35.1: Communist China

35.1.1: The Republic of China

Learning Objective

Outline the successes and failures of the Republic of China during its decades in power.

Key Points

• The
  Republic of China was a state in East Asia that existed from 1912 to
  1949. It largely occupied the present-day territories of China, Taiwan, and,
  for some of its history, Mongolia. As an era of Chinese history, it was
  preceded by the last imperial dynasty of China and the Qing dynasty, and ended
  with the Chinese Civil War.
• The
  Republican Era of China began with the outbreak of revolution on October 10,
  1911, in Wuchang among discontented modernized army units whose anti-Qing plot
  was uncovered. This would become known as the Wuchang Uprising, celebrated as Double Tenth Day in Taiwan. It was preceded by numerous
  abortive uprisings and organized protests in China. 

• After a power struggle, on March 10, 1912, in Beijing, Yuan Shikai was sworn in as the second provisional president of the Republic of China. Yuan proceeded to abolish the national and provincial assemblies and declared himself emperor in late 1915, but his imperial ambitions were fiercely opposed by his subordinates. Faced with the prospect of rebellion, he abdicated in 1916 and died the same year. His death left a power vacuum in China and ushered in what would become known as the Warlord Era, during which much of the country was ruled by shifting coalitions of competing provincial military leaders.

• During the Nanjing Decade of 1928-37, which followed the Warlord Era, the Nationalists under the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek attempted to consolidate the divided society and reform the economy.  The KMT was criticized as instituting totalitarianism, but claimed it was attempting to establish a modern democratic society. 

• The
  bitter struggle between the KMT and the CPC continued, openly or clandestinely,
  through the 14-year-long Japanese occupation of various parts of the country
  (1931–1945). The two Chinese parties nominally formed a united front to oppose
  the Japanese in 1937, during the Second Sino-Japanese
  War (1937–1945), which became part of World War II. 
• Following the
  defeat of Japan in 1945, the war between the Nationalist forces and the CPC
  resumed after failed attempts at reconciliation and a negotiated settlement. By
  1949, the CPC had established control over most of the country. When the
  Nationalist government forces were defeated by CPC forces in mainland China in
  1949, the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan along with
  Chiang and most of the KMT leadership, and a large number of their supporters.

Key Terms

Nanjing Decade

An informal name for the decade from 1927 (or 1928) to 1937 in the Republic of China. The period began when Nationalist Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek took Nanjing from Zhili clique warlord Sun Chuanfang halfway through the Northern Expedition in 1927. Chiang declared it the national capital despite the left-wing Nationalist government in Wuhan.

Kuomintang

A major political party in the Republic of China, currently the second-largest in the country,
often translated as the Nationalist Party of China or Chinese Nationalist Party. Its predecessor, the Revolutionary Alliance, was one of the major advocates of the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic. The party was founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen shortly after the Xinhai Revolution of 1911.

Beiyang Government

The government of the Republic of China, in place in the capital city of Beijing from 1912 to 1928. It was internationally recognized as the legitimate Chinese government but lacked domestic legitimacy.

Northern Expedition

A 1926-1928 military campaign led by Chiang Kai-shek. Its main objective was to unify China, ending the rule of the Beiyang government and that of the local warlords. It led to the end of the Warlord Era, the reunification of China in 1928, and the establishment of the Nanjing government.

Warlord Era

In the history of the Republic of China, the period when the control of the country was divided among its military cliques in the mainland regions. The era lasted from the death of Yuan Shikai in 1916 until 1928.

Wuchang Uprising

The Chinese uprising that served as the catalyst to the Xinhai Revolution, ending the Qing Dynasty – and two millennia of imperial rule – and ushering in the Republic of China (ROC). It began with the dissatisfaction of the handling of a railway crisis, which escalated to an uprising in which the revolutionaries went up against Qing government officials.

The Republic of
China was a state in East Asia that existed from 1912 to 1949. It
largely occupied the present-day territories of China, Taiwan, and, for some of
its history, Mongolia. As an era of Chinese history, it was preceded by the
last imperial dynasty of China, the Qing dynasty, and ended with the Chinese
Civil War. After the war, the losing Kuomintang retreated to the island of
Taiwan to found the modern Republic of China, while the victorious Communist
Party of China established the People’s Republic of China on the
Mainland.

Early Republic

The Republican Era of
China began with the outbreak of revolution on October 10, 1911, in Wuchang
among discontented modernized army units whose anti-Qing plot had been uncovered.
This would be known as the Wuchang Uprising, celebrated as Double
Tenth Day in Taiwan. It was preceded by numerous abortive uprisings and
organized protests in China. The revolt quickly spread to neighboring
cities, and members of underground resistance movement Tongmenghui throughout the country rose in support of the
Wuchang revolutionary forces. After a series of failures of the revolutionary forces, during the 41-day Battle of Yangxia 15 of 24 provinces declared their
independence from the Qing empire. On January 1, 1912, delegates from the
independent provinces elected Sun Yat-sen as the first provisional president
of the Republic of China. The last emperor of China, Puyi, was forced to
abdicate on February 12.

Although Sun was
inaugurated in Nanjing as the first provisional president, power in Beijing
already had passed to Yuan Shikai, who had effective control of the Beiyang
Army, the most powerful military force in China at the time. To prevent civil
war and possible foreign intervention from undermining the infant republic, Sun
agreed to Yuan’s demand for China to be united under Yuan’s Beijing government.
On March 10 in Beijing, Yuan Shikai was sworn in as the second provisional president of the Republic of China.

Although many
political parties were vying for supremacy in the legislature, the revolutionists
lacked an army, and Yuan soon revised the constitution and revealed dictatorial
ambitions. In August 1912, the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) was founded by
Song Jiaoren, one of Sun’s associates. It was an amalgamation of small political
groups, including Sun’s Tongmenghui. In the national elections held in February
1913 for the new bicameral parliament, Song campaigned against the Yuan
administration and the Kuomintang won a majority of seats.

Over
the next few years, however, Yuan proceeded to abolish the national and
provincial assemblies and declared himself emperor in late 1915, but his imperial
ambitions were fiercely opposed by his subordinates. Faced with the prospect of
rebellion, he abdicated in 1916 and died the same year. His death left a power
vacuum in China and ushered in what would be known as the Warlord
Era, during which much of the country was ruled by shifting coalitions of
competing provincial military leaders.

Yuan Shikai (left) and Sun Yat-sen (right) with flags representing the early republic.

The History of the Republic of China begins after the Qing dynasty in 1912, when the formation of the Republic of China as a constitutional republic put an end to 4,000 years of Imperial rule. The Qing dynasty ruled from 1644–1912. The Republic experienced many trials and tribulations after its founding, including domination by warlord generals and foreign powers.

The poster commemorates the permanent President of the Republic of China Yuan Shikai and the provisional President of the Republic Sun Yat-sen. The text on the poster reads, “Chinese Republic forever,” an unconventional English translation of “Long Live the Republic of China.”

The Warlord Era

Despite the fact that various warlords gained control of the
government in Beijing during the Warlord Era, a new
form of control or governance did not emerge at the time because other warlords did not acknowledge the
transitory governments of the period. These military-dominated governments were
collectively known as the Beiyang Government. The name derives from the Beiyang
Army, which dominated its politics. Although the government and the state
were nominally under civilian control with a constitution, the Beiyang
generals were effectively in charge, with various factions vying for
power. Although the Beiyang Government’s legitimacy was challenged
domestically, it had international diplomatic recognition and access to the tax and customs revenue, and could apply for foreign
financial loans.

In 1917, China declared war on Germany in the hope of
recovering its lost province, then under Japanese control. On May 4, 1919,
there were massive student demonstrations against the Beijing government and
Japan. The political fervor, student activism, and iconoclastic and reformist
intellectual currents set in motion by the protest developed into a
national awakening known as the May Fourth Movement. The intellectual milieu in
which this movement developed was known as the New Culture Movement. The student
demonstrations of May 4, 1919, were the high point of the New Culture Movement
and the terms are often used as synonyms. Chinese representatives refused to
sign the Treaty of Versailles due to intense
pressure from both the student protesters and public opinion.

The discrediting of liberal Western philosophy among
leftist Chinese intellectuals led to radical lines of thought inspired by
the Russian Revolution and supported by agents of the Comintern sent to China
by Moscow. This created the seeds for the irreconcilable conflict between the
left and right in China that would dominate Chinese history for the rest of the
century.

In the 1920s, Sun Yat-sen established a revolutionary base
in south China and set out to unite the fragmented nation. With assistance
from the Soviet Union, he entered into an alliance with the
fledgling Communist Party of China. After Sun’s
death from cancer in 1925, one of his protégés, Chiang
Kai-shek, seized control of the Kuomintang (Nationalist
Party or KMT) and succeeded in bringing most of south and central China under
its rule in a military campaign known as the Northern Expedition (1926–1927). Having
defeated the warlords in south and central China by military force, Chiang was
able to secure the nominal allegiance of the warlords in the North. In 1927,
Chiang turned on the CPC and chased the CPC armies and its leaders from their
bases in southern and eastern China. In 1934, driven from their mountain bases,
the CPC forces embarked on the Long March across
China’s most desolate terrain to the northwest, where they established a
guerrilla base at Yan’an in Shaanxi Province. During the Long March, the
communists reorganized under a new leader, Mao Zedong (Mao
Tse-tung).

The Nanjing Decade

During the Nanjing Decade of 1928-37, the Nationalists
attempted to consolidate the divided society and reform the economy. The
KMT was criticized for instituting totalitarianism,
but claimed it was attempting to establish a modern democratic society by creating the Academia
Sinica (today’s national academy of Taiwan), the Central Bank of China, and
other agencies. In 1932, China sent its first team to the Olympic Games. Laws
were passed and campaigns mounted to promote the rights of women. Improved
communication also allowed a focus on social problems, including those of the
villages (for example the Rural Reconstruction Movement). Simultaneously,
political freedom was considerably curtailed because of the Kuomintang’s
one-party domination through “political tutelage” and violent shutting
down of anti-government protests.

At the time, a series of massive wars also took place in
western China, including the Kumul
Rebellion, the Sino-Tibetan War, and the Soviet invasion of Xinjiang. Although
the central government was nominally in control of the entire country, large
areas remained under the semi-autonomous rule of local warlords,
provincial military leaders, or warlord coalitions. Nationalist rule was
strongest in the eastern regions around the capital Nanjing, but regional
militarists retained considerable local authority.

The Fall of the Republic and Its Legacy: Taiwan

The bitter struggle between the KMT and the CPC continued,
openly or clandestinely, through the 14-year-long Japanese occupation of
various parts of the country (1931–1945). The two Chinese parties nominally
formed a united front to oppose the Japanese in 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945),
which became part of World War II. Following the defeat of Japan in 1945, the
war between the Nationalist forces and the CPC resumed after failed attempts at
reconciliation and a negotiated settlement. By 1949, the CPC had established
control over most of the country. When the Nationalist government forces
were defeated by CPC forces in mainland China in 1949, they retreated to Taiwan along with Chiang and most of the KMT leadership
and a large number of their supporters. The Nationalist government had taken
effective control of Taiwan at the end of World War II as part of the overall
Japanese surrender, when Japanese troops in Taiwan surrendered to Republic of
China troops.

Until the early 1970s, the Republic of China was recognized
as the sole legitimate government of China by the United Nations and most
Western nations, refusing to recognize the People’s Republic of China. However,
in 1971, Resolution 2758 was passed by the
UN General Assembly and “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek” (and
thus the ROC) were expelled from the UN and replaced as “China” by
the PRC. In 1979, the United States switched recognition from Taipei to
Beijing. The KMT ruled Taiwan under martial
law until the late 1980s, with the stated goals of vigilance against Communist infiltration and preparation to retake mainland China.
Therefore, political dissent was not tolerated.

Since the 1990s, the ROC went from one-party rule to a
multi-party system thanks to a series of democratic and governmental reforms
implemented in Taiwan. The first election for provincial
governors and municipality Mayors was in 1994. Taiwan held the first direct presidential election
in 1996.

35.1.2: China in WWII

Learning Objective

Discuss China’s role as one of the Allied countries during WWII.

Key Points

• The chaotic internal situation in China and the effort the Chinese government was required to put into the civil wars provided opportunities for Japanese expansionism. Japan saw Manchuria as a source of raw materials, a market for its manufactured goods, and as a protective buffer state against the Soviet Union in Siberia. Japan invaded Manchuria after the 1931 Mukden Incident. With appeasement being the predominant policy of the day, no country was willing to take action against Japan beyond tepid censure. Incessant fighting between Japanese and Chinese forces followed.

• The Chinese resistance stiffened after July 7,
  1937, when a clash occurred between Chinese and Japanese troops outside Beijing.
  This skirmish led to open, although undeclared, warfare between China and
  Japan, which turned into the Second Sino-Japanese War. Shanghai fell after a three-month battle and the capital of Nanking fell in
  December 1937, which was followed by the Nanking Massacre.

• The United States and the Soviet Union put an end to the Second Sino-Japanese War by attacking the Japanese with atomic bombs (on America’s part) and an incursion into Manchuria (on the Soviet Union’s part). Japanese Emperor Hirohito officially capitulated to the Allies on August 15, 1945. The Chinese-Japanese conflict lasted for over eight years and its casualties were more than half of total casualties of the Pacific War.

• During World War II, the United States emerged
  as a major player in Chinese affairs. As an ally it embarked in late 1941 on a
  program of massive military and financial aid to the hard-pressed Nationalist Government. In 1943, the United States
  and Britain led the way in revising their treaties with China, bringing to an
  end a century of unequal treaty relations.
• After the end of the war in August 1945, the
  Nationalist Government moved back to Nanking. With American help, Nationalist
  troops moved to take the Japanese surrender in North China. The Soviet Union,
  as part of the Yalta agreement allowing a Soviet sphere of influence in
  Manchuria, dismantled and removed more than half the industrial equipment left
  there by the Japanese. The Soviet presence in northeast China enabled the
  Communists to move in long enough to arm themselves with the equipment
  surrendered by the withdrawing Japanese army.

• In 1941, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt devised the name
  “United Nations.” He referred to the Big Three and China as a “trusteeship of
  the powerful” and then later the “Four
  Policemen.” At the Potsdam Conference of 1945, Harry Truman proposed that the foreign
  ministers of China, France, the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and the United
  States “should draft the peace treaties and boundary settlements of Europe,”
  which led to the creation of the Council of Foreign Ministers of
  the “Big Five” and soon thereafter the establishment of those states
  as the permanent members of the UN Security Council.

35.1.3: The Chinese Civil War

Learning Objective

Outline the reasons behind and events of the Chinese Civil War 

Key Points

• The Chinese Civil War was fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and those loyal to the Communist Party of China. The war began in 1927 with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s Northern Expedition and ended when major hostilities ceased in 1950. It can generally be divided into two stages separated by the Second Sino-Japanese War: 1927 to 1937 and 1946 to 1950.
• On
  April 7, 1927, Chiang and several other KMT leaders held a meeting where they proposed that Communist activities were socially and economically
  disruptive. On
  April 12 in Shanghai, the KMT was purged of leftists with the arrest and
  execution of hundreds of CPC members (the Shanghai Massacre). The
  KMT resumed its campaign against warlords. Soon, most of eastern China was under the control of the
  Nanjing central government, which received prompt international recognition as
  the sole legitimate government of China. 
• The
  revolt of the CPC against the Nationalist government began in August 1927 in
  Nanchang (the Nanchang Uprising). A CPC meeting confirmed the party’s intention to take
  power by force. By the
  fall of 1927, there were now three capitals in China: the internationally
  recognized republic capital in Beijing, the CPC and left-wing KMT at Wuhan, and
  the right-wing KMT regime at Nanjing, which would remain the KMT capital for
  the next decade.
• The ten-year armed
  struggle ended with the Xi’an Incident when Chiang Kai-shek was forced
  to form the Second United Front against invading forces from Japan.
  However,
  the alliance of the CPC and the KMT was in name only. The level of actual cooperation
  and coordination between them during World War II was at best
  minimal. In
  general, developments in the Second Sino-Japanese War were to the advantage of
  the CPC.
• A fragile truce between the competing forces
  fell apart in June 1946 when full-scale war between the CPC and the KMT broke
  out. On July 20, 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a large-scale
  assault on Communist territory, which marked the final phase of the
  Chinese Civil War. After three years of exhausting military campaigns, on
  October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China with its
  capital in Beijing.
  Chiang Kai-shek and approximately two million
  Nationalist Chinese retreated from mainland China to the island of Taiwan.
• Most
  observers expected Chiang’s government to eventually fall in response to a
  Communist invasion of Taiwan. Things changed radically
  with the onset of the Korean War in 1950. President
  Harry Truman ordered the United States Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to
  prevent the ROC and PRC from attacking each other. To this day no armistice or peace treaty has
  ever been signed, and there is debate about whether the Civil War has legally
  ended.

Key Terms

Shanghai Massacre

The violent suppression of Communist Party organizations in 1927 Shanghai by the military forces of Chiang Kai-shek and conservative factions in the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party, or KMT). Following the incident, conservative KMT elements carried out a full-scale purge of Communists in all areas under their control, and even more violent suppressions occurred in cities such as Guangzhou and Changsha. The purge led to an open split between KMT left and right wings, with Chiang Kai-shek establishing himself as the leader of the right wing at Nanjing in opposition to the original left-wing KMT government led by Wang Jingwei in Wuhan.

Chinese Civil War

A civil war in China fought between forces loyal to the Kuomintang (KMT)-led government of the Republic of China, and forces loyal to the Communist Party of China (CPC). The war began in August 1927 with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek’s Northern Expedition and ended when major hostilities ceased in 1950.

Long March

A military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People’s Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang (KMT or Chinese Nationalist Party) army. The Communists, under the eventual command of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, escaped in a circling retreat to the west and north, which reportedly traversed more than 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) over 370 days. The route passed through some of the most difficult terrain of western China by traveling west then north to Shaanxi.

Xi’an Incident

On December 12, 1936, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Kuomintang, was arrested by Marshal Zhang Xueliang, a former warlord of Manchuria and Commander of the North Eastern Army who had fought against the Japanese occupation of Manchuria and subsequent expansion into Inner Mongolia. The incident led to a truce between the Nationalists and the Communists to form a united front against the threat posed by Japan.

Kuomintang

A major political party in the
Republic of China, currently the second-largest in the country, often
translated as the Nationalist Party of China or Chinese Nationalist Party.
Its predecessor, the Revolutionary Alliance, was one of the major advocates of
the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic. The
party was founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen shortly after the Xinhai
Revolution of 1911.

Northern Expedition

A 1926-1928 military campaign led
by Chiang Kai-shek. Its main objective was to unify China, ending the rule
of the Beiyang government and that of local warlords. It led to the end
of the Warlord Era, the reunification of China in 1928, and the
establishment of the Nanjing government.

Second Sino-Japanese War

A military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from 1937 to 1945, which became part of World War II.

The Chinese Civil War: Background

During the Warlord Era, control of the Republic of China was mostly divided among a group of powerful military leaders. The anti-monarchist and nationalist Kuomintang party (KMT) and its leader Sun Yat-sen sought the help of foreign powers to defeat the warlords, who had seized control of much of Northern China. Sun Yat-sen’s efforts to obtain aid from the Western countries were ignored, however, and in 1921 he turned to the Soviet Union. For political expediency, Soviet leadership initiated a dual policy of support for both Sun and the newly established Communist Party of China (CPC), which would eventually found the People’s Republic of China. Thus, the struggle for power in China began between the KMT and the CPC.

Communist members were allowed to join the KMT on an individual basis. However, after Sun died, the KMT split into left- and right-wing movements. Some KMT members worried that the Soviets were trying to destroy the KMT from inside using the CPC. The CPC also began movements in opposition of the Northern Expedition, passing a resolution against it. In March 1927, the KMT held its second party meeting where the Soviets helped pass resolutions against the Expedition and curb Chiang’s power. 

Northern Expedition

On April 7, 1927, Chiang and several other KMT leaders held a meeting where they proposed that Communist activities were socially and economically disruptive and had to be curbed for the national revolution to proceed. On April 12 in Shanghai, the KMT was purged of leftists with the arrest and execution of hundreds of CPC members. The CPC referred to this as the April 12 Incident or Shanghai Massacre. 

The KMT resumed its campaign against warlords and captured Beijing in June 1928. Soon, most of eastern China was under the control of the Nanjing central government, which received prompt international recognition as the sole legitimate government of China. The KMT government announced, in conformity with Sun Yat-sen, the formula for the three stages of revolution: military unification, political tutelage, and constitutional democracy.

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Commander-in-Chief of the National Revolutionary Army (photographer unknown; ca. 1926).

The Chinese Civil War was a major turning point in modern Chinese history, with the CPC gaining control of almost the entire of mainland China, establishing the People’s Republic of China to replace the KMT’s Republic of China. It also caused a lasting political and military standoff between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, with the ROC in Taiwan and the PRC in mainland China both officially claiming to be the legitimate government of China.

The Civil War Before World War II

During the 1920s, CPC activists retreated underground or to the countryside, where they advocated an armed rebellion. The revolt of the CPC against the Nationalist government began in August 1927 in Nanchang. The Nanchang Uprising saw the formation of a Communist rebel army, the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army, which would later become the People’s Liberation Army. A CPC meeting confirmed the party’s intention to take power by force, followed by a violent anti-Communist campaign by Wang Jingwei’s government in Wuhan starting on August 8. On August 14, Chiang Kai-shek fled Nanjing, but KMT forces continued to attempt to suppress the rebellions. By the fall of 1927, there were now three capitals in China: the internationally recognized republic capital in Beijing, the CPC and left-wing KMT at Wuhan, and the right-wing KMT regime at Nanjing, which would remain the KMT capital for the next decade.

This marked the beginning of a ten-year armed struggle, which ended with the Xi’an Incident when Chiang Kai-shek was forced to form the Second United Front against invading forces from Japan. In 1930, the Central Plains War broke out as an internal conflict of the KMT. The attention was turned to rooting out remaining pockets of Communist activity in a series of five encirclement campaigns. In 1934, the CPC broke out of the encirclement. The massive military retreat of Communist forces lasted a year and became known as the Long March, led by Mao Zedong, who soon became the pre-eminent leader of the Party with Zhou in second position.

The march ended when the CPC reached the interior of Shaanxi. Along the way, the Communist army confiscated property and weapons from local warlords and landlords, while recruiting peasants and the poor, solidifying its appeal to the masses. Of the 90,000–100,000 people who began the Long March from the Soviet Chinese Republic, only around 7,000–8,000 made it to Shaanxi.

The Civil War After World War II

The Civil War represented an ideological split between the Communist CPC and the KMT’s brand of Nationalism. It continued intermittently until late 1937, when the two parties came together to form the Second United Front to counter the Japanese threat and prevent the country from crumbling. However, the alliance of the CPC and the KMT was in name only. The level of actual cooperation and coordination between the two parties during World War II was at best minimal. In the midst of the Second United Front, the CPC and the KMT were still vying for territorial advantage in “Free China” (i.e., areas not occupied by the Japanese or ruled by Japanese puppet governments).

In general, developments in the Second Sino-Japanese War were to the advantage of the CPC, as its guerrilla war tactics won them popular support within the Japanese-occupied areas, while the KMT had to defend the country against the main Japanese campaigns since it was the legal Chinese government.
Under the terms of the Japanese unconditional surrender dictated by the United States, Japanese troops were ordered to surrender to KMT troops and not to the CPC, which was present in some of the occupied areas. In Manchuria, however, where the KMT had no forces, the Japanese surrendered to the Soviet Union. Chiang Kai-shek ordered the Japanese troops to remain at their posts to receive the Kuomintang and not surrender their arms to the Communists. However, in the last month of World War II in East Asia, Soviet forces launched the huge strategic offensive operation to attack the Japanese Kwantung Army in Manchuria and along the Chinese-Mongolian border. Chiang Kai-shek realized that he lacked the resources to prevent a CPC takeover of Manchuria following the scheduled Soviet departure.

A fragile truce between the competing forces fell apart on June 21, 1946 when full-scale war between the CPC and the KMT broke out. On July 20, 1946, Chiang Kai-shek launched a large-scale assault on Communist territory, which marked the final phase of the Chinese Civil War. After three years of exhausting military campaigns, on October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China with its capital in Beijing. Chiang Kai-shek and approximately two million Nationalist Chinese retreated from mainland China to the island of Taiwan after the loss of Sichuan (at that time, Taiwan was still Japanese territory). In December 1949, Chiang proclaimed Taipei, Taiwan, the temporary capital of the Republic of China and continued to assert his government as the sole legitimate authority in China.

Mao Zedong Proclaiming the Establishment of the People’s Republic in 1949.

On October 1, 1949, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People’s Republic of China with its capital at Beiping, which was renamed Beijing. Chiang Kai-shek and approximately two million Nationalist Chinese retreated from mainland China to the island of Taiwan in December of the same year.

During the war, both the Nationalists and the Communists carried out mass atrocities, with millions of non-combatants deliberately killed by both sides. Benjamin Valentino has estimated atrocities resulted in the deaths of between 1.8 million and 3.5 million people between 1927 and 1949. Atrocities include deaths from forced conscription and massacres.

Aftermath

Most observers expected Chiang’s government to eventually fall in response to a Communist invasion of Taiwan, and the U.S. initially showed no interest in supporting Chiang’s government in its final stand. Things changed radically with the onset of the Korean War in 1950. At this point, allowing a total Communist victory over Chiang became politically impossible for the U.S., and President Harry Truman ordered the United States Seventh Fleet into the Taiwan Strait to prevent the ROC and PRC from attacking each other.

To this day, no armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed, and there is debate about whether the Chinese Civil War has legally ended. Cross-strait relations have been hindered by military threats and political and economic pressure, particularly over Taiwan’s political status, with both governments officially adhering to a “One-China policy.” The PRC still actively claims Taiwan as part of its territory and continues to threaten the ROC with a military invasion if the ROC officially declares independence by changing its name to and gaining international recognition as the Republic of Taiwan. The ROC mutually claims mainland China and they both continue the fight over diplomatic recognition. Today, the war as such occurs on the political and economic fronts in the form of cross-strait relations without actual military action. However, the two separate states have close economic ties.

35.1.4: Chairman Mao and the People’s Republic

Learning Objective

Discuss the key beliefs of the Communist Party of China and Chairman Mao

Key Points

• Marxist ideas started to spread in China
  after the 1919 May Fourth Movement. The Communist Party of China was initially founded by
  Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in the French concession of
  Shanghai in 1921 as a study society and an informal network. The Party’s 1st Congress was held in Shanghai and attended by 12 men in July 1921 and later
  transferred from Shanghai to Jiaxing. 
• In
  1922, a proposal that
  party members join the Kuomintang (KMT, or Chinese Nationalist Party), on
  the grounds that it was easier to transform the Nationalist Party from the
  inside than to duplicate its success, was accepted. Under the guidance of the Comintern,
  the party was reorganized along Leninist lines in 1923 in preparation for
  the Northern Expedition. Mikhail Markovich Borodin of the Comintern negotiated
  with Kuomitang’s Sun Yat-sen and Wang Jingwei to implement the 1923 KMT
  reorganization and the CPC’s incorporation into the newly expanded party. 
• In
  1927, as the Northern Expedition approached Shanghai, the Kuomintang leadership
  split. The Left Kuomintang at Wuhan kept the alliance with the Communists while
  Chiang Kai-shek at Nanking grew increasingly anti-communist. Chiang Kai-shek launched a successful
  campaign, and the CPC had to give up their bases and started the Long
  March (1934–1935) to search for a new base. During the Long March,
  local Communists, such as Mao Zedong and Zhu De, gained power while the
  Comintern and the Soviet Union lost control over the CPC. 
• After
  the conclusion of World War II, the civil war resumed between the Kuomintang
  and the Communists. With the Kuomintang’s defeat, Mao Zedong established the
  People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing on October 1, 1949.
• Mao’s
  revolution that founded the PRC was nominally based on Marxism-Leninism with a
  rural focus. During the 1960s
  and 1970s, the CPC experienced a significant ideological breakdown with the
  Communist Party of the Soviet Union and their allies.
  The essential difference between Maoism and
  other forms of Marxism is that Mao claimed that peasants should be the
  essential revolutionary class in China, because contrary to industrial workers
  they were more suited to establish a successful revolution and socialist
  society in China. 
• Maoism
  was widely applied as the guiding political and military ideology of the CPC.
  It evolved together with Chairman Mao’s changing views, but its main components
  are: the New Democracy, People’s war, Mass line, Cultural revolution, Three Worlds theory, and agrarian socialism.

Key Terms

Northern Expedition

A 1926-1928 military campaign, led
by Chiang Kai-shek. Its main objective was to unify China, ending the rule
of the Beiyang government and that of local warlords. It led to the end
of the Warlord Era, the reunification of China in 1928, and the establishment
of the Nanjing government.

Soviet Republic of China

“A state within a state,” referred often in historical sources as the Jiangxi Soviet, established in November 1931 by future Communist Party of China leader Mao Zedong, General Zhu De, and others, that lasted until 1937. Mao Zedong was both its state chairman and prime minister. It was eventually destroyed by the Kuomintang (KMT)’s National Revolutionary Army in a series of 1934 encirclement campaigns.

Kuomintang

A major political party in the
Republic of China, currently the second-largest in the country, often
translated as the Nationalist Party of China or Chinese Nationalist Party.
Its predecessor, the Revolutionary Alliance, was one of the major advocates of
the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and the establishment of a republic. The
party was founded by Song Jiaoren and Sun Yat-sen shortly after the Xinhai
Revolution of 1911.

Maoism

A political theory derived from the teachings of Chinese political leader Mao Zedong (1893–1976). Developed from the 1950s until the Deng Xiaoping reforms in the 1970s, it was widely applied as the guiding political and military ideology of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and as theory guiding revolutionary movements around the world.

Long March

A military retreat undertaken by
the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the
People’s Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang (KMT or
Chinese Nationalist Party) army. The Communists, under the eventual command of
Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, escaped in a circling retreat to the west and
north, which reportedly traversed more than 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) over 370
days. The route passed through some of the most difficult terrain of western
China by traveling west then north to Shaanxi.

May Fourth Movement

An anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement growing out of student participants in Beijing on May 4, 1919, protesting against the Chinese government’s weak response to the Treaty of Versailles, especially allowing Japan to receive territories in Shandong which was surrendered by Germany after the Siege of Tsingtao.

The Chinese Communist Party: History

Marxist ideas started to spread in China after the 1919 May Fourth Movement, an anti-imperialist, cultural, and political movement protesting against the Chinese government’s weak response to the Treaty of Versailles. In June 1920, Comintern agent Grigori Voitinsky was sent to China, where he financed the founding of the Socialist Youth Corps. The Communist Party of China was initially founded by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao in the French concession of Shanghai in 1921 as a study society and network. There were informal groups in China in 1920 and overseas, but the official beginning was the 1st Congress held in Shanghai and attended by 12 men in July 1921 and later transferred from Shanghai to Jiaxing. The formal and unified name, the Chinese Communist Party, was adopted, and all other names of communist groups were dropped.   Mao Zedong was present at the first congress as one of two delegates from a Hunan communist group.

In 1920, Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu (?) met Comintern agent
Grigori Voitinsky (author unknown).

The Communist Party of China is the founding and ruling political party of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). The CPC is the sole governing party of China, although it coexists alongside eight other legal parties that comprise the United Front. These parties, however, hold no real power or independence from the CPC. It was founded in 1921 by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao.

In 1922, at a surprise special plenum of the central committee, a proposal that party members join the Kuomintang (KMT, or Chinese Nationalist Party), on the grounds that it was easier to transform the Nationalist Party from the inside than to duplicate its success, was issued. Although some leaders opposed the motion, the CPC accepted the decision. Under the guidance of the Comintern, the party was reorganized along Leninist lines in 1923 in preparation for the Northern Expedition. Mikhail Markovich Borodin of the Comintern negotiated with Kuomitang’s Sun Yat-sen and Wang Jingwei to implement the 1923 KMT reorganization and the CPC’s incorporation into the newly expanded party. The death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925 created uncertainty about who would lead the party and whether they would still work with the Communists. Despite these tensions, the Northern Expedition (1926–1927), led by Kuomintang and supported by the CPC, quickly overthrew the warlord government.

In 1927, as the Northern Expedition approached Shanghai, the Kuomintang leadership split. The Left Kuomintang at Wuhan kept the alliance with the Communists while Chiang Kai-shek at Nanking grew increasingly anti-communist. As Chiang Kai-shek consolidated his power, various revolts continued and Communist armed forces created a number of “Soviet Areas.” The largest of these was led by Zhu De and Mao Zedong, who established the Soviet Republic of China in remote areas through peasant riots. Chiang Kai-shek launched a further successful campaign, and the CPC had to give up their bases and started the Long March (1934–1935) to search for a new base. During the Long March, local Communists, such as Mao Zedong and Zhu De, gained power while the Comintern and the Soviet Union lost control over the CPC. 

In eight years, CPC membership increased from 40,000 to 1.2 million and its military forces from 30,000 to approximately one million, in addition to more than a million militia support groups. After the conclusion of World War II, the civil war resumed between the Kuomintang and the Communists. With the Kuomintang’s defeat, Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing on October 1, 1949.

Maoism

The CPC’s ideologies have significantly evolved since it established political power in 1949. Mao’s revolution that founded the PRC was nominally based on Marxism-Leninism with a rural focus (based on China’s social situations at the time). During the 1960s and 1970s, the CPC experienced a significant ideological breakdown with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and their allies. Since then, Mao’s peasant revolutionary vision and so-called “continued revolution under the dictatorship of the proletariat” stipulated that class enemies continued to exist even though the socialist revolution seemed to be complete, giving way to the Cultural revolution. This fusion of ideas became known officially as Mao Zedong Thought or Maoism outside of China. It represented a powerful branch of communism that existed in opposition to the Soviet Union’s Marxist revisionism.

The essential difference between Maoism and other forms of Marxism is that Mao claimed that peasants should be the essential revolutionary class in China because they were more suited than industrial workers to establish a successful revolution and socialist society in China. Maoism
was widely applied as the guiding political and military ideology of the CPC. It evolved with Chairman Mao’s changing views, but its main components are:

• The New Democracy
  aims to overthrow feudalism and achieve independence from colonialism. However, it dispenses with the rule predicted by Marx and Lenin that a capitalist class would usually follow such a struggle, claiming instead to enter directly into socialism through a coalition of classes fighting the old ruling order. The original symbolism of the flag of China derives from the concept of the coalition. The largest star symbolizes the Communist Party of China’s leadership and the surrounding four smaller stars symbolize “the bloc of four classes”: proletarian workers, peasants, the petty bourgeoisie (small business owners), and the nationally-based capitalists. This is the coalition of classes for Mao’s New Democratic Revolution.
• People’s war: Holding that “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun,” Maoism emphasizes the “revolutionary struggle of the vast majority of people against the exploiting classes and their state structures,” which Mao termed “People’s war.” Mobilizing large parts of rural populations to revolt against established institutions by engaging in guerrilla warfare, Maoism focuses on “surrounding the cities from the countryside.” It views the industrial-rural divide as a major division exploited by capitalism, involving industrial urban developed “First World” societies ruling over rural developing “Third World” societies. 
• Mass line: This theory holds, contrary to the Leninist vanguard model employed by the Bolsheviks, that party must not be separate from the popular masses, either in policy or in revolutionary struggle. To conduct a successful revolution the needs and demands of the masses must be paramount.
• Cultural revolution: This theory states that the proletarian revolution and the dictatorship of the proletariat does not wipe out bourgeois ideology. The class struggle continues, and even intensifies, during socialism. Therefore, a constant struggle against these ideologies and their social roots must be conducted.
  The revolution’s stated goal was to preserve “true” Communist ideology in the country by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society, and to re-impose Maoist thought as the dominant ideology within the Party. The concept was applied in practice in 1966, which marked the return of Mao Zedong to a position of power after the Great Leap Forward (a 1958-1961 failed economic and social campaign aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization). The movement paralyzed China politically and negatively affected the country’s economy and society to a significant degree.
• Three Worlds: This theory states that during the Cold War, two imperialist states formed the First World: the United States and the Soviet Union. The Second World consisted of the other imperialist states in their spheres of influence. The Third World consisted of the non-imperialist countries. Both the First and the Second World exploit the Third World, but the First World more aggressively. 
• Agrarian socialism: Maoism departs from conventional European-inspired Marxism in that its focus is on the agrarian countryside rather than the industrial urban forces. This is known as agrarian socialism. Although Maoism is critical of urban industrial capitalist powers, it views urban industrialization as a prerequisite to expand economic development and socialist reorganization to the countryside, with the goal of rural industrialization that would abolish the distinction between town and countryside.

Portrait of Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Gate attributed to Zhang Zhenshi (1914–1992).

Mao Zedong,
known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary and founding father of the People’s Republic of China, which he ruled as an autocrat Chairman of the Communist Party of China from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. His Marxist-Leninist theories, military strategies, and political policies are collectively known as Maoism or Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

Following the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, the CPC under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping moved towards Socialism with Chinese characteristics and instituted Chinese economic reform. In reversing some of Mao’s “extreme-leftist” policies, Deng argued that a socialist country and the market economy model were not mutually exclusive. 

35.1.5: The Cultural Revolution

Learning Objective

List the key events of the Cultural Revolution

Key Points

• In
  1958, Mao Zedong launched
  the Great Leap Forward, an economic and social campaign
  to transform the country’s largely agrarian structure into a
  socialist society through rapid industrialization and
  collectivization. Restrictions on rural populations were enforced
  through forced labor, public struggle sessions, and social pressure.

  The
  Great Leap was a social and economic disaster that removed Mao from the position of power in the Communist Party of China. 

• During
  the early 1960s, a group of moderate pragmatists in the Party favored the idea that Mao be removed from actual power but maintain his
  symbolic role. Most historians agree that launching the
  Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1966 was Mao’s response to the group’s increasing political and economic influence.
  The Revolution marked the return of Mao to a position of
  power after the Great Leap Forward.

• The
  Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement, set into motion by Mao, that
  started in 1966 and ended in 1976. Its stated goal was to preserve “true” Communist ideology in China by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional
  elements from society and reimposing Maoism as the dominant ideology
  within the Party. 

• During the Revolution, millions of people were persecuted in the
  violent struggles that ensued across the country and suffered abuses including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sustained
  harassment, and seizure of property. A large segment of the population was
  forcibly displaced.
  The Cultural Revolution also wreaked havoc on
  minority cultures in China.
• The Cultural Revolution led to the destruction
  of much of China’s traditional cultural heritage and the imprisonment of a huge
  number of Chinese citizens as well economic and
  social chaos.
  Nearly all of the schools and universities in
  China were closed. The Revolution also
  brought to the forefront numerous internal power
  struggles within the Party, many of which had little to do with the larger
  battles between Party leaders.
• Although the effects of the Cultural Revolution
  were disastrous for millions of people in China, there were some positive
  outcomes, particularly in the rural areas, including access to basic education and health care. 

