grandson of King Monivong (reigned 1927-41), whom he succeeded to the throne at age 18. At the time Cambodia was a French protectorate, and Sihanouk wielded little power. However, near the end of World War II, the occupying Japanese encouraged the young king to declare Cambodia's independence from France. When French military forces moved back into the region, Sihanouk decided to wait until France's retreat from Indochina, which occurred in 1954. He founded the Sangkum Reastr Niyum ("People's Socialist Community") in January 1955, won a referendum in February approving its program, and on March 2 abdicated in favour of his father, Norodom Suramarit, becoming the new monarch's prime minister, foreign minister, and subsequently permanent representative to the United Nations. Five years later, after the death of his father (April 3, 1960), he accepted the role of head of state (June 13). Sihanouk steered a neutralist course in his foreign policy. In return for a North Vietnamese pledge to respect Cambodia's frontiers, he allowed Vietnamese communists to operate covertly from bases inside eastern Cambodia. He subsequently rejected U.S. aid and assistance, relying on his immense popularity with the Cambodian people to keep radicals of both the right and the left under control. Under Sihanouk's benign rule, Cambodia experienced 15 years of fragile peace and mild prosperity while much of Southeast Asia was in a state of upheaval. Sihanouk's maintenance of Cambodian neutrality in the Vietnam War ended in 1970 when he was ousted in a U.S.-supported coup led by General Lon Nol. He then lived in Beijing as the titular head of a government-in-exile. Following the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia in 1975, Sihanouk returned home only to be put under house arrest. Under dictator Pol Pot, a four-year reign of terror ensued during which more than one million Cambodians were killed. Sihanouk was released in January 1979 because the Khmer Rouge regime was falling to Vietnamese military forces and needed an advocate in the United Nations. After denouncing the Vietnamese invasion, he dissociated himself from the Khmer Rouge. From residences in China and North Korea, Sihanouk became president of an uneasy coalition government-in-exile made up of the three principal anti-Vietnamese Khmer forces—the Khmer Rouge, the anticommunist Khmer People's National Liberation Front, and Sihanouk's neutralist party. He retained his role as resistance leader until 1991, when he was elected president of Cambodia's Supreme National Council, an interim administrative body. Norodom Sihanouk Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia in Paris, 1970s. Keystone Archives/Heritage-Images In September 1993, following UN-sponsored elections the previous May, Cambodia's National Assembly voted to restore the monarchy, and Sihanouk once again became king. His son, Norodom Ranariddh, served as first prime minister until 1997, when he was overthrown in a coup by Hun Sen, who nevertheless left Sihanouk on the throne. In later years Sihanouk retreated from politics to work as a filmmaker and composer. He abdicated on October 7, 2004, and his son Norodom Sihamoni, chosen to succeed him, was crowned king on October 29.

Aung San

(1945-) Burmese political leader; she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her efforts to promote democracy in the country of Myanmar (Burma).

Asian Poverty

The South Asian region, which comprises India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives, in 1997 accounted for one-fifth of the world's population, two-thirds of its absolute poor, and one-half of its illiterate adults. According to a well-researched study by Mahbub ul-Haq published in 1997, "South Asia is fast emerging as the poorest, most-illiterate, the most malnourished, the least gender-sensitive--indeed, the most deprived region in the world." Of the region's 1,191,000,000 inhabitants (mid-1993 estimate), 527 million earned less than $1 per day, 337 million had no access to safe drinking water, and half of the children were underweight. South Asia's annual per capita income of $309 was less than even that of sub-Saharan Africa, which stood at $551. The region was not always so abysmally poor. Until 200 years ago, India (which also included the present Pakistan and Bangladesh) was a byword for wealth, the home of much-sought-after goods like cotton textiles, spices, sugar, and precious stones. Its affluence, however, paved the way for its poverty by attracting adventurers and invaders from the rest of Asia and from Europe. When European powers overran and colonized the region, they systematically drained its resources, a feature of colonialism. The rulers did introduce new technology and enlarge the area that was under irrigation, but their overall economic policies were not conducive to capital formation and access to the industrial know-how essential for industrialization and the modernization of agriculture. When Great Britain withdrew from the Indian subcontinent in 1947, the percentage of people deriving their livelihoods from industry was lower than it had been in the second half of the 18th century. Even during the centuries of affluence, however, Indian society was marred by extreme disparities, with the low-caste "untouchables" condemned to dire poverty. The South Asian countries cannot blame colonialism for all their misfortunes. By 1997 they had been free for 50 years, and the policies they adopted are no less responsible for their plight. Several countries in the neighbouring region of East and Southeast Asia had also been colonized. Per capita incomes in both regions were roughly similar in 1968, but in the 30 years since that time, many of the East and Southeast Asian countries have made spectacular economic progress. According to Mahbub, "East Asia (excluding China) now enjoys 27 times the per capita income of South Asia." In contrast, the South Asian countries pursued government-led growth with extensive bureaucratic controls. India, for example, adopted centralized planning in 1952, which in the following three decades resulted in what was dubbed the "Hindu rate of growth" of 2-3% per year. While India is proud of its democracy, the system has led to a multiplicity of subsidies. Pakistan, which alternated between civilian and military rule, nevertheless achieved an annual growth rate of 6% for nearly four decades but with little impact on income disparities among its population. It has lagged behind its neighbours in literacy, health care, and population control. Sri Lanka has a creditable record of literacy and health services--the levels being comparable to those in many advanced countries--but has remained unable to accelerate its growth rate because of ethnic strife that has necessitated a defense outlay of 4.7% of gross domestic product (GDP). India and Pakistan also spend a high proportion of GDP on defense (3.6% in India and 7% in Pakistan). Whatever else does or does not grow in South Asia, population does. During the last 50 years, its population has almost tripled; it grew from 563 million in 1960 to the present 1,191,000,000. Because of modern drugs and national campaigns against epidemics, the mortality rate was easier to control than the birthrate. To be effective, birth control requires education, particularly of women, and well-organized public health services. Even though the percentage of people living below the poverty line in India was falling, there were more poor in India in 1997 than at the time of independence. In 1993 the number of poor people was estimated at 416 million, compared with a total population of only 361 million in the 1951 census. The region's average annual population growth rates between 1990 and 1995 were: India 1.8%, Pakistan 2.9%, Bangladesh 1.6%, Nepal 2.5%, and Sri Lanka 1.2%. It is not as though there are no success stories in the region. India has achieved self-sufficiency in food production and has an array of technologically advanced industries. Pakistan has maintained a high economic growth rate. Bangladesh has brought down its population growth rate from 2.4% in 1980-90 to 1.6% in 1990-95 and has vibrant nongovernmental organizations working to develop the nation's economy. Sri Lanka has effective health services. Mohandas Gandhi once described the essence of freedom as "wiping every tear from every eye." After 50 years of freedom, the percentage of those suffering hardship in South Asia is higher than in any other region of the world. The countries of the region have in recent months relaxed their rigid economic controls and begun giving the private sector a greater role in growth. By maintaining economic liberalization; allocating greater resources to literacy, technical education, and health services; and pursuing population-control measures with greater vigour, South Asia can within a generation cease to be the sick region of the world. H.Y. Sharada Prasad is the former information adviser to the prime minister of India.