Key Terms

struggle sessions

A form of public humiliation and torture used by the Communist Party of China in the Mao Zedong era, particularly during the Cultural Revolution, to shape public opinion and humiliate, persecute, or execute political rivals and class enemies. In general, victims were forced to admit to various crimes before a crowd of people who would verbally and physically abuse the victim until he or she confessed.

Cultural Revolution

A sociopolitical movement in China from 1966 until 1976. Set into motion by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Communist Party of China, its stated goal was to preserve “true” Communist ideology in the country by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society and reimposing Maoist thought as the dominant ideology within the Party. The movement paralyzed China politically and had significant negative effects on its economy and society.

Red Guards

A fanatic student mass paramilitary social movement mobilized by Mao Zedong in 1966 and 1967 during the Cultural Revolution.

Great Chinese Famine

A period in the People’s Republic of China between the years 1959 and 1961 characterized by widespread famine. Drought, poor weather, and the policies of the Communist Party of China (Great Leap Forward) contributed, although the relative weights of these contributions are disputed. Scholars have estimated the number of famine victims to be between 20 and 43 million.

Gang of Four

A political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party officials that came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76) and was later charged with a series of treasonous crimes. The group’s leading figure was Mao Zedong’s last wife, Jiang Qing. It remains unclear which major decisions were made by Mao Zedong and carried out by the group and which were the result of its own planning. 

Down to the Countryside Movement

A policy instituted in the People’s Republic of China in the late 1960s and early 1970s. As a result of what Mao Zedong perceived as anti-bourgeois thinking prevalent during the Cultural Revolution, he declared certain privileged urban youth would be sent to mountainous areas or farming villages to learn from the workers and farmers there. Approximately 17 million youth were sent to rural areas as a result of the movement.

Great Leap Forward

An economic and social campaign by the Communist Party of China (CPC) that took place from 1958 to 1961 and was led by Mao Zedong. It aimed to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization. It is widely considered to have caused the Great Chinese Famine.

Background: The Great Leap Forward

In 1958, Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, called for “grassroots socialism” with the aim of accelerating his plans to turn China into a modern industrialized state. In this spirit, he launched the Great Leap Forward, an economic and social campaign to transform the country’s largely agrarian structure into a socialist society through rapid industrialization and collectivization.
Main changes in the lives of rural Chinese included the incremental introduction of mandatory agricultural collectivization. Private farming was prohibited and those engaged in it were persecuted and labeled counter-revolutionaries. Restrictions on rural populations were enforced through forced labor, public struggle sessions (a form of public humiliation and torture),  and social pressure. Many communities were assigned the production of a single commodity—steel. 

The Great Leap was a social and economic disaster. Farmers attempted to produce steel on a massive scale, partially relying on backyard furnaces to achieve the production targets set by local cadres. The steel produced was of low quality and largely useless. The Great Leap reduced harvest sizes and led to a decline in the production of most goods, except substandard pig iron and steel. Further, local authorities frequently exaggerated production numbers, hiding and intensifying the problem for several years. Simultaneously, chaos in the collectives, bad weather, and exports of food necessary to secure hard currency resulted in the Great Chinese Famine. Historians agree that the Great Leap resulted in tens of millions of deaths, with estimates ranging from 18 to 55 million. Historian Frank Dikötter notes, “coercion, terror, and systematic violence were the foundation of the Great Leap Forward,” which “motivated one of the most deadly mass killings of human history.”

The Party forced Mao to take major responsibility for the Great Leap’s failureIn 1959, Mao resigned as the President of the People’s Republic of China, China’s de jure head of state, and was succeeded by Liu Shaoqi. By the early 1960s, many of the Great Leap’s economic policies were reversed by initiatives spearheaded by Liu and other moderate pragmatists, who were unenthusiastic about Mao’s utopian visions. By 1962, Mao had effectively withdrawn from economic decision-making and focused much of his time on further developing his contributions to Marxist-Leninist social theory, including the idea of “continuous revolution.” This theory’s ultimate aim was to set the stage for Mao to restore his brand of communism and his personal prestige within the Party.

Development of the Revolution

During the early 1960s, State Chairman Liu Shaoqi and General Secretary Deng Xiaoping favored the idea that Mao be removed from actual power but maintain his ceremonial and symbolic role, with the Party upholding all of his positive contributions to the revolution. Most historians agree that
launching the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in 1966 was Mao’s response to Liu and Deng’s increasing political and economic influence (some scholars, however, note that the case for this is overstated). Dikötter argues that Mao launched the Cultural Revolution to wreak revenge on those who had dared to challenge him over the Great Leap Forward.

The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement, set into motion by Mao, that started in 1966 and ended in 1976 and whose stated goal was to preserve ‘true’ Communist ideology in China by purging remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society and reimposing Maoism as the dominant ideology within the Party. The Revolution marked the return of Mao to a position of power after the Great Leap Forward. 

The Revolution was launched after Mao alleged that bourgeois elements had infiltrated the government and society at large, aiming to restore capitalism. He insisted that these “revisionists” be removed through violent class struggle. China’s youth responded to Mao’s appeal by forming Red Guard groups around the country. The movement spread into the military, urban workers, and the Communist Party leadership itself. It resulted in widespread factional struggles in all walks of life. In the top leadership, it led to a mass purge of senior officials, most notably Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. During the same period, Mao’s personality cult grew to immense proportions.
Millions of people were persecuted in the violent struggles that ensued across the country and suffered a wide range of abuses, including public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, sustained harassment, and seizure of property. A large segment of the population was forcibly displaced, most notably the transfer of urban youth to rural regions during the Down to the Countryside Movement. 

A poster from the Cultural Revolution, featuring an image of Chairman Mao and published by the government of the People’s Republic of China.

Mao set the scene for the Cultural Revolution by “cleansing” Beijing of powerful officials of questionable loyalty. His approach was less than transparent. He achieved this purge through newspaper articles, internal meetings, and skillfully employing his network of political allies.

The start of the Cultural Revolution brought huge numbers of Red Guards to Beijing, with all expenses paid by the government. The revolution aimed to destroy the “Four Olds” (old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas) and establish the corresponding “Four News,” which ranged from the changing of names and hair cuts to ransacking homes, vandalizing cultural treasures, and desecrating temples. In a few years, countless ancient buildings, artifacts, antiques, books, and paintings were destroyed by the members of the Red Guards.

Believing that certain liberal bourgeois elements of society continued to threaten the socialist framework, the Red Guards struggled against authorities at all levels of society and even set up their own tribunals. Chaos reigned in much of the nation. 

During the Cultural Revolution, nearly all of the schools and universities in China were closed and the young intellectuals living in cities were ordered to the countryside to be “re-educated” by the peasants, where they performed hard manual labor and other work.

Mao officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, but its active phase lasted until the death of the military leader Lin Biao in 1971. After Mao’s death and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976, reformers led by Deng Xiaoping gradually began to dismantle the Maoist policies associated with the Cultural Revolution. 

Consequences

The Cultural Revolution led to the destruction of much of China’s traditional cultural heritage and the imprisonment of a huge number of citizens as well as general economic and social chaos. Millions of lives were ruined during this period as the Cultural Revolution pierced every part of Chinese life. It is estimated that hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, perished in the violence of the Cultural Revolution.

The Revolution aimed to get rid of those who allegedly promoted bourgeois ideas as well as those who were seen as coming from an exploitative family background or belonged to one of the Five Black Categories (landlords, rich farmers, counter-revolutionaries, bad-influencers  or “bad elements,” and rightists). Many people perceived to belong to any of these categories, regardless of guilt or innocence, were publicly denounced, humiliated, and beaten. In their revolutionary fervor, students denounced their teachers and children denounced their parents.

The remains of Ming Dynasty Wanli Emperor at the Ming tombs. Red Guards dragged the remains of the Wanli Emperor and Empresses to the front of the tomb, where they were posthumously “denounced” and burned.

During the Cultural Revolution,
libraries full of historical and foreign texts were destroyed and books were burned. Temples, churches, mosques, monasteries, and cemeteries were closed down and sometimes converted to other uses, looted, and destroyed. Among the countless acts of destruction, Red Guards from Beijing Normal University desecrated and badly damaged the burial place of Confucius.

Although the effects of the Cultural Revolution were disastrous for millions of people in China, there were some positive outcomes, particularly in the rural areas. For example, the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution and the hostility towards the intellectual elite are widely accepted to have damaged the quality of education in China, especially the higher education system. However, some policies also provided many in the rural communities with middle school education for the first time, which facilitated rural economic development in the 1970s and 80s. Similarly, a large number of health personnel was deployed to the countryside. Some farmers were given informal medical training and healthcare centers were established in rural communities. This led to a marked improvement in the health and the life expectancy of the general population.

The Cultural Revolution also brought to the forefront numerous internal power struggles within the Party, many of which had little to do with the larger battles between Party leaders but resulted instead from local factionalism and petty rivalries that were usually unrelated to the Revolution itself. Because of the chaotic political environment, local governments lacked organization and stability, if they existed at all. Members of different factions often fought on the streets and political assassinations, particularly in predominantly rural provinces, were common. The masses spontaneously involved themselves in factions and took part in open warfare against other factions. The ideology that drove these factions was vague and sometimes non-existent, with the struggle for local authority being the only motivation for mass involvement.

The Cultural Revolution wreaked havoc on minority cultures in China. In Inner Mongolia, some 790,000 people were persecuted. In Xinjiang, copies of the Qur’an and other books of the Uyghur people were burned. Muslim imams were reportedly paraded around with paint splashed on their bodies. In the ethnic Korean areas of northeast China, language schools were destroyed. In Yunnan Province, the palace of the Dai people’s king was torched and a massacre of Muslim Hui people at the hands of the People’s Liberation Army in Yunnan, known as the Shadian Incident, reportedly claimed over 1,600 lives in 1975.

35.1.6: The Sino-Soviet Split

Learning Objective

Discuss why the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic broke their relations and the consequences of the split

Key Points

• Mao and his supporters argued that traditional
  Marxism was rooted in industrialized European society and could not be applied
  to Asian peasant societies. However, although Mao continued to develop his own thought
  based on that presumption, in the 1950s, Soviet-guided China followed Stalin’s model of centralized economic development.
• After Stalin’s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev
  made an effort to further the burgeoning relations with China begun by Stalin, traveling to the country and making various deals with the
  Chinese leadership that expanded the economic and political alliances between
  the two countries. The 1953-56 period
  has
  been called the “golden age” of Sino-Soviet relations. 
• Relations between the USSR and the PRC began to
  deteriorate in 1956 after Khrushchev revealed his “Secret Speech” at the 20th
  Communist Party Congress. The “Secret Speech” criticized many of Stalin’s
  policies, especially his purges of Party members, and marked the beginning of
  Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization process. This created a serious domestic problem
  for Mao, who had supported many of Stalin’s policies and modeled many of his
  own after them. 
• At
  first, the Sino-Soviet split manifested indirectly as criticism towards each
  other’s client states. By 1960, the mutual criticism became public when Khrushchev and Peng Zhen had an open argument at the Romanian
  Communist Party congress.

  After
  a series of unconvincing compromises and explicitly hostile gestures, in 1962,
  the PRC and the USSR finally broke relations. 

• The split, seen by historians as one of the key
  events of the Cold War, had massive consequences for the two powers and for the
  world. The USSR had a network of communist parties it supported. China now
  created its own rival network to battle it out for local control of the left in
  numerous countries.
  Mao launched the Cultural
  Revolution (1966–76), largely to prevent the development of Russian-style
  bureaucratic communism of the USSR. The ideological split also escalated
  to small-scale warfare between Russia and China.
• After
  the regime of Mao Zedong, the PRC–USSR ideological schism no longer shaped
  domestic politics but continued to impact geopolitics, including such global developments as the establishment of post-colonial Indochina, the
  Cambodian-Vietnamese War (1975–79) that deposed Pol Pot in 1978, the Sino-Vietnamese War (1979), and the 1979 invasion of the USSR on
  Afghanistan. Relations
  between China and the Soviet Union remained tense until the visit of Soviet
  leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Beijing in 1989.

Key Terms

Cultural Revolution

A sociopolitical
movement that took place in China from 1966 until 1976. Set into
motion by Mao Zedong, then Chairman of the Communist Party of China, its stated
goal was to preserve ‘true’ Communist ideology in the country by purging
remnants of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society
and reimposing Maoist thought as the dominant ideology within the
Party. The movement paralyzed China politically and had significant negative effects on economy and society.

Hundred Flowers Campaign

A period in 1956 in the People’s Republic of China during which the Communist Party of China (CPC) encouraged its citizens to openly express their opinions of the communist regime. Differing views and solutions to national policy were encouraged based on the famous expression by Communist Party Chairman Mao Zedong: “The policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend is designed to promote the flourishing of the arts and the progress of science.” After this brief period of liberalization, Mao abruptly changed course.

Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech”

A report by Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev made to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on February 25, 1956. Khrushchev was sharply critical of the reign of deceased General Secretary and Premier Joseph Stalin, particularly with respect to the purges which marked the late 1930s.

Five Year Plan

A nationwide centralized economic plan in the Soviet Union developed by a state planning committee that was part of the ideology of the Communist Party for the development of the Soviet economy. A series of these plans was developed in the Soviet Union while similar Soviet-inspired plans emerged across other communist countries during the Cold War era. 

Great Leap Forward

An economic and social
campaign by the Communist Party of China (CPC) that took place from 1958
to 1961 and was led by Mao Zedong. It aimed to rapidly transform the country
from an agrarian economy into a socialist society through rapid
industrialization and collectivization. It is widely considered to have
caused the Great Chinese Famine.

Cuban missile crisis

A 13-day (October 16–28, 1962) confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missile deployment in Italy and Turkey with consequent Soviet ballistic missile deployment in Cuba. The confrontation, elements of which were televised, was the closest the Cold War came to escalating into a full-scale nuclear war.

Background: Mao and Joseph Stalin

During both the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45) against the Japanese Empire and the ongoing Chinese Civil War against the Nationalist Kuomintang, Mao Zedong ignored much of the politico-military advice and direction from Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin and the Comintern because of the practical difficulty in applying traditional Leninist revolutionary theory to China. After World War II, Stalin advised Mao against seizing power because the Soviet Union had signed a Treaty of Friendship and Alliance with the Nationalists in 1945. This time, Mao obeyed Stalin’s advice, calling him “the only leader of our party.” However, Stalin broke the treaty, requiring Soviet withdrawal from Manchuria three months after Japan’s surrender, and gave Manchuria to Mao. After the CPC’s victory over the KMT, a Moscow visit by Mao from December 1949 to February 1950 culminated in the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance (1950), which included a $300 million low-interest loan and a 30-year military alliance clause.

However, Mao and his supporters argued that traditional Marxism was rooted in industrialized European society and could not be applied to Asian peasant societies. Although Mao continued to develop his own thought based on that presumption, in the 1950s, Soviet-guided China followed the Soviet model of centralized economic development, emphasizing heavy industry and not treating consumer goods as a priority. Simultaneously, by the late 1950s, Mao had developed ideas that became the basis for the Great Leap Forward (1958–61), a campaign based on the assumption of the centrality of the rural working class to China’s economy and political system.

Communism after Stalin’s Death

After Stalin’s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev made an effort to further the burgeoning relations with China begun by Stalin, traveling to the country in 1954 and making deals with the Chinese leadership that expanded the economic and political alliances between the two countries. Khrushchev also acknowledged Stalin’s unfair trade deals and revealed a list of active KGB agents placed in China during Stalin’s reign. Khrushchev was able to reach many prominent economic agreements during his visit, including an additional loan for economic development from the USSR to the PRC and a trade of human capital that included sending Soviet economic experts and political advisors to China and Chinese economic experts and unskilled labor to the USSR. 

In 1955, relations only continued to improve. Economic trade collaboration began to develop to the point that 60% of Chinese exports were to the USSR. Mao also began to implement the Chinese but USSR-modeled Five Year Plan. Mao also promoted and encouraged the collectivization of agriculture in the PRC, applauding Stalin’s policies towards agriculture and industrialization. Finally, the two countries collaborated when setting their respective foreign policies. This period, from roughly Stalin’s death in 1953 to Khrushchev’s “Secret Speech” in 1956,  has been called the “golden age” of Sino-Soviet relations. 

Photograph of Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Nikita Khrushchev: publicly, international allies; privately, ideological enemies. (China,1958, author unknown).

Although before 1956 Mao and Khrushchev managed to sign numerous agreements between China and the Soviet Union, the two leaders did not develop a positive personal relationship. Mao found Khrushchev’s personality grating and Khrushchev was unimpressed by Chinese culture.

The Sino-Soviet Split

Relations between the USSR and the PRC began to deteriorate in 1956 after Khrushchev revealed his “Secret Speech” at the 20th Communist Party Congress. The “Secret Speech” criticized many of Stalin’s policies, especially his purges of Party members, and marked the beginning of Khrushchev’s de-Stalinization process. This created a serious domestic problem for Mao, who had supported many of Stalin’s policies and modeled many of his own after them. With Khrushchev’s denouncement of Stalin, many people questioned Mao’s decisions. Moreover, the emergence of movements fighting for the reforms of the existing communist systems across East-Central Europe after Khrushchev’s speech worried Mao. Brief political liberalization introduced to prevent similar movements in China, most notably lessened political censorship known as the Hundred Flowers Campaign, backfired against Mao, whose position within the Party only weakened. This convinced him further that de-Stalinization was a mistake. Mao took a sharp turn to the left ideologically, which contrasted with the ideological softening of de-Stalinization. With Khrushchev’s strengthening position as Soviet leader, the two countries were set on two different ideological paths. 

Mao’s implementation of the Great Leap Forward, which utilized communist policies closer to Stalin than to Khrushchev, including forming a personality cult around Mao as well as more Stalinist economic policies. This angered the USSR, especially after Mao criticized Khrushchev’s economic policies through the plan while also calling for more Soviet aid. The Soviet leader saw the new policies as evidence of an increasingly confrontational and unpredictable China. 

At first, the Sino-Soviet split manifested indirectly as criticism towards each other’s client states. China denounced Yugoslavia and Tito, who pursued a non-aligned foreign policy, while the USSR denounced Enver Hoxha and the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, which refused to abandon its pro-Stalin stance and sought its survival in alignment with China.
The USSR also offered moral support to the Tibetan rebels in their 1959 Tibetan uprising against China. By 1960, the mutual criticism moved out in the open, when Khrushchev and Peng Zhen had an open argument at the Romanian Communist Party congress. Khrushchev characterized Mao as “a nationalist, an adventurist, and a deviationist.” In turn, China’s Peng Zhen called Khrushchev a Marxist revisionist, criticizing him as “patriarchal, arbitrary and tyrannical.” Khrushchev denounced China with an 80-page letter to the conference and responded to Mao by withdrawing around 1,400 Soviet experts and technicians from China, leading to the cancellation of more than 200 scientific projects intended to foster cooperation between the two nations.  

After a series of unconvincing compromises and explicitly hostile gestures, in 1962, the PRC and the USSR finally broke relations. Mao criticized Khrushchev for withdrawing from the Cuban missile crisis (1962). Khrushchev replied angrily that Mao’s confrontational policies would lead to a nuclear war. In the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, nuclear disarmament was brought to the forefront of geopolitics. To curb the production of nuclear weapons in other nations, the Soviet Union, Britain, and the U.S. signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty in 1963. At the time, China was developing its own nuclear weaponry and Mao saw the treaty as an attempt to slow China’s advancement as a superpower. This was the final straw for Mao, who from September 1963 to July 1964 published nine letters openly criticizing every aspect of Khrushchev’s leadership.

The Sino-Soviet alliance now completely collapsed and Mao turned to other Asian, African, and Latin American countries to develop new and stronger alliances and further the PRC’s economic and ideological redevelopment.

Consequences

The split, seen by historians as one of the key events of the Cold War, had massive consequences for the two powers and for the world. The USSR had a network of communist parties it supported. China created its own rival network to battle it out for local control of the left in numerous countries. The divide fractured the international communist movement at the time and opened the way for the warming of relations between the U.S. and China under Richard Nixon and Mao in 1971. 

In China, Mao launched the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), largely to prevent the development of Russian-style bureaucratic communism of the USSR.
The ideological split also escalated to small-scale warfare between Russia and China, with a revived conflict over the Russo-Chinese border demarcated in the 19th century (starting in 1966) and Red Guards attacking the Soviet embassy in Beijing (1967). In the 1970s, Sino-Soviet ideological rivalry extended to Africa and the Middle East, where the Soviet Union and China funded and supported opposed political parties, militias, and states.

The disputed Argun and Amur river areas; the Damansky–Zhenbao is southeast, north of the lake. (March 2 – September 11, 1969). Source: Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection.

By March 1969, Sino-Russian border politics became the Sino-Soviet border conflict at the Ussuri River and on Damansky–Zhenbao Island, with more small-scale warfare occurring at Tielieketi in August.

After the regime of Mao Zedong, the PRC–USSR ideological schism no longer shaped domestic politics but continued to impact geopolitics. The initial Soviet-Chinese proxy war occurred in Indochina in 1975, where the Communist victory of the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) and of North Vietnam in the 30-year Vietnam War had produced a post–colonial Indochina that featured pro-Soviet regimes in Vietnam (Socialist Republic of Vietnam) and Laos (Lao People’s Democratic Republic), and a pro-Chinese regime in Cambodia (Democratic Kampuchea).
At first, Vietnam ignored the Khmer Rouge domestic reorganization of Cambodia by the Pol Pot regime (1975–79) as an internal matter, until the Khmer Rouge attacked the ethnic Vietnamese populace of Cambodia and the border with Vietnam. The counter-attack precipitated the Cambodian-Vietnamese War (1975–79) that deposed Pol Pot in 1978. In response, the PRC denounced the Vietnamese and retaliated by invading northern Vietnam in the Sino-Vietnamese War (1979). In turn, the USSR denounced the PRC’s invasion of Vietnam. In 1979, the USSR invaded the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan to sustain the Afghan Communist government. The PRC viewed the Soviet invasion as a local feint within Soviet’s greater geopolitical encirclement of China. In response, the PRC entered a tripartite alliance with the U.S. and Pakistan to sponsor Islamist Afghan armed resistance to the Soviet occupation (1979–89).

Relations between China and the Soviet Union remained tense until the visit of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Beijing in 1989.

35.1.7: Deng Xiaoping and the Economic Reform

Learning Objective

Determine why Deng Xiaoping created the Special Economic Zones

Key Points

• Deng
  Xiaoping was a Chinese revolutionary and statesman, the leader of the People’s
  Republic of China from 1978 until his retirement in 1989. After Mao Zedong’s
  death, Deng led China through far-reaching market-economy reforms. While he
  never held office as the head of state, head of government, or general secretary, he was responsible
  for economic reforms and opening the global economy.
• Beginning in 1979, economic reforms boosted the
  market model while the leaders maintained old Communist-style rhetoric. The
  commune system was gradually dismantled and the peasants began to have more
  freedom to manage the land they cultivated and sell their products. At the same time, China’s economy opened to foreign trade. On January
  1, 1979, the United States recognized the People’s Republic of China and
  business contacts between China and the West began to grow. 
• During the 1980s, the Chinese
  government established special economic zones and open coastal cities and areas
  as well as designed open inland and coastal economic and technology development
  zones. The special economic zones were areas where the
  government of China established more free market-oriented economic
  policies and flexible governmental measures, allowing them to operate under
  an economic system that was very attractive to foreign and domestic firms.
• China’s rapid economic growth under the
  socialist political system resulted in complex social developments. The 1982
  population census revealed the extraordinary growth of the population and Deng continued the plans to restrict birth to only one child per family. At the same time, increasing economic freedom emboldened
  a greater freedom of opinion, and critics of the Party began to arise.
• In
  the late 1980s, dissatisfaction with the authoritarian regime and the growing
  inequalities caused the biggest crisis to Deng’s leadership: the Tiananmen
  Square protests or the popular national movement inspired by student-led
  demonstrations in Beijing in 1989.

  Deng Xiaoping and other party elders believed the protests were a
  political threat and resolved to use force. The number of civilian deaths
  has been estimated at anywhere between the hundreds to the thousands. The
  Chinese government was widely condemned internationally for the use of force.

• Considered
  a watershed event, the Tiananmen Square protests set the limits on political expression in
  China well into the 21st century
  while the successful market economy, including the development of the five existing SEZs and
  other areas operating under a preferential economic system, continues.

Key Terms

Tiananmen Square protest

Student-led demonstrations in Beijing in 1989. More broadly, the term refers to the popular national movement inspired by the Beijing protests during that period, sometimes referred to as the ’89 Democracy Movement. The protests were forcibly suppressed after the government declared martial law. In what became widely known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, troops with assault rifles and tanks killed at least several hundred demonstrators trying to block the military’s advance towards Tiananmen Square. The number of civilian deaths has been estimated between the hundreds and the thousands.

special economic zones

Designated geographical areas in China, originally created in the 1980s, where the government establishes more free market-oriented economic policies and flexible governmental measures. These special economic rules allow the areas to operate under an economic system that is more attractive to foreign and domestic firms than the economic policies in the rest of mainland China.

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

The official ideology of the Communist Party of China (CPC), claimed to be based upon scientific socialism. This ideology supports the creation of a socialist market economy dominated by the public sector since China is, as claimed by the CPC, in the primary stage of socialism. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) government maintains that it has not abandoned Marxism but has developed many of the terms and concepts of Marxist theory to accommodate its new economic system. The CPC argues that socialism is compatible with these economic policies.

the one-child policy

A population planning policy of China introduced in 1979 and formally phased out starting in 2015. Provincial governments imposed fines for the violations of the policy and local and national governments created commissions to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work.

China after Mao: Deng Xiaoping

Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese revolutionary and statesman, leader of the People’s Republic of China from 1978 until his retirement in 1989. After Mao Zedong’s death, Deng led China through far-reaching market-economy reforms. While he never held office as the head of state, head of government, or general secretary (the leader of the Communist Party), he nonetheless was responsible for economic reforms and an opening to the global economy.

Born into a peasant background, Deng studied and worked in France in the 1920s, where he became fascinated with Marxism-Leninism. He joined the Communist Party of China in 1923. After the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949, Deng worked in Tibet and the southwest region to consolidate Communist control. As the party’s Secretary General in the 1950s, he presided over anti-rightist campaigns and became instrumental in China’s economic reconstruction following the Great Leap Forward of 1957-1960. His economic policies, however, were at odds with Mao’s political ideologies and he was purged twice during the Cultural Revolution. Following Mao’s death in 1976, Deng outmaneuvered Mao’s chosen successor, Hua Guofeng. Inheriting a country beset with social conflict, disenchantment with the Party, and institutional disorder resulting from the policies of the Mao era, Deng became the paramount figure of the “second generation” of Party leadership. Some called him “the architect” of a new brand of thinking that combined socialist ideology with pragmatic market economy whose slogan was “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.” 

China’s Opening Up

Beginning in 1979, economic reforms boosted the market model, while the leaders maintained old Communist-style rhetoric. The commune system was gradually dismantled and the peasants began to have more freedom to manage the land they cultivated and sell their products on the market. At the same time, China’s economy opened to foreign trade. On January 1, 1979, the United States recognized the People’s Republic of China, and business contacts between China and the West began to grow. The same year, Deng undertook an official visit to the United States, meeting President Jimmy Carter in Washington as well as several congressmen. The Chinese insisted that ex-President Richard Nixon be invited to the formal White House reception, indicative of both their assertiveness and desire to continue with Nixon initiatives. Deng made it clear that the new Chinese regime’s priorities were economic and technological development. Correspondingly, Sino-Japanese relations also improved significantly. Deng used Japan as an example of a rapidly progressing power that set a good economic example for China.

Deng Xiaoping (left) and his wife Zhuo Lin (right) are briefed by Johnson Space Center director Christopher C. Kraft (extreme right), 1979, author unknown.

During the 1979 visit, Deng visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston as well as the headquarters of Coca-Cola and Boeing in Atlanta and Seattle, respectively. With these visits, Deng made it clear that the new Chinese regime’s priorities were economic and technological development.

Deng, along with his closest collaborators Zhao Ziyang, who in 1980 relieved Hua Guofeng as premier, and Hu Yaobang, who in 1981 did the same with the post of party chairman, took power. Their goal was to achieve “four modernizations”  – economy, agriculture, scientific and technological development, and national defense. The last position of power retained by Hua Guofeng, chairman of the Central Military Commission, was taken by Deng in 1981.

Special Economic Zones

The basic state policy focused on the formulation and implementation of overall reforms and opening to the outside world. During the 1980s, the Chinese government established special economic zones and open coastal cities and areas, as well as designed open inland and coastal economic and technology development zones.

Since 1980, China has established special economic zones (SEZs):  areas where the government of China establishes more free market-oriented economic policies and flexible governmental measures. This allows SEZs to operate under an economic system that is more attractive to foreign and domestic firms than the economic policies in the rest of mainland China. Most notably, the central government in Beijing is not required to authorize foreign and domestic trade in SEZs, and special incentives are offered to attract foreign investors. SEZs were originally created in Shenzhen, Zhuhai, and Shantou in Guangdong Province and Xiamen in Fujian Province. In 1984, China opened 14 coastal cities to overseas investment. Since 1988, mainland China’s opening to the outside world has been extended to its border areas along the Yangtze River and inland. The state also decided to turn Hainan Island into mainland China’s biggest special economic zone (approved in 1988) and enlarge the other four SEZs. Shortly after, the State Council expanded the open coastal areas and open economic zones in seven geographical areas. 

The development of the five existing SEZs and other areas operating under a preferential economic system continues in China today. Primarily geared to exporting processed goods, the five SEZs are foreign trade-oriented areas which integrate science, innovation, and industry with trade. Foreign firms benefit from preferential policies such as lower tax rates, reduced regulations, and special managerial systems.

Deng Xiaoping and Jimmy Carter at the arrival ceremony, 1979, author unknown.

On January 1, 1979, the United States recognized the People’s Republic of China, which meant abandoning the recognition of the Republic of China’s Nationalist government (Taiwan) as the sole Chinese authority. In late 1978, the aerospace company Boeing announced the sale of 747 aircraft to various airlines in the PRC and Coca-Cola made public their intention to open a production plant in Shanghai.

Capitalist Economy vs. Socialist System 

China’s rapid economic growth under the socialist political system resulted in complex social developments. The 1982 population census revealed the extraordinary growth of the population, which already exceeded one billion people. Deng continued the plans initiated by Hua Guofeng to restrict birth to only one child under the threat of administrative penalty (“the one-child policy,” very controversial outside of China and challenged for violating a human right to determine the size of one’s own family). At the same time, increasing economic freedom emboldened a greater freedom of opinion and critics began to arise, including famous dissident Wei Jingsheng, who coined the term “fifth modernization” in reference to democracy as a missing element in the renewal plans of Deng Xiaoping.

In the late 1980s, dissatisfaction with the authoritarian regime and the growing inequalities caused the biggest crisis to Deng’s leadership: the Tiananmen Square protests,   the popular national movement inspired by student-led demonstrations in Beijing in 1989. The protests reflected anxieties about the country’s future in the popular consciousness and among the political elite. The economic reforms benefited some groups but seriously disaffected others, and the one-party political system faced a challenge of legitimacy. Common grievances at the time included inflation, limited preparedness of graduates for the new economy, and restrictions on political participation. The students called for democracy, greater accountability, freedom of the press, and freedom of speech, although they were loosely organized and their goals varied. At the height of the protests, about a million people assembled in the Square.

As the protests developed, the authorities veered back and forth between conciliatory and hard-line tactics, exposing deep divisions within the party leadership. By May, a student-led hunger strike galvanized support for the demonstrators around the country and the protests spread to some 400 cities. Ultimately, Deng Xiaoping and other party elders believed the protests to be a political threat and resolved to use force. Party authorities declared martial law on May 20 and mobilized as many as 300,000 troops to Beijing. In what became widely known as the Tiananmen Square Massacre, troops with assault rifles and tanks killed at least several hundred demonstrators trying to block the military’s advance towards Tiananmen Square. The number of civilian deaths has been estimated between the hundreds and thousands. The Chinese government was widely condemned internationally for the use of force. Western countries imposed economic sanctions and arms embargoes. In the aftermath of the crackdown, the government conducted widespread arrests of protesters and their supporters, suppressed other protests around China, expelled foreign journalists, and strictly controlled coverage of the events in the domestic press. The police and internal security forces were strengthened. Officials deemed sympathetic to the protests were demoted or purged. More broadly, the suppression temporarily halted the policies of liberalization. Considered a watershed event, the protests also set the limits on political expression in China well into the 21st century. 

Officially, Deng decided to retire from top positions when he stepped down as Chairman of the Central Military Commission in 1989 and retired from the political scene in 1992. China, however, was still in the era of Deng Xiaoping. He continued to be widely regarded as the “paramount leader” of the country, believed to have backroom control. Deng was recognized officially as “the chief architect of China’s economic reforms and China’s socialist modernization.” To the Communist Party, he was believed to have set a good example for communist cadres who refused to retire at old age. He broke earlier conventions of holding offices for life. He was often referred to as simply Comrade Xiaoping, with no title attached.

35.1.8: Taiwan’s Precarious Position

Learning Objective

Describe Taiwan’s role in global politics

Key Points

• The
  Chinese Civil War led to the Republic of China’s loss of the mainland to the Communists and
  the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC claimed to be the legitimate government of “all of China” until
  1991, its effective jurisdiction since 1949 has been limited to Taiwan and its
  surrounding islands. The
  official name of the entity remains the Republic of China although its political
  status is highly ambiguous, with most UN member states recognizing the ROC neither as an independent state nor a representative of China.
• The ROC was a charter member of the
  United Nations. Despite the major loss of territory in 1949, the ROC continued to be
  recognized as the legitimate government of China by the UN and many
  non-communist states. However, in 1971, the UN expelled the ROC and transferred
  China’s seat to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). 
• On
  February 28, 1947, an anti-government uprising in Taiwan was violently
  suppressed by the Kuomintang-led ROC government, which marked the
  beginning of the Kuomintang’s White Terror that turned into more than 38 years of martial law. Chiang
  Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek’s son and successor as the president, began to
  liberalize the political system in the mid-1980s when he
  selected Lee Teng-hui to be his
  vice-president and eventually lifted martial law.
  After the death of Chiang Ching-kuo in 1988, Lee
  Teng-hui succeeded him as president and led Taiwan to full-fledged democratization. 
• Although Taiwan is fully self-governing, most
  international organizations either refuse it membership or allow it to
  participate only as a non-state actor. Internally, the major division in
  politics is between the aspirations of eventual Chinese unification or
  Taiwanese independence, although both sides have moderated their positions to
  broaden their appeal.
• Since 1949, the relations between the PRC and
  the ROC have been characterized by limited contact, tensions, and instability.
  In the early years, military conflicts
  continued, while diplomatically both governments competed to be the
  “legitimate government of China.” More recently, following the Three Links policy, the PRC, and the ROC have established strong trade and communication, with China becoming Taiwan’s top trade partner.
• Commercial, cultural, and other relations
  between “the people of the United States” and “the people on
  Taiwan” are currently governed by the Taiwan Relations Act. The Act does
  not recognize “the Republic of China” terminology after January 1,
  1979, when the US recognized the PRC. The US government does not support
  Taiwan’s independence, but the two have strong economic and cultural relations. 

Key Terms

White Terror

The suppression of political dissidents following the February 28 Incident, which turned into the period of martial law that lasted from May 19, 1949 to July 15, 1987. Taiwan’s period of martial law was the longest in the world when it was lifted, but has since been surpassed by the Syrian half-century martial law, which lasted from 1963 to 2011.

Three-Noes Policy

A policy established in April 1979 and maintained by President Chiang Ching-kuo of the Republic of China, commonly known as Taiwan, in response to the People’s Republic of China’s attempts to have direct contact with the ROC through the proposed policy of Three Links. President Chiang Ching-kuo refused, reiterating that there would be “no contact, no compromise and no negotiation.”

Three Links

A 1979 proposal from the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to open up postal, transportation (especially airline), and trade links between China and Taiwan with the goal of unification. The proposal was officially implemented in December 2008 with the commencement of direct flights, shipping, and post.

February 28 Incident

An anti-government uprising in Taiwan in 1947 that was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang-led Republic of China government, which killed thousands of civilians. Estimates of the number of deaths vary from 10,000 to 50,000 or more. The massacre marked the beginning of the Kuomintang’s White Terror period in Taiwan.

Taiwan or the Republic of China?

The
island of Taiwan was mainly inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th
century, when Dutch and Spanish colonies opened the island to Han Chinese
immigration. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was
annexed by the Qing dynasty, the last dynasty of China. The Qing ceded Taiwan
to Japan in 1895 after the First Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under
Japanese rule, the Republic of China (ROC) was established on the mainland in
1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty. Following the Japanese surrender to
the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of
the Chinese Civil War led to the ROC’s loss of the mainland to the Communists
and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. Although the ROC
claimed to be the legitimate government of “all of China”
until 1991, its effective jurisdiction since 1949 has been limited to Taiwan
and its surrounding islands, with the main island making up 99% of its
territory.

The
official name of the entity remains the Republic of China although its political
status is highly ambiguous. The ROC was a charter member of the
United Nations. Despite the major loss of territory in 1949 when the People’s
Republic of China was established by the Communists, the ROC was still recognized as the legitimate government of China by the UN and many
non-communist states. However, in 1971 the UN expelled the ROC and transferred
China’s seat to the People’s Republic of China (PRC). In addition, the ROC
 lost its membership in all intergovernmental organizations related to
the UN. Most countries aligned with the West in the Cold War
terminated diplomatic relations with the ROC and recognized the PRC instead.

The
ROC continues to maintain relations with the UN and most of its non-governmental organizations. However, multiple
attempts by the Republic of China to rejoin the UN to represent the people of its territories have failed,
largely due to diplomatic maneuvering by the PRC. The ROC is recognized a
small number of United Nations member states and the Holy See. It maintains
diplomatic relations with those countries, which means they recognize the ROC government as the representative of China but not
the independent status of Taiwan as a state. The PRC refuses to maintain
diplomatic relations with any nation that recognizes the ROC, but does not
object to nations conducting economic, cultural, and other exchanges with
Taiwan that do not imply diplomatic relations. Therefore, many nations that have
diplomatic relations with Beijing maintain quasi-diplomatic offices in Taipei.
Similarly, the government in Taiwan maintains quasi-diplomatic offices in most
nations under various names, most commonly as the Taipei Economic and Cultural
Office. The ROC participates in most international forums and organizations
under the name “Chinese Taipei” due to diplomatic pressure from the
People’s Republic of China. For instance, it has competed
at the Olympic Games under this name since 1984.