Mao Zedong

(1893-1976) Leader of the Communist Party in China that overthrew Jiang Jieshi and the Nationalists. Established China as the People's Republic of China and ruled from 1949 until 1976.

Geneva Agreement of 1954

A peace conference in Switzerland that concluded France's defeat in the First Indochina war (1946-1954). The conference agreed to divide Vietnam temporarily into northern and southern districts, with elections scheduled two years away in 1956 to unify the country under either of government of the north (led by communist Ho Chi Minh) or the south (led by non-communist Ngo Dinh Diem). But Diem, backed by the U.S., soon refused to hold elections, which would almost certainly have resulted in a victory for Ho Chi Mihn.

Taiwan

About 100 miles off China's southeastern coast,used to be a providence of China for several hundereds years, and the people of China fled to this country for nationalism.Prior to the 1600s, Taiwan was self-governing, although there was no central ruling authority. It was a colony of the Netherlands for about 40 years in the early to mid-17th century and was subsequently independent again for about two decades. China gained control there in the late 17th century and ruled Taiwan for some two centuries. Japan acquired Taiwan in 1895 following the first Sino-Japanese War, and it became a colony. Taiwan was returned to Nationalist Chinese control in 1945 following Japan's defeat in World War II. However, in 1949 Chinese communist armies defeated Nationalist forces on the mainland and established the People's Republic of China there. The Nationalist government and armies fled to Taiwan, again resulting in the separation of Taiwan from China. In the ensuing years the ROC claimed jurisdiction over the Chinese mainland as well as Taiwan, although in the early 1990s Taiwan's government dropped this claim to China. The Chinese government in Beijing has maintained that it has jurisdiction over Taiwan and has continued to propound a one-China policy—a position that few countries in the world dispute. There has been no agreement, however, on how or when, if ever, the two entities will be reunified.

A geek in Korea

Author Dan Tudor first arrived in Korea on the eve of the 2002 World Cup when South Korea played Italy in the finals. What he saw inspired him to return and work in Korea. Tudor served as The Economist magazine's Korea correspondent for three years and writes regular columns for the national daily Joongang Ilbo newspaper. Along the way, he has developed a great love and admiration for Korean culture and the Korean people. A Geek in Korea reinvents the culture guide for the Internet age. Packed with articles and photographs, it covers all the touchstones of Korean culture—from Buddhism and Confucianism to chapters on the traditional arts and disciplines like Taekwondo. There are chapters on cultural code words and norms; personal relationships; business and technology; and symbols and practices that are peculiarly Korean. A number of chapters are devoted to Korean pop culture, with attention to the stars, idols, and urban subcultures associated with them. For visitors to Korea, the author includes a mini-guide to his favorite neighborhoods in Seoul and other places of outstanding interest. Spotlighting the originality and creativity of the Koreans, debunking myths about them, and answering nagging questions like why they're so obsessed with education and success—Tudor has created the perfect book for the growing ranks of Koreaphiles in this inspired, insightful, and highly informative guide.

Chen Duxiu

Chen Duxiu, Wade-Giles romanization Ch'en Tu-hsiu, original name Chen Qingtong, courtesy name (zi) Zhongfu, literary name (hao) Shi'an, (born Oct. 9, 1879, Huaining county [now Anqing], Anhui province, China—died May 27, 1942, Jiangjing, near Chongqing), a founder of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP; 1921) and a major leader in developing the cultural basis of revolution in China. He was removed from his position of leadership in 1927 and was expelled from the Communist Party in 1929. Education And Early Career Chen was born to a wealthy family. His father, who had passed the first degree in the civil service examination and served as an official in the military office in Manchuria, died when Chen was two years old. Chen, who was the youngest of four children, was brought up by his mother and educated in the Chinese Classics and traditional literature in turn by his grandfather, several private tutors, and, finally, his brother. In 1896 Chen passed the first civil service examination summa cum laude in Huaining and the next year passed the second in Nanjing. His experience in the examinations, however, convinced him of the irrelevance of the traditional educational and governmental systems in the 20th century and prompted him to become a social and political reformer. Consequently, he entered the renowned Qiushi ("Truth-Seeking") Academy in Hangzhou, where he studied French, English, and naval architecture. In 1902, at the age of 23, Chen, after delivering speeches against the Qing (Manchu) regime in the capital of his home province, fled to Nanjing. He went to Japan the same year for study, enrolling at the Tokyo Higher Normal School. Upon his return to China in 1903, he assisted friends in establishing the subversive Guomin Riribao ("National Daily News") in Shanghai, which was quickly suppressed by the authorities. He then went back to Anhui in 1904, where he established a periodical to promote the use of the vernacular in writing. In 1906 Chen again went to Japan and studied at Waseda University in Tokyo but returned to Anhui in the same year to teach at a high school and establish another vernacular periodical in Wuhu. During his stay in Japan, Chen refused to join the revolutionary party led by Sun Yat-sen, because he did not wish to accept nationalism, which was one of its tenets. According to some reports, in the following year Chen went to study in France and became an enthusiastic admirer of French culture. Upon his return to China in 1908, he visited Manchuria for a short time before teaching at the Army Elementary School in Hangzhou. After the overthrow of the Manchu monarchy and the establishment of the republic, Chen became secretary general to the military governor of Anhui province in 1912 and, concurrently, dean of the provincial higher normal school. After taking part in the unsuccessful second revolution against Pres. Yuan Shikai in 1913, he fled to Shanghai and, the next year, to Japan, where he helped to edit Jiayin ("The Tiger"), a liberal Chinese magazine calling for political reforms. Role In The Intellectual Revolution The period of Chen's greatest influence on Chinese thought and politics began on his return to China in 1915, when he established the monthly Qingnian ("Youth Magazine") in Shanghai, later renamed Xinqingnian ("New Youth"). In its pages he proposed that the youth of China undertake a vast intellectual, literary, and cultural revolution to rejuvenate the nation. Many of the young writers who contributed to the monthly—among them Hu Shi, a liberal promoter of the vernacular literature, Lu Xun, a leading short-story writer and essayist, Li Dazhao, Chen's chief collaborator in the Chinese Communist Party, and Mao Zedong—were later to become important intellectual and political leaders. Like what you're reading? Start your free trial today for unlimited access to Britannica. Between 1916 and 1927, in the absence of a strong central power, numerous warlords arose in most parts of the country, and their armed quarrels all but rent China. Chen's revolutionary mission thus assumed even greater importance; when, in 1917, he was appointed dean of the School of Letters at Peking University, he took care to gather around him many liberal and progressive professors and students. With their help, he established the short-lived radical Meizhou Pinglun ("Weekly Critic") in December 1918. Their "new thought" and "new literature" dominated the May Fourth Movement, named after the date of the massive student protests in 1919 against the Chinese government's weak policy toward Japan and the Shandong resolution of the Versailles Peace Conference, which was going to transfer German rights in China to the Japanese. Because of his prominent role in the movement, however, Chen was forced to resign his post and was imprisoned for three months, from June to September 1919. Foundation Of The Chinese Communist Party The Russian Revolution of 1917 impressed Chen as a way of modernizing an underdeveloped country, and shortly after his release he was converted to Marxism in Shanghai. There, in May 1920, with a handful of followers, Chen founded a communist group and prepared to establish the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In July 1921 the first representative conference of the CCP was held, and Chen was elected as secretary general. (The founding date of the CCP was officially set later as July 1921 by the party leadership.) He remained in that post as the party's undisputed leader for seven years, often regarded as "China's Lenin." In December 1920, in an effort to promote his communist views, Chen accepted the invitation of the rebel military governor of Guangdong province to become head of the education board of the provincial government in Guangzhou (Canton). In the fall of 1922, Chen established the influential Xiangdao Zhoubao ("Guide Weekly") as a successor to the "New Youth," which he had converted into a communist organ two years earlier. After his attendance at the Fourth Congress of the Comintern (the international organization of communist parties) in Moscow in November-December 1922, Chen reluctantly carried out the order of the Comintern to head his party's collaboration with the Nationalist Party (Kuomintang), founded by Sun Yat-sen; he was elected to that party's Central Committee in January 1924. A year later, when the Nationalists' right wing launched its attack on the communists, Chen repeatedly proposed to withdraw en masse from the Nationalist Party but was overruled by the Comintern. After the collaboration collapsed in 1927, the Comintern blamed Chen for the failure of the alliance with the Nationalists and had him removed from his position of leadership. In November 1929 he was expelled from the party. For several years, with the support of the Chinese Trotskyists and other communist dissenters, he tried to regain influence in the party but failed. On Oct. 13, 1932, Chen was arrested by the foreign administration of Shanghai, where he had been residing since 1927. Extradited to Nanjing, he was tried and in 1933 sentenced to 15 years in prison by the Nationalist government. After the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, he was released on parole in August 1937. Chen moved from place to place until the end of July 1938, when he arrived in the wartime capital, Chongqing, where he taught for a while in a junior high school. In poor health and with few friends, he retired to Jiangjing, a small town west of Chongqing, where he died. A fearless protester, Chen rejected China's traditional values and saw Marxism as a means to achieve a "mass democracy" with the broad labouring masses as its base. He recognized, however, the significant role played by the bourgeoisie in the Chinese revolution that he hoped to achieve. During the last years of his life, Chen, still a socialist, denounced Joseph Stalin's dictatorship and defended such democratic institutions as an independent nonpartisan judiciary, opposition parties, the free press, and free elections.