President Chiang Kai-shek and President Dwight D. Eisenhower waved to crowds during Eisenhower’s visit to Taipei in June 1960, author unknown.

The ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971 when the PRC assumed China’s seat, causing the ROC to lose its UN membership. Not until January 1, 1979, did the United States recognize the People’s Republic of China and not the ROC as the sole representative of China. 

Taiwan’s Political System

On February 28, 1947, an anti-government uprising in Taiwan was violently
suppressed by the Kuomintang-led ROC government, which killed thousands of
civilians. The massacre, known as the February 28 Incident, marked the
beginning of the Kuomintang’s White Terror period in Taiwan, in which tens
of thousands more inhabitants vanished, died, or were imprisoned. The White
Terror, in its broadest meaning, was the period of martial law that lasted for 38 years and 57 days. Chiang
Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek’s son and successor as the president, began to
liberalize the political system in the mid-1980s. In 1984, the younger Chiang
selected Lee Teng-hui, a Taiwanese-born, US-educated technocrat, to be his
vice president. In 1986, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was formed
and inaugurated as the first opposition party in the ROC to counter the KMT. A
year later, Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law on the main island of Taiwan.

After
the death of Chiang Ching-kuo in 1988, Lee Teng-hui succeeded him as president
and continued to democratize the government. Under Lee, Taiwan underwent a
process of localization in which Taiwanese culture and history were promoted
over a pan-China viewpoint, in contrast to earlier KMT policies that promoted a Chinese identity. The original members of the Legislative Yuan and
National Assembly, elected in 1947 to represent mainland Chinese constituencies
and holding the seats without re-election for more than four decades, were
forced to resign in 1991. The previously nominal representation in the
Legislative Yuan was brought to an end, reflecting the reality that the ROC had
no jurisdiction over mainland China and vice versa. Democratic reforms
continued in the 1990s, with Lee Teng-hui re-elected in 1996 in the first
direct presidential election in the history of the ROC. By the same token,
Taiwan transformed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the
Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage. Taiwan is the 21st-largest
economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global
economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health
care, public education, economic freedom, and human development.

Although
Taiwan is fully self-governing, most international organizations either refuse
it membership or allow it to participate only as a non-state actor. Internally,
the major division in politics is between the aspirations of eventual Chinese
unification or Taiwanese independence, although both sides have moderated their
positions to broaden their appeal. The PRC has threatened the use of military
force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC
leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible.

Cross-Strait Relations

The
English expression “cross-strait relations” refers to
relations between the PRC and the ROC by the two sides concerned and many
observers, so that the relationship between China and Taiwan would not be referred
to as “(Mainland) China–Taiwan relations” or “PRC–ROC
relations.”

Since
1949, relations between the PRC and the ROC have been characterized by
limited contact, tensions, and instability. The Chinese Civil War stopped
without signing a peace treaty, and the two sides are technically still at war. In the early years, military conflicts continued while
diplomatically both governments competed to be the “legitimate government
of China.” On January 1, 1979, Beijing proposed the establishment of the
so called Three Links: postal, commercial, and transportation. The
proposal was greeted in ROC’s President Chiang Ching-kuo’s with the Three-Nos
Policy (“no contact, no compromise and no negotiation”). This policy was
revised following the 1986 hijacking of a China Airlines cargo plane, in which
a Taiwanese pilot subdued other members of the crew and flew the plane to
Guangzhou. In response, Chiang sent delegates to Hong Kong to discuss the
return of the plane and crew, seen as a turning point. In 1987, the
ROC government began to allow visits to China. This benefited many, especially
old KMT soldiers who had been separated from their families in China for
decades. This also proved a catalyst for the thawing of relations between the
two sides, although difficult negotiations continued and the Three Links were
officially established only in 2008. 

Regular
weekend direct, cross-strait charter flights between mainland China and Taiwan
resumed on July 4, 2008, for the first time since 1950. Currently, 61 mainland
Chinese cities are connected with eight airports in Taiwan. The flights operate
every day, totaling 890 round-trip flights across the Taiwan Strait per
week. Previously, regular passengers (other than festive or emergency
charters) had to make a time-consuming stopover at a third destination, usually
Hong Kong. Under the current procedure, the flights do not directly cross
the Taiwan Strait for security reasons, but instead must enter the Hong Kong
air control area before moving into or out of China or Taiwan airspace.

Taiwan
residents cannot use the Republic of China passport to travel to mainland China
and China’s residents cannot use the People’s Republic of China passport to
travel to Taiwan, as neither the ROC nor the PRC considers this international
travel. The PRC government requires Taiwan residents to hold a Mainland Travel
Permit for Taiwan Residents when entering mainland China, whereas the ROC
government requires mainland Chinese residents to hold the Exit and Entry
Permit for the Taiwan Area of the Republic of China to enter the Taiwan Area.

Cross-strait
investments have greatly increased in recent years. Predominantly, this
involves Taiwan-based firms moving to or collaborating in joint ventures in
the PRC. China remains Taiwan’s top trading partner. Cultural exchanges have
also increased in frequency. The National Palace Museum in Taipei and the
Palace Museum in Beijing have collaborated on exhibitions. Scholars and
academics frequently visit institutions on the other side. Books published on
each side are regularly republished on the other side, although restrictions
on direct imports and different orthography somewhat
impede the exchange of books and ideas. Religious exchange has also become
frequent. Frequent interactions occur between worshipers of Matsu and Buddhists.

The flag used by Taiwan at the Olympic Games, where it competes as “Chinese Taipei.”

Due to PRC pressure, the ROC is forced to use the name “Chinese Taipei” in international events such as the Olympic Games where the PRC is also a party. The ROC is typically barred from using its national anthem and national flag in international events due to PRC pressure, and ROC spectators attending events such as the Olympics are often barred from bringing ROC flags into venues. The ROC is able to participate as “China” in organizations that the PRC does not participate in, such as the World Organization of the Scout Movement.

Taiwan and the United States

Commercial,
cultural, and other relations between the people of the United
States and Taiwan are currently governed by the
Taiwan Relations Act. The Act does not recognize “the Republic of
China” terminology after January 1, 1979, when the U.S. recognized the PRC.
The U.S. government does not support Taiwan’s independence and Taiwan is not
allowed to raise its national flag on the U.S. soil, with certain exceptions
governed by international law. However, Taiwanese passport holders are included in
the U.S. Visa Waiver Program.

In
2007, the House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for the
lift of United States government restrictions on visits by high-ranking or top
ROC officials. The resolution noted that “whenever high-level visitors
from Taiwan, including the President, seek to come to the United States, their
requests result in a period of complex, lengthy, and humiliating
negotiations.” In response, the resolution lifted the restrictions
to “help bring a friend and ally of the United States out of its
isolation, which will be beneficial to peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific
Region.”

A
bill was also introduced by U.S. lawmakers to back the UN bid by Taiwan. The
bill stated that Taiwan and its 23 million people “deserve membership in
the United Nations” and that the United States should fulfill a commitment
“to more actively support Taiwan’s membership in appropriate international
organizations.” The bill was introduced in November 2007 at the House
Foreign Affairs Committee by 18 Republican legislators and one Democrat. 

The United States ended official diplomatic relations in 1979 as a prerequisite for establishing ties with the PRC. However, unofficial
diplomatic relations are maintained on both sides by means of de
facto embassies, which are technically “private organizations”
staffed by career diplomats who are formally “on leave.” The ROC’s de
facto embassy network is the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office
(TECRO) with offices in Washington, D.C., and 12 other U.S. cities. An analogous organization is the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). As of
2010, officials of the ROC have gained quasi-official government and political visits to the
United States.

35.2: Japanese Recovery

35.2.1: The 1947 Japanese Constitution

The loss of World War II placed Japan in the precarious position of a country occupied by the Allied but primarily American forces, which shaped its post-war reforms. This included the Constitution of 1947,
with Article 9 outlawing war as a means to settle international disputes involving the state.

Learning Objective

Explain the reasons for including Article 9 in the 1947 Japanese Constitution

Key Points

• On the V-J Day, U.S. President Harry Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme
  Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) to supervise the occupation of
  Japan. During the war, the Allied Powers had planned to divide Japan among
  themselves for the purpose of occupation, as was done with Germany. Under the
  final plan, however, SCAP was given direct control over the main islands of
  Japan and the immediately surrounding
  islands, while outlying possessions were divided between the Allied Powers.

• On
  September 6, Truman approved a document titled “US Initial Post-Surrender
  Policy for Japan,” which set two main objectives for the occupation:
  eliminating Japan’s war potential and turning it into a western-style nation
  with pro-American orientation. Allied (primarily American) forces were set up
  to supervise the country, led by MacArthur.

• Already
  in 1945, MacArthur’s staff and Japanese officials were at odds over
  the most fundamental issue, a new constitution. The Japanese authorities were
  extremely reluctant to take the drastic step of replacing the 1889 Meiji
  Constitution with a more liberal document.
• After rejecting a Japanese-authored proposal that MacArthur deemed too conservative, he ordered his staff to draft a
  completely new document. They were led by two senior army
  officers with law degrees, Milo Rowell and Courtney Whitney, although others
  chosen by MacArthur also had influence. Although the document’s authors were
  non-Japanese, they took into account the Meiji Constitution, the demands of
  Japanese lawyers, the opinions of pacifist political leaders, and especially the
  draft presented by the Constitution Research Association. 

• The
  MacArthur draft, which proposed a unicameral legislature, was changed at the
  insistence of the Japanese to a bicameral legislatures with two elected houses. In most other important respects, the government adopted the February
  draft with its most distinctive features, including the renunciation of
  war clause. Known as Article 9, it outlaws war to settle
  international disputes involving the state.
  The source of the clause is disputed although it is most often attributed to Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara.

• Although Article 9 intended to prevent the
  country from ever becoming an aggressive military power again, the United
  States was soon pressuring Japan to rebuild its army as a bulwark against
  communism in Asia after the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. As a result, a new National Police
  Reserve armed with military-grade weaponry was created. In 1954, the Japan Self-Defense
  Forces were founded as a full-scale military in all but name. These developments were combined with Japan’s extraordinary economic growth that by the end of the 1960s made it the second largest economy in the world.

Key Terms

V-J Day

Term used to refer to the day on which Japan surrendered in World War II, in effect ending the war. The term has been applied to both days on which the initial announcement of Japan’s surrender was made – the afternoon of August 15, 1945, in Japan, and because of time zone differences, to August 14, 1945 (when it was announced in the United States and the rest of the Americas and Eastern Pacific Islands).

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution

A clause in the Constitution of Japan outlawing war to settle international disputes involving the state. The Constitution came into effect on May 3, 1947, following World War II. In its text, the state formally renounces the sovereign right of belligerency and aims at an international peace based on justice and order.

Yoshida Doctrine

A strategy named after Japan’s first Prime Minister after World War II Shigeru Yoshida that declared the reconstruction of Japan’s domestic economy with security guaranteed by an alliance with the United States. It shaped Japanese foreign policy throughout the Cold War era and beyond.

Post-World War II Occupation of Japan

Japan surrendered to the Allies on August 14, 1945, when the Japanese government notified the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration:  a statement that called for the surrender of all Japanese armed forces during World War II. This date, known as Victory over Japan or V-J Day, marked the end of World War II and the beginning of a long road to recovery for Japan. U.S. President Harry Truman appointed General Douglas MacArthur as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) to supervise the occupation of Japan. During the war, the Allied Powers planned to divide Japan among themselves for the purposes of occupation, as was done with Germany. Under the final plan, however, SCAP was given direct control over the main islands of Japan (Honshu, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu) and the immediately surrounding islands, while outlying possessions were divided between the Allied powers.

On September 6, Truman approved a document titled “US Initial Post-Surrender Policy for Japan,” which set two main objectives for the occupation: eliminating Japan’s war potential and turning it into a western-style nation with pro-American orientation. Allied (primarily American) forces were set up to supervise the country. MacArthur was technically supposed to defer to an advisory council set up by the Allied powers but in practice he hardly did so. 

Emperor Hirohito and General MacArthur, at their first meeting, at the U.S. Embassy, Tokyo, September 27, U.S. Army photographer Lt. Gaetano Faillace.

The Emperor was permitted to remain on the throne, but was ordered to renounce his claims to divinity, which had been a pillar of the State Shinto system. This photograph is one of the most famous in Japanese history. Some were shocked that MacArthur wore his standard duty uniform with no tie instead of his dress uniform when meeting the emperor.

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution

The wording of the Potsdam Declaration (“The Japanese Government shall remove all obstacles …”) and the initial post-surrender measures taken by MacArthur suggest that neither he nor his superiors in Washington intended to impose a new political system on Japan unilaterally. Instead, they hoped to encourage Japan’s new leaders to initiate reforms on their own. Already in 1945, however, MacArthur’s staff and Japanese officials were at odds over the most fundamental issue, the writing of a new constitution. Emperor Hirohito, Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara, and most of the cabinet members were extremely reluctant to take the drastic step of replacing the 1889 Meiji Constitution, which
outlined a form of mixed constitutional and absolute monarchy with a more liberal document.

In late 1945, Shidehara appointed Jōji Matsumoto, state minister without portfolio, head of a blue-ribbon committee of constitutional scholars to suggest revisions. The Matsumoto Commission’s recommendations were quite conservative. MacArthur rejected them outright and ordered his staff to draft a completely new document.
Much of this work was done by two senior army officers with law degrees, Milo Rowell and Courtney Whitney, although others chosen by MacArthur had substantial influence. Although the document’s authors were non-Japanese, they took into account the Meiji Constitution, the demands of Japanese lawyers, the opinions of pacifist political leaders, and especially the draft presented by the Constitution Research Association. MacArthur gave the authors less than a week to complete the draft, which was presented to surprised Japanese officials in February 1946. 

The MacArthur draft, which proposed a unicameral legislature, was changed at the insistence of the Japanese to allow a bicameral one, with both houses being elected. In most other important respects, the government adopted the February draft, with its most distinctive features: the symbolic role of the Emperor, the prominence of guarantees of civil and human rights, and the renunciation of war. That last clause became one of the most symbolic components of Japan’s new constitution. Known as Article 9,
it outlaws war as a means to settle international disputes involving the state. 

The source of the pacifist clause is disputed. According to the Allied Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur, the provision was suggested by Prime Minister Kijūrō Shidehara, who “wanted it to prohibit any military establishment for Japan—any military establishment whatsoever.” Shidehara’s perspective was that retention of arms would be “meaningless” for the Japanese in the post-war era, because any substandard post-war military would no longer gain the respect of the people and would actually cause people to obsess with the subject of rearming Japan. Shidehara admitted to his authorship in his 1951-published memoirs, where he described how the idea came to him on a train ride to Tokyo. MacArthur himself confirmed Shidehara’s authorship on several occasions. However, according to some interpretations, the inclusion of Article 9 was mainly brought about by the members of the Government Section of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, especially Charles Kades, one of Douglas MacArthur’s closest associates. The article was endorsed by the Diet of Japan in November 1946. Kades rejected the proposed language that prohibited Japan’s use of force “for its own security,” believing that self-preservation was the right of every nation.

The Preamble to the 1947 Constitution of the State of Japan.

It was decided that in adopting the new document the Meiji Constitution would not be violated, but rather legal continuity maintained. Thus, the Constitution was adopted as an amendment to the Meiji Constitution in accordance with the provisions of Article 73 of that document. Under Article 73, the new constitution was formally submitted to the Imperial Diet by the Emperor.

Japan’s Post-WWII Growth

Although Article 9 intended to prevent the country from ever becoming an aggressive military power again, the United States was soon pressuring Japan to rebuild its army as a bulwark against communism in Asia after the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. During the Korean War, U.S. forces largely withdrew from Japan to deploy to Korea, leaving the country almost totally defenseless. As a result, a new National Police Reserve armed with military-grade weaponry was created. In 1954, the Japan Self-Defense Forces were founded as a full-scale military in all but name. To avoid breaking the constitutional prohibition on military force, they were officially founded as an extension to the police force. Traditionally, Japan’s military spending has been restricted to about 1% of its gross national product, although this is by popular practice, not law, and this figure has fluctuated. The JSDF slowly grew to considerable strength, and Japan now has the eighth largest military budget in the world.

All the major sectors of the Japanese society, government, and economy were liberalized in the first few years, and the reforms won strong support from the liberal community in Japan. Historians emphasize the similarity of the post-WWII reform programs in Japan to the American New Deal programs of the 1930s.
Shigeru Yoshida served as prime minister in 1946-47 and 1948-54 and played a key role in guiding Japan through the occupation. His policies, known as the Yoshida Doctrine, proposed that Japan should forge a tight relationship with the United States and focus on developing the economy rather than pursuing a proactive foreign policy.

Although the Japanese economy was extremely weakened in the immediate postwar years, an austerity program implemented in 1949 by finance expert Joseph Dodge ended inflation. The Korean War (1950–53) was a major boon to Japanese business. In 1949, the Yoshida cabinet created the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) with a mission to promote economic growth through close cooperation between the government and big business. MITI sought successfully to promote manufacturing and heavy industry and encouraged exports. The factors behind Japan’s postwar economic growth included technology and quality control techniques imported from the West, close economic and defense cooperation with the United States, non-tariff barriers to imports, and long work hours. Japanese corporations successfully retained a loyal and experienced workforce through the system of lifetime employment, which assured their employees a safe job. By 1955, the Japanese economy had grown beyond prewar levels and became the second largest in the world by 1968. 

Japan became a member of the United Nations in 1956 and further cemented its international standing in 1964 when it hosted the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Japan was a close ally of the United States during the Cold War, although this alliance did not have unanimous support from the Japanese people. Japan also successfully normalized relations with the Soviet Union in 1956, despite an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the Kuril Islands, and with South Korea in 1965, despite an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the islands of Liancourt Rocks. In accordance with U.S. policy, Japan recognized the Republic of China on Taiwan as the legitimate government of China after World War II and it switched its recognition to the People’s Republic of China in 1972.

 

35.2.2: Economic Growth after WWII

Japan’s impressive economic growth after World War II
depended on a number of factors, including the
nation’s prewar experience, the advantageous conditions of the post-war occupation by the Allied forces, the high
level and quality of investment that persisted through the 1980s, a well-educated
and disciplined labor force, economies of scale, and global politics.

Learning Objective

Recognize the ways in which Japan encouraged economic growth after the war

Key Points

• Japan experienced dramatic political and
  social transformation under the Allied occupation in 1945–1952. The occupation sought to decentralize
  power in Japan by breaking up the zaibatsu, transferring
  ownership of agricultural land from landlords to tenant farmers, and promoting
  labor unionism. Other major goals were demilitarization and
  democratization of Japan’s government and society. The cabinet became
  responsible not to the Emperor but to the elected National Diet. Japan’s new constitution came into effect in 1947 and
  guaranteed civil liberties, labor rights, and women’s suffrage.
• In the aftermath of the war, about 40% of the
  nation’s industrial plants and infrastructure were destroyed, and production
  reverted to levels of about 15years earlier. U.S. assistance totaled about
  $1.9 billion during the occupation. About 59% of this aid was in the form of food, 15% in
  industrial materials, and 12% in transportation equipment. A variety of U.S.-sponsored measures during the occupation contributed
  to the economy’s later performance by increasing competition.
• The early post-war years were devoted to
  rebuilding the lost industrial capacity with major investments in
  electric power, coal, steel, and chemicals. By the mid-1950s, production
  matched prewar levels. Released from the demands of military-dominated
  government, the economy not only recovered its lost momentum but also surpassed
  the growth rates of earlier periods. In 1965 industrial sectors employed more than 41% of the
  labor force, while only 26% remained in agriculture. 
• Japan’s
  highly acclaimed post-war education system contributed strongly to the
  modernizing process. The world’s highest literacy rate and high education
  standards were major reasons for Japan’s success in achieving a technologically
  advanced economy. 
• The mid-1960s ushered in a new type of
  industrial development as the economy opened itself to international
  competition in some industries and developed heavy and chemical manufacturers.
  Whereas textiles and light manufacturing maintained their profitability
  internationally, products such as automobiles, electronics, ships, and
  machine tools, assumed new importance. 
• The 1973 oil crisis shocked economies that had become dependent on
  imported petroleum. Japan experienced its first post-war decline in industrial
  production, but the following recovery only strengthened Japan’s economy. The factors that contributed to the post-WWI growth included the nation’s prewar experience, which provided several
  important legacies;
  the high level and quality of investment that
  persisted through the 1980s; well-educated and disciplined labor force; economies of scale; and global politics, including international military conflicts, which often benefited Japan’s economy.

Key Terms

zaibatsu

A Japanese term for industrial and financial business conglomerates whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy from the Meiji period until the end of World War II.

keiretsu

A set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings. This type of informal business group maintained dominance over the Japanese economy for the second half of the 20th century.

Background: Post-World War II Occupation of Japan

Japan experienced dramatic political and social transformation under the Allied occupation in 1945–1952. US General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of Allied Powers, served as Japan’s de facto leader and played a central role in implementing reforms, many inspired by the New Deal of the 1930s. The occupation sought to decentralize power in Japan by breaking up the zaibatsu (industrial and financial business conglomerates in the Empire, whose influence and size allowed control over significant parts of the Japanese economy), transferring ownership of agricultural land from landlords to tenant farmers, and promoting labor unionism. Other major goals were demilitarization and democratization of Japan’s government and society. The cabinet became responsible not to the Emperor but to the elected National Diet. The Emperor was permitted to remain on the throne but ordered to renounce his claims to divinity. Japan’s new constitution came into effect in 1947 and guaranteed civil liberties, labor rights, and women’s suffrage.

The San Francisco Peace Treaty of 1951 officially normalized relations between Japan and the United States. The occupation ended in 1952, although the U.S. continued to administer a number of the Ryukyu Islands, with Okinawa the last to be returned in 1972.

Seizure of the zaibatsu families assets, 1946, source: Showa History, Vol.13: Ruins and Lack published by Mainichi Newspapers Company.

The zaibatsu were the heart of economic and industrial activity within the Empire of Japan, and held great influence over Japanese national and foreign policies.
Under the Allied occupation after the surrender of Japan, a partially successful attempt was made to dissolve the zaibatsu. Many of the economic advisors accompanying the SCAP administration had experience with the New Deal program and were highly suspicious of monopolies and restrictive business practices, which they felt to be both inefficient and a form of corporatocracy and thus inherently anti-democratic.

Economic Growth

In the aftermath of the war, about 40% of the nation’s industrial plants and infrastructure were destroyed and production reverted to levels of about 15 years earlier.
U.S. assistance totaled about $1.9 billion during the occupation, or about 15% of the nation’s imports and 4% of gross national product (GNP) in that period. About 59% of this aid was in the form of food, 15% in industrial materials, and 12% in transportation equipment. A variety of U.S.-sponsored measures during the occupation, such as land reform, contributed to the economy’s later performance by increasing competition. Finally, the economy benefited from foreign trade because it was able to expand exports rapidly enough to pay for imports of equipment and technology without falling into debt. New factories were equipped with the best modern machines, giving Japan an initial competitive advantage over the victor states, who now had older factories.  

The early post-war years were devoted to rebuilding the lost industrial capacity, with major investments made in electric power, coal, steel, and chemicals. By the mid-1950s, production matched prewar levels. Released from the demands of military-dominated government, the economy not only recovered its lost momentum but also surpassed the growth rates of earlier periods. Between 1953 and 1965, GDP expanded by more than 9% per year, manufacturing and mining by 13%, construction by 11%, and infrastructure by 12%. In 1965 these sectors employed more than 41% of the labor force, whereas only 26% remained in agriculture.
Millions of former soldiers joined a well-disciplined and highly educated work force to rebuild Japan.

Japan’s highly acclaimed post-war education system contributed strongly to the modernizing process. The world’s highest literacy rate and high education standards were major reasons for Japan’s success in achieving a technologically advanced economy. 

The mid-1960s ushered in a new type of industrial development as the economy opened itself to international competition in some industries and developed heavy and chemical manufacturers. Whereas textiles and light manufacturing maintained their profitability internationally, products such as automobiles, electronics, ships, and machine tools assumed new importance. The value added to manufacturing and mining grew at the rate of 17% per year between 1965 and 1970. Growth rates moderated to about 8% and evened out between the industrial and service sectors between 1970 and 1973 as retail trade, finance, real estate, information technology, and other service industries streamlined their operations.

Oil Crisis

Japan faced a severe economic challenge in the mid-1970s. The 1973 oil crisis shocked economies that had become dependent on imported petroleum. Japan experienced its first post-war decline in industrial production, along with severe price inflation. The recovery that followed the first oil crisis revived the optimism of most business leaders, but the maintenance of industrial growth in the face of high energy costs required shifts in the industrial structure.

Changing price conditions favored conservation and alternative sources of industrial energy. Although the investment costs were high, many energy-intensive industries successfully reduced their dependence on oil during the late 1970s and 1980s and enhanced their productivity. Advances in microcircuitry and semiconductors in the late 1970s and 1980s led to new growth industries in consumer electronics and computers and to higher productivity in established industries. These adjustments increased the energy efficiency of manufacturing and expanded knowledge-intensive industries. The service industries expanded in an increasingly postindustrial economy.

Factors of Growth

Complex economic and institutional factors affected Japan’s post-war growth. First, the nation’s prewar experience provided several important legacies. The Tokugawa period (1600–1867) bequeathed a vital commercial sector in burgeoning urban centers, a relatively well-educated elite, a sophisticated government bureaucracy, productive agriculture, highly developed financial and marketing systems, and a national infrastructure of roads. The buildup of industry during the Meiji period to the point where Japan could vie for world power was an important prelude to post-war growth from 1955 to 1973 and provided a pool of experienced labor.

More important were the level and quality of investment that persisted through the 1980s. Investment in capital equipment, which averaged more than 11% of GNP during the prewar period, rose to about 20% of GNP during the 1950s and to more than 30% in the late 1960s and 1970s. During the economic boom of the late 1980s, the rate still hovered around 20%. Japanese businesses imported the latest technologies to develop the industrial base. As a latecomer to modernization, Japan was able to avoid some of the trial and error needed by other nations to develop industrial processes. In the 1970s and 1980s, Japan improved its industrial base through licensing from the US, patent purchases, and imitation and improvement of foreign inventions. In the 1980s, industry stepped up its research and development, and many firms became famous for their innovations and creativity.

Japan’s labor force contributed significantly to economic growth. Before and immediately after World War II, the transfer of numerous agricultural workers to modern industry resulted in rising productivity and only moderate wage increases. As population growth slowed and the nation became increasingly industrialized in the mid-1960s, wages rose significantly although labor union cooperation generally kept salary increases within the range of gains in productivity.

The nation also benefited from economies of scale. Although medium-sized and small enterprises generated much of the nation’s employment, large facilities were the most productive. Many industrial enterprises consolidated to form larger, more efficient units. While the zaibatsu were dissolved after the war, keiretsu—large, modern industrial enterprise groupings—emerged. The coordination of activities within these groupings and the integration of smaller subcontractors into the groups enhanced industrial efficiency.

Finally, circumstances beyond Japan’s direct control contributed to its success. International conflicts tended to stimulate the Japanese economy until the devastation at the end of World War II. The Russo-Japanese War (1904–5), World War I (1914–18), the Korean War (1950–53), and the Second Indochina War (1954–75) brought economic booms to Japan. 

35.2.3: The American-Japanese Relationship

Japan has remained one of the strongest and most reliable allies of the United States since the post-World War II occupation of the country by the Allied forces, despite ongoing tensions over the U.S. military presence on Japanese territories and economic competition between the two countries. 

Learning Objective

Evaluate American-Japanese relations

Key Points

• The
  San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed in 1951, marked the end of the
  Allied occupation of Japan. The treaty served
  to officially end Japan’s position as an imperial power, allocate
  compensation to Allied civilians and former prisoners of war who suffered Japanese war crimes during World War II, and return
  sovereignty to Japan. In
  legal terms, the end of the occupation finally placed Japan’s relations with
  the United States on an equal footing, but this equality was initially largely
  nominal. 
• As
  the disastrous results of World War II subsided into the background and trade
  with the United States expanded, Japan’s self-confidence grew, which gave rise
  to a desire for greater independence from United States influence.
  During the 1950s and 1960s, this was especially evident in the Japanese
  attitude toward U.S. military bases on the four main islands of Japan
  and in Okinawa Prefecture.
• Recognizing
  the popular desire for the return of the Ryukyu Islands and the Bonin Islands, in 1953 the United States relinquished
  its control of the Amami group of islands at the northern end of the Ryukyu
  Islands. However, it made no commitment to return Okinawa. Popular agitation culminated in a unanimous
  resolution adopted by the Diet in 1956, calling for a return of Okinawa to
  Japan.
• Under
  a new 1960 treaty, both parties assumed an obligation to assist each other in case
  of armed attack on territories under Japanese administration. The treaty also included general provisions on the further development
  of international cooperation and improved future economic cooperation. Both
  countries worked closely to fulfill the United States promise to return all Japanese territories acquired in war. In 1968, the United States returned the Bonin Islands to Japanese administration control. In 1971, the two countries signed an agreement for the return of
  Okinawa to Japan in 1972.
• A series of 1971 events marked the beginning of a new stage
  in relations, a period of adjustment to a changing world situation. Despite episodes of strain in both political and economic spheres, the
  basic relationship remained close. The political issues were essentially security-related. The economic issues tended to stem from the ever-growing power of the Japanese economy. In the 1980s, particularly during the Reagan years,
  the relationship improved and
  strengthened. More recently, it has gained new urgency in light of the changing global positions of North Korea and China.

• The American military
  bases on Okinawa have caused challenges, as Japanese and Okinawans have protested their
  presence for decades. In secret negotiations that began in 1969, Washington
  sought unrestricted use of its bases for possible conventional combat
  operations in Korea, Taiwan, and South Vietnam as well as the emergency
  re-entry and transit rights of nuclear weapons. In the end, the United States and Japan agreed to
  maintain bases that would allow the continuation of American deterrent
  capabilities in East Asia. 

Key Terms

Japan Self-Defense Forces

The unified military forces of Japan established in 1954 and controlled by the Ministry of Defense. In recent years, they have been engaged in international peacekeeping operations including UN peacekeeping. Recent tensions, particularly with North Korea, have reignited the debate over their status and relation to Japanese society.

San Francisco Peace Treaty

A treaty predominantly between Japan and the Allied Powers but officially signed by 48 nations on September 8, 1951, in San Francisco, California. It came into force on April 28, 1952, and served to end Japan’s position as an imperial power, allocate compensation to Allied civilians and former prisoners of war who suffered Japanese war crimes during World War II, and end the Allied post-war occupation of and return sovereignty to Japan.

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution

A clause outlawing war to settle international disputes
involving the state. The Constitution came into effect on May 3, 1947,
following World War II. In its text, the state formally renounces the sovereign
right of belligerency and aims at an international peace based on justice and
order.

Unequal Post-War Relations

The San Francisco Peace Treaty, signed on September 8, 1951, marked the end of the Allied occupation in Japan. When it went into effect on April 28, 1952, Japan was once again an independent state and an ally of the United States.
The treaty officially ended Japan’s position as an imperial power, allocated compensation to Allied civilians and former prisoners of war who suffered Japanese war crimes during World War II, and returned sovereignty to Japan. It made extensive use of the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to enunciate the Allies’ goals.

In legal terms, the end of the occupation finally placed Japan’s relations with the United States on equal footing, but this equality was initially largely nominal. As the disastrous results of World War II subsided and trade with the United States expanded, Japan’s self-confidence grew, which gave rise to a desire for greater independence from United States influence. During the 1950s and 1960s, this feeling was evident in the Japanese attitude toward United States military bases on the four main islands of Japan and in Okinawa Prefecture, occupying the southern two-thirds of the Ryukyu Islands.

The government had to balance left-wing pressure advocating dissociation from the United States with the claimed need for military protection. Recognizing the popular desire for the return of the Ryukyu Islands and the Bonin Islands (also known as the Ogasawara Islands), in 1953 the United States relinquished its control of the Amami group of islands at the northern end of the Ryukyu Islands. However, it made no commitment to return Okinawa, which was then under United States military administration for an indefinite period as provided in Article 3 of the peace treaty. Popular agitation culminated in a unanimous resolution adopted by Japan’s legislature in 1956, calling for a return of Okinawa to Japan.

Military Alliance and New Challenges

Bilateral talks on revising the 1952 security pact began in 1959, and the new Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security was signed, despite the protests of left-wing political parties and mass demonstrations, in Washington in 1960.
Under the new treaty, both parties assumed an obligation to assist each other in case of armed attack on territories under Japanese administration. It was understood, however, that Japan could not come to the defense of the United States because it was constitutionally forbidden to send armed forces overseas under Article 9 of its Constitution. The scope of the new treaty did not extend to the Ryukyu Islands, but an appended minute made clear that in case of an armed attack on the islands, both governments would consult and take appropriate action. Unlike the 1952 security pact, the new treaty provided for a ten-year term, after which it could be revoked upon one year’s notice by either party. The treaty included general provisions on the further development of international cooperation and improved future economic cooperation.

Both countries worked closely to fulfill the United States promise, under Article 3 of the peace treaty, to return all Japanese territories acquired in war. In 1968, the United States returned the Bonin Islands (including Iwo Jima) to Japanese administration control. In 1971, after eighteen months of negotiations, the two countries signed an agreement for the return of Okinawa to Japan in 1972.

A series of new issues arose in 1971. First, Nixon’s dramatic announcement of his forthcoming visit to the People’s Republic of China surprised the Japanese. Many were distressed by the failure of the United States to consult in advance with Japan before making such a fundamental change in foreign policy. Second, the government was again surprised to learn that without prior consultation, the United States had imposed a 10 percent surcharge on imports, a decision certain to hinder Japan’s exports to the United States. Relations between Tokyo and Washington were further strained by the monetary crisis involving the revaluation of the Japanese yen.

These events marked the beginning of a new stage in relations, a period of adjustment to a changing world situation that was not without episodes of strain in both political and economic spheres, although the basic relationship remained close. The political issues between the two countries were essentially security-related and derived from efforts by the United States to induce Japan to contribute more to its own defense and regional security. The economic issues tended to stem from the ever-widening United States trade and payments deficits with Japan, which began in 1965 when Japan reversed its imbalance in trade with the United States and for the first time achieved an export surplus.
Heavy American military spending in the Korean War (1950–53) and the Vietnam War (1965–73) provided a major stimulus to the Japanese economy.

New Global Factors

The United States withdrawal from Indochina in 1975 and the end of the Vietnam War meant that the question of Japan’s role in the security of East Asia and its contributions to its own defense became central in the dialogue between the two countries. The Japanese government, constrained by constitutional limitations and strongly pacifist public opinion, responded slowly to U.S. pressures for a more rapid buildup of the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF). It steadily increased its budgetary outlays for those forces, however, and indicated its willingness to shoulder more of the cost of maintaining the United States military bases in Japan. In 1976, the United States and Japan formally established a subcommittee for defense cooperation, and military planners of the two countries conducted studies relating to joint military action in the event of an armed attack on Japan.

Under American pressure Japan worked toward a comprehensive security strategy with closer cooperation with the United States for a more reciprocal and autonomous basis. This policy was put to the test in 1979, when radical Iranians seized the United States embassy in Tehran, taking 60 hostages. Japan reacted by condemning the action as a violation of international law. At the same time, Japanese trading firms and oil companies reportedly purchased Iranian oil that became available when the United States banned oil imported from Iran. This action brought sharp criticism from the U.S. of Japanese government “insensitivity” for allowing the oil purchases and led to a Japanese apology and agreement to participate in sanctions against Iran in concert with other allies.

Following that incident, the Japanese government took greater care to support U.S. international policies designed to preserve stability and promote prosperity. Japan was prompt and effective in announcing and implementing sanctions against the Soviet Union following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. In 1981, in response to United States requests, it accepted greater responsibility for defense of seas around Japan, pledged greater support for United States forces in Japan, and persisted with a steady buildup of the JSDF.

Close Ties and New Challenges

A qualitatively new stage of Japan-United States cooperation in world affairs emerged in the 1980s with the election of Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, who enjoyed a particularly close relationship with Ronald Reagan. Nakasone reassured U.S. leaders of Japan’s determination against the Soviet threat, closely coordinated policies with the United States toward such Asian trouble spots as the Korean Peninsula and Southeast Asia, and worked cooperatively with the United States in developing China policy. The Japanese government welcomed the increase of United States forces in Japan and the western Pacific, continued the steady buildup of the JSDF, and positioned Japan firmly on the side of the United States against the threat of Soviet expansion. Japan continued to cooperate closely with United States policy in these areas following Nakasone’s term of office, although the political leadership scandals in Japan in the late 1980s made it difficult for newly elected President George H. W. Bush to establish the close personal ties that marked the Reagan years. Despite complaints from some Japanese businesses and diplomats, the Japanese government remained in basic agreement with U.S. policy toward China and Indochina. The government held back from large-scale aid efforts until conditions in China and Indochina were seen as more compatible with Japanese and U.S. interests.

Ronald Reagan greeting Japanese leaders, including Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone, Foreign Minister Abe, and Finance Minister Takashita, in London in 1984

Officials of the Ronald Reagan administration worked closely with their Japanese counterparts to develop a personal relationship between the two leaders based on their common security and international outlook. Nakasone backed Reagan to deploy Pershing missiles in Europe at the 1983 9th G7 summit.
In 1983, a U.S.-Japan working group produced the Reagan-Nakasone Joint Statement on Japan-United States Energy Cooperation.

The main area of noncooperation with the United States in the 1980s was Japanese resistance to repeated U.S. efforts to get Japan to open its market to foreign goods and change other economic practices seen as adverse to U.S. economic interests. Furthermore, changing circumstances at home and abroad created a crisis in Japan-United States relations in the late 1980s. Japan’s growing investment in the United States—the second largest investor after Britain—led to complaints from some American constituencies. Moreover, Japanese industry seemed well-positioned to use its economic power to invest in high-technology products, in which United States manufacturers were still leaders. The United States’s ability to compete under these circumstances was seen by many Japanese and Americans as hampered by heavy personal, government, and business debt and a low savings rate. The breakup of the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe forced the Japanese and United States governments to reassess their longstanding alliance against the Soviet threat. Some Japanese and United States officials and commentators continued to emphasize the common dangers to Japan-United States interests posed by the continued strong Soviet military presence in Asia. 

Since the late 1990s, the U.S.-Japan relationship has improved and strengthened. The major cause of friction in the relationship, trade disputes, became less problematic as China displaced Japan as the greatest perceived economic threat to the United States. Meanwhile, although in the immediate post-Cold War period the security alliance suffered from a lack of a defined threat, the emergence of North Korea as a belligerent rogue state and China’s economic and military expansion provided a purpose to strengthen the relationship. While the foreign policy of the administration of President George W. Bush put a strain on some of the United States’ international relations, the alliance with Japan became stronger, as evidenced by the Deployment of Japanese troops to Iraq and the joint development of anti-missile defense systems.