Chiang Kaishek

Chiang Kai-shek, Wade-Giles romanization Chiang Chieh-shih, official name Chiang Chung-cheng, (born October 31, 1887, Chekiang province, China—died April 5, 1975, Taipei, Taiwan), soldier and statesman, head of the Nationalist government in China from 1928 to 1949, and subsequently head of the Chinese Nationalist government in exile on Taiwan. Chiang was born into a moderately prosperous merchant and farmer family in the coastal province of Chekiang. He prepared for a military career first (1906) at the Paoting Military Academy in North China and subsequently (1907-11) in Japan. From 1909 to 1911 he served in the Japanese army, whose Spartan ideals he admired and adopted. More influential were the youthful compatriots he met in Tokyo; plotting to rid China of the Qing (Manchu) dynasty, they converted Chiang to republicanism and made him a revolutionary. Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In 1911, upon hearing of revolutionary outbreaks in China, Chiang returned home and helped in the sporadic fighting that led to the overthrow of the Manchus. He then participated in the struggles of China's republican and other revolutionaries in 1913-16 against China's new president and would-be emperor, Yuan Shikai. After these excursions into public life, Chiang lapsed into obscurity. For two years (1916-17) he lived in Shanghai, where he apparently belonged to the Green Gang (Qing Bang), a secret society involved in financial manipulations. In 1918 he reentered public life by joining Sun Yat-sen, the leader of the Nationalist Party, or Kuomintang. Thus began the close association with Sun on which Chiang was to build his power. Sun's chief concern was to reunify China, which the downfall of Yuan had left divided among warring military satraps. Having wrested power from the Qing, the revolutionists had lost it to indigenous warlords; unless they could defeat these warlords, they would have struggled for nothing. Like what you're reading? Start your free trial today for unlimited access to Britannica. Shortly after Sun Yat-sen had begun to reorganize the Nationalist Party along Soviet lines, Chiang visited the Soviet Union in 1923 to study Soviet institutions, especially the Red Army. Back in China after four months, he became commandant of a military academy, established on the Soviet model, at Whampoa near Canton. Soviet advisers poured into Canton, and at this time the Chinese communists were admitted into the Nationalist Party. The Chinese communists quickly gained strength, especially after Sun's death in 1925, and tensions developed between them and the more conservative elements among the Nationalists. Chiang, who, with the Whampoa army behind him, was the strongest of Sun's heirs, met this threat with consummate shrewdness. By alternate shows of force and of leniency, he attempted to stem the communists' growing influence without losing Soviet support. Moscow supported him until 1927, when, in a bloody coup of his own, he finally broke with the communists, expelling them from the Nationalist Party and suppressing the labour unions they had organized. Chiang Kai-shek, c. 1924. Chiang Kai-shek, c. 1924. General Photographic Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images Meanwhile, Chiang had gone far toward reunifying the country. Commander in chief of the revolutionary army since 1925, he had launched a massive Nationalist campaign against the northern warlords in the following year. This drive ended only in 1928, when his forces entered Beijing, the capital. A new central government under the Nationalists, with Chiang at its head, was then established at Nanking, farther south. In October 1930 Chiang became Christian, apparently at the instance of the powerful westernized Soong family, whose youngest daughter, Mei-ling, had become his second wife. As head of the new Nationalist government, Chiang stood committed to a program of social reform, but most of it remained on paper, partly because his control of the country remained precarious. In the first place, the provincial warlords, whom he had neutralized rather than crushed, still disputed his authority. The communists posed another threat, having withdrawn to rural strongholds and formed their own army and government. In addition, Chiang faced certain war with Japan, which, after seizing Manchuria (Northeast Provinces) in 1931, showed designs upon China proper. Chiang decided not to resist the coming Japanese invasion until after he had crushed the communists—a decision that aroused many protests, especially since a complete victory over the communists continued to elude him. To give the nation more moral cohesion, Chiang revived the state cult of Confucius and in 1934 launched a campaign, the so-called New Life Movement, to inculcate Confucian morals. Chiang Kai-shek; Soong Mei-ling Chiang Kai-shek; Soong Mei-ling Wedding photograph of Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Mei-ling, 1927. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. In December 1936 Chiang was seized by one of his generals who believed that Chinese forces should concentrate on fighting the Japanese instead of the communists. Chiang was held captive for some two weeks, and the Sian (Xian) Incident, as it became known, ended after he agreed to form an alliance with the communists against the Japanese invaders. In 1937 the mounting conflict between the two countries erupted into war (see Sino-Japanese War). For more than four years China fought alone until it was joined by the Allies, who with the exception of the Soviet Union declared war on Japan in 1941. China's reward was an honoured place among the victors as one of the Big Four. But internally Chiang's government showed signs of decay, which multiplied as it resumed the struggle against the communists after the Japanese surrendered to the United States in 1945. Civil war recommenced in 1946; by 1949 Chiang had lost continental China to the communists, and the People's Republic of China was established. Chiang moved to Taiwan with the remnants of his Nationalist forces, established a relatively benign dictatorship over the island with other Nationalist leaders, and attempted to harass the communists across the Formosa Strait. The chastened Chiang reformed the ranks of the once-corrupt Nationalist Party, and with the help of generous American aid he succeeded in the next two decades in setting Taiwan on the road to modern economic development. In 1955 the United States signed an agreement with Chiang's Nationalist government on Taiwan guaranteeing its defense. Beginning in 1972, however, the value of this agreement and the future of Chiang's government were seriously called in question by the growing rapprochement between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Chiang did not live to see the United States finally break diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 in order to establish full relations with the People's Republic of China. After his death in 1975 he was succeeded temporarily by Yen Chia-kan (C.K. Yen), who was in 1978 replaced by Chiang's son Chiang Ching-kuo. Among the reasons for Chiang's overthrow by the communists, one frequently cited is the corruption that he countenanced in his government; another was his loss of flexibility in dealing with changing conditions. Growing more rigid in his leadership over the years, he became less responsive to popular sentiment and to new ideas. He came to prize loyalty more than competence and to rely more on personal ties than on ties of organization. His dependence on a trusted clique also showed in his army, in which he favoured narrow traditionalists over many abler officers. Chiang initially maintained his position as republican China's paramount leader by shrewdly playing off provincial warlords and possible Nationalist rivals against each other and later by his adroit cultivation of American military, diplomatic, and financial support for his regime. His overthrow by the communists can perhaps be traced to his strategy during World War II; he generally refused to use his U.S.-equipped armies to actively resist China's Japanese occupiers and counted instead on the United States to eventually defeat Japan on its own. He chose rather to preserve his military machine until the time came to unleash it on the communists at the war's end and then crush them once and for all. But by that point Chiang's strategy had backfired; his passive stance against the Japanese had lost him the prestige and support among the Chinese populace that the communists ultimately gained by their fierce anti-Japanese resistance. The morale and effectiveness of his armies had decayed during their enforced passivity in southwestern China, while the communists had built up large, battle-hardened armies on the strength of their appeal to Chinese nationalist sentiment. Finally, it can be said that Chiang "lost China" because he had no higher vision or coherent plan for making the deep social and economic changes needed to bring Chinese society into the 20th century. From his purge of the Nationalists' communist partners in 1927 and his subsequent alliance with the landowning and mercantile classes, Chiang inexorably followed an increasingly conservative path that virtually ignored the plight of China's oppressed and impoverished peasantry. The peasants formed almost 90 percent of China's population, though, and it was their support, as demonstrated by the communist victory, which proved crucial in once more establishing a strong central government that could achieve the modern unification of China. Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek Chiang Kai-shek, 1962. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn, Managing Editor. LEARN MORE in these related Britannica articles: China China: KMT opposition to radicals In retaliation, Borodin, Chiang Kai-shek, and Wang Ching-wei (Wang Jingwei) deported various conservatives. A group of KMT veterans in the north then ordered the expulsion of Borodin and the communists and the suspension of Wang Ching-wei; they set up a rival KMT headquarters in Shanghai. The left-wing leaders... China China: Communist victory ...itself on Taiwan, to which Chiang had withdrawn early in the year, taking most of the government's gold reserves and the Nationalist air force and navy. On October 1, with most of the mainland held by the PLA, Mao proclaimed the establishment in Beijing of the government of the People's... Mahan, Alfred Thayer 20th-century international relations: The Chinese civil war ...and a coalition government between Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists at Chungking and Mao Zedong's Communists in Yen-an. Neither side, however, had any intention of compromising with the other, and fighting resumed in October 1946. At first the United States imposed an arms embargo, but after May 1947 it extended aid to... Mahan, Alfred Thayer 20th-century international relations: Stalin's diplomacy On March 20, 1926, Chiang Kai-shek turned the tables with a coup that elevated him within the KMT and landed many Communists in prison. Ignoring the outrage of the Chinese Communists, Borodin remained in Chiang's good graces, whereupon Chiang staged the northern expedition in which he greatly expanded KMT... Mahan, Alfred Thayer 20th-century international relations: Failures of the League ...achieving an elusive unity under Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (KMT), now based in Nanking. While the KMT's consolidation of power seemed likely to keep Soviet and Japanese ambitions in check, resurgent Chinese nationalism also posed a threat to British and other foreign interests on the mainland. By the end of 1928,... newsletter icon

Roh Tae-woo

Former South Korean politician and ROK army general who served as President of South Korea from 1988 to 1993.

Gandhi's Resistance

Gandhi reminded the people of India the colonial government was not important (British). India would have to rediscover and assert itself to win their freedom. The British planned new laws to minimize the press (The Rowlatt Act) to cover the hysteria concerning the red scare spreading over the capitalist world. Gandhi urged widespread protest and demonstrations and encouraged other Indians to refuse to obey the new laws. Gandhi also organized peaceful national strikes and boycott's against imported British goods. He urged Indians to only wear their own traditional handmade cottons (Khadi) and to spin/weave the cotton themselves. Gandhi's peaceful protest gave the Indian people their courage and pride.

Japanese Expansionism

Japanese expansionism started with the Invasion of Manchuria 1931. The Japanese invaded Manchuria and took it over as a colony and renamed it Manchukuo, believing that this was a start to "unify" China. As their expansionism continued, they to brutally attack China throughout the 30's into World War 2. Their reasons for expansion was to gain more resources to distribute fairly in East Asia and bring about "change" and eliminate the differences between Asians. (Asia for Asians).

Kim young sam

Kim Young-Sam, (born December 20, 1927, Kŏje Island, South Kyŏngsang province, Korea [now in South Korea]—died November 22, 2015, Seoul, South Korea), South Korean politician, moderate opposition leader, and president from 1993 to 1998. Kim graduated from Seoul National University in 1952 and was first elected to the National Assembly in 1954. A centrist liberal, he was successively reelected until 1979, when he was expelled (on October 9) from the assembly for his opposition to Pres. Park Chung-Hee. His expulsion touched off riots and demonstrations. To protest Kim's dismissal, all 66 opposition members of the assembly resigned. After Park's assassination on October 26, it was assumed that Kim would be a contender in the presidential election, but the military takeover of the government by Gen. Chun Doo-Hwan in May 1980 precluded this possibility. Soon after taking power, Chun put Kim under house arrest; in November 1980, Kim was banned from political activity for eight years, and his party was also banned. The Chun government lifted his house arrest in June 1983, after Kim staged a 23-day hunger strike, and he resumed his political activity in 1985. That year he reasserted his leadership of the moderate opposition to President Chun. Kim ran unsuccessfully for the South Korean presidency in 1987, splitting the antigovernment vote with the rival opposition leader and presidential candidate Kim Dae-Jung. In 1990 Kim Young-Sam merged his Reunification Democratic Party with the ruling Democratic Justice Party, led by Pres. Roh Tae-Woo, thus forming a centre-right party, called the Democratic Liberal Party (DLP), that dominated Korean politics. As the candidate of the DLP, Kim won election to the presidency in December 1992, defeating Kim Dae-Jung and another opposition candidate, Chung Joo-Youn, chairman of the Hyundai chaebŏl (conglomerate). Once in power, Kim established firm civilian control over the military and tried to make the government more responsive to the electorate. He launched reforms designed to eliminate political corruption and abuses of power, and he even allowed two of his presidential predecessors, Roh Tae-Woo and Chun Doo-Hwan, to be prosecuted for various crimes they had committed while in power. The South Korean economy continued to grow at a rapid rate during Kim's presidency, and, with wages rising rapidly, the standard of living reached that of other industrialized countries. Kim was constitutionally barred from seeking a second term as president. His popularity declined rapidly in the last year of his five-year term because of corruption scandals in his administration and the increasingly precarious state of the South Korean economy, which was caught in a financial crisis that swept through Southeast and East Asia in late 1997. He was succeeded as president by Kim Dae-Jung.

Sun Yat-sen (1886-1925)

Leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party. He was a Doctor, Philosopher, and served as the first President of the Republic of China, he is also referred to as the Father of the Nation. Sen was able to overthrow the Qing dynasty through the Xianhai revolution and become the first President in China.

Mukeden Incident

Mukden Incident, (September 18, 1931), also called Manchurian Incident, seizure of the Manchurian city of Mukden (now Shenyang, Liaoning province, China) by Japanese troops in 1931, which was followed by the Japanese invasion of all of Manchuria (now Northeast China) and the establishment of the Japanese-dominated state of Manchukuo (Manzhouguo) in the area. Most observers believe the incident was contrived by the Japanese army, without authorization of the Japanese government, to justify the Japanese invasion and occupation that followed. It contributed to the international isolation of Japan and is seen as a crucial event on the path to the outbreak of World War II. Throughout the early 20th century the Japanese had maintained special rights in Manchuria, and they had felt that the neutrality of the area was necessary for the defense of their colony in Korea. They were thus alarmed when their position in Manchuria was threatened by the increasingly successful unification of China in the late 1920s by the Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi), at the same time that Soviet pressures on Manchuria increased from the north. Responding to this pressure, officers of the Japanese Kwantung (Guandong) Army, which was stationed in Manchuria, initiated an incident in Mukden without the approval of the civil government of Japan.On the night of September 18, 1931, Japanese troops used the pretext of an explosion along the Japanese-controlled South Manchurian Railway to occupy Mukden; the explosives did little damage to their railway, and trains continued to use the route. Nevertheless, in retaliation for this "Chinese attack," the Japanese army began artillery attacks on a nearby Chinese garrison the next day. On September 21, Japanese reinforcements arrived from Korea, and the army began to expand throughout northern Manchuria. In Tokyo neither the high command of the Japanese army nor Prime Minister Wakatsuki Reijirō proved able to restrain the Kwangtung Army in the field, and within three months Japanese troops had spread throughout Manchuria. Wakatsuki's cabinet fell in December, and its successor reacted to a growing tide of public opinion by sanctioning the invasion.

Sikhs and Punjabs

Punjabi" and "Sikh" are two different terms which often confuse people. While "Sikh" is a religion, "Punjabi" is a broader term used for all the people living in the Punjab region of both India and Pakistan irrespective of their religions. Punjabi (Punjabi people) is an ethnic group which originated from the Punjab region. These people are Indo-Aryan of North Indian origin constituting parts of Rajasthan, Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani Punjab. The Punjabi identity was primarily linguistic and cultural with the Punjabi language being their first spoken language. In recent times, the definition has changed and includes all emigrants who maintain Punjabi traditions even though they may not be speaking the Punjabi language any longer. Collectively, Punjabis are primarily inhabitants of Punjab. No doubt they are broken into tribes and castes, and many of these are not exclusively inhabitants of Punjab. There are about more than 120 million Punjabis around the world. As an ethnic group, they are among the worlds' largest and second largest ethnic group after Bengali in South Asia. "Sikh" means someone is a follower of Sikhism. "Sikhism" is a religion which originated in the 15th century in Punjab. The word "Sikh" is originated from a combination of two Sanskrit terms sisya (f'k") meaning "disciple" and shiksha (f'k{k), meaning "instructions." A Sikh is a disciple of the Guru. A person who is called a Sikh is also defined as "a person who has faith in God (the Immortal One), ten Gurus (the spiritual guides), Sri Granth Sahab (the Holy Book of Sikhs), baptism bequeathed by the tenth Guru, the teachings of the ten Gurus, and the one who does not have any adherence to any religion. Most female followers of this religion have "Kaur" as a surname, and male Sikhs have "Singh" as their surname. Recognition of a Sikh is with 5Ks, namely; KESH, KARA, KIRPAN, KECHERA, and KANGA. The disciples of this religion are forbidden to show their hair. Male Sikhs cover their hair with a specially tied turban while female Sikhs cover their hair with a scarf.