The Okinawa Controversy 

Okinawa is the site of major American military bases that have caused problems, as Japanese and Okinawans have protested their presence for decades. In secret negotiations that began in 1969, Washington sought unrestricted use of its bases for possible conventional combat operations in Korea, Taiwan, and South Vietnam as well as the emergency re-entry and transit rights of nuclear weapons. However, anti-nuclear sentiment was strong in Japan and the government wanted the United States to remove all nuclear weapons from Okinawa. In the end, the United States and Japan agreed to maintain bases that would allow the continuation of American deterrent capabilities in East Asia. When the Ryukyu Islands, including Okinawa, reverted to Japanese control in 1972, the United States retained the right to station forces on these islands. A dispute that had boiled since 1996 regarding a base with 18,000 U.S. Marines was temporarily resolved in late 2013. Agreement was reached to move the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a less-densely populated area of Okinawa.

U.S. military bases in Japan

US military bases in Japan, maintained by the U.S. government as a way to mark the U.S. presence in the Pacific, continue to provoke protests among the Japanese. 

The map shows the location of ten U.S. military bases in Japan.

As of 2014, the United States still had 50,000 troops in Japan, the headquarters of the U.S. 7th Fleet, and more than 10,000 Marines. Also in 2014, it was revealed the United States was deploying two unarmed Global Hawk long-distance surveillance drones to Japan with the expectation they would engage in surveillance missions over China and North Korea.

35.2.4: Japan and Reckoning with History

Despite numerous apologies for Japan’s war crimes from Japanese government representatives since World War II, repeated comments of Japanese politicians questioning the crimes, the problematic degree of formality of apologies, and retractions or contradictions by statements or actions of Japan have exposed the country’s refusal to reckon with its difficult past. 

Learning Objective

Discuss the challenges Japan has had in acknowledging its past

Key Points

• Japanese war crimes occurred in many Asian and
  Pacific countries during the period of Japanese imperialism, primarily during
  the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II.

  Some
  historians and governments hold Japanese military forces, the Imperial Japanese
  Army, the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the Imperial Japanese family, especially
  under Emperor Hirohito, responsible for the deaths of millions of civilians and
  prisoners of war through massacre, human experimentation, starvation, and
  forced labor.

• Since
  the 1950s, senior Japanese officials have issued numerous apologies
  for the country’s war crimes. But unlike Germany, Japan has not fully recognized the scale of its
  war-time atrocities, and its approach to dealing with the difficult past has
  caused controversy around the world. Japanese nationalist politicians engaged
  in efforts to whitewash the actions of the Empire of Japan during World War II.
  While they were not entirely successful, some Japanese history textbooks offer
  only brief references to war crimes.
• Critics have questioned the degree and formality
  of apologies and noted the retractions and contradictory actions of Japan. An illustrative example is the issue of the so-called comfort women: women and girls
  forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in
  occupied territories before and during World War II. While individual politicians have issued apologies, others have repeatedly questioned Japan’s involvement in forcing women into sex slavery.
• The People’s Republic of China joined other
  Asian countries, such as South Korea, North Korea, and Singapore, in
  criticizing Japanese history textbooks that whiten Japanese war crimes in World
  War II. Many Chinese observers regard Japanese apologies as insufficient and not
  backed up by sincere action. The PRC and Japan also continue to debate over the
  actual number of people killed in the Nanking Massacre.
• Both South Korea and North Korea continue to request an apology and compensation
  for Korea under Japanese rule, regarding the issued apologies as insincere due to repeated Japanese politicians’ comments that question the scale and nature of Japanese crimes. 
• Yasukuni
  Shrine, a Shinto shrine that memorializes Japanese armed forces members
  killed in wartime, has been a subject of
  controversy as it contains a memorial for more than 1,000 Japanese and some
  Korean war criminals. The presence of these criminals among the dead
  honored at Yasukuni Shrine means this monument is seen by
  Chinese and South Koreans as apologism for the wartime era.

Key Terms

Yasukuni Shrine

A Shinto shrine that memorializes Japanese armed forces members killed in wartime. It was constructed as a memorial during the Meiji period to house the remains of those who died for Japan. The shrine has been a subject of controversy as it is a memorial for more than 1,000 individuals considered war criminals by international law standards. 

Second Sino-Japanese War

A military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan from 1937 to 1945. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the war merged into the greater conflict of World War II as a major front in the Pacific War.

Nanking Massacre

An episode of mass murder and mass rape committed by Japanese troops against the residents of Nanjing (then spelled Nanking), then the capital of the Republic of China, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The massacre occurred over a period of six weeks starting December 13, 1937, the day that the Japanese captured Nanjing. During this period, soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army murdered from 40,000 to 300,000 Chinese civilians and disarmed combatants and perpetrated widespread rape and looting.

comfort women

Women and girls forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories before and during World War II.

Japanese War Crimes

Japanese war crimes occurred in many Asian and Pacific countries during the period of Japanese imperialism, primarily during the Second Sino-Japanese War, which eventually became a front of World War II. Some were committed by military personnel from the Empire of Japan in the late 19th century, although most took place from the first part of the Shōwa Era, the name given to the reign of Emperor Hirohito, until the surrender of the Empire of Japan in 1945.

Some historians and governments hold Japanese military forces, the Imperial Japanese Army, the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the Imperial Japanese family, especially under Emperor Hirohito, responsible for the deaths of millions of civilians and prisoners of war through massacre, human experimentation, starvation, and forced labor either directly perpetrated or condoned by the Japanese military and government. Estimates range from 3 to 14 million victims. Airmen of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service and Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service were not included as war criminals because there was no positive or specific customary international humanitarian law that prohibited the unlawful conduct of aerial warfare either before or during World War II. However, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service took part in chemical and biological attacks on enemy nationals during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II, and the use of such weapons in warfare was generally prohibited by international agreements signed by Japan, including the Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907), which banned the use of “poison or poisoned weapons” in warfare. 

Comfort Women: Japan’s Problematic Reckoning 

Since the 1950s, senior Japanese Government officials have issued numerous apologies for the country’s war crimes. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that the country acknowledges its role in causing “tremendous damage and suffering” during World War II, especially in regard to Nanking Massacre in which Japanese soldiers killed a large number of non-combatants and engaged in looting and rape. But unlike Germany, for example, Japan has not fully recognized the scale of its war-time atrocities, and its approach to dealing with the difficult past has caused controversy around the world. Japanese nationalist politicians engaged in efforts
to whitewash the actions of the Empire of Japan during World War II. While they were not entirely successful, some Japanese history textbooks offer only brief references to various war crimes.

Critics have questioned the degree and formality of apologies and noted the issue of retractions and contradictory actions by Japan. An illustrative example is the issue of the so-called comfort women, women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery by the Imperial Japanese Army in occupied territories before and during World War II.
In 1951, the South Korean government demanded $364 million in compensation for Koreans forced into labor and military service during Japanese occupation. In the final agreement reached in the 1965 treaty, Japan provided an $800 million aid and low-interest loan package over 10 years. However, the money was for the Korean government, not individuals. 

Three Korean women filed suit in Japan in 1991, around the time of the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack, demanding compensation for forced prostitution. In 1992, documents stored since 1958 when they were returned by U.S. troops indicating that the military played a large role in operating what were euphemistically called “comfort stations,” were found in the library of Japan’s Self-Defense Agency. The Japanese Government admitted that the Japanese Army forced tens of thousands of Korean women to have sex with Japanese soldiers during World War II. On January 14, 1992, Japanese Chief Government Spokesman Koichi Kato issued an official apology. Three days later, at a dinner given by South Korean President Roh Tae Woo, Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologized to his host and the following day in a speech before South Korea’s National Assembly. 

In 1994, the Japanese government set up the public-private Asian Women’s Fund (AWF) to distribute additional compensation to South Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. A number of former comfort women (61 Korean, 13 Taiwanese, 211 Filipino, and 79 Dutch) were given a signed apology from Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama. Many former Korean comfort women rejected the compensations on principle. Although the AWF was set up by the Japanese government, its funds came not from the government but from private donations, hence the compensation was not “official.”
In 1998, the Japanese court ruled that the Government must compensate the women and awarded them $2,300 (equivalent to $3,380 in 2016) each.

On March 1, 2007, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe stated that there was no evidence that the Japanese government had kept sex slaves, even though the Japanese government already admitted the use of coercion in 1993.

On February 20, 2014, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that the Japanese government may reconsider the study and the apology. However, Prime Minister Abe clarified on March 14, 2014, that he had no intention of renouncing or altering it. On December 28, 2015, Abe and South Korean President Park Geun-hye reached a formal agreement to settle the dispute. However, the Korean comfort women and the majority of the Korean population regarded the resolution as unsatisfying. The Korean comfort women stated that they were not protesting for money and that their goals of formal and public apology from Abe and the Japanese government and the correction of Japanese history textbooks have not been met.

Chinese and Malayan girls forcibly taken from Penang by the Japanese to work as “comfort girls” for the troops. Author: Sergeant A.E. Lemon, No 9 Army Film & Photographic Unit.

The first “comfort station” was established in the Japanese concession in Shanghai in 1932. Earlier comfort women were Japanese prostitutes who volunteered for such service. However, as Japan continued military expansion, the military found itself short of Japanese volunteers and turned to the local population to coerce women into serving in these stations, or abducted them. Many women responded to calls for work as factory workers or nurses, and did not know that they were being pressed into sexual slavery.

Japan and its Neighbors

The People’s Republic of China joined other Asian countries, such as South Korea, North Korea, and Singapore, in criticizing Japanese history textbooks that whiten Japanese war crimes in World War II. Although Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi openly declared “deep remorse” over Japan’s wartime crimes in 2005 (the latest in a series of apologies spanning several decades), many Chinese observers regard the apology as insufficient and not backed up by sincere action. The PRC and Japan also continue to debate over the actual number of people killed in the Nanking Massacre. The PRC claims that at least 300,000 civilians were murdered while Japan claims 40,000-200,000. While a majority of Japanese believe in the existence of the massacre, a Japanese-produced documentary film released just prior to the 60th anniversary of the massacre, titled The Truth about Nanjing, denies that any such atrocities took place. These disputes have stirred up enmity against Japan from the global Chinese community, including Taiwan.

Bodies of victims along Qinhuai River out of Nanjing’s west gate during Nanking Massacre. Derivative work of a photograph taken by Moriyasu Murase.

Although the Japanese government has admitted to the killing of a large number of non-combatants, looting, and other violence committed by the Imperial Japanese Army after the fall of Nanking, and Japanese veterans who served there have confirmed that a massacre took place, a small but vocal minority within both the Japanese government and society have argued that the death toll was military in nature and that no such crimes ever occurred.

Since the 1950s, many prominent politicians and officials in Japan have made statements on Japanese colonial rule in Korea, which created outrage and led to diplomatic scandals in Korean-Japanese relations. The statements have led to anti-Japanese sentiments among Koreans and a widespread perception that Japanese apologies for colonial rule have been insincere.

Although diplomatic relations were established by a treaty in 1965, South Korea continues to request an apology and compensation for Korea under Japanese rule. In 2012, the South Korean government announced that Emperor Akihito must apologize for Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. Most Japanese prime ministers have issued apologies, including Prime Minister Obuchi in the Japan–South Korea Joint Declaration of 1998. While South Koreans welcomed the apologies at the time, many now view the statements as insincere because of continuous misunderstandings between the two nations. 

In the early 1990s, Japan conducted lengthy negotiations with North Korea aimed at establishing diplomatic relations while maintaining its relations with Seoul. In September 1990, a Japanese political delegation led by former deputy Prime Minister Shin Kanemaru of the Liberal Democratic Party visited North Korea. Following private meetings between Kanemaru and North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, a joint declaration released on September 28 called for Japan to apologize and compensate North Korea for its period of colonial rule. Japan and North Korea agreed to begin talks aimed at the establishment of diplomatic relations.

In January 1991, Japan began normalization talks with Pyongyang with a formal apology for its 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The negotiations were aided by Tokyo’s support of a proposal for simultaneous entry into the United Nations by North Korea and South Korea. The issues of international inspection of North Korean nuclear facilities and the nature and amount of Japanese compensations, however, proved more difficult to negotiate. Prime Minister Junichirō Koizumi, in the Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration of 2002, said: “I once again express my feelings of deep remorse and heartfelt apology, and also express the feelings of mourning for all victims, both at home and abroad, in the war.”   

Yasukuni Shrine

Yasukuni Shrine is a Shinto shrine that memorializes Japanese armed forces members killed in wartime. It was constructed as a memorial during the Meiji period to house the remains of those who died for Japan. The shrine houses the remains of Hideki Tojo, Prime Minister and Army Minister of Japan between 1941 and 1944, and 13 other Class A war criminals. Yasukuni Shrine has been a subject of controversy, containing also a memorial for over a thousand Japanese and some Korean war criminals. The presence of these war criminals among the dead honored at Yasukuni Shrine means that visits to Yasukuni have been seen by Chinese and South Koreans as apologism for the wartime era.

Yasuhiro Nakasone and Ryutaro Hashimoto visited Yasukuni Shrine in, respectively, 1986 and 1996, and paid respects as Prime Minister of Japan, drawing intense opposition from Korea and China. Junichirō Koizumi visited the shrine and paid respects six times during his term as Prime Minister of Japan. These visits again drew strong condemnation and protests from Japan’s neighbors, mainly China and South Korea. As a result, the heads of the two countries refused to meet with Koizumi and there were no mutual visits between Chinese and Japanese leaders after October 2001 and between South Korean and Japanese leaders after June 2005. The President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, had suspended all summit talks between South Korea and Japan until 2008, when he resigned from office. The current prime minister, Shinzō Abe, has made several visits to the shrine, the most recent being in December 2013.

35.3: The Koreas

35.3.1: Korea under Japanese Rule

The 1910-1945 Japanese occupation of Korea was marked by the suppression of Korean culture and heritage, mass exploitation of the Korean labor, and violent repressions against the Korean independence movement.

Learning Objective

Analyze conditions in Korea under Japanese rule

Key Points

• The 1905 Japan–Korea Protectorate Treaty turned Korea into Japanese protectorate and in 1910, Japan effectively annexed
  Korea by the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty. Korea was controlled by
  Japan under a Governor-General of Korea until Japan’s unconditional
  surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945, with de jure sovereignty
  deemed to have passed from the Joseon dynasty to the Provisional Government of
  the Republic of Korea.

• After the annexation, Japan set out to repress
  Korean traditions and culture and develop and implement policies primarily for
  Japanese benefit. European-style transport and communication networks
  were established across the nation to extract resources and labor.
  The banking system was consolidated and Korean currency abolished. By 1932, over half of arable lands were under the control of Japanese landlords but labored by Korean workers. 
• After Emperor Gojong died in 1919 amidst rumors
  of poisoning, independence rallies against the Japanese took place nationwide
  (the March 1st Movement). An estimated 2 million people
  took part in pro-liberation rallies, although Japanese records claim
  participation of less than half million. This movement was a catalyst for the Korean independence effort. 
• Continued anti-Japanese uprisings led to the strengthening of
  military rule in 1931. After the outbreaks of the Second Sino-Japanese War in
  1937 and World War II, Japan attempted to exterminate Korea as a nation. Worship at Japanese
  Shinto shrines was made compulsory. The school curriculum was radically
  modified to eliminate teaching of the Korean language and history. The
  Korean language was banned, Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese
  names, and newspapers were prohibited from publishing in Korean. Numerous
  Korean cultural artifacts were destroyed or taken to Japan.
• From
  1939, labor shortages as a result of conscription of Japanese males for the
  military efforts of World War II led to organized official recruitment of
  Koreans to work in mainland Japan. Of
  the 5.4 million Koreans conscripted, about 670,000 were taken to mainland Japan
  for civilian labor.
  Starting in 1944, Japan
  started the conscription of Koreans into the armed forces. Around 200,000
  girls and women, many from China and Korea, were forced into sexual slavery for
  Japanese soldiers as so-called comfort women. Koreans and many other Asians were
  experimented on in Unit 731, a secret military medical experimentation unit in
  World War II.
• The rapid growth of the Korean economy under the
  Japanese rule, which as historians note cannot be ignored in the analysis of
  the later economic success of South Korea, continues to be the subject of
  controversy between the two Koreas and Japan. While the growth is unquestionable,
  North Korea and South Korea point to alleged long-term negative repercussions
  caused by how the acceleration of industrialization under Japanese occupation
  was executed.

Key Terms

Unit 731

A covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) of World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japan.

March 1st Movement

One of the earliest public displays of Korean resistance during the ruling of Korea by Japan,
initiated by activists reading the Korean Declaration of Independence and followed by massive demonstrations. The movement provided a catalytic momentum for the Korean Independence Movement. The ensuing suppression and hunting down of activists by the Japanese resulted in the expatriation of Korean leaders into Manchuria, Shanghai, and other parts of China where they continued their activities. The Movement was also a catalyst for the establishment of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai in 1919.

Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty

A 1910 treaty between representatives of the Empire of Japan and the Korean Empire that formally annexed Korea following the Japan–Korea Treaty of 1905, by which Korea became the protectorate of Japan, and Japan–Korea Treaty of 1907, by which Korea was deprived of the administration of internal affairs.

Japan–Korea Protectorate Treaty

A 1905 treaty between the Empire of Japan and the Korean Empire that deprived Korea of its diplomatic sovereignty and made it a protectorate of Imperial Japan. It was influenced by Imperial Japan’s victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.

Russo-Japanese War

A 1904 – 1905 war fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea. The major theatres of operations were the Liaodong Peninsula and Mukden in Southern Manchuria and the seas around Korea, Japan, and the Yellow Sea.

Japan’s Annexation of Korea

In 1897, Joseon,  a Korean kingdom founded in 1392, was renamed the Korean Empire, and King Gojong became Emperor Gojong. The imperial government aimed to establish a strong and independent nation by implementing domestic reforms, strengthening military forces, developing commerce and industry, and surveying land ownership.  

Russian influence was strong in the Empire until Russia was defeated by Japan in the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905).
Having established economic and military dominance in Korea in 1904, Japan reported that it had developed reforms intended to introduce Japanese influences in Korea’s economy, foreign relations, and military. These reforms were forestalled when Japan won the war with Russia, thus eliminating Japan’s last rival to influence in Korea. Two months later, Korea was obliged to become a Japanese protectorate by the Japan–Korea Protectorate Treaty of 1905 and pro-Japanese reforms were enacted, including the reduction of the Korean Army from 20,000 to 1,000 men. Many intellectuals and scholars set up various organizations and associations, embarking on movements for independence. In 1907, Gojong was forced to abdicate after Japan learned that he sent secret envoys to the Second Hague Conventions to protest against the protectorate treaty, leading to the accession of Gojong’s son, Emperor Sunjong. 

In 1910, Japan effectively annexed Korea by the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty. While Japan asserts that the treaty was concluded legally, this argument is not accepted in Korea because it was not signed by the Emperor of Korea as required and violated international convention on external pressures regarding treaties. Korea was controlled by Japan under a Governor-General of Korea until Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945, with de jure sovereignty deemed to have passed from the Joseon dynasty to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.

Japanese Rule Begins

After the annexation, Japan set out to repress Korean traditions and culture and develop and implement policies primarily for Japanese benefit. European-style transport and communication networks were established across the nation to extract resources and labor. The banking system was consolidated and Korean currency abolished. The Japanese removed the Joseon hierarchy, destroyed much of the Gyeongbokgung palace, and replaced it with the government office building.

By 1910, an estimated 7 to 8% of all arable land was under Japanese control. This ratio increased steadily. By 1932, the ratio of Japanese land ownership increased to 52.7%. The level of tenancy was similar to that of farmers in Japan but in Korea, the landowners were mostly Japanese, while the tenants were all Koreans. As was often the case in Japan, tenants were required to pay more than half their crop as rent, forcing many to send wives and daughters into factories or prostitution so they could pay taxes. Ironically, by the 1930s, the growth of the urban economy and the exodus of farmers to the cities gradually weakened the hold of the landlords. 

Three Koreans shot for pulling up rails as a protest against seizure of land without payment by the Japanese, 1900s. Source: The passing of Korea (book), p. 263. 

Many Japanese settlers were interested in acquiring agricultural land in Korea even before Japanese land ownership was officially legalized in 1906. Japanese landlords included both individuals and corporations such as the Oriental Development Company. Many former Korean landowners and agricultural workers became tenant farmers after losing their entitlements almost overnight.

After Emperor Gojong died in 1919 amidst rumors of poisoning, independence rallies against the Japanese took place nationwide (the March 1st Movement). This movement was suppressed by force and about 7,000 were killed by Japanese soldiers and police. An estimated 2 million people took part in pro-liberation rallies, although Japanese records claim participation of less than half million. This movement was partly inspired by United States President Woodrow Wilson’s speech of 1919, declaring support for right of self-determination and an end to colonial rule for Europeans. No comment was made by Wilson on Korean independence. The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea was established in Shanghai, China, in the aftermath of March 1 Movement, which coordinated the liberation effort and resistance against Japanese control. The Provisional Government is considered the de jure government of the Korean people between 1919 and 1948, and its legitimacy is enshrined in the preamble to the constitution of the Republic of Korea.

Continued anti-Japanese uprisings, such as the nationwide uprising of students in November 1929, led to the strengthening of military rule in 1931. After the outbreaks of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and World War II, Japan attempted to exterminate Korea as a nation. The continuance of Korean culture itself became illegal. Worship at Japanese Shinto shrines was made compulsory. The school curriculum was radically modified to eliminate teaching of the Korean language and history. The Korean language was banned, Koreans were forced to adopt Japanese names, and newspapers were prohibited from publishing in Korean. Numerous Korean cultural artifacts were destroyed or taken to Japan. According to an investigation by the South Korean government, 75,311 cultural assets were taken from Korea.

World War II

From 1939, labor shortages as a result of conscription of Japanese males for the military efforts of World War II led to organized official recruitment of Koreans to work in mainland Japan, initially through civilian agents and later directly, often involving elements of coercion. As the labor shortage increased, by 1942 the Japanese authorities extended the provisions of the National Mobilization Law to include the conscription of Korean workers for factories and mines on the Korean peninsula, Manchukuo, and the involuntary relocation of workers to Japan itself as needed.

Of the 5.4 million Koreans conscripted, about 670,000 were taken to mainland Japan for civilian labor. Those who were brought to Japan were often forced to work under appalling and dangerous conditions. Although Koreans were often treated better than laborers from other countries, their work hours, food, and medical care still led to many deaths. The number of deaths of Korean forced laborers in Korea and Manchuria is estimated to be between 270,000 and 810,000. Most Korean atomic-bomb victims in Japan were drafted for work at military industrial factories in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan did not draft ethnic Koreans into its military until 1944 when the tide of WW II turned dire. Until 1944, enlistment in the Imperial Japanese Army by ethnic Koreans was voluntary and highly competitive. From a 14% acceptance rate in 1938, it dropped to a 2% acceptance rate in 1943 while the raw number of applicants increased from 3000 per annum to 300,000 in just five years during World War II.
Starting in 1944, Japan started the conscription of Koreans into the armed forces. All Korean males were drafted to either join the Imperial Japanese Army, as of April 1944, or work in the military industrial sector, as of September 1944. Around 200,000 girls and women, many from China and Korea, were forced into sexual slavery for Japanese soldiers as the so-called comfort women. Former Korean comfort women are still demanding formal apologies from  the Japanese Government.

Koreans, along with many other Asians, were experimented on in Unit 731, a secret military medical experimentation unit in World War II. The victims who died in the camp included at least 25 victims from the former Soviet Union and Korea. General Shiro Ishii, the head of Unit 731, revealed during the Tokyo War Crime Trials that 254 Koreans were killed in Unit 731. Some historians estimate up to 250,000 total people were subjected to human experiments. A Unit 731 veteran attested that most that were experimented on were Chinese, Koreans, and Mongolians.

Unit 731 Complex. Source: Unidentified Bulletin of Unit 731.

Some historians estimate that up to 250,000 men, women, and children were subjected to experimentation conducted by Unit 731 at the camp based in Pingfang alone, which does not include victims from other medical experimentation sites such as Unit 100. Unit 731 veterans of Japan attest that most of the victims they experimented on were Chinese while a small percentage were Russian, Mongolian, Korean, and Allied POW’s.

Economic Growth Controversy

The industrialization of the Korean Peninsula began with the Joseon dynasty while Korea was still independent, but vastly accelerated under Japanese occupation. The rapid growth of the Korean economy under Japanese rule, which as historians note cannot be ignored in the analysis of the later economic success of South Korea, continues to be the subject of controversy between the two Koreas and Japan. While the growth is unquestionable, North Korea and South Korea point to alleged long-term negative repercussions caused by how the acceleration of industrialization under Japanese occupation was executed, including utilization of industrialization only for the purposes of benefiting Japan, the exploitation of the Korean people, the marginalization of Korean history and culture, and the environmental exploitation of the Korean Peninsula.

35.3.2: Occupation by the US and USSR

In light of the lack of consensus over the post-World War II status of Korea among the Allies and their competition for the sphere of influence in the region, the U.S. and Soviet governments divided the peninsula along the 38th parallel, paving the way for the existence of two separate Korean states.  

Learning Objective

Describe the roles the U.S. and the USSR played in Korea after WWII

Key Points

• At the Tehran Conference in 1943 and the Yalta
  Conference in 1945, the Soviet Union promised to join its allies in the Pacific
  War within three months of victory in Europe. On August 8, 1945, after three
  months to the day, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. Soviet troops
  advanced rapidly and the U.S. government became anxious that they would occupy
  Korea. 
• On August 10, 1945, two young officers – Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel
  – were assigned to define an American occupation zone. Working on extremely
  short notice and completely unprepared, they used a National Geographic map
  to decide on the 38th parallel. They chose it because it divided the country
  approximately in half but would also place capital city Seoul under American
  control. No experts on Korea were consulted.
  To the surprise of the Americans, the Soviet
  Union immediately accepted the division.
• On September 7, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur
  announced that Lieutenant General John R. Hodge was to administer Korean
  affairs. The United
  States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) was the official ruling body
  of the southern half of the Korean Peninsula from September 8, 1945, to August
  15, 1948. 
• The USAMGIK tried to contain civil violence in
  the south by banning strikes and outlawing the People’s Republic of Korea and
  the people’s committees, but it did not prevent anti-division protests. It eventually outlawed all the left-leaning and allegedly communist organizations, and its continuation of the Japanese colonial system made it unpopular among Koreans. 
• In 1946, a provisional government called the
  Provisional People’s Committee was formed under Kim Il-sung in North Korea. The government instituted a sweeping land-reform program, which distributed land more equally and forced big landlords and Japanese collaborators to seek refugee status in the South. 
• Following a failed UN intervention in 1947, on
  May 10, 1948, the south held a general election. On August 15, the Republic of
  Korea formally took over power from the U.S. military, with Syngman Rhee as the
  first president. In the North, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was
  declared on September 9, 1948, with Kim Il-sung as prime minister. On December
  12, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly accepted the report of UNTCOK and
  declared the Republic of Korea to be the “only lawful government in
  Korea.”

Key Terms

Provisional People’s Committee

The official name of the provisional government governing the northern portion of the Korean Peninsula following its post-World War II partition by the United States and the Soviet Union after the defeat of the Empire of Japan in 1945. In the north, a pro-Soviet, ideologically communist government was established, officially succeeding a quasi-government composed of five provinces in 1946. The government was largely modeled after the Soviet Union.

People’s Republic of Korea

A short-lived provisional government organized with the aim to take over control of Korea shortly after the surrender of the Empire of Japan at the end of World War II. It operated as a government from late August to early September 1945 until the United States Army Military Government in Korea was established in the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula by the United States. After that it operated unofficially and in opposition to the United States Army Military Government until it was forcibly dissolved in January 1946.

The United States Army Military Government in Korea

The official ruling body of the southern half of the Korean Peninsula from September 8, 1945, to August 15, 1948. Popular discontent stemmed from the body’s support of the Japanese colonial government and, once removed, keeping the former Japanese governors on as advisors; from ignoring, censoring, and forcibly disbanding the People’s Republic of Korea; and from its support for United Nations elections that divided Korea.

End of World War II: Division of Korea

In November 1943, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Chiang Kai-shek met at the Cairo Conference to discuss what should happen to territories occupied by Japan and agreed that Japan should lose all the territories it had conquered by force. In the declaration after the conference, Korea was mentioned for the first time. The three powers declared that they were “mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, … determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent.” 

At the Tehran Conference in 1943 and the Yalta Conference in 1945, the Soviet Union promised to join its allies in the Pacific War within three months of victory in Europe. On August 8, 1945, after three months to the day, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. Soviet troops advanced rapidly and the U.S. government became anxious that they would occupy Korea. On August 10, 1945, two young officers – Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel – were assigned to define an American occupation zone. Working on extremely short notice and completely unprepared, they used a National Geographic map to decide on the 38th parallel. They chose it because it divided the country approximately in half but would also place the capital city Seoul under American control. No experts on Korea were consulted. The two men were unaware that 40 years earlier, Japan and Russia had discussed sharing Korea along the same parallel. The division placed sixteen million Koreans in the American zone and nine million in the Soviet zone. To the surprise of the Americans, the Soviet Union immediately accepted the division.

General Abe Nobuyuki, the last Japanese Governor-General of Korea, had established contact with a number of influential Koreans since the beginning of August 1945 to prepare the handover of power. Throughout August, Koreans organized people’s committee branches for the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence headed by Lyuh Woon-hyung, a moderate left-wing politician. On September 6, 1945, a congress of representatives convened in Seoul and founded the short-lived People’s Republic of Korea.

In December 1945 at the Moscow Conference, the Allies agreed that the Soviet Union, the U.S., the Republic of China, and Britain would take part in a trusteeship over Korea for up to five years in the lead-up to independence. Most Koreans demanded independence immediately, with the exception of the Communist Party, which supported the trusteeship under pressure from the Soviet government. A Soviet-U.S. Joint Commission met in 1946 and 1947 to work towards a unified administration, but failed to make progress due to increasing Cold War antagonism and Korean opposition to the trusteeship. Meanwhile, the division between the two zones deepened. The difference in policy between the occupying powers led to a polarization of politics and a transfer of population between North and South. In May 1946, it was made illegal to cross the 38th parallel without a permit.

U.S. Occupation of the South

On September 7, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur announced that Lieutenant General John R. Hodge was to administer Korean affairs and Hodge landed in Incheon with his troops the next day.
The United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK) was the official ruling body of the southern half of the Korean Peninsula from September 8, 1945, to August 15, 1948.

The Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, which had operated from China, sent a delegation with three interpreters to Hodge, but he refused to meet with them. 

The USAMGIK tried to contain civil violence in the south by banning strikes and outlawing the People’s Republic of Korea and the people’s committees. Things spiraled quickly out of control, however, with a massive strike in September 1946 by 8,000 railway workers in Busan, which quickly spread to other cities in the South. On October 1, police attempts to control protesters in Daegu caused the death of three student demonstrators and injuries to many others, sparking a mass counter-attack that killed 38 policemen. In Yeongcheon, a police station came under attack by a 10,000-strong crowd on October 3, killing over 40 policemen and the county chief. Other attacks killed about 20 landlords and pro-Japanese officials. The U.S. administration responded by declaring martial law, firing into crowds of demonstrators, and killing a publicly unknown number of people.

Although the military government was hostile to leftism from the beginning, it initially tolerated the activities of left-wing political groups, including the Korean Communist Party. However, this period of reconciliation did not last long. Within a short time, the military government actively disempowered and eventually banned popular organizations that were gaining public support. The justification was the USAMGIK’s suspicion that they were aligned with the Communist bloc, despite professing a relatively moderate stance compared to the actual Korean Communist Party, which was also banned.

Among the earliest edicts promulgated by USAMGIK was to reopen all schools. No immediate changes were made in the educational system, which was simply carried over from the Japanese colonial period. In this area as in others, the military government sought to maintain the forms of the Japanese occupation system. Although it did not implement sweeping educational reforms, the military government did lay the foundations for reforms that were implemented later. In 1946, a council of about 100 Korean educators was convened to map out the future path of Korean education.

Soviet Occupation of the North

When Soviet troops entered Pyongyang, they found a local branch of the Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence operating under the leadership of veteran nationalist Cho Man-sik. The Soviet Army allowed these people’s committees, which were friendly to the Soviet Union, to function. Colonel-General Terentii Shtykov set up the Soviet Civil Administration, taking control of the committees and placing Communists in key positions.

In 1946, a provisional government called the Provisional People’s Committee was formed under Kim Il-sung, who had spent the last years of the war training with Soviet troops in Manchuria. Conflicts and power struggles ensued at the top levels of government in Pyongyang as different aspirants maneuvered to gain positions of power in the new government. The government instituted a sweeping land-reform program: land belonging to Japanese and collaborator landowners was divided and redistributed to poor farmers. Landlords were allowed to keep only the same amount of land as poor civilians who had once rented their land, thereby making for a far more equal distribution of land. The farmers responded positively while many collaborators and former landowners fled to the south. According to the U.S. military government, 400,000 northern Koreans went south as refugees.

Welcome celebration for the Red Army in Pyongyang on October 14, 1945. Source: Korean People Journal from Japanese book The First Anniversary of Korean Liberation published by Shinkan Sha.

The division of Korea, after more than a millennium of being unified, was seen as controversial and temporary by both regimes. From 1948 until the start of the civil war on June 25, 1950, the armed forces of each side engaged in a series of bloody conflicts along the border. In 1950, these conflicts escalated dramatically when North Korean forces invaded South Korea, triggering the Korean War.

Key industries were nationalized. The economic situation was nearly as difficult in the north as it was in the south, as the Japanese concentrated agriculture in the south and heavy industry in the north. 

Failed UN Intervention

With the failure of the Soviet-U.S. Joint Commission to make progress, the U.S. brought the problem before the United Nations in September 1947. The Soviet Union opposed UN involvement but the UN passed a resolution on November 14, 1947, declaring that free elections should be held, foreign troops should be withdrawn, and a UN commission for Korea, the United Nations Temporary Commission on Korea, should be created. The Soviet Union boycotted the voting and did not consider the resolution to be binding, arguing that the UN could not guarantee fair elections. In the absence of Soviet cooperation, it was decided to hold UN-supervised elections in the south only.

The decision to proceed with separate elections was unpopular among many Koreans, who rightly saw it as a prelude to a permanent division of the country. General strikes in protest against the decision began in February 1948. In April, Jeju islanders rose up against the looming division of the country. South Korean troops were sent to repress the rebellion. Tens of thousands of islanders were killed and by one estimate, 70% of the villages were burned by the South Korean troops. The uprising flared up again with the outbreak of the Korean War.

On May 10, 1948, the south held a general election. On August 15, the Republic of Korea formally took over power from the U.S. military, with Syngman Rhee as the first president. In the North, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was declared on September 9, 1948, with Kim Il-sung as prime minister. On December 12, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly accepted the report of UNTCOK and declared the Republic of Korea to be the “only lawful government in Korea.”

South Korean general election on May 10, 1948. Source: Korean book Departure of Republic of Korea Capital Seoul (1945-1961) published by Seoul Metropolitan City History Committee.

Beginning with Syngman Rhee, a series of oppressive autocratic governments took power in South Korea with American support and influence. The country eventually transitioned to become a market-oriented democracy in 1987, largely due to popular demand for reform, and its economy rapidly grew. Due to Soviet influence, North Korea established a communist government with a hereditary succession of leadership, with ties to China and the Soviet Union.

Unrest continued in the South. In October 1948, the Yeosu–Suncheon Rebellion took place, in which some regiments rejected the suppression of the Jeju uprising and rebelled against the government. In 1949, the Syngman Rhee government established the Bodo League to keep an eye on its political opponents. The majority of the Bodo League’s members were innocent farmers and civilians who were forced into membership. The registered members or their families were executed at the beginning of the Korean War. On December 24, 1949, South Korean Army massacred Mungyeong citizens who were suspected communist sympathizers or their family and affixed blame to communists.

Soviet forces departed from North Korea in 1948 and
American troops finally withdrew from South Korea in 1949.

35.3.3: The Outbreak of the Korean War

With the approval and support of Stalin and Mao Zedong and Kim Il-sung believing that the effort to unite the Korean Peninsula would be supported by much of the South Korean populations,
North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950, marking the outbreak of the Korean War.

Learning Objective

Detail the events that led to the outbreak of war on the Korean Peninsula

Key Points

• Following the 1948 elections under the auspices of the UN,
  the new South Korean government promulgated a new constitution and elected Syngman Rhee
  as president. While in the North the Soviet Union established a communist government
  led by Kim Il-sung, President Rhee’s regime excluded communists and leftists
  from southern politics. While Rhee
  aimed to eradicate communist and leftist groups, the anti-communist slogans
  were also applied to eradicate all his actual and alleged political opponents and establish authoritarian rule by inciting fear among civilians with
  no ties to communism.
• In
  April 1948, what began as a demonstration commemorating Korean resistance to
  Japanese rule ended with the Jeju uprising, an attempted insurgency
  against the scheduled election on the Korean province of Jeju Island, followed
  by a brutal anticommunist suppression campaign. By early 1950, Rhee had
  about 20,000-30,000 alleged communists in jails and about 300,000 suspected
  sympathizers enrolled in the Bodo League.
• Kim Il-sung believed that communist guerrillas had weakened the South Korean military and that a North Korean
  invasion would be welcomed by much of the South Korean population. Kim began
  seeking Stalin’s support but with Chinese
  Communist forces still engaged in the Chinese Civil War and American forces
  stationing in South Korea, Stalin did not want the Soviet Union to become
  embroiled in a war with the United States.
• By
  spring 1950, the strategic situation changed. The Soviets had detonated their
  first nuclear bomb, American soldiers had fully withdrawn
  from Korea, and the Chinese Communists had established the People’s Republic of
  China. In
  April 1950, Stalin gave Kim permission to invade the South under the condition
  that Mao Zedong, the leader of China, would agree to send reinforcements if
  needed. Stalin made it clear that Soviet forces would not openly
  engage in combat to avoid a direct war with the Americans. 
• On June 25, 1950, the Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th
  parallel behind artillery fire. The KPA justified its assault with the
  claim that ROK troops had attacked first, and that they were aiming to arrest
  and execute the “bandit traitor Syngman Rhee.” There were initial South Korean claims
  that they had captured the city of Haeju, and this sequence of events has led
  some scholars to argue that the South Koreans actually fired first. Within an
  hour, North Korean forces attacked all along the 38th parallel.
• In five days, the South
  Korean forces, which had 95,000 men on June 25, were down to less than 22,000
  men. In early July, when U.S. forces arrived after the UN passed Resolutions 82 and 83 and it became clear the Soviets would not directly engage in the conflict, what was left of the South Korean
  forces was placed under U.S. operational command of the United Nations Command.