W.R.D Bandaranaike

Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike, (born Jan. 8, 1899, Colombo, Ceylon [now Sri Lanka]—died Sept. 26, 1959, Colombo), statesman and prime minister of Ceylon (1956-59), whose election marked a significant change in the political history of modern Ceylon. Educated at the University of Oxford, he was called to the bar in 1925. After returning to Ceylon, he entered politics and, in 1931, was elected to the newly formed legislative assembly, the State Council. In 1947, as a prominent member of the governing United National Party (UNP), he was elected to the new House of Representatives and appointed minister of health and local government. He resigned from the government and the Western-oriented UNP in 1951 and was re-elected in 1952 as the founder of the nationalist Sri Lanka (Blessed Ceylon) Freedom Party, becoming leader of the opposition in the legislature. Four years later he formed the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP; People's United Front), a political alliance of four nationalist-socialist parties, which swept the election; he became prime minister on April 12, 1956. The MEP advocated a neutralist foreign policy and strong nationalist policies at home. Sinhalese, the language spoken by the majority community, replaced English as the official language of the country, and Buddhism, the majority religion, was given a prominent place in the affairs of state. By amicable agreement the British relinquished their military bases on the island, and Ceylon established diplomatic relations with communist states. A disgruntled Buddhist monk, Talduwe Somarama, shot Bandaranaike on Sept. 25, 1959, and he died the following day. After the 1960 elections, his widow, Sirimavo Ratwatte Dias Bandaranaike (q.v.), became prime minister.

Tiananmen Square Incident (April 15, 1989-June 4th):

The 1989 Tiananmen Square protest (June 4th Incident) was a student led demonstration held in Beijing for the establishment of human rights and freedom of the press against the Chinese Communist Government in mid 1989.

Korean Cia

The Korea Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) was created in 1961, and in 1981 the agency changed its name to the Agency for National Security Planning (NSP). In 1994, the NSP had its law revised following the agreement between Korea's ruling and opposition parties and established an "Information Committee" in the Assembly to lay a foundation for political neutrality. The NSP also launched operations against international crime and terrorism to protect the Korean people from international organized crime. The Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) was originally established on June 19, 1961 as the directly under the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction in the immediate aftermath of the May 16, 1961, military coup. Its duties were to "supervise and coordinate both international and domestic intelligence activities and criminal investigation by all government intelligence agencies, including that of the military." Its mission was akin to that of a combined United States Central Intelligence Agency and Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Li-Ito Convention

The Tientsin Convention (Li-Ito Convention) was an agreement between the Qing Dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan in Tientsin, China on April 18th 1885. Tensions had been rising between China and Japan over the external influence over Joseon (Yi) Dynasty of Korea and its royal family. The Japanese supported a coup that's main goal was to reform and modernize the Joseon Dynasty, they also sought to eliminate legal enforced social distinctions, eliminating the privileges of the yangban class. The coup failed when China sent 1500 soldiers to drive out the Japanese coup plotters. After driving out the Japanese tensions began to boil over between the two Empires, until Ito Hirobumi of Japan and Li Hongzhang of China drafted an agreement to help defuse the situation: a. Bothe Empires (nations) would have to pull their forces out of Joseon with in four months. b. Gojong of of Joseon will be advised to hire military instructors from a third nation for to train the Joseon army. c. Neither Empire (nation) will send troops to Joseon without notifying the other.

Khmer Rouge

The name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea and by extension to the regime through which the CPK ruled in Cambodia between 1975 and 1979. The name had originally been used in the 1950's by Norodom Sihanoukism as a blanket term for the Cambodian left.

Cultural Revolution

This Cultural revolution was a decade long period of political chaos in China, in 1966 Mao Zedong launched the Cultural Revolution in order to reassert his authority in the Chinese government. The Revolution was supposed to "touch people's souls" and attach the Four Old's; old ideas, old culture, old customs, and old habits in order to bring in new areas of education (art and literature) line with new Communist Ideology.

Ne Win:

Was a Burmese Politician and military commander who served as Prime Minister of Burma from 1958 to 1960 and 1962 to 1974, and also President of Burma from 1962 to 1981. Ne Win was Burma's dictator during the Socialist Burma period from 1962 to 1988.

Park Chung-hee

Was a South Korea politician and general who served as the President from 1963 until his assassination in 1979, assuming that office after ruling the country head of a military dictatorship installed by the May 16th coup in 1961.

Indira Gandhi:

Was and Indian Politician, stateswoman and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was the first and only female Prime Minister of India, she was the daughter of the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru. Indira served as Prime Minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984. Making her the second longest serving Indian Prime Minister after her father.

Ho Chi Min

Was the first Vietnamese Communist revolutionary leader who was Chairman and First Secretary of the Workers Party of Vietnam. He was also Prime Minister and President of the Democratic republic of Vietnam

CBI theatre

China Burma India Theatre, US-British-Chinese forces during WWII.The Allies' aim in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater of World War II was to supply and buttress Chinese armies in their struggle against a massive Japanese incursion. The enemy's seizure of China's seaports had severed its traditional supply lines. Accordingly, the Allies transported equipment, men and supplies to China through Burma by building roads and pipelines, and India by flying the "Hump" route over the Himalayas. In addition, the Allies aided China in the Japanese attack by conducting ground and air offensives. By means of U.S. Combat Cargo Groups, flying the hump over the Himalayas from India became an important factor in the CBI supply strategy. Further, construction of the Burma and Ledo roads also were vital to CBI operations.

Chinese Communist Party: Chinese

Communist party was founded July 1, 1921 by Mao Zadong, Zhou Enlai, Chen Duxui, and Li Dazhao

Cixi - Empress Dowager

Empress Dowager Cixi, of the Manchu Yehenara clan, was a Chinese empress dowager and regent who effectively controlled the Chinese government in the late Qing dynasty for 47 years from 1861 until her death in 1908.

yangban

In Koryo and especially Choson Korea, a term for the "two orders," the civil and the military elite families who, by passing government examinations, dominated the Choson Korean bureaucracy and cultural life

Subas Chandra Bose

Indian Nationalist, whose patriotism made him a hero in India through his attempts to rid of the British presence by siding with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan during World War 2.