Key Terms

Bodo League

An official “re-education” movement whose members were communists, communist sympathizers, or actual and alleged political opponents of the President of South Korea Syngman Rhee. The members of the movement were forced into the membership and many were civilians with no ties to communism or politics.

Jeju uprising

An attempted insurgency on the Korean province of Jeju Island followed by a brutal anticommunist suppression campaign that lasted from April 3, 1948, until May 1949. The main cause for the rebellion was elections scheduled for May 10, 1948, designed by the UN to create a new government for all of Korea but only planned for the south of the country. Fearing this would further reinforce division, guerrilla fighters for the South Korean Labor party reacted violently, attacking local police and rightist youth groups stationed on Jeju Island.

war of attrition

A military strategy in which a belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material.
This type of war is usually won by the side with greater resources.

“Anti-Communist” Purge in South Korea

Following the post-World War II division of Korea between the U.S. and the Soviet sphere of influence, the U.S. government cited the inability of the Soviet-U.S. Joint Commission to make progress and decided to hold an election under United Nations auspices with the aim of creating an independent Korea. The Soviet authorities and the Korean Communists refused to cooperate on the grounds it would not be fair. Many South Korean politicians also boycotted the idea. A general election was held in the South in 1948, marred by political violence and sabotage resulting in 600 deaths. North Korea held parliamentary elections three months later. 

South Korean citizens protest Allied trusteeship in December 1945, author unknown.

Koreans on both sides of the 38th parallel refused to accept the imposed division of their country. 

In 1948, the resultant South Korean government promulgated a new constitution and elected Syngman Rhee as President. The Republic of Korea (South Korea) was established on August 15, 1948. While in the North the Soviet Union established a communist government led by Kim Il-sung, President Rhee’s regime excluded communists and leftists from southern politics. Disenfranchised, they headed for the hills to prepare for guerrilla war against the US-sponsored ROK government. While Rhee indeed aimed to eradicate communist and leftist groups, the anti-communist slogans were applied to eradicate all his actual and alleged political opponents and establish the authoritarian rule by inciting fear among the civilians with no ties to communism or politics.  

In April 1948, what began as a demonstration commemorating Korean resistance to Japanese rule ended with the Jeju uprising, an attempted insurgency against the scheduled election on the Korean province of Jeju Island, followed by a brutal anticommunist suppression campaign that lasted until May 1949. Although atrocities were committed by both sides, the methods used by the South Korean government to suppress the rebels were especially cruel, including random executions of women and children. In the end, between 14,000 and 30,000 people died as a result of the rebellion, or up to 10% of the island’s population. Some 40,000 others fled to Japan to escape the fighting. The persecution of actual and alleged communists in South Korea continued in the aftermath of the uprising. In December 1949, South Korean forces killed 86 to 88 people in the Mungyeong massacre.
The victims were massacred because they were suspected communist supporters or collaborators (though some sources say nearly one-third of the victims were children) but the government blamed the crime on marauding communist bands. By early 1950, Syngman Rhee had about 20,000-30,000 alleged communists in jails and about 300,000 suspected sympathizers enrolled in the Bodo League re-education movement. The Bodo League
gathered suspected communist sympathizers or Rhee’s political opponents but to fulfill the enrollment quota, many civilians with no ties to communists or politics were forced to become members. 

Jeju residents awaiting execution in May 1948, author unknown.

Jeju residents began protesting the UN-designed 1948 elections in the South a whole year before they took place. An attempt by the military government to disperse the crowds only brought more citizens of Jeju out in support of the demonstrations. The persecution of communists and leftists in South Korea and the refusal to accept the 1948 elections and the divide of the Peninsula were important factors behind the invasion of North Korea in 1950.   

Political Situation Before the War

By 1949, South Korean forces had reduced the active number of communist guerrillas in the South from 5,000 to 1,000. However, Kim Il-sung believed that the guerrillas had weakened the South Korean military and that a North Korean invasion would be welcomed by much of the South Korean population. Kim began seeking Stalin’s support for an invasion in March 1949, but with Chinese Communist forces still engaged in the Chinese Civil War and American forces stationed in South Korea, Stalin did not want the Soviet Union to become embroiled in a war with the United States. By spring 1950, the strategic situation changed. The Soviets had detonated their first nuclear bomb in September 1949, American soldiers had fully withdrawn from Korea, and the Chinese Communists had established the People’s Republic of China. The Soviets had also cracked the codes used by the U.S. to communicate with the U.S. embassy in Moscow, and reading the dispatches convinced Stalin that Korea would not warrant a nuclear confrontation.

In April 1950, Stalin gave Kim permission to invade the South under the condition that Mao Zedong, the leader of China, would agree to send reinforcements if they became needed. Stalin made it clear that Soviet forces would not openly engage in combat to avoid a direct war with the Americans. Mao was concerned that the Americans would intervene but agreed to support the North Korean invasion. Once Mao’s commitment was secured, preparations for war accelerated. Soviet generals with extensive combat experience from World War II were sent to North Korea as the Soviet Advisory Group and completed the plans for the attack.

While these preparations were underway in the North, there were frequent clashes along the 38th parallel, many initiated by the South. The Republic of Korea Army (ROK Army) was being trained by the U.S. Korean Military Advisory Group (KMAG). On the eve of the war, KMAG’s commander General William Lynn Roberts voiced utmost confidence in the ROK Army and boasted that any North Korean invasion would merely provide “target practice.” For his part, Syngman Rhee repeatedly expressed his desire to conquer the North. Despite the southward movement of the Korean’s People’s Army (KPA), U.S. intelligence agencies and UN observers claimed that an invasion was unlikely.  

Outbreak of the War

At dawn on Sunday, June 25, 1950, the Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th parallel behind artillery fire. The KPA justified its assault with the claim that ROK troops had attacked first, and that they were aiming to arrest and execute the “bandit traitor Syngman Rhee.” Fighting began on the strategic Ongjin peninsula in the west. There were initial South Korean claims that they had captured the city of Haeju and this sequence of events has led some scholars to argue that the South Koreans actually fired first. Within an hour, North Korean forces attacked all along the 38th parallel. The North Koreans had a combined arms force including tanks supported by heavy artillery. The South Koreans did not have any tanks, anti-tank weapons, or heavy artillery that could stop such an attack. In addition, South Koreans committed their forces in a piecemeal fashion and these were routed within a few days.

On June 27, Rhee evacuated from Seoul with some members of the government. On June 28 at 2 a.m., the South Korean Army blew up the highway Hangang Bridge across the Han River in an attempt to stop the North Korean army. The bridge was detonated while 4,000 refugees were crossing it and hundreds were killed. Destroying the bridge also trapped many South Korean military units north of the Han River. In spite of such desperate measures, Seoul fell that same day. A number of South Korean National Assemblymen remained in Seoul when it fell and 48 subsequently pledged allegiance to the North. On June 28, Rhee ordered the massacre of suspected political opponents in his own country.

In five days, the South Korean forces, which had 95,000 men on June 25, were down to less than 22,000 men. In early July when U.S. forces arrived, what was left of the South Korean forces was placed under U.S. operational command of the United Nations Command.

U.S. and UN Interventions

The Truman administration was unprepared for the invasion. Korea was not included in the strategic Asian Defense Perimeter outlined by Secretary of State Dean Acheson. Military strategists were more concerned with the security of Europe against the Soviet Union than East Asia. At the same time, the Administration was worried that a war in Korea could quickly widen into another world war should the Chinese or Soviets decide to get involved as well.

One facet of the changing attitude toward Korea and whether to get involved was Japan. Especially after the fall of China to the Communists, U.S. East Asian experts saw Japan as the critical counterweight to the Soviet Union and China in the region. While there was no United States policy that dealt with South Korea as a national interest, its proximity to Japan increased the importance of South Korea. However, a major consideration was the possible Soviet reaction in the event that the U.S. intervened. The Truman administration was fretful that a war in Korea was a diversionary assault that would escalate to a general war in Europe once the United States committed in Korea. Truman believed if aggression went unchecked, a chain reaction would be initiated that would marginalize the United Nations and encourage Communist aggression elsewhere. 

On June 25, 1950, the United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the North Korean invasion of the Republic of Korea with UN Security Council Resolution 82. The Soviet Union, a veto-wielding power, had boycotted the Council meetings since January 1950, protesting that the Republic of China (Taiwan), not the People’s Republic of China, held a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. After debating the matter, the Security Council on June 27, 1950, published Resolution 83 recommending member states provide military assistance to the Republic of Korea. On the same day, President Truman ordered U.S. air and sea forces to help the South Korean regime. On July 4, the Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister accused the United States of starting armed intervention on behalf of South Korea.

War of Attrition 

After the first two months of the conflict, South Korean forces were on the point of defeat, forced back to the Pusan Perimeter. In September 1950, an amphibious UN counter-offensive was launched at Inchon and cut off many of the North Korean troops. Those that escaped envelopment and capture were rapidly forced back north all the way to the border with China at the Yalu River or into the mountainous interior. At this point, in October 1950, Chinese forces crossed the Yalu and entered the war. Chinese intervention triggered a retreat of UN forces which continued until mid-1951.

After these reversals of fortune, which saw Seoul change hands four times, the last two years of conflict became a war of attrition (a strategy in which a belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material), with the front line close to the 38th parallel. The war in the air, however, was never a stalemate. North Korea was subject to a massive bombing campaign. Jet fighters confronted each other in air-to-air combat for the first time in history and Soviet pilots covertly flew in defense of their communist allies.

35.3.4: Foreign Intervention in Korea

As the conflict between South Korea and North Korea reflected the international tensions of the Cold War, the U.S. military forces supported South Korea under the auspices of the UN while Chinese forces backed North Korea with the Soviet Union providing materiel and strategic help. 

Learning Objective

Compare involvement of the U.S., USSR, and China in the Korean War

Key Points

• On
  June 25, 1950, the United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the
  North Korean invasion of the Republic of Korea with UN Security Council
  Resolution 82. On June 27, 1950, the Security Council published Resolution 83 recommending member states
  provide military assistance to the Republic of Korea. On the same day,
  President Truman ordered U.S. air and sea forces to help the South Korean
  regime. 
• U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson and
  President Truman agreed that the United States was obligated to act, paralleling
  the North Korean invasion with Adolf Hitler’s aggression in the 1930s with the
  conclusion that the mistake of appeasement must not be repeated. However, Truman later acknowledged that he believed fighting
  the invasion was essential to the American goal of the global containment of
  communism.
• In September 1950,
  Zhou Enlai warned the United States that China
  was prepared to intervene in Korea if the U.S. crossed the 38th
  parallel. By October 1950, the UN Command repelled the Korean People’s Army
  north past the 38th parallel and the ROK Army crossed after them into
  North Korea. China justified its entry into the war as a
  response to “American aggression in the guise of the UN.”
• Although the Soviet Union agreed upon the Chinese intervention and supported the North Korean and Chinese forces with material and military experts,
  Stalin made it clear that Soviet forces themselves would not
  directly intervene.
• From July 1951 to the end of the war in 1953, the UN
  Command and the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army fought but exchanged little territory. The stalemate held although
  large-scale bombing of North Korea continued. The UN Command forces’ goal was to recapture all of South Korea and
  to avoid losing territory. The PVA and the KPA attempted similar operations and
  later effected military and psychological operations in order to test the UN
  Command’s resolve to continue the war.

• The U.S. forces were not the only international
  units fighting in the Korean War under the auspices of the UN. The United
  Nations Command was in fact the unified command structure for the
  multinational military forces supporting South Korea.
  The United Nations Command and the Chinese-North Korean Command signed the Korean Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, ending the heavy fighting.

Key Terms

Korean Demilitarized Zone

A highly militarized strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula. It was established at the end of the Korean War to serve as a buffer zone between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). It is a de facto border barrier that divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, created by agreement between North Korea, China, and the United Nations in 1953.

United Nations Command

The unified command structure for the multinational military forces supporting South Korea during the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Korean War

A 1950 – 1953 military conflict that began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations, with the United States as the principal force, came to the aid of South Korea. China came to the aid of North Korea, and the Soviet Union gave some assistance.

U.S. Intervention with UN Support

On June 25, 1950, the
United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned the North Korean invasion
of the Republic of Korea with UN Security Council Resolution 82 (the Soviet Union boycotted the UNSC at the time). On June 27, 1950, the Security Council published Resolution 83
recommending member states provide military assistance to the Republic of
Korea. On the same day, President Truman ordered U.S. air and sea forces to
help the South Korean regime. 

U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson and President Truman agreed that the United States was obligated to act, paralleling the North Korean invasion with Adolf Hitler’s aggression in the 1930s with the conclusion that the mistake of appeasement must not be repeated. Several U.S. industries were mobilized to supply materials, labor, capital, production facilities, and other services necessary to support the military objectives of the Korean War. However, Truman later acknowledged that he believed fighting the invasion was essential to the American goal of the global containment of communism. In August 1950, the President and the Secretary of State obtained the consent of Congress to appropriate $12 billion for military action in Korea.

General Omar Bradley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was faced with re-organizing and deploying an American military force that was a shadow of its World War II counterpart. Acting on Acheson’s recommendation, President Truman ordered General MacArthur to transfer material to the Army of the Republic of Korea while giving air cover to the evacuation of U.S. nationals. The President disagreed with advisers who recommended unilateral U.S. bombing of the North Korean forces and ordered the U.S. Seventh Fleet to protect the Republic of China (Taiwan), whose government asked to fight in Korea. The United States denied ROC’s request for combat lest it provoke a communist Chinese retaliation. Because the United States sent the Seventh Fleet to “neutralize” the Taiwan Strait, Chinese Prime Minister Zhou Enlai criticized both the UN and U.S. initiatives as “armed aggression on Chinese territory.”

In September, MacArthur received the top secret National Security Council Memorandum from Truman reminding him that operations north of the 38th parallel were authorized only if “at the time of such operation there was no entry into North Korea by major Soviet or Chinese Communist forces, no announcements of intended entry, nor a threat to counter our operations militarily.” Just three days later, Zhou Enlai warned the United States that China was prepared to intervene in Korea if the United States crossed the 38th parallel. By October 1950, the UN Command repelled the Korean People’s Army northwards past the 38th parallel and the ROK Army crossed after them into North Korea. MacArthur made a statement demanding the KPA’s unconditional surrender. On October 7, with UN authorization, the UN Command forces followed the ROK forces northwards. The X Corps landed at Wonsan (in southeastern North Korea) and Riwon (in northeastern North Korea), already captured by ROK forces. The Eighth U.S. Army and the ROK Army drove up western Korea and captured Pyongyang city, the North Korean capital, on October 19, 1950. At month’s end, UN forces held 135,000 KPA prisoners of war. 

U.S. Marine guards North Korean POWs aboard ship, 1951, author unknown.

The treatment of prisoners of war and their repatriation was a complicated issue in the Korean War. Nominally, both the Communists and United Nations forces were committed to the terms of the 1949 Third Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of POWs. However, both sides applied exceptions and the negotiations regarding POWs were contentious and difficult.

Taking advantage of the UN Command’s strategic momentum against the communists, General MacArthur believed it necessary to extend the Korean War into China to destroy depots supplying the North Korean war effort. President Truman disagreed and ordered caution at the Sino-Korean border.

Chinese Intervention with Soviet Support

China justified its entry into the war as a response to “American aggression in the guise of the UN.” In August 1950, Zhou Enlai informed the UN that “Korea is China’s neighbor” and “the Chinese people cannot but be concerned about a solution of the Korean question.” Thus, through neutral-country diplomats, China warned that in safeguarding Chinese national security, they would intervene against the UN Command in Korea. President Truman interpreted the communication as an “attempt to blackmail the UN” and dismissed it.

October 1, 1950, the day that UN troops crossed the 38th parallel, was also the first anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. On that day, the Soviet ambassador forwarded a telegram from Stalin to Mao and Zhou requesting that China send five to six divisions into Korea, and Kim Il-sung sent frantic appeals to Mao for Chinese military intervention. At the same time, Stalin made it clear that Soviet forces themselves would not directly intervene.

There was considerable resistance among many Chinese leaders, including senior military leaders, to confronting the U.S. in Korea. Mao strongly supported intervention and Zhou was one of the few Chinese leaders who firmly supported him. In order to enlist Stalin’s support, Zhou and a Chinese delegation arrived in Moscow on October 10. Stalin did not agree to send either military equipment or air support until March 1951. Soviet shipments of materiel, when they did arrive, were limited to small quantities of trucks, grenades, machine guns, and the like. Immediately upon his return to Beijing on October 18, Zhou met with Mao and military leaders Peng Dehuai and Gao Gang. The group ordered 200,000 Chinese troops to enter North Korea.

After secretly crossing the Yalu River on October 19, the
Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (PVA) 13th Army Group launched the First Phase Offensive on October 25, attacking the advancing UN forces near the Sino-Korean border. This military decision made solely by China changed the attitude of the Soviet Union. Twelve days after Chinese troops entered the war, Stalin allowed the Soviet Air Force to provide air cover and supported more aid to China. After decimating the ROK II Corps at the Battle of Onjong, the first confrontation between Chinese and U.S. military occurred on November 1, 1950. Deep in North Korea, thousands of soldiers from the PVA 39th Army encircled and attacked the U.S. 8th Cavalry Regiment with three-prong assaults—from the north, northwest, and west—and overran the defensive position flanks in the Battle of Unsan. 

On December 16, 1950, President Truman declared a national emergency, which remained in force until September 1978. The next day, Kim Il-sung was deprived of the right of command of KPA by China. After that, the leading force of the war on the North Korean side became the Chinese army.

Stalemate and Armistice

From July 1951 to the end of the war, the UN Command and the PVA fought but exchanged little territory. The stalemate held although large-scale bombing of North Korea continued. Protracted armistice negotiations began in July 1951, but combat continued while the belligerents negotiated. The UN Command forces’ goal was to recapture all of South Korea and avoid losing territory. The PVA and the KPA attempted similar operations and later effected military and psychological operations to test the UN Command’s resolve to continue the war. The on-again, off-again armistice negotiations continued for two years, first at Kaesong, on the border between North and South Korea, and then at the neighboring village of Panmunjom. A major, problematic negotiation point was prisoner of war (POW) repatriation. The PVA, KPA, and UN Command could not agree on a system of repatriation because many PVA and KPA soldiers refused to be repatriated back to the north, which was unacceptable to the Chinese and North Koreans. In the final armistice agreement signed in July 1953, a Neutral Nations Repatriation Commission was set up to handle the matter.

U.S. Marines fighting in Seoul, Korea, 1950, author unknown.

U.S. Marines engaged in street fighting during the liberation of Seoul, circa late September 1950. Note M-1 rifles and Browning Automatic Rifles carried by the Marines, dead Koreans in the street, and M-4 “Sherman” tanks in the distance.

In 1952, the United States elected a new president, and in November, the president-elect, Dwight D. Eisenhower, went to Korea to learn what might end the Korean War. With the United Nations’ acceptance of India’s proposed Korean War armistice, the KPA, the PVA, and the UN Command ceased fire with the battle line approximately at the 38th parallel. Upon agreeing to the armistice, the belligerents established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which has since been patrolled by the KPA and ROKA, United States, and Joint UN Commands.

United Nations Command

The U.S. forces were not the only international units fighting in the Korean War under the auspices of the UN. The United Nations Command (UNC) was in fact the unified command structure for the multinational military forces supporting South Korea. The first non-Korean and non-U.S. unit to see combat was No. 77 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, which began escort, patrol and ground attacks from Japan in July 1950. In August 1950, the British Commonwealth’s 27th Infantry Brigade arrived at Busan. Units from other countries of the UN followed in rapid succession, including Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Ethiopia, France, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Thailand, and Turkey. Denmark, India, Norway, and Sweden provided medical units. Italy provided a hospital, even though it was not a UN member. Iran provided medical assistance from the Iranian military’s medical service.

35.3.5: A Divided Korea

After the Armistice Agreement was signed in 1953, the Korean War ended but the conflict between the two Korean states continues, still shaping their economic, political, diplomatic, and social relations.

Learning Objective

Analyze the consequences of dividing the Korean Peninsula into two countries

Key Points

• The United Nations Command, supported by the
  United States, the North Korean People’s Army, and the Chinese People’s
  Volunteers, signed the Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953, to end the Korean
  War fighting. The Armistice also called upon the governments of South Korea,
  North Korea, China, and the United States to participate in continued peace
  talks. The war is considered to have ended at this point but no
  peace treaty was ever signed.
• Upon agreeing to the armistice, the
  belligerents established the Korean Demilitarized Zone, a de facto border barrier that divides the
  Korean Peninsula roughly in half. Within the Zone, there is a meeting-point between the two nations in the
  small Joint Security Area near the western end of the zone, where negotiations
  take place. There have been various incidents in and around the Zone, with
  military and civilian casualties on both sides. 
• After the war, Operation Glory, which involved
  the effort to transfer the remains of United Nations
  Command casualties from North Korea, was conducted from July to November
  1954 to allow combatant countries to exchange their dead. Numerous atrocities and massacres of civilians
  throughout the Korean War committed by both the North and South Koreans also impacted the social landscape after the war. The exact number of South Korean POWs who were
  detained in North Korea after the war and who still
  survive in North Korea is unknown.
• Large
  numbers of people were displaced as a result of the war and many families were
  divided by the reconstituted border. In 2007, it was estimated that around
  750,000 people remained separated from immediate family members, and family
  reunions have long been a diplomatic priority.
• After the war, sporadic conflict continued between North and
  South Korea. The opposing regimes aligned themselves with opposing sides in the
  Cold War. Both sides received recognition as the legitimate government of Korea
  from the opposing blocs and both
  built up their military capacity. Numerous events and developments continued to shake relations between the two Korean states. 
• As the Cold War ended, North Korea lost the
  support of the Soviet Union and plunged into economic crisis. In 1998, South
  Korean President Kim Dae-jung initiated the Sunshine Policy, which aimed to
  foster better relations with the North. The
  Sunshine Policy was formally abandoned by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak
  after his election in 2007. Since then, North Korea has continued to develop its nuclear program.

Key Terms

Bodo League massacre

A massacre and war crime against communists and suspected sympathizers, many of whom were civilians who had no connection with communism or communists, that occurred in the summer of 1950 during the Korean War. Estimates of the death toll range from 100,000 to 200,000 deaths.

Korean Demilitarized Zone

A highly militarized strip of
land running across the Korean Peninsula. It was established at the end of the
Korean War to serve as a buffer zone between the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South
Korea). It is a de facto border barrier that divides the
Korean Peninsula roughly in half, created by agreement between North
Korea, China, and the United Nations in 1953.

Operation Glory

The code name for Operations Plan KCZ-OPS 14-54, which involved the effort to transfer the remains of United Nations Command casualties from North Korea at the end of the Korean War. The Korean Armistice Agreement of July 1953 called for the repatriation of all casualties and prisoners of war, and through September and October 1954 the Graves Registration Service Command received the remains of approximately 4,000 casualties.

Sunshine Policy

The foreign policy of South Korea towards North Korea from 1998 to 2008. Since its articulation by South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the policy resulted in greater political contact between the two states and some historic moments in inter-Korean relations, including two Korean summit meetings in Pyongyang (June 2000 and October 2007), several high-profile business ventures, and brief meetings of family members separated by the Korean War.

Korean Demilitarized Zone

The United Nations Command, supported by the United States, the North Korean People’s Army, and the Chinese People’s Volunteers, signed the Armistice Agreement on July 27, 1953 to end the Korean War fighting. The Armistice also called upon the governments of South Korea, North Korea, China, and the United States to participate in continued peace talks. The war is considered to have ended at this point although there was no peace treaty. North Korea nevertheless claims that it won the Korean War.

Upon agreeing to the armistice, the belligerents established the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which has since been patrolled by the KPA and ROKA, United States, and Joint UN Commands. The Demilitarized Zone runs northeast of the 38th parallel and to the south, it travels west.
It is a de facto border barrier that divides the Korean Peninsula roughly in half, running 160 miles long and about 2.5 miles wide. Within the Zone, there is a meeting-point between the two nations in the small Joint Security Area near the western end of the zone, where negotiations take place. There have been various incidents in and around the Zone, with military and civilian casualties on both sides. 

A map of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, produced by the CIA in 1969. Relief shown by contours and spot heights. Depths shown by contours. Oriented with north toward the upper right.

Owing to the theoretical stalemate (no peace treaty has been signed) and genuine hostility between the North and the South, large numbers of troops are still stationed along both sides of the line, each side guarding against potential aggression from the other side. The armistice agreement explains exactly how many military personnel and what kind of weapons are allowed in the DMZ.

Social Landscape After the War

After the war, Operation Glory,
which involved the effort to transfer the remains of United Nations Command casualties from North Korea, was conducted from July to November 1954 to allow combatant countries to exchange their dead. The remains of 4,167 U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps dead were exchanged for 13,528 KPA and PVA dead and 546 civilians dead in UN prisoner-of-war camps were delivered to the South Korean government. From 4,167 containers of returned remains, forensic examination identified 4,219 individuals. Of these, 2,944 were identified as American and all but 416 were identified by name. 

There were numerous atrocities and massacres of civilians throughout the Korean War committed by both the North and South Koreans that impacted the social landscape after the war. Many of them started on the first days of the war. South Korean President Syngman Rhee ordered what would be known as the Bodo League massacre in June 1950, initiating the killing of more than 100,000 suspected leftist sympathizers and their families by South Korean officials and right-wing groups. In occupied areas, North Korean Army political officers purged South Korean society of its intelligentsia by executing academics, government officials, and religious leaders who might lead resistance against the North. When the North Koreans retreated north in September 1950, they abducted tens of thousands of South Korean men. The reasons are not clear, but the intention might have been to acquire skilled professionals .

Large numbers of people were displaced as a result of the war and many families were divided by the reconstituted border. In 2007, it was estimated that around 750,000 people remained separated from immediate family members, and family reunions have long been a diplomatic priority.

The exact number of South Korean POWs who were detained in North Korea after the war is unknown, as is the number who still survive in North Korea. In its report to the legislature in October 2007, the South Korean Ministry of Defense reported that “a total of 41,971 South Korean soldiers were missing during the Korean War. 8,726 were repatriated through POW exchanges after the Armistice of 1953. Some 13,836 have been determined to have been killed based on other information. To date, the status of 19,409 soldiers has not been confirmed. Most of these unconfirmed were believed to have been unrepatriated POWs. Other estimates of South Korean POWs held by the North Koreans at the Armistice have been higher. Yi Hang-gu, a writer and North Korea expert currently in South Korea who served in the Korean People’s Army, has testified that he commanded former South Korean POWs who had been enlisted into the Korean People’s Army during the Korean War. He has estimated the number of South Korean POWs who survived in North Korea at the end of the fighting at about 50,000-60,000. The South Korean government estimates that 560 South Korean POWs still survive in North Korea.

After the war, a large number of mixed-race “G.I. babies” (offspring of American and other UN soldiers and Korean women) were filling up the country’s orphanages. Because Korean traditional society places significant weight on paternal family ties, bloodlines, and purity of race, children of mixed race or those without fathers are not easily accepted in South Korean society. International adoption of Korean children began in 1954. The U.S. Immigration Act of 1952 legalized the naturalization of non-whites as American citizens and made possible the entry of military spouses and children from South Korea after the Korean War.

After the war, the Chinese forces left, but U.S. forces remained in the South. Sporadic conflict continued between North and South Korea.
The opposing regimes aligned themselves with opposing sides in the Cold War. Both sides received recognition as the legitimate government of Korea from the opposing blocs. In 1953, the United States and South Korea signed a defense treaty and in 1958, the United States stationed nuclear weapons in South Korea. In 1961, North Korea signed mutual defense treaties with the USSR and China. 

North Korea presented itself as a champion of orthodox Communism, distinct from the Soviet Union and China. The regime developed the doctrine of Juche or self-reliance, which included extreme military mobilization. In response to the threat of nuclear war, it constructed extensive facilities underground and in the mountains. The Pyongyang Metro opened in the 1970s with capacity to double as bomb shelter. Until the early 1970s, North Korea was economically the equal of the South.

Tensions between North and South escalated in the late 1960s with a series of low-level armed clashes known as the Korean DMZ Conflict. In 1968, North Korean commandos launched the Blue House Raid, an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate South Korean President Park Chung-hee. Shortly after, the U.S. spy ship Pueblo was captured by the North Korean navy. In 1969, North Korea shot down a US EC-121 spy plane over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 crew on board, which constitutes the largest single loss of U.S. aircrew during the Cold War. In 1969, Korean Air Lines YS-11 was hijacked and flown to North Korea. Similarly, in 1970, the hijackers of Japan Airlines Flight 351 were given asylum in North Korea. In response to the Blue House Raid, the South Korean government set up a special unit to assassinate Kim Il-sung, but the mission was aborted in 1972. In 1974, a North Korean sympathizer attempted to assassinate President Park and killed his wife, Yuk Young-soo. 

In the 1970s, both North and South began building up their military capacity. It was discovered that North Korea dug tunnels under the DMZ which could accommodate thousands of troops. Alarmed at the prospect of U.S. disengagement, South Korea began a secret nuclear weapons program which was strongly opposed by Washington. In 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter proposed the withdrawal of troops from South Korea. There was a widespread backlash in America and in South Korea and critics argued that this would allow the North to capture Seoul. Carter postponed the move and his successor Ronald Reagan reversed the policy, increasing troop numbers. After Reagan supplied the South with F-16 fighters and after Kim Il-sung visited Moscow in 1984, the USSR recommenced military aid and cooperation with the North.

Post-Cold War Relations

As the Cold War ended, North Korea lost the support of the Soviet Union and plunged into economic crisis. In 1998, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung initiated the Sunshine Policy, which aimed to foster better relations with the North. However, in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush did not support the policy and in 2002 branded North Korea as a member of an “Axis of Evil.” The Sunshine Policy was formally abandoned by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak after his election in 2007. Meanwhile, in response to its increased isolation, North Korea redoubled its efforts to develop nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles. In 2006, North Korea announced it had successfully conducted its first nuclear test.

At the start of the 21st century, it was estimated that the concentration of firepower in the area between Pyongyang and Seoul was greater than that in central Europe during the Cold War. The North’s Korean People’s Army was numerically twice the size of South Korea’s military and had the capacity to devastate Seoul with artillery and missile bombardment. South Korea’s military, however, was assessed as technically superior. US forces remained in South Korea and carried out annual military exercises with South Korean forces. These have been routinely denounced by North Korea as acts of aggression. Between 1997 and 2016, the North Korea government accused other governments of declaring war against it 200 times. In 2013, amid tensions about its missile program, North Korea temporarily forced the shutdown of the jointly operated Kaesong Industrial Region The zone was shut again in 2016. In 2016, amid controversy, South Korea decided to deploy the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system. After North Korea’s fifth nuclear test in September 2016, it was reported that South Korea had developed a plan to raze Pyongyang if there were signs of an impending nuclear attack from the North.

The Korean Peninsula at night, shown in a 2012 composite photograph from NASA.

According to a 2014 BBC World Service Poll, 3% of South Koreans view North Korea’s influence positively, with 91% expressing a negative view, making South Korea, after Japan, the country with the most negative feelings about North Korea in the world. However, a 2014 government funded survey found only 13% of South Koreans viewed North Korea as hostile and 58% of South Koreans believed North Korea was a country they should cooperate with.

35.3.6: Communism in the DPRK

Following the idea of Juche or self-reliance, North Korea remains one of the most isolated countries in the world, where an authoritarian political system has resulted in the destruction of the economy, complete control of the society, and extreme violations of human rights. 

Learning Objective

Describe how Communism looks in the DPRK today

Key Points

• Following the Korean War,
  North
  Korea emphasized the ideology of Juche (self-reliance)
  to distinguish itself from both the Soviet Union and China. Recovery from the war was
  quick but reconstruction
  of the country depended on extensive Chinese and Soviet assistance. North Korea, like all the
  postwar communist states, undertook massive state investment in heavy industry,
  state infrastructure, and military strength, neglecting the production of
  consumer goods. 
• As
  late as the 1970s, North Korea’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was estimated to be equivalent
  to South Korea’s. By 1972, all children from age 5 to 16 were enrolled in
  school and over 200 universities and specialized colleges had been established.
  By the early 1980s, 60–70% of the population was urbanized.
• In the 1970s, expansion of
  North Korea’s economy, with the accompanying rise in living standards, came to
  an end. North Korea’s desire to lessen its dependence on aid from China and the
  Soviet Union prompted the expansion of its military power, and the government
  believed massive expenditures could be covered by foreign borrowing and
  increased sales of its mineral wealth on the international market. However, following the world
  1973 oil crisis, the state began to default in
  1974 and halted almost all repayments in 1985. 
• Gorbachev’s
  reforms and diplomatic initiatives, the Chinese economic reforms starting in
  1979, and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc from 1989 to 1991 increased North
  Korea’s isolation. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 deprived North Korea of
  its main source of economic aid, leaving China as the isolated regime’s only
  major ally. Without the Soviet aid, North Korea’s economy went into a
  free-fall. 
• Kim
  Il-sung died from a sudden heart attack in 1994. His son, Kim Jong-il, became the chairman of the National Defense Commission and thus North Korea’s de
  facto head
  of state in 1997. Meanwhile, the economy was
  in steep decline. In 1990-1995, foreign trade was cut in half, with the loss of
  subsidized Soviet oil particularly keenly felt. The crisis came to a head
  in 1995 with widespread flooding that destroyed crops and infrastructure,
  leading to a massive famine that lasted until 1998. Normalization of the relations with the West that began in the late 1990s failed and North Korea continued to develop its nuclear program. 
• International
  organizations have assessed human rights violations in North Korea as
  belonging to a category of their own, with no parallel in the contemporary
  world. North Koreans have been referred to as “some of the world’s most
  brutalized people” and a special UN commission has reported numerous cases of crimes against humanity. 

Key Terms

Sunshine Policy

The foreign policy of South
Korea towards North Korea from 1998 to 2008. Since its articulation by South
Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the policy resulted in greater political contact
between the two states and some historic moments in inter-Korean relations,
including two Korean summit meetings in Pyongyang (June 2000 and October 2007),
several high-profile business ventures, and brief meetings of family members
separated by the Korean War.

August Faction Incident

A 1956 attempted removal of Kim Il-sung from power by leading North Korean figures from the Soviet-Korean faction and the Yan’an faction, with support from the Soviet Union and China.

Juche

The official state ideology of North Korea, described by the regime as Kim Il-sung’s “contribution to national and international thought.” It claims that an individual is “the master of his destiny.” In practical terms, it calls for the economic self-reliance of North Korea.

North Korea after the Korean War

Following the 1956 August Faction Incident (an attempted removal of Kim Il-sung from power), Kim Il-sung successfully resisted efforts by the Soviet Union and China to depose him in favor of pro-Soviet Korean officials or the pro-Chinese Yan’an faction. The last Chinese troops withdrew from the country in 1958, but North Korea remained closely aligned with China and the Soviet Union and the Sino-Soviet split allowed Kim to play the powers off each other. At the same time, North Korea emphasized the ideology of Juche (self-reliance) to distinguish itself from both the Soviet Union and China.

Recovery from the war was quick — by 1957 industrial production reached 1949 levels —
but reconstruction of the country depended on extensive Chinese and Soviet assistance. Koreans with experience in Japanese industries also played a significant part. Land was collectivized between 1953 and 1958. Resistance appears to have been minimal as landlords were eliminated by earlier reforms or during the war.

North Korea, like all the postwar communist states, undertook massive state investment in heavy industry, state infrastructure and military strength, neglecting the production of consumer goods.
The country was placed on a semi-war footing, with equal emphasis being given to the civilian and military economies. At a special party conference in 1966, members of the leadership who opposed the military build-up were removed. Industry was fully nationalized by 1959.
Taxation on agricultural income was abolished in 1966.

As late as the 1970s, North Korea’s GDP per capita was estimated to be equivalent to South Korea’s. By 1972, all children from age 5 to 16 were enrolled in school and more than 200 universities and specialized colleges had been established. By the early 1980s, 60–70% of the population was urbanized.

Economic Decline

In the 1970s, expansion of North Korea’s economy, with the accompanying rise in living standards, came to an end. North Korea’s desire to lessen its dependence on aid from China and the Soviet Union prompted the expansion of its military power, and the government believed massive expenditures could be covered by foreign borrowing and increased sales of its mineral wealth on the international market. North Korea invested heavily in its mining industries and purchased a large quantity of mineral extraction infrastructure from abroad. However, following the world 1973 oil crisis, international prices of many of North Korea’s native minerals fell, leaving the country with large debts, inability to pay them off, and an extensive network of social welfare benefits. The state began to default in 1974 and halted almost all repayments in 1985. Consequently, it was also unable to invest further in Western technology.

In 1984, Kim visited Moscow during a grand tour of the USSR where he met Soviet leader Konstantin Chernenko. Soviet involvement in the North Korean economy increased, with bilateral trade reaching its peak at $2.8 billion in 1988. In 1986, Kim met the incoming Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and received a pledge of support. However, Gorbachev’s reforms and diplomatic initiatives, the Chinese economic reforms starting in 1979, and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc from 1989 to 1991 increased North Korea’s isolation. The leadership in Pyongyang responded by proclaiming that the collapse of the Eastern Bloc demonstrated the correctness of the policy of Juche. Simultaneously, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 deprived North Korea of its main source of economic aid, leaving China as the isolated regime’s only major ally. Without the Soviet aid, North Korea’s economy went into a free-fall. 

Kim Jong-il’s Era

Kim Il-sung died from a sudden heart attack in 1994. His son, Kim Jong-il, who had already assumed key positions in the government, succeeded as General-Secretary of the Korean Workers’ Party. At that time, North Korea had no secretary-general in the party nor a president. Although a new constitution appeared to end the war-time political system, it did not completely terminate the transitional military rule. Rather, it legitimized and institutionalized military rule by making the National Defense Commission (NDC) the most important state organization and its chairman the highest authority. After three years of consolidating his power, Kim Jong-il became Chairman of the NDC in 1997 and thus North Korea’s de facto head of state.

Meanwhile, the economy was in steep decline. In 1990-1995, foreign trade was cut in half, with the loss of subsidized Soviet oil particularly keenly felt. The crisis came to a head in 1995 with widespread flooding that destroyed crops and infrastructure, leading to a famine that lasted until 1998.
The North Korean government and its centrally planned system proved too inflexible to effectively curtail the disaster. Estimates of the death toll vary widely. Out of a total population of approximately 22 million, somewhere between 240,000 and 3.5 million North Koreans died from starvation or hunger-related illnesses, with deaths peaking in 1997. Recent research suggests that the likely number of excess deaths between 1993 and 2000 was about 330,000.