Muhammad Ali Jinnah

Indian statesman who was the founder of Pakistan as a Muslim state (1876-1948)

Rajiv Gandhi

Indira's son (nehru's grandson) and was prime minister of india 1985-1989. Had some reform of eonomy and gov't but also faced rebellion and was assassinated by Tamil Tigers.

Japan's Revival

Japan's economic growth was partially due to the measures laid out by the government and the financial aid the U.S. supplied after WW2 till the end of the Cold War (Marshall Plan).

May 4th Movement (1919)

Japan's twenty-one demands in 1915 sparked a widespread protest across China for the citizens. News broke that the Warlord government had signed secret agreements and contracts with Japan, Chinese nationalism boiled over. Mass protest and demonstrations broke out May 4th, 1919, a radical generation of students protested and beat up Pro-Japanese officials. Strikes and boycotts of Japanese goods gained mass support.

Gang of Four

Jiang Qing and four political allies who attempted to seize control of Communist government in China from the pragmatists; arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1976 following Mao Zedong's death.

38th Parallel

Line that divided Korea - Soviet Union occupied the north and United States occupied the south, during the Cold War.

Zeng Guofan

One of the ablest scholar-gentry officials in the last half of the 19th century. Advocated the introduction of Western technologies and military reforms, and proved to be one of the staunchest defenders of the Qing dynasty.

Korean War (1950-1953)

On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People's Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People's Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea's behalf. As far as American officials were concerned, it was a war against the forces of international communism itself. After some early back-and-forth across the 38th parallel, the fighting stalled and casualties mounted with nothing to show for them. Meanwhile, American officials worked anxiously to fashion some sort of armistice with the North Koreans. The alternative, they feared, would be a wider war with Russia and China-or even, as some warned, World War III. Finally, in July 1953, the Korean War came to an end. In all, some 5 million soldiers and civilians lost their lives during the war. The Korean peninsula is still divided today. The Two Koreas "If the best minds in the world had set out to find us the worst possible location in the world to fight this damnable war," U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson (1893-1971) once said, "the unanimous choice would have been Korea." The peninsula had landed in America's lap almost by accident. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Korea had been a part of the Japanese empire, and after World War II it fell to the Americans and the Soviets to decide what should be done with their enemy's imperial possessions. In August 1945, two young aides at the State Department divided the Korean peninsula in half along the 38th parallel. The Russians occupied the area north of the line and the United States occupied the area to its south. Did you know? Unlike World War II and Vietnam, the Korean War did not get much media attention in the United States. The most famous representation of the war in popular culture is the television series "M*A*S*H," which was set in a field hospital in South Korea. The series ran from 1972 until 1983, and its final episode was the most-watched in television history. By the end of the decade, two new states had formed on the peninsula. In the south, the anti-communist dictator Syngman Rhee (1875-1965) enjoyed the reluctant support of the American government; in the north, the communist dictator Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) enjoyed the slightly more enthusiastic support of the Soviets. Neither dictator was content to remain on his side of the 38th parallel, however, and border skirmishes were common. Nearly 10,000 North and South Korean soldiers were killed in battle before the war even began. The Korean War and the Cold War Even so, the North Korean invasion came as an alarming surprise to American officials. As far as they were concerned, this was not simply a border dispute between two unstable dictatorships on the other side of the globe. Instead, many feared it was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world. For this reason, nonintervention was not considered an option by many top decision makers. (In fact, in April 1950, a National Security Council report known as NSC-68 had recommended that the United States use military force to "contain" communist expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring, "regardless of the intrinsic strategic or economic value of the lands in question.") "If we let Korea down," President Harry Truman (1884-1972) said, "the Soviet[s] will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another." The fight on the Korean peninsula was a symbol of the global struggle between east and west, good and evil. As the North Korean army pushed into Seoul, the South Korean capital, the United States readied its troops for a war against communism itself. At first, the war was a defensive one-a war to get the communists out of South Korea-and it went badly for the Allies. The North Korean army was well-disciplined, well-trained and well-equipped; Rhee's forces, by contrast, were frightened, confused, and seemed inclined to flee the battlefield at any provocation. Also, it was one of the hottest and driest summers on record, and desperately thirsty American soldiers were often forced to drink water from rice paddies that had been fertilized with human waste. As a result, dangerous intestinal diseases and other illnesses were a constant threat. By the end of the summer, President Truman and General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964), the commander in charge of the Asian theater, had decided on a new set of war aims. Now, for the Allies, the Korean War was an offensive one: It was a war to "liberate" the North from the communists. Initially, this new strategy was a success. An amphibious assault at Inchon pushed the North Koreans out of Seoul and back to their side of the 38th parallel. But as American troops crossed the boundary and headed north toward the Yalu River, the border between North Korea and Communist China, the Chinese started to worry about protecting themselves from what they called "armed aggression against Chinese territory." Chinese leader Mao Zedong (1893-1976) sent troops to North Korea and warned the United States to keep away from the Yalu boundary unless it wanted full-scale war "No Substitute for Victory"? This was something that President Truman and his advisers decidedly did not want: They were sure that such a war would lead to Soviet aggression in Europe, the deployment of atomic weapons and millions of senseless deaths. To General MacArthur, however, anything short of this wider war represented "appeasement," an unacceptable knuckling under to the communists. As President Truman looked for a way to prevent war with the Chinese, MacArthur did all he could to provoke it. Finally, in March 1951, he sent a letter to Joseph Martin, a House Republican leader who shared MacArthur's support for declaring all-out war on China-and who could be counted upon to leak the letter to the press. "There is," MacArthur wrote, "no substitute for victory" against international communism. For Truman, this letter was the last straw. On April 11, the president fired the general for insubordination. The Korean War Reaches a Stalemate In July 1951, President Truman and his new military commanders started peace talks at Panmunjom. Still, the fighting continued along the 38th parallel as negotiations stalled. Both sides were willing to accept a ceasefire that maintained the 38th parallel boundary, but they could not agree on whether prisoners of war should be forcibly "repatriated." (The Chinese and the North Koreans said yes; the United States said no.) Finally, after more than two years of negotiations, the adversaries signed an armistice on July 27, 1953. The agreement allowed the POWs to stay where they liked; drew a new boundary near the 38th parallel that gave South Korea an extra 1,500 square miles of territory; and created a 2-mile-wide "demilitarized zone" that still exists today. Casualties of the Korean War The Korean War was relatively short but exceptionally bloody. Nearly 5 million people died. More than half of these-about 10 percent of Korea's prewar population-were civilians. (This rate of civilian casualties was higher than World War II's and Vietnam's.) Almost 40,000 Americans died in action in Korea, and more than 100,000 were wounded.