In the late 1990s, North Korea began making attempts at normalizing relations with the West and continuously renegotiating disarmament deals with U.S. officials in exchange for economic aid. At the same time, South Korea began to engage with the North as part of its Sunshine Policy. The international environment changed with the election of U.S. president George W. Bush in 2001. His administration rejected South Korea’s Sunshine Policy and the U.S. government treated North Korea as a rogue state, while North Korea redoubled its efforts to acquire nuclear weapons. In 2006, North Korea announced it had conducted its first nuclear weapons test.

The Juche Tower in Pyongyang is dedicated to the Juche ideology, photo by Martyn Williams. 

Juche’s core tenets are economic self-sufficiency, military self-reliance, and an independent foreign policy. The roots of Juche were made up of a complex mixture of factors, including the cult of personality centered on Kim Il-sung, the conflict with pro-Soviet and pro-Chinese dissenters, and Korea’s centuries-long struggle for independence.

In August 2009, former President Bill Clinton met with Kim Jong-il to secure the release of two American journalists who were sentenced for entering the country illegally. Barack Obama’s position towards North Korea was to resist making deals with North Korea for the sake of defusing tension, a policy known as “strategic patience.”

Current Situation

In 2011, the supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-il died from a heart attack. His youngest son Kim Jong-un was announced as his successor. Over the following years, North Korea continued to develop its nuclear arsenal despite international condemnation. Notable tests were performed in 2013 and 2016 and UN sanctions have tightened. At the 7th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea in 2016, Kim Jong-Un further consolidated his control and power within the Workers’ Party of Korea and the country.

The DPRK officially describes itself as a self-reliant socialist state and formally holds elections.
The unicameral Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) is the highest organ of state authority and holds the legislative power. Its 687 members are elected every five years by universal suffrage. Deputies formally elect the President, the vice presidents, and members of the Presidium and take part in the constitutionally appointed activities of the legislature: passing laws, establishing domestic and foreign policies, appointing members of the cabinet, reviewing and approving the state economic plan, among others. The SPA itself cannot initiate any legislation independently of party or state organs. It is unknown whether it has ever criticized or amended bills placed before it, and the elections are based around a single list of candidates who stand without opposition.

Executive power is vested in the Cabinet of North Korea, which is headed by Premier Pak Pong-ju. The Premier represents the government and functions independently. His authority extends over two vice premiers, 30 ministers, two cabinet commission chairmen, the cabinet chief secretary, the president of the Central Bank, the director of the Central Statistics Bureau, and the president of the Academy of Sciences. A 31st ministry, the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces, is under the jurisdiction of the National Defense Commission.

Critics regard North Korea as a totalitarian dictatorship. Various outlets have called it Stalinist, particularly noting the elaborate cult of personality around Kim Il-sung and his family. The Workers’ Party of Korea, led by a member of the ruling family, holds power in the state and leads the Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland. North Korea is the country with the highest number of military and paramilitary personnel, with a total of 9,495,000 active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel. Its active duty army of 1.21 million is the fourth largest in the world, after China, the U.S., and India. North Korea is an atheist state with no official religion and where public display of religion is discouraged.

The North Korean government exercises control over many aspects of the nation’s culture, and this control is used to perpetuate a cult of personality surrounding Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Kim Il-sung is still officially revered as the nation’s “Eternal President.” Several landmarks in North Korea are named for Kim Il-sung, including Kim Il-sung University, Kim Il-sung Stadium, and Kim Il-sung Square. Defectors have been quoted as saying that North Korean schools deify both father and son. The extent of the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong-il and Kim Il-sung was demonstrated in 2012, when a 14-year-old North Korean schoolgirl drowned while attempting to rescue portraits of the two from a flood.

North Koreans bowing in front of statues of Kim Il-sung (left) and Kim Jong-il, April 2012, photo by J.A. de Roo.

The North Korean government exercises control over many aspects of the nation’s culture, and this control is used to perpetuate a cult of personality surrounding Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. While visiting North Korea in 1979, journalist Bradley Martin wrote that nearly all music, art, and sculpture that he observed glorified “Great Leader” Kim Il-sung, whose personality cult was then being extended to his son, “Dear Leader” Kim Jong-il. Martin reported that there is even widespread belief that Kim Il-sung “created the world” and Kim Jong-il could “control the weather.”

Human Rights Violations

International organizations have assessed human rights violations in North Korea as belonging to a category of their own, with no parallel in the contemporary world.
North Koreans have been referred to as “some of the world’s most brutalized people” by Human Rights Watch because of the severe restrictions placed on their political and economic freedoms. The North Korean population is strictly managed by the state and all aspects of daily life are subordinated to party and state planning. Employment is managed by the party on the basis of political reliability and travel is tightly controlled by the Ministry of People’s Security. Amnesty International reports of severe restrictions on the freedom of association, expression and movement, arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment resulting in death, and executions. North Korea applies capital punishment, including public executions. Human rights organizations estimate that 1,193 executions had been carried out in the country as of 2009.

In 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council established the Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The Commission is mandated to investigate the systematic, widespread, and grave violations of human rights in North Korea. The Commission dealt with matters relating to crimes against humanity on the basis of definitions set out by customary international criminal law and in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The 2014 Report by the commission concluded, “the body of testimony and other information [the Commission] received establishes that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State… These crimes against humanity entail extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation. The commission further finds that crimes against humanity are ongoing in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea because the policies, institutions and patterns of impunity that lie at their heart remain in place.” Additionally, the commission found that crimes against humanity have been committed against starving populations, particularly during the 1990s, and against persons from other countries who were systematically abducted or denied repatriation in order to gain labor and other skills. 

35.3.7: South Korea’s Economic Growth

Although South Korea emerged from the Korean War as one of the poorest countries in the world and despite a series of authoritarian regimes lasting until the late 1980s, the South Korean economy has been one of the fastest-growing and most stable in the world since the 1960s.

Learning Objective

Explain the policies enacted by the South Korean government to promote economic growth

Key Points

• Following the armistice that ended the Korean
  War fighting, South Korea experienced political turmoil under the autocratic
  leadership of Syngman Rhee. Throughout his rule, Rhee sought to take additional
  steps to cement his control of government. Under his rule, the country was in a dire economic situation and he was finally forced to resign and flee in 1960, following the April Revolution.
• A period of political instability followed,
  broken by General Park Chung-hee’s May 16 coup against the weak and ineffectual
  government the next year. Park took over as president, overseeing rapid
  export-led economic growth as well as implementing political repression. He was
  heavily criticized as a ruthless military dictator.
• Park
  was assassinated in 1979, initiating another period of political turmoil, as the previously suppressed opposition leaders all
  campaigned to run for president in the sudden political void. In 1979, there
  came the Coup d’état of December Twelfth led by General Chun Doo-hwan.

  Chun
  and his government held South Korea under a despotic rule until 1987, when the June Democracy Movement
  forced the ruling government to hold elections and institute other democratic reforms.

• Sweeping economic reforms
  were initiated under Park’s administration that announced its
  five-year economic development plan based on an export-oriented
  industrialization policy. Top priority was placed on the growth of a
  self-reliant economy and modernization. The economy grew rapidly with
  vast improvements in industrial structure. Capital was needed for such developments, so the Park
  regime used the influx of foreign aid from Japan and the United States to
  provide loans to export businesses, with preferential treatment in obtaining
  low-interest bank loans and tax benefits.
• Despite the immense economic growth,
  the standard of living for city laborers and farmers was still low. Laborers
  were working for low wages to increase the price competitiveness for the
  export-oriented economy plan, and farmers were in near poverty as the government
  controlled prices. As the rural economy steadily lost ground and caused dissent
  among the farmers, however, the government decided to implement measures to
  increase farm productivity and income.
• In the first half of the 1990s, in already
  democratic South Korea, the economy continued a stable and strong growth.
  Things changed quickly in 1997 with the Asian Financial Crisis. Following the recovery, in the 2000s, Korea’s economy moved away from
  the centrally planned, government-directed investment model toward a more
  market-oriented one. South Korea today is the most industrialized member of the
  OECDE with a high-income economy and massive investments in education that have taken
  the country from mass illiteracy to a major international technological
  powerhouse.

Key Terms

April Revolution

A popular uprising in April 1960 led by labor and student groups, which overthrew the autocratic First Republic of South Korea under Syngman Rhee. It led to the resignation of Rhee and the transition to the Second Republic of South Korea. The events were touched off by the discovery in Masan Harbor of the body of a student killed by a tear-gas shell in demonstrations against the elections of March 1960.

Miracle on the Han River

A phrase that refers to the period of rapid economic growth in South Korea following the Korean War (1950-1953), during which South Korea transformed from a poor developing country to a developed country.

Coup d’état of December Twelfth

A military coup d’état which took place on December 12, 1979, in South Korea. Republic of Korea Army Major General Chun Doo-hwan, commander of the Security Command, acting without authorization from Acting President Choi Kyu-ha, ordered the arrest of General Jeong Seung-hwa, ROK Army Chief of Staff, on allegations of involvement in the assassination of President Park Chung Hee.

May 16 coup

A military coup d’état in South Korea in 1961, organized and carried out by Park Chung-hee and his allies who formed the Military Revolutionary Committee. The coup rendered powerless the democratically elected government of Yun Bo-seon and ended the Second Republic, installing a reformist military Supreme Council for National Reconstruction effectively led by Park, who took over as Chairman after General Chang’s arrest.

June Democracy Movement

A nationwide democracy movement in South Korea that generated mass protests from June 10 to June 29, 1987. The demonstrations forced the ruling government to hold elections and institute other democratic reforms, which led to the establishment of the Sixth Republic, the present-day government of South Korea.

June 29 Declaration

A speech by Roh Tae-woo, presidential candidate of the ruling Democratic Justice Party of South Korea, on June 29, 1987. Roh promised significant concessions to opponents of the incumbent authoritarian regime of Chun Doo-hwan who had been pressing for democracy. Roh went on to win the open presidential elections that were held that year, the first for at least 15 years since 1972.

Political Regime After the Korean War

Following the armistice that ended the Korean War fighting, South Korea experienced political turmoil under the autocratic leadership of Syngman Rhee. Throughout his rule, Rhee took additional steps to cement his control of government. In 1952, still in the midst of the Korean War, he pushed through constitutional amendments, which made the presidency a directly elected position. To do this, he declared martial law, arresting opposing members of parliament, demonstrators, and anti-government groups. He was subsequently elected by a wide margin. In the 1954 elections, Rhee regained control of parliament and thereupon pushed through an amendment to exempt himself from the eight-year term limit and was once again re-elected in 1956. Soon after, his administration arrested members of the opposing party and executed its leader after accusing him of being a North Korean spy.

The administration became increasingly repressive while dominating the political arena and in 1958, sought to amend the National Security Law to tighten government control over all levels of administration, including the local units. These measures caused much outrage among the people, but despite public outcry, Rhee’s administration rigged the 1960 presidential elections and won by a landslide. On the election day, however, protests by students and citizens against the irregularities of the election burst out in the city of Masan. Initially these protests were quelled with force by local police, but when the body of a student was found floating in the harbor of Masan, the whole country was enraged and protests spread nationwide. On April 19, students from various universities and schools rallied and marched in protest in the Seoul streets in what would be called the April Revolution. The government declared martial law, called in the army, and suppressed the crowds with open fire. Subsequent protests throughout the country shook the government and after an escalated protest, Rhee submitted his official resignation and fled into exile.

A period of political instability followed, broken by General Park Chung-hee’s May 16 coup against the weak and ineffectual government the next year. Park took over as president, overseeing rapid export-led economic growth as well as implementing political repression. He was heavily criticized as a ruthless military dictator, who in 1972 extended his rule by creating a new constitution that gave the president sweeping (almost dictatorial) powers and permitted him to run for an unlimited number of six-year terms. 

Park was assassinated in 1979, re-introducing political turmoil as the previously suppressed opposition leaders all campaigned to run for president in the sudden political void. In 1979 came the Coup d’état of December Twelfth led by General Chun Doo-hwan. Following the coup d’état, Chun Doo-hwan planned to rise to power through several measures. On May 17, he forced the Cabinet to expand martial law to the whole country (it had previously not applied to the island of Jejudo). The expanded martial law closed universities, banned political activities, and further curtailed the press. Chun’s assumption of the presidency triggered nationwide protests demanding democracy.

Chun and his government held South Korea under a despotic rule until 1987, when a Seoul National University student, Park Jong-chul, was tortured to death. On June 10, the Catholic Priests Association for Justice revealed the incident, igniting the June Democracy Movement around the country. Eventually, Chun’s party, the Democratic Justice Party, and its leader, Roh Tae-woo announced the June 29 Declaration, which included the direct election of the president. Roh went on to win the election by a narrow margin. Since then South Korea has engaged in consistent democratization efforts.

May 16 coup, Major General Park Chung-hee (right), author unknown. 

Park was one of a group of military leaders pushing for the depoliticization of the military. Under Park’s authoritarian rule, the South Korean economy began its miraculous growth. 

Economic Growth

Following the Korean War, South Korea remained one of the poorest countries in the world for over a decade. In 1960, its gross domestic product per capita was $79, lower than that of some sub-Saharan countries. At the beginning of the 1960s,
the government formulated a five-year economic development plan, although it was unable to act on it prior to the April Revolution. The hwan (South Korean currency) lost half of its value against the dollar between fall 1960 and spring 1961.

Park’s administration started by announcing its five-year economic development plan based on an export-oriented industrialization policy. Top priority was placed on the growth of a self-reliant economy and modernization. “Development First, Unification Later” became the slogan of the times and the economy grew rapidly with vast improvements in industrial structure, especially in the basic and heavy chemical industries. Capital was needed for such developments, so the Park regime used the influx of foreign aid from Japan and the United States to provide loans to export businesses, with preferential treatment in obtaining low-interest bank loans and tax benefits. Cooperating with the government, these businesses would later become chaebols, business conglomerates that are typically global multinationals and own numerous international enterprises controlled by a chairman with power over all the operations.

Relations with Japan were normalized by the Korea-Japan treaty ratified in 1965. The treaty brought Japanese funds in the form of loans and compensation for the damages suffered during the colonial era without an official apology from the Japanese government, sparking much protest across the nation. The government also kept close ties with the United States and continued to receive large amounts of aid. A status of forces agreement was concluded in 1966. Soon thereafter, Korea joined the Vietnam War. Economic and technological growth during this period improved the standard of living, which expanded opportunities for education. Workers with higher education were absorbed by the rapidly growing industrial and commercial sectors, and urban population surged. Construction of the Gyeongbu Expressway was completed and linked Seoul to the nation’s southeastern region and the port cities of Incheon and Busan. 

South Korean citizens perform a card stunt for President Park Chung-hee on South Korean Army day, October 1, 1973. Photo by Baek Jong-sik.

Unlike in most other countries, the incredible economic growth in South Korean did not go hand in hand with democratization. Despite the authoritarian regime,
South Korea’s tiger economy soared at an annual average of 10% for over 30 years in a period of rapid transformation called the Miracle on the Han River. A long legacy of openness and focus in innovation made it successful.

Despite the immense economic growth, however, the standard of living for city laborers and farmers was still low. Laborers were working for low wages to increase the price competitiveness for the export-oriented economy plan and farmers were in near poverty as the government controlled prices. As the rural economy steadily lost ground and caused dissent among the farmers, however, the government decided to implement measures to increase farm productivity and income by instituting the Saemauel Movement (“New Village Movement”) in 1971. The movement’s goal was to improve the quality of rural life, modernize both rural and urban societies, and narrow the income gap between them.

Despite social and political unrest, the economy continued to flourish under the authoritarian rule with the export-based industrialization policy. The first two five-year economic development plans were successful and the 3rd and 4th five-year plans focused on expanding the heavy and chemical industries, raising the capability for steel production and oil refining. As most of the development had come from foreign capital, most of the profit went back to repaying the loans and interests. In the 1980s, tight monetary laws and low interest rates contributed to price stability and helped the economy boom with notable growth in the electronics, semi-conductor, and automobile industries. The country opened up to foreign investments and GDP rose as Korean exports increased. This rapid economic growth, however, widened the gap between the rich and the poor, the urban and rural regions, and also exacerbated inter-regional conflicts. These dissensions, added to the hard-line measures taken against opposition to the government, fed intense rural and student movements, which had grown since the beginning of the republic.

In the first half of the 1990s, in already democratic South Korea, the economy continued a stable and strong growth. Things changed quickly in 1997 with the Asian Financial Crisis. By 1997, the IMF had approved a USD $21 billion loan, that would be part of a USD $58.4 billion bailout plan. By January 1998, the government had shut down a third of Korea’s merchant banks. Actions by the South Korean government and debt swaps by international lenders contained the country’s financial problems. Much of South Korea’s recovery from the Asian Financial Crisis can be attributed to labor adjustments (i.e. a dynamic and productive labor market with flexible wage rates) and alternative funding sources.

The Miracle on the Han River

In the 2000s, Korea’s economy moved away from the centrally planned, government-directed investment model toward a more market-oriented one. These economic reforms helped it maintain one of Asia’s few expanding economies.
South Korea’s mixed economy ranks 11th nominal and 13th purchasing power parity GDP in the world, identifying it as one of the G-20 major economies. South Korea is the most industrialized member of the OECDE with a high-income economy and massive investments in education bringing the country from mass illiteracy to a major international technological powerhouse. The country’s national economy benefits from a highly skilled workforce, and South Koreans are among the most educated societies in the world with one of the highest percentage of individuals holding a tertiary education degree. The South Korean economy continues to be heavily dependent on international trade and in 2014, the country was the 5th largest exporter and 7th largest importer in the world. The incredible economic development from the early 1960s to the late 1990s and becoming  one of the fastest-growing developed countries in the 2000s has compelled South Koreans to refer to this growth as the Miracle on the Han River. South Korea was also one of the few developed countries that were able to avoid a recession during the global financial crisis of 2007-2008.

35.4: The Indian Subcontinent

35.4.1: The Indian Independence Movement

Gandhi was the pivotal figure of the Indian independence movement. His ideal of non-violent civil disobedience not only attracted mass following in India and shaped its successful struggle for a sovereign state, but also influenced social justice movements across the world.  

Learning Objective

Describe Gandhi’s role in the movement for Indian independence

Key Points

• The Indian independence
  movement, spanning 190 years, encompassed activities and ideas aiming to end the East India
  Company rule (1757–1858) and the British Indian Empire (1858–1947) in
  the Indian subcontinent. Its most decisive phase has been associated with Mahatma Gandhi, who in
  today’s India is commonly referred to as “the father of the nation.”
• Gandhi spent
  21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics, and
  political leadership skills. He was a prominent leader of the Indian
  nationalist movement in South Africa and a vocal opponent of basic
  discrimination and abusive labor treatment as well as oppressive police
  control. During these protests, Gandhi perfected the concept of satyagraha (“insistence
  on truth”) that he would later implement in India. 
• Gandhi returned to India
  in 1915 and joined the Indian National Congress, a key participant in the Indian independence movement. His ideas and
  strategies of non-violent civil disobedience initially appeared impractical, but his vision brought millions of ordinary
  Indians into the movement, transforming it from an elitist struggle to a
  national one. 
• Gandhi
  took leadership of the Congress in 1920, when he also started the
  Non-Cooperation Movement. The
  movement urged the use of Indian
  materials as alternatives to those shipped from Britain. It also urged people to
  boycott British educational institutions and law courts, resign from government
  employment, refuse to pay taxes, and forsake British titles and honors. It enjoyed widespread popular support and the resulting unparalleled
  magnitude of disorder presented a serious challenge to the British rule.
• Gandhi
  stayed out of active politics for most of the
  1920s but emerged from seclusion by
  undertaking his most famous campaign, a march of about 240 miles (400 km)
  from his commune in Ahmedabad to Dandi, on the coast of Gujarat between March
  11 and April 6, 1930. The march, known as the Salt
  March, was an act
  of civil disobedience against the British empire and the unjust salt tax of the
  British. 
• Gandhi
  initially favored offering “nonviolent moral support” to the British
  effort when World War II broke out in 1939. As the war progressed, he intensified his demand for independence,
  calling for the British to Quit
  India. At
  the end of the war, the British gave clear indications that power would be
  transferred to Indian hands.
  With the speedy passage through the British Parliament of the Indian Independence
  Act 1947, Pakistan and India became two separate sovereign
  states. As
  a rule, Gandhi was opposed to the concept of partition as it contradicted his
  vision of religious unity.

Key Terms

satyagraha

A Hindu term, loosely translated as insistence on truth or holding onto truth or truth force, that refers to a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. The term was coined and developed by Mahatma Gandhi, who deployed the philosophy in the Indian independence movement and also during his earlier struggles in South Africa for Indian rights. The theory influenced Martin Luther King, Jr.’s and James Bevel’s campaigns during the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and many other social justice movements.

Salt March

An act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India initiated by Mahatma Gandhi to produce salt from the seawater in the coastal village of Dandi, as was the practice of the local populace until British officials introduced taxation on salt production, deemed their sea-salt reclamation activities illegal, and repeatedly used force to stop it. The 24-day march began on March 12, 1930, as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly. It gained worldwide attention, which gave impetus to the Indian independence movement and inspired the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement.

Quit India Movement

A civil disobedience movement launched in Bombay by Mahatma Gandhi on August 8, 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British Rule of India. Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in a speech delivered in Bombay at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. The All-India Congress Committee launched a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called “An Orderly British Withdrawal” from India. Almost the entire leadership of the Indian National Congress was imprisoned without trial within hours of Gandhi’s speech. Sporadic small-scale violence took place around the country and the British arrested tens of thousands of leaders.

Non-Cooperation Movement

A significant phase of the Indian independence movement from British rule, led by Mahatma Gandhi, that aimed to resist through nonviolent means. Protesters would refuse to buy British goods, adopt the use of local handicrafts, and picket liquor shops. The ideas of ahimsa (no harm) and nonviolence and Gandhi’s ability to rally hundreds of thousands of common citizens towards the cause of Indian independence, were first seen on a large scale in this movement through the summer of 1920.

Indian National Congress

One of two major political parties in India, founded in 1885 during the British Raj. Its founders include Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, and Dinshaw Wacha. In the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries, it became a pivotal participant in the Indian independence movement, with more than 15 million members and 70 million participants in its opposition to British colonial rule in India.

Gandhi’s Return to India

The Indian independence movement encompassed activities and ideas aiming to end the East India Company rule (1757–1858) and the British Indian Empire (1858–1947) in the Indian subcontinent. The movement spanned a total of 190 years (1757-1947) but its most decisive phase has been associated with Mahatma Gandhi, who in today’s India is commonly referred to as “the father of the nation.”

In 1893 at the age of 24, Gandhi arrived in South Africa to work as a legal representative for the Muslim Indian Traders in Pretoria. He spent 21 years in South Africa, where he developed his political views, ethics, and political leadership skills. He was a prominent leader of the Indian nationalist movement in South Africa and a vocal opponent of basic discrimination and abusive labor treatment as well as oppressive police control. During these protests, Gandhi ad perfected the concept of satyagraha (“insistence on truth”).  In 1914, his strategies succeeded. The legislation against Indians was repealed and all Indian political prisoners were released. Gandhi accomplished this through extensive use of non-violent protest, such as boycotting, protest marching, and fasting.

Gandhi returned to India in 1915 with an international reputation as a leading Indian nationalist, theorist, and organizer. He joined the Indian National Congress,  a pivotal participant in the Indian independence movement, and was introduced to Indian issues, politics, and the Indian people primarily by Gopal Krishna Gokhale. Gokhale was a key leader of the Congress Party best known for his restraint and moderation and his insistence on working inside the system. Gandhi took Gokhale’s liberal approach based on British Whiggish traditions and transformed it to be wholly Indian. He initially entered the political fray not with calls for a nation-state but in support of the unified commerce-oriented territory championed by the Congress Party. Gandhi believed that the industrial and educational development that the Europeans had brought with them were required to alleviate many of India’s problems. Gandhi’s ideas of and strategies for non-violent civil disobedience initially appeared impractical to some Indians and Congress members. But his vision brought millions of ordinary Indians into the movement, transforming it from an elitist struggle to a national one. The nationalist cause was expanded to include the interests and industries that formed the economy of common Indians. 

Gandhi’s Leadership: Civil Disobedience 

Gandhi took leadership of the Congress in 1920 when he started the Non-Cooperation Movement. He convinced other leaders of the need for a  movement in support of Khilafat (a pan-Islamic, political protest campaign launched by Muslims in British India to influence the British government)

as well as swaraj (self rule). The movement urged the use of khadi (handspun and hand-woven cloth) and Indian material as alternatives to those shipped from Britain. It also urged people to boycott British educational institutions and law courts, resign from government employment, refuse to pay taxes, and forsake British titles and honors. The movement enjoyed widespread popular support and the resulting unparalleled magnitude of disorder presented a serious challenge to the British rule. However, Gandhi called off the movement following the Chauri Chaura incident, which saw the death of 22 policemen at the hands of an angry mob. In 1922, Gandhi was sentenced to six years of prison, but was released after serving two.

Without Gandhi’s unifying personality, the Indian National Congress began to splinter during his years in prison, splitting into two factions, one led by Chitta Ranjan Das and Motilal Nehru favoring party participation in the legislatures, and the other led by Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, opposing this move. Further, cooperation among Hindus and Muslims, which was strong at the height of the nonviolence campaign, broke down. Gandhi attempted to bridge these differences through many means, including a three-week fast in the autumn of 1924, but with limited success. 

Mahatma Gandhi spinning yarn, in the late 1920s, author unknown.

Gandhi expanded his nonviolence platform to include the swadeshi policy—the boycott of foreign-made goods, especially British goods. Linked to this was his advocacy that khadi (homespun cloth) be worn by all Indians instead of British-made textiles. Gandhi exhorted Indian men and women, rich or poor, to spend time each day spinning khadi in support of the independence movement. Gandhi even invented a small, portable spinning wheel that could be folded into the size of a small typewriter.

Salt March

Gandhi stayed out of active politics and thus the limelight for most of the 1920s. He focused instead on resolving the wedge between the Swaraj Party and the Indian National Congress and expanding initiatives against untouchability, alcoholism, ignorance, and poverty. He emerged from his long seclusion by undertaking his most famous campaign, a march of about 240 miles (400 km) from his commune in Ahmedabad to Dandi, on the coast of Gujarat, between March 11 and April 6, 1930. The march, known as the Dandi March (Salt March) or the Salt Satyagraha, was an act of civil disobedience against the British empire and its unjust salt tax. In response to the local practice of producing salt out of seawater, the British introduced taxation on salt production, deemed sea-salt reclamation activities illegal, and repeatedly used force to stop these activities. The 24-day march began as a direct action campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly. Gandhi and thousands of his followers broke the law by making their own salt from seawater (at the Gulf of Khambhat). The march was a turning point for the Indian independence movement. 

For the next few years, the Congress and the government were locked in conflict and negotiations until the passing of the Government of India Act in 1935. By then, the rift between the Congress and the Muslim League was unbridgeable. The Muslim League disputed the claim of the Congress to represent all people of India, while the Congress disputed the Muslim League’s claim to voice the aspirations of all Muslims.

The 1935 Act, the voluminous and final constitutional effort at governing British India, articulated three major goals: establishing a loose federal structure, achieving provincial autonomy, and safeguarding minority interests through separate electorates. The federal provisions, intended to unite princely states and British India at the center, were not implemented because of ambiguities in safeguarding the existing privileges of princes. In February 1937, however, provincial autonomy became a reality when elections were held. The Congress emerged as the dominant party with a clear majority in five provinces and held an upper hand in two, while the Muslim League performed poorly.

Demonstration against British rule in India, c. 1930s, author unknown.

The Civil Disobedience Movement indicated a new part in the process of the Indian self-rule struggle. As a whole, it was a failure, but it brought the Indian population together under the Indian National Congress’s leadership. The movement made the Indian people strive even more towards self-rule.

Quit India Movement

Gandhi initially favored offering “nonviolent moral support” to the British effort when World War II broke out in 1939, but the Congressional leaders were appalled by the unilateral inclusion of India in the war without consultation of Indian representatives. All Congressmen resigned from office. After long deliberations, Gandhi declared that India could not be party to a war ostensibly fought for democratic freedom while that freedom was denied to India. As the war progressed, he intensified his demand for independence, calling for the British to Quit India in a speech at in Bombay at Gowalia Tank Maidan. This was Gandhi’s and the Congress Party’s most definitive revolt aimed at securing the British exit from India. Quit India became the most forceful movement in the history of the struggle, with mass arrests and some acts of violence.

Gandhi and the entire Congress Working Committee were arrested in Bombay by the British a day after the Quit India resolution was passed. He was imprisoned for two years, during which his wife Kasturba died after 18 months’ imprisonment. He was released in 1944 because of his failing health and necessary surgery. The Raj did not want him to die in prison and enrage his many supporters. Gandhi came out of detention to an altered political scene: the Muslim League was now a political power and while the leaders of Congress languished in jail, other parties supported the war and gained organizational strength. At the end of the war, the British gave clear indications that power would be transferred to Indian hands. At this point, Gandhi called off the struggle and around 100,000 political prisoners were released, including the Congress’s leadership.

Partition and Independence

As a rule, Gandhi was opposed to the concept of partition as it contradicted his vision of religious unity (the Muslim League passed a resolution to divide British India in 1943). He suggested an agreement that required the Congress and Muslim League to cooperate and attain independence under a provisional government; thereafter, the question of partition could be resolved by a plebiscite in the districts with a Muslim majority. 

On June 3, 1947, Viscount Louis Mountbatten, the last British Governor-General of India, announced the partitioning of British India into India and Pakistan. With the speedy passage through the British Parliament of the Indian Independence Act 1947, at 11:57 on August 14, 1947 Pakistan was declared a separate nation, and at 12:02, just after midnight, on August 15, 1947, India became a sovereign state. Eventually, August 15 became Independence Day for India. Both Pakistan and India had the right to remain in or remove themselves from the British Commonwealth. In 1949, India decided to remain in the Commonwealth.

Violent clashes between Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims followed. India’s partition and independence were accompanied by more than half a million killed in violent clashed as 10–12 million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims crossed the borders dividing India and Pakistan. Gandhi, having vowed to spend the day of independence fasting and spinning, was in Calcutta where he prayed, confronted rioters, and worked with other leaders to stop the communal killing.

Gandhi influenced important leaders and political movements. Leaders of the civil rights movement in the United States, including Martin Luther King, James Lawson, and James Bevel, drew from the writings of Gandhi in the development of their own theories about nonviolence. Anti-apartheid activist and former President of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, was also inspired by Gandhi. Others include Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (prominent Muslim leader), Steve Biko (anti-apartheid activist in South Africa), and Aung San Suu Kyi (democratic leader in Burma).

35.4.2: Partition and Religious Tensions

The partition of British India into Hindu-dominated India and Muslim-dominated Pakistan was a victory of the Muslim League’s vision of a separate state for Indian Muslims. It resulted in massive unrest, the biggest population movements in history, and political tensions that continue until today.  

Learning Objective

Assess the pros and cons of dividing the Hindu and Muslim populations of India into separate states

Key Points

• Indian society under British rule was very diverse, reflecting the history of kingdoms and
  empires that had occupied the territory for centuries and consisting of multiple
  religious, linguistic, and ethnic groups. In this multitude of cultures,
  the main factor of division would become religion, specifically a growing
  divide between the two largest religious groups: Muslims and Hindus. 
• The
  political event that sowed the seed of division was the Partition of Bengal: the division of the largest administrative
  subdivision in British India, the Bengal Province, into the Muslim-majority
  province of Eastern Bengal and Assam and the Hindu-majority province of West
  Bengal. The Hindu elite of Bengal protested staunchly, leading the Muslim elite in India to
  organize the All India Muslim League in 1906. The organization would be crucial to the eventual creation of a separate Muslim state. 
• After the Muslim League reached out to the masses, it attracted hundreds of
  thousands of new members. Its leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah was now well-positioned to negotiate with the
  British from a position of power. The League, in contrast to the Indian National Congress, supported Britain in the war
  effort. When Congress leaders were arrested in 1942, the League received an opportunity to spread its message. 
• Rejecting the notion of united India, Jinnah proclaimed the Two-Nation Theory, which argues that the
  primary identity and unifying denominator of Muslims in the South Asian
  subcontinent is their religion, rather than their language or ethnicity, and
  therefore Indian Hindus and Muslims are two distinct nations, regardless of
  ethnic or other commonalities.
• As independence approached, the violence between
  Hindus and Muslims continued.
  With the British army unprepared for the potential for increased violence, the date for the transfer of power was advanced. In
  June 1947, a partition of the country along religious
  lines, in stark opposition to Gandhi’s views, was decided. The predominantly Hindu and Sikh
  areas were assigned to the new state of India and predominantly Muslim areas to
  the new state of Pakistan. 
• The majority of Indians remained in place
  with independence, but in border areas millions of people (Muslim, Sikh, and
  Hindu) relocated across the newly drawn borders. In the riots which
  preceded the partition in the Punjab Province, between 200,000
  and 2 million people were killed in the retributive genocide between the
  religions. UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims were
  displaced during the partition. It was the largest mass migration in human
  history.

Key Terms

Two-Nation Theory

The theory argues that the primary identity and unifying denominator of Muslims in the South Asian subcontinent is their religion, rather than their language or ethnicity, and therefore Indian Hindus and Muslims are two distinct nations, regardless of ethnic or other commonalities. This ideology was directly linked to the Muslim demands for the creation of Pakistan in British India.

Direct Action Day

August 16, 1946, originally
announced by the Muslim League Council to peacefully highlight the Muslim demand for a separate state, became a day of widespread riot and manslaughter between Hindus and Muslims in the city of Calcutta (now known as Kolkata) in the Bengal province of British India.

Indian National Congress

One of two major political parties in India, founded in 1885 during the British Raj. Its founders include Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, and Dinshaw Wacha. In the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries, it became a pivotal participant in the Indian independence movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million participants in its opposition to British colonial rule in India.

Partition of Bengal

A 1905 division of Bengal that separated the largely Muslim eastern areas from the largely Hindu western areas. It was one of the key events that initiated the divide between Muslims and Hindus in India and eventually led to the 1947 Partition and the creation of two separate states: predominantly-Hindu India and predominantly-Muslim Pakistan.  

All India Muslim League

A political party established during the early years of the 20th century in the British Indian Empire. Its strong advocacy for the establishment of a separate Muslim-majority nation-state, Pakistan, successfully led to the partition of British India in 1947 by the British Empire.

Hindus and Muslims in British India: A Growing Divide

In general, the British-run government and British commentators consciously used the term “people of India” and avoided speaking of an “Indian nation.” This was cited as a key reason for British control of the country; since Indians were not a nation, they were not capable of national self-government. While some Indian leaders insisted that Indians were one nation, others agreed that Indians were not yet a nation while recognizing that they could become one. Indian society under the British rule was, in fact, very diverse and did not easily match the predominant nationalist paradigms of what a nation should be. It reflected the long history of kingdoms and empires that had occupied the territory for centuries and consisted of multiple religious, linguistic, and ethnic backgrounds. In this multitude of cultures, the main factor of division would become religion,  specifically a growing divide between the two largest religious groups: Muslims and Hindus. 

The political event that sowed the seed of division was the Partition of Bengal. In 1905, then-Viceroy Lord Curzon divided the largest administrative subdivision in British India, the Bengal Province, into the Muslim-majority province of Eastern Bengal and Assam and the Hindu-majority province of West Bengal (present-day Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha). Curzon’s act, the Partition of Bengal, would transform nationalist politics. The Hindu elite of Bengal, among them many who owned land in East Bengal that was leased out to Muslim peasants, protested staunchly. 

The Hindu protests against the partition of Bengal led the Muslim elite in India to organize the All India Muslim League in 1906. The League favored the partition of Bengal, since it gave them a Muslim majority in the eastern half. The Muslim elite expected that a new province with a Muslim majority would directly benefit Muslims aspiring to political power. The partition of Bengal was rescinded in 1911. King George V announced the capital would be moved from Calcutta to Delhi, a Muslim stronghold.

While the Muslim League was for decades a small elite group, it grew rapidly once it became an organization that reached out to the masses, gaining hundreds of thousands members in regions with significant Muslim population.
Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali

Jinnah was now well-positioned to negotiate with the British. With the outbreak of World War II in 1939, the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow declared war on India’s behalf without consulting Indian leaders, leading the Indian National Congress provincial ministries to resign in protest. The Muslim League, in contrast, supported Britain in the war effort and maintained its control of the government in three major provinces: Bengal, Sind, and the Punjab.

Two-Nation Theory

Jinnah repeatedly warned that Muslims would be unfairly treated in an independent India dominated by the Congress. In 1940 in Lahore, the League passed the “Lahore Resolution,” demanding that, “the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.” As the Congress was secular, it strongly opposed having any religious state and insisted there was a natural unity to India. It repeatedly blamed the British for “divide and rule” tactics based on prompting Muslims to think of themselves as alien from Hindus. Jinnah rejected the notion of a united India and emphasized that religious communities were more basic than an artificial nationalism, proclaiming the Two-Nation Theory. The theory argues that the primary identity and unifying denominator of Muslims in the South Asian subcontinent is their religion, rather than their language or ethnicity, and therefore Indian Hindus and Muslims are two distinct nations, regardless of ethnic or other commonalities. This ideology was directly linked to the Muslim demands for the creation of Pakistan.

Partition of British India

In 1942, with the Japanese fast moving up the Malayan Peninsula after the Fall of Singapore and with the Americans supporting independence for India, Winston Churchill, the wartime Prime Minister of Britain, sent
an offer of dominion status to India at the end of the war in return for the Congress’s support for the war effort. Not wishing to lose the support of the allies the British had already secured, including the Muslim League, the offer included a clause stating that no part of the British Indian Empire would be forced to join the post-war Dominion. As a result of the proviso, the proposals were rejected by the Congress, which since its founding as a polite group of lawyers in 1885, saw itself as the representative of all Indians of all faiths. In response to the Congress’s Quit India Movement and with their resources and attention already spread thin by a global war, the nervous British immediately jailed the Congress leaders and kept them in jail until August 1945. The Muslim League was now free for the next three years to spread its message. Consequently, the Muslim League’s ranks surged during the war.

In 1946, new elections were called in India. Earlier, at the end of the war in 1945, the colonial government announced the public trial of three senior officers of Bose’s defeated Indian National Army who stood accused of treason. Now as the trials began, the Congress leadership, although ambivalent towards the INA, chose to defend the accused officers. The subsequent convictions of the officers, the public outcry against the convictions, and the eventual remission of the sentences created positive propaganda for the Congress, which only helped in the party’s subsequent electoral victories in eight of the eleven provinces. The negotiations between the Congress and the Muslim League, however, stumbled over the issue of the partition. Jinnah proclaimed August 16, 1946, the Direct Action Day with the stated goal of highlighting, peacefully, the demand for a Muslim homeland in British India. The following day violent Hindu-Muslim riots broke out in Calcutta and quickly spread throughout British India. 