Park Geun-hye

President of South Korea

Taewongun

Prince Regent, father of King Kojong; xenophobic, responsible for mass persecution of Catholicism and seclusion policy; highly resistant to foreign influence; feverishly beat back American and French incursions in 1866; wanted to rebuild strength of dynasty, trying to take away privileges of yangban; although captured in 1880s, 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese war led to his reinstatement;

The Emergency

Refers to a 21 month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime minister Indira Gandhi had a state of emergency declared across the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under article 352 of the constitution because of the prevailing internal disturbance.

SCAP

Stands for the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, this title was held by General MacArthur during the occupation of Japan Post World War 2.

Tet Offensive (1968)

The Tet Offensive was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War, launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against the forces of South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. It failed militarily, but had an enormous psychological impact on the US, showing that the war was far from over, and proving that the government was lying about the war.

k-pop

The Republic of Korea's (South Korea's) vibrant music scene of government-supported girl and boy bands. 1992

Three People's Principles

Three Principles of the People, also called Three Great Principles, Chinese (Pinyin) Sanmin Zhuyi or (Wade-Giles romanization) San-min Chu-i, the ideological basis of the political program of the Chinese Nationalist leader Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), championing the principles of nationalism, democracy, and socialism.

Sino-Japanese War

(1894-1895) Japan's imperialistic war against China to gain control of natural resources and markets for their goods. It ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth which granted Japan Chinese port city trading rights, control of Manchuria, the annexation of the island of Sakhalin, and Korea became its protectorate.

Tonghak:

Tonghak (Donghak) was an academic movement in Korea Neo-Confucianism created by Cheo Je-u. The Donghak movement was a reaction to seohak (Westen Learning) and called for the return of the "Way of Heaven". Donghak called for the return of Confusion teachings in Korea, but later morphed in to a religion known in Korea today as Cheondoism.

The Colonization of Korea

: Korea falling under the Japanese rule began after the shortly lived Korean Empire in 1910 and ended at the end of World War 2 in 1945. Japans rule over Korea began with the Japan-Korea treaty of 1876, where a coalition of Meiji Japan government, military, and business officials sought to bring Korea and the Empire of Japan together (as part of Japan) politically and economically. The start of Koreas colonization was in 1905 when the Empire of Korea was declared a protectorate of Japan, and the annexation of Korea by Japan was set up and signed in the Japan-Korea Treaty of 1910. Japanese merchants and civilians started settling in towns and cities in Korea seeking new economic opportunities, By late 1910 the number of Japanese settlers in Korea reached over 170,000 creating the single largest overseas Japanese community at the time. a. Under the Japanese rule a new public education system was introduced to Korea and was modeled after the Japanese school systems. These schools focused on both Korean and Japanese Culture in the class room, but mainly focused of Japanese History b/c they were instructed to do so BY the Imperial House of Japan and Imperial Rescript on Education, this was to help assimilate young Koreans into Japanese culture.

Li Hongzhang (1823-1901):

Hongzhang was the student of Zhen Guofan, he was also a general and politician in the Qing Imperial court. Hongzhang was able to silence many rebellions against the Qing Dynasty during his time as General, he was able to quell the Viceroy of Zhili, Huguang, Liangguang, and the Taiping rebellion. He was pro-industrial and military modernization in China and played a key role in negotiation with the West on China's behalf (Europe and the U.S.).

Hun Sen

Hun Sen, (born April 4, 1951, Kâmpóng Cham province, Cambodia), Cambodian politician, who was prime minister of Cambodia from 1985. Hun Sen was educated at a Buddhist monastery in Phnom Penh. In the late 1960s he joined the Communist Party of Kampuchea and in 1970 joined the Khmer Rouge. During the regime of Pol Pot (1975-79), when an estimated two million Cambodians lost their lives, Hun Sen fled to Vietnam, joining troops there opposed to the Khmer Rouge. He returned to Cambodia after the Vietnamese installed a new government in 1979 and was made minister of foreign affairs. He became prime minister in 1985. In 1993 elections the royalist party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the son of head of state King Norodom Sihanouk, outpolled Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party (CPP). Hun Sen, however, refused to cede power, and, under an agreement imposed by international powers, a coalition government was formed, with the prince named first prime minister and Hun Sen second prime minister. In a violent coup in July 1997 Hun Sen deposed Prince Ranariddh, who had made overtures to remnants of the Khmer Rouge, and appointed a replacement. In March 1998 Hun Sen had the prince tried in absentia and found guilty of charges that included an attempt to overthrow the government. Prince Ranariddh was subsequently pardoned by his father, and he returned to Cambodia to take part in elections held in July 1998. That time Hun Sen outpolled the prince, but once again the two were forced to enter into a coalition government, with Prince Ranariddh made president of the National Assembly and Hun Sen becoming the sole prime minister. In the national election of 2003, the CPP once again finished first, and Hun Sen was appointed to another term as prime minister in July 2004. In the parliamentary elections of 2008, the CPP again emerged victorious, with three-fourths of the assembly seats, and Hun Sen entered yet another term as Cambodia's prime minister. The opposition Sam Rainsy Party (SRP) comprised nearly all of the remaining members. In the 2013 elections, however, the CPP barely won a majority of seats in the chamber, with the newly formed opposition Cambodian National Rescue Party (CNRP)—created through the merger of the SRP and another party—gaining the remainder of the seats. The CNRP members protested the election's outcome and boycotted the assembly, precipitating a constitutional crisis that was not resolved until mid-2014. Throughout that time Hun Sen remained prime minister and continued in office once an agreement had been reached between the CPP and CNRP. Several decades after the fall of the Khmer Rouge, Hun Sen continued to grapple with fostering national reconciliation and prosecuting the surviving members of the Pol Pot regime for war crimes. The United Nations sought to bring the perpetrators to justice before an international tribunal, but Hun Sen insisted on relying on the Cambodian court system. The first judgement against a defendant—a guilty verdict—came only in 2010. Other pressing issues concerned development of the country's economy, improvement of infrastructure, and management of an ongoing border dispute with Thailand—the latter finally resolved in 2013 following a ruling favourable to Cambodia by the International Court of Justice.