Dead and wounded after the Direct Action Day, which developed into pitched battles as Muslim and Hindu mobs rioted across Calcutta in 1946.

The “Direct Action” was announced by the Muslim League Council to show the strength of Muslim feelings both to British and Congress because Muslims feared that if the British just pulled out, they would surely suffer at the hands of overwhelming Hindu majority. This resulted in the worst communal riots that British India had seen.

As independence approached, the violence between Hindus and Muslims in the provinces of Punjab and Bengal continued unabated. With the British army unprepared for the potential for increased violence, the new viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, advanced the date of the transfer of power, allowing less than six months for a mutually agreed plan for independence. In June 1947, the nationalist leaders, including Sardar Patel, Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad on behalf of the Congress, Jinnah representing the Muslim League, B. R. Ambedkar representing the Untouchable community, and Master Tara Singh representing the Sikhs, agreed to a partition of the country along religious lines in stark opposition to Gandhi’s views. The predominantly Hindu and Sikh areas were assigned to the new state of India and predominantly Muslim areas to the new state of Pakistan. The plan included a partition of the Muslim-majority provinces of Punjab and Bengal.
With the speedy passage
through the British Parliament of the Indian Independence Act 1947, at 11:57 p.m. on
August 14, 1947, Pakistan was declared a separate state, and just
after midnight, on August 15, 1947, India became a sovereign state. Both Pakistan and India had
the right to remain in or remove themselves from the British Commonwealth. In
1949, India decided to remain in the Commonwealth.

Consequences of the Partition

The great majority of Indians remained in place with independence, but in border areas millions of people (Muslim, Sikh, and Hindu) relocated across the newly drawn borders. In Punjab, where the new border lines divided the Sikh regions in half, there was much bloodshed. In Bengal and Bihar, where Gandhi’s presence assuaged communal tempers, the violence was more limited.
In the riots which preceded the partition in the Punjab Province, it is believed that between 200,000 and 2 million people were killed in the retributive genocide between the religions. UNHCR estimates 14 million Hindus, Sikhs, and Muslims were displaced during the partition. It was the largest mass migration in human history.
According to Richard Symonds, at the lowest estimate, half a million people perished and 12 million became homeless as a result of the forced migrations.

The Partition was a highly controversial arrangement and remains a cause of tension on the Indian subcontinent today. Some critics allege that British haste led to increased cruelties during the Partition. Because independence was declared prior to the actual Partition, it was up to the new governments of India and Pakistan to keep public order. No large population movements were contemplated and the plan called for safeguards for minorities on both sides of the new border. Both states failed, resulting in a complete breakdown of law and order. Many died in riots, massacres, or just from the hardships of their flight to safety. 

A special refugee train at Ambala Station during partition of India

Massive population exchanges occurred between the two newly formed states in the months immediately following Partition. The 1951 Census of Pakistan identified the number of displaced persons in Pakistan at 7,226,600, presumably all Muslims who had entered Pakistan from India. Similarly, the 1951 Census of India enumerated 7,295,870 displaced persons, apparently all Hindus and Sikhs who had moved to India from Pakistan immediately after the Partition.

A cross-border student initiative, The History Project, was launched in 2014 to explore the differences in perception of the events during the British era which led to the partition. The project resulted in a book that explains both interpretations of the shared history in Pakistan and India.

35.4.3: The Green Revolution

India’s Green Revolution has produced extreme increases in food production, turning India from an import- and food aid-dependent state to a self-sufficient one. However, it has left many poor farmers out of the gains of modern agriculture and contributed to serious environmental and public health issues. 

Learning Objective

List some of the innovations that led to increased food production in India

Key Points

• The Green Revolution refers to the research
  and development of technology transfer initiatives between the 1930s
  and the late 1960s that increased agricultural
  production worldwide, particularly in the developing world.
  The initiatives are credited with saving over a billion people from starvation.
• Before the mid-1960s, India relied on imports
  and food aid to meet domestic requirements. However, two years of severe
  drought in 1965 and 1966 convinced the government to reform the agricultural
  policy. India adopted significant policy reforms focused on the goal of
  food grain self-sufficiency. This ushered in India’s Green Revolution. It began
  with the decision to adopt superior yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties in combination with better farming knowledge to improve productivity.
• The initial increase in production was centered
  on the irrigated areas of the states of Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar
  Pradesh. With the farmers and the government officials focusing on farm
  productivity and knowledge transfer, India’s total grain production soared. With agricultural policy success in wheat,
  India’s Green Revolution technology spread to rice.
  India adopted IR8, a semi-dwarf rice variety developed by the International Rice
  Research Institute (IRRI), that could produce more grains of rice per plant
  when grown with certain fertilizers and irrigation.

• Since irrigation
  infrastructure was very poor, Indian farmers innovated tube-wells to harvest
  ground water. When gains from the new technology reached their limits in the
  states of initial adoption, the technology spread in the 1970s and 1980s to the
  states of eastern India — Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal. The lasting benefits
  of the improved seeds and new technology extended principally to the irrigated
  areas, which account for about one-third of the harvested crop area.
• A
  main criticism of the effects of the Green Revolution is the cost for many
  small farmers using high-yielding varieties, with associated demands of
  increased irrigation systems and pesticides. Many farmers have
  difficulty paying for the expensive technologies and the gains of the Green
  Revolution are hardly available to all Indian farmers, particularly those
  cultivating smaller land plots. The increased usage of fertilizers and
  pesticides for high-yielding varieties has also contributed serious environmental and public health issues. 
• Despite the impressive accomplishments of the
  Green Revolution, India continues to face massive socioeconomic challenges, including those related to the development of agriculture such as extreme poverty in rural areas, hunger and undernourishment, and farmers’ struggles to find funds to cultivate land. 

Key Terms

Green Revolution

A set of research and development of technology transfer initiatives occurring between the 1930s and the late 1960s (with prequels in the work of the agrarian geneticist Nazareno Strampelli in the 1920s and 1930s), that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, most markedly in the late 1960s.

Global Hunger Index

An index that places a third of weight on proportion of the population that is estimated to be undernourished, a third on the estimated prevalence of low body weight to height ratio in children younger than five, and remaining third weight on the proportion of children dying before the age of five for any reason.

The Green Revolution refers to a set of research and development of technology transfer initiatives occurring between the 1930s and the late 1960s (with prequels in the work of the agrarian geneticist Nazareno Strampelli in the 1920s and 1930s), that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s. The initiatives, led by Norman Borlaug (often called the Father of the Green Revolution), who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970, involved the development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, expansion of irrigation infrastructure, modernization of management techniques, and distribution of hybridized seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to farmers.
They are credited with saving over a billion people from starvation.

Green Revolution in India

Before the mid-1960s, India relied on imports and food aid to meet domestic requirements. However, two years of severe drought in 1965 and 1966 convinced the government to reform the agricultural policy. India adopted significant policy reforms focused on the goal of food grain self-sufficiency. This ushered in India’s Green Revolution. It began with the decision to adopt superior-yielding, disease-resistant wheat varieties in combination with better farming knowledge to improve productivity. The state of Punjab led India’s green revolution and earned the distinction of being the country’s bread basket.

The initial increase in production was centered on the irrigated areas of the states of Punjab, Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh. With the farmers and the government officials focusing on farm productivity and knowledge transfer, India’s total grain production soared. A hectare of Indian wheat farm that produced an average of 0.8 tonnes in 1948, produced 4.7 tonnes of wheat in 1975 from the same land. Such rapid growth in farm productivity enabled India to become self-sufficient by the 1970s. It also empowered the smallholder farmers to seek further means to increase food staples produced per hectare. By 2000, Indian farms were adopting wheat varieties capable of yielding 6 tonnes of wheat per hectare.

With agricultural policy success in wheat, India’s Green Revolution technology spread to rice. However, since irrigation infrastructure was very poor, Indian farmers innovated tube-wells to harvest ground water. When gains from the new technology reached their limits in the states of initial adoption, the technology spread in the 1970s and 1980s to the states of eastern India — Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal. The lasting benefits of the improved seeds and new technology extended principally to the irrigated areas, which account for about one-third of the harvested crop area.
India also adopted IR8, a semi-dwarf rice variety developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), that could produce more grains of rice per plant when grown with certain fertilizers and irrigation. In 1968, Indian agronomist S.K. De Datta published his findings that IR8 rice yielded about 5 tons per hectare with no fertilizer and almost 10 tons per hectare under optimal conditions. This was 10 times the yield of traditional rice. IR8 was a success throughout Asia and dubbed the “miracle rice.” In the 1960s, rice yields in India were about two tons per hectare. By the mid-1990s, they had risen to six tons per hectare. In the 1970s, rice cost about $550 a ton. In 2001, it cost under $200 a ton. 

In the 1980s, Indian agriculture policy shifted to emphasize other agricultural commodities like oil seeds, fruit, and vegetables. Farmers began adopting improved methods and technologies in dairying, fisheries, and livestock to meet the diversified food needs of a growing population.

Criticism

A main criticism of the effects of the Green Revolution is the cost for small farmers using high-yielding varieties, with their associated demands of increased irrigation systems and pesticides. A case study has demonstrated that the Indian farmers who buy Monsanto BT cotton seeds, sold on the idea that these seeds produced “natural insecticides,” still must pay for expensive pesticides and irrigation systems. This might lead to increased borrowing to finance the change from traditional seed varieties. Many farmers have difficulty paying for the expensive technologies and the gains of the Green Revolution are hardly available to all Indian farmers, particularly those cultivating smaller land plots.

The increased usage of fertilizers and pesticides for high-yielding varieties has also led to decreased soil fertility while the use of electric tube wells decreased groundwater table below the previous level. The negative environmental impacts of the Green Revolution are barely beginning to show their full effects. The widespread chemical pollution in communities that utilize pesticides and herbicides is creating a public health problem that has disproportionately impacted women. In the state of Punjab, touted as a success of Green Revolution, cancer rates have skyrocketed. In a 2008 study by Punjabi University, a high rate of genetic damage among farmers was attributed to pesticide use. Ignorance on the appropriate use of pesticides resulted in heavy use, improper disposal, the use of pesticides as kitchen containers, and contamination of drinking water with heavy metals. 

Women farmers at work in their vegetable plots near Kullu town, Himachal Pradesh, India

The Green Revolution brought a modern approach to agriculture by incorporating irrigation systems, genetically modified seed variations, insecticide and pesticide usage, and numerous land reforms. It had an explosive impact, providing unprecedented agricultural productivity in India and turning the country from a food importer to an exporter. Yet the Green Revolution also caused agricultural prices to drop, which damaged India’s small farmers.

Continuous Challenges

India’s agricultural sector today still faces issues of efficiency due to lack of mechanization and small farmers who live in poor conditions. In India, traditional agriculture is still dominant as many farmers depend on livestock in crop production, for manure as fertilizers, and the use of animal-powered ploughs. According to 2011 statistics, the average farm in India is about 1.5 acres, minuscule when compared to the average of 50 hectares in France, 178 hectares in United States, and 273 hectares in Canada.

Despite the impressive accomplishments of the Green Revolution, India continues to face massive socioeconomic challenges. In 2006, India contained the largest number of people living below the World Bank’s international poverty line of US$1.25 per day, the proportion having decreased from 60% in 1981 to 42% in 2005 and 25% in 2011. According to a Food and Agriculture Organization report in 2015, 15% of the Indian population is undernourished. Since 1991, economic inequality between India’s states has consistently grown: the per capita net state domestic product of the richest states in 2007 was 3.2 times that of the poorest.

Global Hunger Index (GHI) measures hunger by placing a third of weight on proportion of the population that is estimated to be undernourished, a third on the estimated prevalence of low body weight to height ratio in children younger than five, and the remaining third on the proportion of children dying before the age of five for any reason. According to 2011 GHI report, India has improved its performance by 22% in 20 years, from 30.4 to 23.7 over 1990 to 2011 period. However, its performance from 2001 to 2011 has shown little progress, with just 3% improvement. A sharp reduction in the percentage of underweight children has helped India improve its hunger record on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2014. Between 2005 and 2014, the prevalence of underweight children under the age of five fell from 43.5% to 30.7%.

In 2012, the National Crime Records Bureau of India reported 13,754 farmer suicides. Farmer suicides account for 11.2% of all suicides in India. Activists and scholars have offered a number of conflicting reasons for this phenomenon, such as monsoon failure, high debt burdens, genetically modified crops, government policies, public mental health, personal issues, and family problems.

35.4.4: The World’s Largest Democracy

Since the 1947 independence, India has been a constitutional republic and representative democracy, but religious and caste-related violence, terrorism, and corruption continue to challenge the Indian democratic system. 

Learning Objective

Evaluate democracy in India

Key Points

• Being the seventh largest (by area) and the
  second most populous country in the world, the Republic of India is the largest
  democracy by electorate. India is a federation with a parliamentary
  system governed under the Constitution of India, which serves as the
  country’s supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic and
  representative democracy, in which “majority rule is tempered by
  minority rights protected by law.”
• The Constitution of India, which came into being in
  1950, states in its preamble that India is a sovereign, socialist,
  secular, democratic republic. India’s form of government is traditionally
  described as “quasi-federal” with a strong center and weak states.
  India is a federation composed of 29 states and seven union territories. 
• The
  federal government comprises executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The
  President of India is the head of the state while the Prime Minister of India is the head
  of government and exercises most executive power, leading the Council of Ministers. The legislature of India is a bicameral
  parliament. A unitary
  three-tier independent judiciary comprises the Supreme Court, 24 High
  Courts, and a large number of trial courts. 
• India
  has a multi-party system, where there are a number of national as well as
  regional parties. As with any other democracy, political parties represent
  different sections among the Indian society and regions and their core values
  play a major role in the politics of India.

  In
  recent decades, Indian politics has become a dynastic affair. This phenomenon
  is seen both at the national and state levels. 

• Indian society is very diverse in religion, region, language,
  caste, and race. This has led to the rise of political parties with agendas
  catering to one or a mix of these groups.
  Economic issues like poverty, unemployment, and
  development substantially influence politics, although different parties
  propose dramatically different approaches.
• Indian democracy faces many challenges. Terrorism, Naxalism, religious violence, and caste-related violence
  are important issues that affect the political environment of the Indian
  nation. Further, corruption has serious implications for both
  protecting the rule of law and ensuring access to justice.

Key Terms

vote bank

A loyal bloc of voters from a single community that consistently backs a certain candidate or political formation in democratic elections. Such behavior is often the result of an expectation of real or imagined benefits from the political formations, often at the cost of other communities. 

Indian National Congress

One of two major political parties
in India, founded in 1885 during the British Raj. Its founders include Allan
Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, and Dinshaw Wacha. In the late 19th and early
to mid-20th centuries, it became a pivotal participant in the Indian
independence movement, with over 15 million members and over 70 million
participants in its opposition to British colonial rule in India.

vote bank politics

The practice of creating and maintaining loyal blocs of voters through divisive policies. As it encourages voters to vote on the basis of narrow communal considerations, often against their better judgement, it is considered harmful to the principles of representative democracy.

Naxalism

Ideology associated with and an informal name given to communist groups that were born out of the Sino-Soviet split in the Indian communist movement. Ideologically they belong to various trends of Maoism. Initially the movement had its centre in West Bengal. In recent years, they have spread into less developed areas of rural central and eastern India. Some factions are considered terrorists by the Government of India and various state governments in India.

The Indian Government

As the seventh largest (by area) and the second most populous country in the world, the Republic of India is the largest democracy by electorate.
India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of India, which serves as the country’s supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy in which “majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law.” Federalism in India defines the power distribution between the federal government and the states. The government abides by constitutional checks and balances. The Constitution of India, which came into being in 1950, states in its preamble that India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India’s form of government, traditionally described as “quasi-federal” with a strong center and weak states, has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes.

The federal government comprises executive, legislative, and judicial branches. The President of India is the head of state and is elected indirectly by a national electoral college for a five-year term. The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power. Appointed by the president, the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance holding the majority of seats in the lower house of parliament and leads the Council of Ministers. The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament. It comprises the upper house called the Rajya Sabha (“Council of States” with
245 members
elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures,  who serve six-year terms) and the lower called the Lok Sabha (“House of the People” with 545 members, all but two directly elected by popular vote for five-year terms). India has a unitary three-tier independent judiciary that comprises the Supreme Court, 24 High Courts, and a large number of trial courts. 

India is a federation composed of 29 states and seven union territories. All states and two union territories have their own governments. The executive of each state is the Governor (equivalent to the president of India), whose role is ceremonial. The real power resides with the Chief Minister (equivalent to the Prime Minister) and the state council of ministers. States may either have a unicameral or bicameral legislature, varying from state to state. 

India has a multi-party system, with a number of national as well as regional parties. As with any other democracy, political parties represent different sections among the Indian society and regions and their core values play a major role in the politics of India. Through the elections, any party may gain simple majority in the lower house. Coalitions are formed in case no single party gains a simple majority in the lower house. Unless a party or a coalition have a majority in the lower house, a government cannot be formed by that party or the coalition.

In recent decades, Indian politics has become a dynastic affair. This phenomenon is seen both at the national and state levels. One example of dynastic politics has been the Nehru–Gandhi family, which produced three Indian prime ministers and is leading the Indian National Congress party. At the state level too, a number of political parties are led by family members of the previous leaders. 

Indira Gandhi,
the daughter of India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru,

served as prime minister for three consecutive terms (1966–77) and a fourth term (1980–84).

Politics in India has often been a family affair.
Gandhi (no relation to Mahatma) served as her father’s personal assistant and hostess during his tenure as prime minister between 1947 and 1964. She was elected Congress President in 1959.

In 1984, two of Gandhi’s bodyguards, Satwant Singh and Beant Singh, shot her with their service weapons in the garden of the Prime Minister’s residence in New Delhi. 

Challenges of Indian Democracy

The Indian society is very diverse, with substantial differences in  religion, region, language, caste, and race. This has led to the rise of political parties with agendas catering to one or a mix of these groups. Some parties openly profess their focus on a particular group while others claim to be universal in nature, but tend to draw support from sections of the population. For example, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (the National People’s Party) has a vote bank among the Yadav and Muslim population of Bihar, and the All India Trinamool Congress does not have any significant support outside West Bengal. The narrow focus and vote bank politics of most parties, even in the central government and central legislature, sidelines national issues such as economic welfare and national security. Moreover, internal security is also threatened as incidences of political parties instigating and leading violence between two opposing groups of people is a frequent occurrence.

Economic issues like poverty, unemployment, and development substantially influence politics, although different parties propose dramatically different approaches. Garibi hatao (eradicate poverty) has been a slogan of the Indian National Congress for a long time. The well known Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) encourages a free market economy. Conversely, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) vehemently supports left-wing politics like land-for-all and right to work, and strongly opposes neo-liberal policies such as globalization, capitalism, and privatization.

Terrorism, Naxalism (ideology associated with communist groups that were born out of the Sino-Soviet split in the Indian communist movement), religious violence, and caste-related violence are important issues that affect the political environment of the Indian nation. Furthermore, corruption is a problem that has serious implications for both protecting the rule of law and ensuring access to justice.
In 2008, the Washington Post reported that nearly a fourth of the 540 Indian Parliament members faced criminal charges, “including human trafficking, child prostitution immigration rackets, embezzlement, rape and even murder.”

Many of the biggest scandals since 2010 have involved very high level government officials, including cabinet ministers and chief ministers.
A 2005 study done by the Transparency International in India found that more than 62% of the people had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office.

35.4.5: India’s Growing Economy

Since the introduction of economic liberalization reforms in the 1990s, India has experienced impressive growth and joined the elite club of the fastest developing economies in the world, though large segments of the population still live in poverty. Severe economic disparities exist among states in terms of income, literacy rates, life expectancy, and living conditions.
 

Learning Objective

Give examples of India’s increasing share of the global economy

Key Points

• Indian economic policy after independence was
  influenced by the colonial experience and its exploitative nature.
  Indian leaders were largely influenced by British social democracy and the
  planned economy of the Soviet Union. Domestic policy tended towards
  protectionism and economic interventionism, while trade and foreign
  investment policies were relatively liberal.
• The collapse of the Soviet Union,
  India’s major trading partner, and the Gulf War, which caused a spike in oil prices,
  resulted in a major balance-of-payments crisis for India, which found itself
  facing the prospect of defaulting on its loans. The country asked for a
  $1.8 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund,
  which in return demanded deregulation.
• In response, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, along
  with his finance minister Manmohan Singh, initiated economic liberalization in
  1991. The reforms did away with the Licence Raj, reduced tariffs and interest rates, and ended many public
  monopolies, allowing automatic approval of foreign direct investment in many
  sectors.
• By
  the turn of the 21st century, India had progressed towards a free-market
  economy, with a substantial reduction in state control of the economy and
  increased financial liberalization. Today,
  the economy of India is the sixth-largest in the world
  measured by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power
  parity. The country is classified as a newly industrialized country,
  one of the G-20 major economies, a member of BRICS, and a developing
  economy with an average growth rate of approximately 7% over the last two
  decades. 
• Among the positive outcomes of the economic development is better access to primary education, increased literacy, and reduced poverty. However, in terms of both access to education and poverty level, India continues to face massive challenges.
• Despite
  the impressive economic growth, India experiences a plethora of
  social issues, including corruption, the lack of proper sanitation, debt bondage and
  other forms of bonded labor, child labor, child marriage, and gender-based violence. A substantial segment of the caste-based society has limited access to quality health care and education.
  Severe economic disparities exist among states in terms of income, literacy rates, life
  expectancy, and living conditions.

Key Terms

G-20

An international forum for the governments and central bank governors from 20 major economies. It was founded in 1999 with the aim of studying, reviewing, and promoting high-level discussion of policy issues pertaining to the promotion of international financial stability. 

BRICS

The acronym for an association of five major emerging national economies. The association’s members are all leading developing or newly industrialized countries, but they are distinguished by their large, sometimes fast-growing economies and significant influence on regional affairs. All five are G-20 members.

Licence Raj

The elaborate system of licences, regulations, and accompanying red tape required to set up and run businesses in India between 1947 and 1990.

Economic Policies After Independence

Indian economic policy after independence was influenced by the colonial experience and its exploitative nature, as well as by British social democracy and the planned economy of the Soviet Union. Domestic policy tended towards protectionism, with a strong emphasis on import substitution industrialization, economic interventionism, a large government-run public sector, business regulation, and central planning. At the same time, trade and foreign investment policies were relatively liberal. Steel, mining, machine tools, telecommunications, insurance, and power plants, among other industries, were effectively nationalized in the mid-1950s. Economists referred to the rate of growth of the Indian economy in the first three decades after independence as the Hindu rate of growth because of the unfavorable comparison with growth rates in other Asian countries.

The collapse of the Soviet Union, India’s major trading partner, and the Gulf War, which caused a spike in oil prices, resulted in a major balance-of-payments crisis for India, which found itself facing the prospect of defaulting on its loans. The country asked for a $1.8 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which in return demanded deregulation. In response, Prime Minister Narasimha Rao, along with his finance minister Manmohan Singh, initiated economic liberalization in 1991. The reforms did away with the Licence Raj (a system of licences, regulations, and accompanying red tape required to set up and run businesses), reduced tariffs and interest rates, and ended many public monopolies, allowing automatic approval of foreign direct investment in many sectors. Since then, the overall thrust of liberalization has remained the same, although no government has tried to take on powerful lobbies. By the turn of the 21st century, India had progressed towards a free-market economy, with a substantial reduction in state control of the economy and increased financial liberalization.

Today, the economy of India is the sixth-largest in the world measured by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country is classified as a newly industrialized country, one of the G-20 major economies, a member of BRICS, and a developing economy with an average growth rate of approximately 7% over the last two decades. Maharashtra is the wealthiest Indian state and has an annual nominal GDP of US$330 billion, nearly equal to that of Portugal and Pakistan combined, and accounts for 12% of the Indian GDP followed by the states of Tamil Nadu (US$150 billion) and Uttar Pradesh (US$130 billion). India’s economy became the world’s fastest growing major economy in the last quarter of 2014, replacing the People’s Republic of China.

India has one of the fastest growing service sectors in the world with an annual growth rate of above 9% since 2001, which contributed to 57% of GDP in 2012-13. India has become a major exporter of IT services, business process outsourcing services, and software services, with $167.0 billion worth of service exports in 2013-14. It is also the fastest-growing part of the economy. The IT industry continues to be the largest private sector employer in the country. India is also the third largest start-up hub in the world with over 3,100 technology start-ups in 2014-15. The agricultural sector is the largest employer in India’s economy but contributes to a declining share of its GDP (17% in 2013-14). India ranks second worldwide in farm output. The industry sector has held a constant share of its economic contribution (26% of GDP in 2013-14). The Indian automobile industry is one of the largest in the world with an annual production of 21.48 million vehicles (mostly two- and three-wheelers) in fiscal year 2013-14. India has $600 billion worth of the retail market in 2015 and one of world’s fastest growing e-commerce markets.

Outcomes of Economic Development

India has made huge progress in terms of increasing the primary education attendance rate and expanding literacy to approximately three-fourths of the population. The literacy rate has grown from 52.2% in 1991 to 74.04% in 2011. The right to education at elementary level has been made fundamental,  and legislation has been enacted to further the objective of providing free education to all children. However, the literacy rate of 74% is still lower than the worldwide average and the country suffers from a high drop-out rate (impacted by economic challenges faced by the poorest segments of the society). Further, the literacy rates and educational opportunities vary greatly by region, gender, urban and rural areas, and among different social groups.

There is a continuing debate on whether India’s economic expansion has been pro-poor or anti-poor. Studies suggest that the economic growth has reduced poverty in India although it remains at a substantial level.
In 2012, the Indian government stated 21.9% of its population is below its official poverty threshold. According to United Nation’s Millennium Development Goal (MDG) program, 270 million or 21.9% people out of 1.2 billion of Indians lived below poverty line of $1.25 in 2011-2012 as compared to 41.6% in 2004-05. It is important to note, however, that the World Bank and UN-accepted poverty line is very low and many of those whose purchasing power falls above it still face massive economic struggles. 

A critical problem facing India’s economy is the sharp and growing regional variations among India’s different states and territories in terms of poverty, availability of infrastructure, and socioeconomic development. Severe disparities exist among states in terms of income, literacy rates, life expectancy, and living conditions.

Economic disparities among the States and Union Territories of India, on GDP per capita, PPP basis in 2011

After liberalization, the more advanced states have been better placed to benefit, with well-developed infrastructure and an educated and skilled workforce that attract the manufacturing and service sectors. The governments of less-advanced regions are trying to reduce disparities by offering tax holidays and cheap land and focusing more on sectors like tourism which although geographically and historically determined, can become a source of growth and develop faster than other sectors.

Map shows the per capita gross domestic product (GDP) on a purchasing parity basis (PPP), for 35 states and union territories of India at 2011 US$ equivalent basis. The highest GDP per capita, on PPP basis, was observed in Chandigarh ($9,345 per person), while the lowest was observed in Bihar ($1,019 per person).

Continuous Challenges

Corruption has been one of the pervasive problems affecting India. A 2005 study by Transparency International (TI) found that more than half of those surveyed had firsthand experience of paying bribe or peddling influence to get a job done in a public office in the previous year. In 1996, bureaucracy and the Licence Raj were suggested as a cause for the institutionalized corruption and inefficiency. More recent reports suggest the causes include excessive regulations and approval requirements, mandated spending programs, monopoly of certain goods and service providers by government-controlled institutions, bureaucracy with discretionary powers, and lack of transparent laws and processes. The Right to Information Act (2005), which requires government officials to furnish information requested by citizens or face punitive action, computerization of services, and various central and state government acts that established vigilance commissions have reduced corruption and opened up avenues to redress grievances.

In 2011, the Indian government concluded that most spending fails to reach its intended recipients. A large, cumbersome bureaucracy sponges up or siphons off spending budgets. India’s absence rates are one of the worst in the world. One study found that 25% of public sector teachers and 40% of government-owned public sector medical workers could not be found at the workplace. Similarly, there are many issues facing Indian scientists, with demands for transparency, a meritocratic system, and an overhaul of the bureaucratic agencies that oversee science and technology.

Despite the impressive economic growth, India continues to experience a plethora of social issues, many associated with countries that lag economically. These include the lack of proper sanitation, debt bondage and other forms of bonded labor, child labor, child marriage, gender-based violence, and poor access to quality health care and education faced by a substantial segment of the caste-based society. 

35.4.6: Kashmir and Territorial Disputes

The decision of the Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh to make Muslim-dominated Jammu and Kashmir an independent state in the aftermath of the 1947 establishment of independent India and Pakistan has resulted in a violent territorial conflict that still continues. 

Learning Objective

Examine the history behind the territorial dispute over Kashmir

Key Points

• British rule in India ended in 1947 with the
  creation of new states, Pakistan and India. The
  562 Indian princely states were left to choose whether to
  join India or Pakistan or to remain independent. Jammu and Kashmir had a predominantly Muslim population ruled by the
  Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh. He decided to stay independent because he expected
  that the state’s Muslims would be unhappy with accession to India and the
  Hindus and Sikhs would become vulnerable if he joined Pakistan. The decision initiated a territorial conflict between India and Pakistan, with an additional intervention of China in 1962, that still continues.
• Muslim League officials assisted in a large-scale invasion of Kashmir by Pathan tribesmen. The
  authorities in Pakistani Punjab waged a private war by obstructing supplies of
  fuel and essential commodities to Jammu and Kashmir. The
  violence in the eastern districts of Jammu that started in 1947
  developed into a widespread massacre of Muslims. The
  rebel forces in the western districts of Jammu took control of most of the
  western parts of the state and formed a
  provisional state Azad Kashmir (until today a self-governing administrative division of Pakistan).

• Following
  the Muslim revolution in the Poonch and Mirpur area and Pakistani-backed
  Pashtun tribal intervention, the Maharaja asked for Indian military assistance.
  India set the condition that Kashmir must accede to India for it to receive
  assistance. The Maharaja complied and the Government of India recognized the accession
  of the princely state to India. The resulting
  Indo-Pakistani war lasted until the end
  of 1948. Despite UN negotiations, no agreement was reached between the two countries on the process of demilitarization.

• Following
  its failure to seize Kashmir in 1947, Pakistan supported numerous covert groups
  in Kashmir using operatives based in its New Delhi embassy. About 30,000 infiltrators
  are estimated to have been dispatched in August 1965 as part of the Operation
  Gibraltar. The plan was for the infiltrators to mingle with the local populace
  and incite them to rebellion. The Operation failed but the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 followed.
• Another phase of the conflict took place in December 1971. During
  the war, Indian and Pakistani military forces simultaneously clashed after the Eastern Command of
  Pakistan military signed the Instrument of Surrender, marking the formation of
  East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh.
• During the 1990s, escalating tensions and conflict due to separatist
  activities in Kashmir and nuclear tests conducted by both countries resulted in the Kargil War (May-July 1999). The
  region is currently divided among three countries in a territorial dispute:
  Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Kashmir), India
  controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and
  the People’s Republic of China controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin
  and the Trans-Karakoram Tract).

Key Terms

Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

A military confict, known also as the First Kashmir War, fought between India and Pakistan over the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu from 1947 to 1948. It was the first of four wars fought between the two newly independent nations. Pakistan precipitated the war a few weeks after independence in an effort to secure Kashmir, the future of which hung in the balance. The inconclusive result of the war still affects the geopolitics of both countries.

Operation Gibraltar

A code name for a strategy of Pakistan to infiltrate Jammu and Kashmir and start a rebellion against Indian rule. Pakistan hoped to gain control over Kashmir, but the operation was a major failure. The operation sparked the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

A war that was a culmination of skirmishes that took place between April 1965 and September 1965 between Pakistan and India. The conflict began following Pakistan’s Operation Gibraltar, designed to infiltrate forces into Jammu and Kashmir to precipitate an insurgency against Indian rule. India retaliated by launching a full-scale military attack on West Pakistan. The 17-day war caused thousands of casualties on both sides and witnessed the largest engagement of armored vehicles and the largest tank battle since World War II.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

A military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred from December 3, 1971, to the Fall of Dhaka on December 16, 1971. The war began with preemptive aerial strikes on 11 Indian air stations that led to the commencement of hostilities. Lasting just 13 days, it is one of the shortest wars in history.

Line of Control

The military control line between the Indian and Pakistani controlled parts of the former princely state of Kashmir and Jammu—a line which, to this day, does not constitute a legally recognized international boundary but is the de facto border.

Kargil War

An armed conflict between India and Pakistan that took place between May and July 1999 in the Kargil district of Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control.

Partition of British India and Kashmir 

British rule in India ended in 1947 with the creation of new states: Pakistan and India. The British Paramountcy over the 562 Indian princely states ended and the states were left to choose whether to join India or Pakistan or to remain independent. Jammu and Kashmir, the largest of the princely states, had a predominantly Muslim population ruled by the Hindu Maharaja Hari Singh. He decided to stay independent because he expected that the state’s Muslims would be unhappy with accession to India and the Hindus and Sikhs would become vulnerable if he joined Pakistan. Pakistan made various efforts to persuade the Maharaja of Kashmir to join Pakistan. Faced with the Maharaja’s decision, the Muslim League agents clandestinely worked to encourage the local Muslims to revolt in Poonch. Muslim League officials assisted and possibly organized a large-scale invasion of Kashmir by Pathan tribesmen.

The authorities in Pakistani Punjab waged a private war by obstructing supplies of fuel and essential commodities to Jammu and Kashmir.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

The violence in the eastern districts of Jammu that started in September 1947 developed into a widespread massacre of Muslims around October 20, organized and perpetrated by the local Hindus. The Maharaja himself was implicated in some instances. A team of British observers commissioned by India and Pakistan identified 70,000 Muslims killed, while the Azad Kashmir Government claimed that 200,000 Muslims were killed. About 400,000 Muslims fled to West Pakistan and many believed that the Maharaja ordered the killings in Jammu. The rebel forces in the western districts of Jammu organized under the leadership of Sardar Ibrahim, a Muslim Conference leader. They took control of most of the western parts of the State by October 22. On October 24, they formed a provisional Azad Kashmir (free Kashmir) government based in Palandri.
Today, Azad Kashmir is a self-governing administrative division of Pakistan. The territory lies west of the Indian-administered state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Following the Muslim revolution in the Poonch and Mirpur area and Pakistani -backed Pashtun tribal intervention, the Maharaja asked for Indian military assistance. India set the condition that Kashmir must accede to India for it to receive assistance. The Maharaja complied and the Government of India recognized the accession of the princely state to India. Indian troops were sent to the Jammu and Kashmir but Pakistan refused to recognize the accession of Kashmir to India. Governor General Mohammad Ali Jinnah ordered to move Pakistani troops to Kashmir at once. However, the Indian and Pakistani forces were still under joint command. With its accession to India, Kashmir became legally Indian territory and the British officers could not a play any role in an inter-dominion war.

Rebel forces from the western districts of the state and the Pakistani Pakhtoon tribesmen made rapid advances. In the Kashmir valley, National Conference volunteers worked with the Indian Army to drive out the raiders. The resulting Indo-Pakistani war, known also as the First Kashmir War, lasted until the end of 1948. In May 1948, the Pakistani army officially entered the conflict, in theory to defend the Pakistan border. C. Christine Fair notes that this was the beginning of Pakistan using irregular forces and asymmetric warfare to ensure plausible deniability, which has continued ever since.

Prime Ministers Nehru and Liaquat Ali Khan met in December, when Nehru informed Khan of India’s intention to refer the dispute to the United Nations under article 35 of the UN Charter.
Complex negotiations boiled down to the difference between India requiring an asymmetric treatment of the two countries in the withdrawal arrangements, regarding Pakistan as an aggressor, and Pakistan insisting on parity. The UN mediators tended towards parity, which did not satisfy India. In the end, no withdrawal was ever carried out, with India insisting that Pakistan had to withdraw first and Pakistan contending that there was no guarantee that India would withdraw afterwards. No agreement could be reached between the two countries on the process of demilitarization.

Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession in October 1947, under which he acceded the State of Jammu and Kashmir to the Union of India.

The root of conflict between the Kashmiri insurgents and the Indian government is tied to a dispute over local autonomy. Democratic development was limited in Kashmir until the late 1970s and by 1988, many of the democratic reforms introduced by the Indian Government had been reversed. In 1987, a disputed state election created a catalyst for the insurgency when it resulted in some of the state’s legislative assembly members forming armed insurgent groups. In 1988, a series of demonstrations, strikes and attacks on the Indian Government began the Kashmir Insurgency.

Photo portrait of Maharaja of Kashmir, Hari Singh

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Following its failure to seize Kashmir in 1947, Pakistan supported numerous covert groups in Kashmir using operatives based in its New Delhi embassy. After its military pact with the United States in the 1950s, it studied guerrilla warfare through engagement with the U.S. military. In 1965, it decided that the conditions were ripe for a successful guerrilla war in Kashmir. Under a strategy code named Operation Gibraltar, Pakistan dispatched groups into Indian-administered Kashmir, the majority of whose members were volunteers recruited from Pakistan-administered Kashmir and trained by the Army. About 30,000 infiltrators are estimated to have been dispatched in August 1965 as part of the Operation Gibraltar. The plan was for the infiltrators to mingle with the local populace and incite them to rebellion. Meanwhile, guerrilla warfare would commence, destroying bridges, tunnels, highways, and Indian Army installations and airfields, creating conditions for an armed insurrection in Kashmir. Using the newly acquired sophisticated weapons through the American arms aid, Pakistan believed that it could achieve tactical victories in a quick, limited war. However, the Operation Gibraltar failed as the Kashmiris did not revolt. Instead, they turned in infiltrators to the Indian authorities in substantial numbers and the Indian Army ended up fighting the Pakistani Army regulars. 

On September 1, Pakistan launched an attack across the Cease Fire Line, targeting Akhnoor in an effort to cut Indian communications into Kashmir. In response, India broadened the war by launching an attack on Pakistani Punjab across the international border. The war lasted until September 23, ending in a stalemate. Following the Tashkent Agreement, both sides withdrew to their pre-conflict positions and agreed not to interfere in each other’s internal affairs.

Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Another phase of the conflict took place from December 3 to the Fall of Dhaka on December 16, 1971. The war began with preemptive aerial strikes on 11 Indian air stations that led to the commencement of hostilities with Pakistan and Indian entry into the war of independence in East Pakistan on the side of Bengali nationalist forces. During the war, Indian and Pakistani military forces simultaneously clashed on the eastern and western front and ended the war after the Eastern Command of Pakistan military signed the Instrument of Surrender, marking the formation of East Pakistan as the new nation of Bangladesh (with India’s support). Approximately between 90,000 and 93,000 Pakistani servicemen were taken prisoners by the Indian Army. It is estimated that between 300,000 and 3 million civilians were killed in Bangladesh.

Simla Agreement

As a follow-up to the war, a bilateral summit was held at Simla, where India pushed for peace in South Asia. At stake were over 5,ooo square miles of Pakistan’s territory captured by India during the conflict and over 90,000 prisoners of war held in Bangladesh. India was ready to return them in exchange for a “durable solution” to the Kashmir issue. The Simla Agreement was formulated and signed by the two countries, whereby they resolved to settle their differences by peaceful means through bilateral negotiations and maintain the sanctity of the Line of Control. The agreement also stated that the two sides would meet again for establishing durable peace. The envisioned meeting never occurred.

China’s Role

In 1962, troops from the People’s Republic of China and India clashed in territory claimed by both. China won a swift victory in the war, resulting in Chinese annexation of the region they call Aksai Chin that has continued since. Another smaller area, the Trans-Karakoram, was demarcated as the Line of Control (LOC) between China and Pakistan, although some of the territory on the Chinese side is claimed by India as part of Kashmir. The line that separates India from China in this region is known as the “Line of Actual Control.”

Current Status

After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, there was a long period with relatively few direct armed conflicts involving military forces. During the 1990s, however, escalating tensions and conflict due to separatist activities in Kashmir, some of which were supported by Pakistan, as well as the conducting of nuclear tests by both countries in 1998, led to an increasingly belligerent atmosphere. In mid-1999, alleged insurgents and Pakistani soldiers from Pakistani Kashmir infiltrated Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in the Kargil War (May-July 1999). Fears of the Kargil War turning into a nuclear war provoked then-United States President Bill Clinton to pressure Pakistan to retreat. The Pakistan Army withdrew their remaining troops from the area, ending the conflict. India regained control of the Kargil peaks, which they now patrol and monitor all year long.

The region is currently divided among three countries in a territorial dispute: Pakistan controls the northwest portion (Northern Areas and Kashmir), India controls the central and southern portion (Jammu and Kashmir) and Ladakh, and the People’s Republic of China controls the northeastern portion (Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract). India continues to assert its sovereignty or rights over the entire region of Kashmir, while Pakistan maintains that it is a disputed territory. Pakistan argues that the status quo cannot be considered as a solution and further insists on a UN-sponsored plebiscite. The Kashmir conflict continues. 

35.5: Indochina

35.5.1: France and Indochina

After decades of serving as France’s colony of economic exploitation, Indochina fell under Japanese control during World War II. Although the French regained control of the region after the war, independence movements across Indochina grew strong enough to continue their anti-French struggle.

Learning Objective

Describe the relationship between France and Indochina prior to Indochina’s independence 

Key Points

• French Indochina, officially known as the
  Indochinese Union after 1887 and the Indochinese Federation after 1947, was a
  group of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia. The
  Vietnamese regions of Tonkin, Annam, and Cochinchina were combined with Cambodia in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and the leased
  Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan in 1898.
• French Indochina was designated as a colony of economic exploitation by the French
  government. Funding for the colonial government came by means of taxes on local
  populations and the French government established a near monopoly on the trade
  of opium, salt, and rice alcohol.
  Unlike in Algeria, French settlement in
  Indochina did not occur at a grand scale. 
• In 1940, colonial administration of French Indochina passed to the Vichy French
  government. In September 1940, Japan launched
  its invasion of French Indochina. Keeping the French colonial administration, the Japanese
  ruled from behind the scenes in a parallel of Vichy France.
  Indochinese communists set up hidden
  headquarters in 1941 and Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese communist leader,
  returned to Vietnam from China to lead the Viet Minh independence
  movement. In March 1945, the Japanese took direct control of Vietnam.
• After the Japanese surrendered in August 1945, the Viet Minh
  immediately launched the insurrection (the August
  Revolution). Ho Chi Minh declared independence for the newly established Democratic
  Republic of Vietnam on September 2, 1945.
  However, the Viet Minh faced various problems in the southern part of the
  country, where it had been unable to establish the same degree of control.
  On
  August 25, the communists established a Provisional Executive Committee with
  Tran Van Giau at its head. The committee took over public administration in
  Saigon, but followed Allied orders that the Japanese maintain law and order
  until Allied troops arrived.
• As
  southern Vietnam’s disunited resistance forces struggled to push back French
  advances, Ho Chi Minh started to negotiate with France in hopes of
  preserving national independence while avoiding war. Instead of obtaining French recognition of
  Vietnamese “independence,” Ho Chi Minh agreed to his government being
  weakly identified as a “free state” within the Indochinese Federation
  under the French Union. The reached accord, which called
  for a referendum to determine whether the south would rejoin the rest of the
  country or remain a separate French territory, left the fate of former
  Cochinchina in flux. Negotiations broke down over the fate of
  southern Vietnam.
  Nearly one year after the August Revolution, Vietnam and France were at war.
• After
  World War II, the French reestablished control in Laos and Cambodia.
  In 1946, the French endorsed the unity of Laos as a constitutional monarchy
  within the French Union. In Cambodia, King Sihanouk
  reluctantly proclaimed a new constitution in 1947. While it recognized him
  as the “spiritual head of the state,” it reduced him to the status of
  a constitutional monarch of a Cambodia within the French Union.

Key Terms

Khmer Issarak

A loosely structured anti-French and anti-colonial independence movement in Cambodia, formed around 1945 and composed of several factions, each with its own leader. Most of its bands fought actively from 1945 to 1953, when Cambodia gained independence. The initial objective of the movement was to fight against the French to gain independence. Later, overthrowing the Cambodian government was added to some bands’ agendas.

Vichy France

The common name of the French state headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain during World War II. In particular, it represents the southern, unoccupied “Free Zone” that governed the southern part of the country. From 1940 to 1942, while the regime was the nominal government of France as a whole, Germany militarily occupied northern France and the state was a de facto client and puppet of Nazi Germany.

August Revolution

A revolution launched by the Viet Minh (League for the Independence of Vietnam) against French colonial rule in Vietnam, on August 14, 1945.

Viet Minh

A national independence coalition formed in 1941 with the initial goal to seek independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. After World War II, the organization opposed the reoccupation of Vietnam by France and later opposed South Vietnam and the United States in the Vietnam War.

French Indochina

A grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia. A grouping of the three Vietnamese regions of Tonkin (north), Annam (center), and Cochinchina (south) with Cambodia was formed in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and the leased Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan in 1898.

French Indochina

French Indochina, officially known as the Indochinese Union after 1887 and the Indochinese Federation after 1947, was a grouping of French colonial territories in Southeast Asia. The three Vietnamese regions of Tonkin (north), Annam (center), and Cochinchina (south) were combined with Cambodia in 1887. Laos was added in 1893 and the leased Chinese territory of Guangzhouwan in 1898. The capital was moved from Saigon to Hanoi in 1902 and again to Da Lat (Annam) in 1939. In 1945 it was moved back to Hanoi.

French Indochina was designated as a colonie d’exploitation (colony of economic exploitation) by the French government. Funding for the colonial government came from taxes on local populations, and the French government established a near monopoly on the trade of opium, salt, and rice alcohol. The French administration established quotas of consumption for each Vietnamese village, thereby compelling villagers to purchase and consume set amounts of monopolized goods, including alcohol and opium. The trade of those three products formed about 44% of the colonial government’s budget in 1920 but declined to 20% by 1930. Beginning in the 1930s, France began to
economically diversify the region and exploit it for its natural resources. Cochinchina, Annam, and Tonkin (modern-day Vietnam) became a source of tea, rice, coffee, pepper, coal, zinc, and tin while Cambodia became a center for rice and pepper crops. Only Laos was seen initially as economically nonprofitable, although timber was harvested at a small scale from there.

At the turn of the 20th century, the growing automobile industry in France resulted in the growth of the rubber industry in French Indochina and plantations were built throughout the colony, especially in Annam and Cochinchina. France soon became a leading producer of rubber through its Indochina colony and Indochinese rubber became prized in the industrialized world. The success of rubber plantations resulted in an increase in investment in the colony. With the growing number of investments in the colony’s mines, rubber, and tea and coffee plantations, French Indochina began to industrialize as factories opened in the colony. These new factories produced textiles, cigarettes, beer, and cement which were exported throughout the French Empire.

Unlike in Algeria, French settlement in Indochina did not occur at a grand scale. By 1940, only about 34,000 French civilians lived in French Indochina, along with a smaller number of French military personnel and government workers. The fact that Indochina was the economic colony (as opposed to settlement colony) and its distance from France were the principal reasons why French settlement did not grow in a manner similar to that of French North Africa (which had a population of over 1 million French civilians). Despite this limited presence of the French in the colony, the French language was the principal language of education, government, trade, and media. It became widespread among urban and semi-urban populations and was the principal language of the elite and educated. However, local populations still largely spoke native languages.  

World War II

In 1940, France was swiftly defeated by Nazi Germany and colonial administration of French Indochina passed to the Vichy French government, a puppet state of Nazi Germany.
In September 1940, Japan launched its invasion of French Indochina, mirroring its ally Germany’s conquest of metropolitan France. Keeping the French colonial administration, the Japanese ruled from behind the scenes in a parallel of Vichy France. The United States, concerned by this Japanese expansion, put embargoes on exports of steel and oil to Japan. The desire to escape these embargoes and become resource self-sufficient ultimately led to Japan’s decision to attack the British Empire in Hong Kong, Malaya, and Singapore and simultaneously the USA at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in 1941. 

Indochinese communists had set up hidden headquarters in 1941, but most of the Vietnamese resistance to Japan, France, or both, including communist and non-communist groups, was based over the border in China. In 1941, Ho Chi Minh,
a Vietnamese communist leader,

returned to Vietnam from China to lead the Viet Minh independence movement. The “men in black” was a 10,000-member guerrilla force that operated with the Viet Minh, but Ho was soon jailed in China by Chiang Kai-shek’s local authorities.

As part of the Allied fighting against the Japanese, the Chinese formed a nationalist resistance movement, the Dong Minh Hoi, which included communists but was not controlled by them. When the movement did not provide the desired intelligence data, Ho Chi Minh was released from jail and returned to lead an underground centered on the communist Viet Minh. This mission was assisted by Western intelligence agencies, including the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS). Free French intelligence also tried to affect developments in the Vichy-Japanese collaboration.

Japanese troops on bicycles advance into Saigon, ca. 1941.

Vichy signed the Protocol Concerning Joint Defense and Joint Military Cooperation in 1941. This agreement defined the Franco-Japanese relationship for Indochina until the Japanese abrogated it in March 1945. It gave the Japanese a total of eight airfields and allowed them to have more troops present and use the Indochinese financial system, in return for a fragile French autonomy.

In March 1945, the Japanese imprisoned the Vichy French and took direct control of Vietnam.
After the Japanese removed the French from administrative control in Indochina, they made no attempt to impose their own direct control of the civilian administration. Primarily concerned with the defense of Vietnam against an Allied invasion, the Japanese were not interested in Vietnamese politics. However, they also understood the desirability of a certain degree of administrative continuity. It was to their advantage to install a Vietnamese government that would acquiesce in the Japanese military presence. With this in mind, the Japanese persuaded the Vietnamese emperor, Bảo Đại, to cooperate with Japan and declare Vietnam independent of France. In March 1945, Bảo Đại did just that. Vietnam’s new “independence,” however, rested on the government’s willingness to cooperate with Japan and accept the Japanese military presence. From March until August 1945, Vietnam enjoyed what was called “fake independence,” when all the affairs of Indochinese were still in the hands of the Japanese.

After World War II

Three conflicting visions of post-war French Indochina emerged: Western anticommunists saw the French as protectors of the area from communist expansion; nationalists and anti-colonialists wanted independence from the French; and communists focused on the expansion of communism. Lines between the movements that promoted these three visions were not always clear, and their co-existence shaped the post-war fate of French Indochina. 

When the Japanese surrendered, the Viet Minh immediately launched the insurrection, which would be known as the August Revolution. People’s revolutionary committees across the countryside took over administrative positions, often acting on their own initiative, while in the cities the Japanese stood by as the Vietnamese took control. On August 19, the Viet Minh took control of Hanoi, seizing the northern Vietnam in the next few days. Ho Chi Minh declared independence for the newly established Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV), headquartered in Hanoi, on September 2, 1945. However, the Viet Minh faced various problems in the southern part of the country. The south was politically more diverse than the north and the Viet Minh had been unable to establish the same degree of control there that they had achieved in the north. There were serious divisions in the independence movement in the south, where different nationalist groups competed for control. On August 25, the communists established a Provisional Executive Committee with Tran Van Giau at its head. The committee took over public administration in Saigon, but followed Allied orders that the Japanese maintain law and order until Allied troops arrived.

The uprising in capital Hanoi on August 19, 1945.

At the Potsdam conference in July 1945, the Allies divided Indochina into two zones at the sixteenth parallel, attaching the southern zone to the Southeast Asia command and leaving the northern part to Chiang Kai-shek’s China, to accept the surrender of the Japanese.
However, in the north, occupation period became a critical opportunity for the Viet Minh to consolidate and triumph over domestic rivals.

As southern Vietnam’s disunited resistance forces struggled to push back French advances, Ho Chi Minh and the DRV started to negotiate with France in hopes of preserving national independence while avoiding war. In March 1946, the two sides reached a preliterate accord. Instead of obtaining French recognition of Vietnamese “independence,” Ho Chi Minh agreed to his government being weakly identified as a “free state” within the Indochinese Federation under the French Union. For their part, the French agreed to two provisions they had no intention of honoring: French troops north of the sixteenth parallel would be limited to 15 thousand men for a period of five years, and a referendum was to be held on the issue of unifying the Vietnamese regions. This agreement entangled the French and Vietnamese in joint military operations and fruitless negotiations for several months. However, the status of southern Vietnam remained the sticking point. The March accord, which called for a referendum to determine whether the south would rejoin the rest of the country or remain a separate French territory, left the fate of former Cochinchina in flux.

The preliminary accord was but the first step toward an intended overall and lasting agreement. Southern Vietnam’s future political status had to be negotiated. From June to September 1946, Ho Chi Minh met with French representatives in Vietnam and France to discuss this and other issues. However, almost immediately after the signing of the March accord, relations began to deteriorate. Negotiations broke down over the issue of the fate of southern Vietnam. As talking failed to bring results, both sides prepared for a military solution. Provocations by both French and Vietnamese troops led to the outbreak of full-scale guerrilla war on December 19, 1946. Nearly one year after the August Revolution, Vietnam and France were at war.

After World War II, the French also reestablished their control in Laos and Cambodia.
In October 1945, supporters of Laotian independence announced the dismissal of the king and formed the new government of Laos, the Lao Issara. However, the Lao Issara was ill-equipped and could only await the inevitable French return. In 1946, the French forced the Lao Issara leadership to flee into exile in Thailand and formally endorsed the unity of Laos as a constitutional monarchy within the French Union.
The Japanese occupation of Cambodia ended with the official surrender of Japan in August 1945 and the Cambodian puppet state lasted until October 1945. Some supporters of the kingdom’s prime minister Son Ngoc Thanh escaped to north-western Cambodia, then still under Thai control, where they banded together as one faction in the Khmer Issarak movement. Although their fortunes rose and fell during the immediate postwar period, by 1954 the Khmer Issarak operating with the Viet Minh by some estimates controlled as much as 50 percent of Cambodia’s territory. King Sihanouk reluctantly proclaimed a new constitution in May 1947. While it recognized him as the “spiritual head of the state,” it reduced him to the status of a constitutional monarch of a Cambodia within the French Union.

35.5.2: Independence in Indochina

The division of Vietnam into the communist North and pro-Western South led to the First Indochina War. Viet Minh forces fought against the French Union from 1945 until the Geneva Conference of 1954 that forced France to abandon all claims to the colonies of Indochina, including Laos and Cambodia.

Learning Objective

Outline the path to independence in French Indochina

Key Points

• At
  the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, it was decided that
  Indochina south of latitude 16° North was to be included in the Southeast Asia
  Command under British Admiral Mountbatten. Japanese forces south of
  that line surrendered to him and those to the north surrendered to
  Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese accepted the Vietnamese government
  under Ho Chi Minh but the British refused to do likewise in Saigon. 
• On September 2, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. On September 23, with the knowledge of the British Commander in Saigon, French forces
  overthrew the local DRV government and declared French authority restored in
  Cochinchina. Guerrilla warfare began around Saigon immediately.
  The first few years of the war involved a
  low-level rural insurgency against French authority. However, after the Chinese
  communists reached the northern border of Vietnam in 1949, the conflict turned
  into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons
  supplied by the United States and the Soviet Union. 
• Negotiations between France and the Viet Minh
  started in Geneva in April 1954 at the Geneva Conference, when the French Union
  and the Viet Minh were still fighting at Dien Bien Phu. The Conference
  recognized the 17th parallel north as a “provisional military demarcation
  line,” temporarily dividing the country into two zones, communist North
  Vietnam and pro-Western South Vietnam. The Geneva Accords promised elections in
  1956 to determine a national government for a united Vietnam.

• When
  the elections failed to occur, Viet Minh cadres who stayed behind in South
  Vietnam were activated and started to fight the government. North Vietnam also
  invaded and occupied portions of Laos to assist in supplying the guerrilla
  fighting National Liberation Front in South Vietnam. The war gradually
  escalated into the Second Indochina War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War
  in the West and the American War in Vietnam.
• Laos witnessed tensions between pro-independence and pro-French movements. The
  Franco-Lao General Convention of 1949 sought appeasement by establishing the Kingdom of
  Laos a quasi-independent constitutional monarchy within the French Union. In
  1950 additional powers were granted. In 1953, the Franco–Lao Treaty of
  Amity and Association transferred remaining French powers to the independent
  Royal Lao Government.
• The French were able to reimpose the colonial
  administration in Cambodia in October 1945.
  King Norodom Sihanouk’s “royal
  crusade for independence” resulted in grudging French acquiescence to his
  demands for a transfer of sovereignty. A partial agreement was struck in
  October 1953. Sihanouk then declared that independence had been achieved and
  returned in triumph to Phnom Penh.

Key Terms

Viet Minh

A national
independence coalition formed in 1941 with the initial goal to seek
independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. After World War II, the
organization opposed the reoccupation of Vietnam by France and later opposed
South Vietnam and the United States in the Vietnam War.

Geneva Conference

A 1954 conference among several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina. The Soviet Union, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China were participants throughout the conference, while other countries concerned were represented during the discussion of questions of interest to them. These included the countries that contributed troops to the United Nations forces in the Korean War, and countries that participated in the resolution of the First Indochina War between France and the Viet Minh.

First Indochina War

The military conflict that began in French Indochina in December 1946 and lasted until August 1954, although fighting between French forces and their Viet Minh opponents in the South dated from September 1945. The conflict pitted a range of forces, including the French Union’s French Far East Expeditionary Corps, led by France and supported by the Vietnamese National Army, against the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh and its People’s Army of Vietnam led by Vo Nguyen Giap. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in Northern Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and Cambodia.

Franco-Thai War

The 1940–1941 military conflict fought between Thailand (Siam) and France over certain areas of French Indochina.
As a result of the war, France ceded certain provinces from Cambodia and Laos to Thailand. 

First Indochina War

At the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, the Combined Chiefs of Staff decided that Indochina south of latitude 16° North was to be included in the Southeast Asia Command under British Admiral Mountbatten. Japanese forces located south of that line surrendered to him and those to the north surrendered to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. The Chinese accepted the Vietnamese government under Ho Chi Minh, created by resistance forces of the Viet Minh, then in power in Hanoi. The British refused to do likewise in Saigon and deferred to the French, against the ostensible support of the Viet Minh by American
Office of Strategic Services representatives. On September 2, Ho Chi Minh had proclaimed in Hanoi the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV). The DRV ruled as the only civil government in all of Vietnam for about 20 days after the abdication of Emperor Bao Dai, who had governed under Japanese rule and thus was considered by Viet Minh a Japanese puppet. On September 23, 1945, with the knowledge of the British Commander in Saigon, French forces overthrew the local DRV government and declared French authority restored in Cochinchina. Guerrilla warfare began around Saigon immediately.

The first few years of the war involved a low-level rural insurgency against French authority. However, after the Chinese communists reached the northern border of Vietnam in 1949, the conflict turned into a conventional war between two armies equipped with modern weapons supplied by the United States and the Soviet Union. French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese ethnic minorities), French professional troops, and units of the French Foreign Legion. The use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming even more unpopular at home. 

The strategy of pushing the Viet Minh into attacking well-defended bases in remote parts of the country at the end of their logistical trails was validated at the Battle of Na San. The French efforts were made more difficult due to the limited usefulness of armored tanks in a jungle environment, lack of strong air forces for air cover and carpet bombing, and use of foreign recruits from other French colonies. On the other hand, General Vo Nguyen Giap,
the military leader of the Viet Minh considered to be one of the greatest strategists of the 20th century, used efficient and novel tactics of direct fire artillery, convoy ambushes and amassed anti-aircraft guns to impede land or air supply deliveries together with a strategy based on recruiting a sizable regular army facilitated by wide popular support, a guerrilla warfare doctrine, instruction developed in China, and the use of simple and reliable war material provided by the Soviet Union. This combination proved fatal for the Viet Minh’s opponents, culminating in a decisive French defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.

Vo Nguyen Giap and Ho Chi Minh (1942)

The two men were credited for the success of the Viet Menh and People’s Army of Vietnam in the First Indochina War. 

Geneva Conference

Negotiations between France and the Viet Minh started in Geneva in April 1954 at the Geneva Conference, when the French Union and the Viet Minh were still fighting at Dien Bien Phu.
The Conference recognized the 17th parallel north as a “provisional military demarcation line,” temporarily dividing the country into two zones, communist North Vietnam and pro-Western South Vietnam. The Geneva Accords promised elections in 1956 to determine a national government for a united Vietnam. With respect to the question of reunification, the non-communist Vietnamese delegation objected strenuously to any division of Vietnam, but lost out when the French accepted the proposal of Viet Minh delegate Pham Van Dong, who proposed that Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of “local commissions.” The United States countered with what became known as the “American Plan,” with the support of South Vietnam and the United Kingdom. It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the United Nations, but was rejected by the Soviet delegation. From his home in France, Emperor Bao Dai appointed Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister of South Vietnam. With American support, in 1955 Diem used a referendum to remove the former Emperor and declare himself the president of the Republic of Vietnam.

When the elections failed to occur, Viet Minh cadres who stayed behind in South Vietnam were activated and started to fight the government. North Vietnam also invaded and occupied portions of Laos to assist in supplying the guerrilla fighting National Liberation Front in South Vietnam. The war gradually escalated into the Second Indochina War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War in the West and the American War in Vietnam.

French Foreign Legion patrol question a suspected member of the Viet Minh

French Union forces included colonial troops from the whole former empire (Moroccan, Algerian, Tunisian, Laotian, Cambodian, and Vietnamese ethnic minorities), French professional troops, and units of the French Foreign Legion. The use of metropolitan recruits was forbidden by the government to prevent the war from becoming even more unpopular at home. It was called the “dirty war” by the Leftist intellectuals in France.

Laos’ Independence

In 1945, under Japanese pressure, King Sisavangvong declared the independence of Laos. The move allowed the various independence movements in Laos to coalesce into the Lao Issara or Free Lao movement, which was led by Prince Phetsarath and opposed the return of Laos to the French. The Japanese surrender in August 1945 emboldened pro-French factions and Prince Phetsarath was dismissed by King Sisavangvong. Undeterred, Prince Phetsarath staged a coup in September and placed the royal family in Luang Prabang under house arrest. In October 1945, the Lao Issara government was declared under the civil administration of Prince Phetsarath but the French were able to reassert control over Indochina in April 1946. The Lao Issara government fled to Thailand, where they maintained opposition to the French until 1949, when the group split over questions regarding relations with the Viet Minh and the communist Pathet Lao was formed. With the Lao Issara in exile, in August 1946 France instituted a constitutional monarchy in Laos headed by King Sisavangvong and Thailand agreed to return territories seized during the Franco-Thai War in exchange for representation at the United Nations. The Franco-Lao General Convention of 1949 provided most members of the Lao Issara with a negotiated amnesty and sought appeasement by establishing the Kingdom of Laos a quasi-independent constitutional monarchy within the French Union. In 1950 additional powers were granted to the Royal Lao Government, including training and assistance for a national army. In 1953, the Franco–Lao Treaty of Amity and Association transferred remaining French powers to the independent Royal Lao Government. By 1954, the defeat at Dien Bien Phu brought eight years of fighting with the Viet Minh during the First Indochinese War to an end and France abandoned all claims to the colonies of Indochina.

Cambodia’s Independence

Cambodia’s situation at the end of World War II was chaotic. On March 9, 1945, during the Japanese occupation of Cambodia, young king Norodom Sihanouk proclaimed an independent Kingdom of Kampuchea following a formal request by the Japanese. Shortly thereafter the Japanese government nominally ratified the independence of Cambodia and established a consulate in Phnom Penh. After Allied military units entered Cambodia, the Japanese military forces present in the country were disarmed and repatriated. The French were able to reimpose the colonial administration in Phnom Penh in October the same year. Sihanouk’s “royal crusade for independence” resulted in grudging French acquiescence to his demands for a transfer of sovereignty. A partial agreement was struck in October 1953. Sihanouk then declared that independence had been achieved and returned in triumph to Phnom Penh. As a result of the Geneva Conference, Cambodia was able to bring about the withdrawal of the Viet Minh troops from its territory and withstand any residual impingement upon its sovereignty by external powers.

35.5.3: The Geneva Agreements

The 1954 Geneva Conference produced an agreement between
the French and Viet Minh military
commands (but not the pro-Western State of Vietnam) that divided Vietnam along the 17th Parallel, escalating tensions between the North and the South and leading to the Second Indochina War (Vietnam War).

Learning Objective

List the key points of the Geneva Agreements

Key Points

• The
  Geneva Conference took place between April 26 and July 20, 1954. Its goal was to settle outstanding issues resulting from the
  Korean War and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina following the
  First Indochina War. The
  part of the conference on the Korean question ended without any
  declarations or proposals. On Indochina, the conference produced a set of
  documents known as the Geneva Accords. 
• The Western allies did not have a unified
  position on what the Conference should achieve in relation to Indochina. Two Vietnamese delegations, one from the communist North and one from the pro-Western South, were also divided on the question of the future of Vietnam. Lengthy negotiations revolved around the questions of the division vs. unification of Vietnam, the spheres of influence in the region, and the status of Laos and Cambodia. 
• On July
  20, the remaining outstanding issues were resolved as the parties agreed that
  the partition line should be at the 17th parallel and that the elections for
  reunification should be in July 1956, two years after the ceasefire. The
  Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Vietnam was signed only by French
  and Viet Minh military commands, completely bypassing the State of
  Vietnam. 

• The
  Geneva Accords, issued on July 21, 1954, set out a “provisional military
  demarcation line” running approximately along the 17th Parallel. A 3-mile (4.8 km) wide demilitarized zone was
  expected on each side of the demarcation line, and French Union forces were to
  regroup to the south of the line while Viet Minh to the north. Free movement of
  the population between the zone would be open for 300 days and
  neither zone was to join any military alliance or seek military reinforcement.
  The International Control Commission, comprising Canada, Poland, and India as chair, was established to monitor
  the ceasefire. 

• Many communist sympathizers viewed South Vietnam
  as a French colonial and later American puppet regime. Simultaneously, many
  viewed North Vietnam as a communist puppet state. After the cessation of
  hostilities, a large migration took place. North Vietnamese, especially
  Catholics, intellectuals, business people, land owners, anti-communist
  democrats, and members of the middle-class, moved south of the Accords-mandated
  ceasefire line.
• The
  United States replaced the French as a political backup for Ngo Dinh Diem, then Prime
  Minister of the State of Vietnam, and he asserted his power in the South. Diem
  refused to hold the national elections, citing that the South did not sign and
  thus was not bound to the Geneva Accords. North
  Vietnam violated the Geneva Accords by failing to fully withdraw Viet Minh
  troops from South Vietnam, stifling the movement of North Vietnamese refugees,
  and conducting a massive military build-up. The tensions led to the Second Indochinese War, more
  commonly known as the Vietnam War or American War in Vietnam.

Key Terms

Viet Cong

A political organization and army, known also as the National Liberation Front, that operated in South Vietnam and Cambodia during the Vietnam War. It was allied with North Vietnam and fought against the armies of South Vietnam and the United States. It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network of cadres who organized peasants in the territory it controlled.

Operation Passage to Freedom

A term used by the United States Navy to describe its assistance in transporting in 1954–55 310,000 Vietnamese civilians, soldiers, and non-Vietnamese members of the French Army from communist North Vietnam (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) to South Vietnam (the State of Vietnam, later to become the Republic of Vietnam). The French and other countries may have transported a further 500,000.

First Indochina War

The military conflict that
began in French Indochina in December 1946 and lasted until August 1954, although fighting between French forces and their Viet Minh opponents in
the South dated from September 1945. The conflict pitted a range of forces,
including the French Union’s French Far East Expeditionary Corps, led by
France and supported by the Vietnamese National Army, against the Viet
Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh and its People’s Army of Vietnam led by Vo
Nguyen Giap. Most of the fighting took place in Tonkin in Northern
Vietnam, although the conflict engulfed the entire country and also extended
into the neighboring French Indochina protectorates of Laos and
Cambodia.

Geneva Conference

A 1954 conference among
several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, to settle
outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and discuss the
possibility of restoring peace in Indochina. The Soviet Union, the United
States, France, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of
China were participants throughout the conference, while other countries
concerned were represented during the discussion of questions of interest to
them. These included the countries that contributed troops to the United
Nations forces in the Korean War and countries that participated in the
resolution of the First Indochina War between France and the Viet Minh.

Geneva Accords

The 1954 settlement that ended the First Indochina War, reached at the end of the Geneva Conference. A ceasefire was signed and France agreed to withdraw its troops from the region. French Indochina was split into three countries: Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Vietnam was to be temporarily divided along the 17th Parallel until elections could be held to unite the country.

Viet Minh

A national
independence coalition formed in 1941 with the initial goal to seek
independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. After World War II, the
organization opposed the reoccupation of Vietnam by France and later opposed
South Vietnam and the United States in the Vietnam War.

The Geneva Conference took place between April 26 and July 20, 1954 in Geneva, Switzerland. Its goal was to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina as the First Indochina War fighting was still going on when the Conference first gathered. The Soviet Union, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of China were present throughout the conference, while other countries concerned were represented during the discussion of questions of interest to them. These included the countries that contributed troops to the United Nations forces in the Korean War and countries that participated in the resolution of the First Indochina War between France and the Viet Minh. The part of the conference on the Korean question ended without any declarations or proposals. On Indochina, the conference produced a set of documents known as the Geneva Accords or Geneva Agreements. 

The Geneva Conference, July 21, 1954.

The last plenary session on Indochina in the Palais des Nations. Second left Vyacheslav Molotov, 2 unidentified Russians, Anthony Eden, Sir Harold Caccie, and W.D. Allen. In the foreground North Vietnamese delegation.

Although the eventual Geneva Accords were presented as a consensus view, the settlement was not accepted by the delegates of either the State of Vietnam or the United States.

The Question of Indochina 

While the delegates began to assemble in Geneva in late April, the discussions on Indochina did not begin until May 8. The Viet Minh had achieved their decisive victory over the French Union forces at Dien Bien Phu the previous day. The Western allies did not have a unified position on what the Conference should achieve in relation to Indochina. The British delegation favored a negotiated settlement to the conflict. The French delegation was keen to preserve something of France’s position in the region. The Unites States had been supporting the French in Indochina for many years and the Republican Eisenhower administration wanted to ensure that it could not be accused of having lost Indochina to the communists. Its leaders had previously accused the Truman administration of having lost China when the communists successfully dominated the country.

On May 10, Pham Van Dong, leader of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; North) delegation set out their position, proposing a ceasefire, separation of the opposing forces, a ban on the introduction of new forces into Indochina, exchange of prisoners, independence and sovereignty for Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, elections for unified governments in each country, withdrawal of all foreign forces, and the inclusion of representatives of the independence movements from Laos and Cambodia, Pathet Lao, and Khmer Issarak in the Conference. On May 12, the State of Vietnam (South) rejected any partition of the country and the United States expressed a similar position the next day. The French sought to implement a physical separation of the opposing forces into enclaves throughout the country, known as the “leopard-skin” approach, which divided the state’s territories between the DRV/Viet Minh and the French Union.

Although behind the scenes the U.S. and French governments continued to discuss the terms for possible U.S. military intervention in Indochina, by mid-June it was clear such intervention would not receive much support among allies and the United States began to consider the possibility that, rather than supporting the French in Indochina, it might be preferable for the French to leave and for the United States to support the new Indochinese states. Unwilling to support the proposed partition or intervention, by mid-June the United States decided to withdraw from major participation in the Conference.

The Soviet and Chinese representatives also argued that the situations in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos were not the same and should be treated separately. Consequently, Pham Van Dong agreed the Viet Minh would be prepared to withdraw their forces from Laos and Cambodia provided no foreign bases were established in Indochina. This represented a major blow to the DRV, as they had tried to ensure that the Pathet Lao and Khmer Issarak would join the governments in Laos and Cambodia, respectively, under the leadership of the DRV. The Chinese likely sought to ensure that Laos and Cambodia were not under Vietnam’s influence in the future, but under China’s.

Geneva Accords

After lengthy negotiations, on July 20 the remaining issues were resolved as the parties agreed that the partition line should be at the 17th parallel and that the elections for reunification should be in July 1956, two years after the ceasefire. The Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Vietnam was signed only by French and Viet Minh military commands, completely bypassing the State of Vietnam. 

The Geneva Accords, issued on July 21, 1954, set out a “provisional military demarcation line” running approximately along the 17th Parallel “on either side of which the forces of the two parties shall be regrouped after their withdrawal.” A 3-mles (4.8 km) wide demilitarized zone was expected on each side of the demarcation line and French Union forces were to regroup to the south of the line while Viet Minh to the north. Free movement of the population between the zone would be open for 300 days and neither zone was to join any military alliance or seek military reinforcement. The International Control Commission (ICC), comprising Canada, Poland (at the time under the communist rule), and India as chair, was established to monitor the ceasefire.
Because the Commission was to decide on issues unanimously, Poland’s presence in the ICC provided the communists with effective veto power over supervision of the treaty. The unsigned Final Declaration of the Geneva Conference called for reunification elections, which the majority of delegates expected to be supervised by the ICC. The Viet Minh never accepted ICC authority over such elections.

The agreement was signed by the communist Democratic Republic of Vietnam, France, the People’s Republic of China, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom. The State of Vietnam
under emperor Bao Dai rejected the agreement, while the United States stated that it “took note” of the ceasefire agreements and declared that it would “refrain from the threat or use of force to disturb them.” Separate accords were signed by the signatories with the Kingdom of Cambodia and the Kingdom of Laos in relation to Cambodia and Laos respectively.

Outcomes

In October 1954, the last French Union forces left Hanoi. In May 1955, French Union forces withdrew from Saigon to a coastal bases and in April 1956, the last French forces left Vietnam.

Many communist sympathizers viewed South Vietnam as a French colonial and later American puppet regime. Simultaneously, many viewed North Vietnam as a communist puppet state. After the cessation of hostilities, a large migration took place. North Vietnamese, especially Catholics, intellectuals, business people, land owners, anti-communist democrats, and members of the middle-class, moved south of the Accords-mandated ceasefire line during Operation Passage to Freedom. The ICC reported that at least 892,876 North Vietnamese were processed through official refugee stations, while journalists estimated that as many as 2 million more might have fled. Around 52,000 people from the South went North, mostly Viet Minh members and their families.

Anticommunist Vietnamese refugees moving from a French LSM landing ship to the USS Montague during Operation Passage to Freedom in August 1954, photo by H.S. Hemphill.

The mass emigration of northerners was facilitated primarily by the French Air Force and Navy. American naval vessels supplemented the French in evacuating northerners to Saigon, the southern capital. The operation was accompanied by a large humanitarian relief effort, bankrolled in the main by the United States government in an attempt to absorb a large tent city of refugees that had sprung up outside Saigon.

The United States replaced the French as a political backup for Ngo Dinh Diem, then Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam, and he asserted his power in the South. Diem refused to hold the national elections, citing that the South did not sign and thus was not bound to the Geneva Accords and that it was impossible to hold free elections in the communist North. He went on to attempt to crush communist opposition.

North Vietnam violated the Geneva Accords by failing to fully withdraw Viet Minh troops from South Vietnam, stifling the movement of North Vietnamese refugees, and conducting a massive military build-up that more than doubled the number of armed divisions in the North Vietnamese army (while the South Vietnamese army was reduced by 20,000 men). North Vietnam established military operations in the South by providing military supplies and equipment, weaponry, and military personnel and leadership to the Viet Cong (the National Liberation Front created by Ho Chi Minh’s government) in the South. Guerrilla activity in the South escalated, while U.S. military advisers continued to support the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. The tensions led to the Second Indochinese War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War or American War in Vietnam.

35.5.4: The Vietnam War

The 20-year-long Vietnam War between the communist North and pro-Western South backed by the United States has had tragic consequences for the entire region, including the victory of communists in Vietnam, the rise of the Khmer Rouge to power in Cambodia, a massive refugee crisis, and the lasting impact that the use of chemicals by the U.S. military had on the region’s population. 

Learning Objective

Explain the events of the Vietnam War and their lasting effects on the country

Key Points

• The 1954 Geneva Conference did not end tensions between North and South Vietnam.
  In 1955, in a referendum on the
  future of the State of Vietnam,
  Ngo
  Dinh

  Diem rigged the poll and was credited with 98.2% of the vote.
  Three days later, he declared South Vietnam to be an independent state under
  the name Republic of Vietnam, with himself as president. Likewise, Ho Chi
  Minh and other communist officials always won at least 99% of the vote in North
  Vietnamese “elections.”
  Between
  1954 and 1957, there was large-scale but disorganized dissidence in the
  countryside, which the Diem government succeeded in quelling. However, by
  mid-1957 through 1959, incidents of violence increased.

• Because of the ongoing
  conflict and constant tensions, the beginning date of the Second Indochina War,
  known in the US as the Vietnam War and in Vietnam as the American War, is a
  matter of debate, with 1955, 1956, and 1959 as potential starting points. Eventually, the war pitted the Communist Vietnam
  People’s Army and the Viet Cong against United States troops
  and the United States-backed ARVN (Republic of Vietnam soldiers). The war
  would last until 1975.
• Following
  the escalation of the war under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, Richard
  Nixon began troop withdrawals in 1969. His plan, called the Nixon Doctrine, was
  to build up the ARVN so that they could take over the defense of South Vietnam.
  The policy, known as Vietnamization, largely failed. 
• Prince Norodom Sihanouk
  had proclaimed Cambodia neutral since 1955, but the communists used Cambodian
  soil as a base and Sihanouk tolerated their presence because he wished to
  avoid being drawn into a wider regional conflict. Under pressure from Washington,
  however, he changed this policy in 1969.

  The ostensibly neutral
  Laos had long been the scene of a civil war, pitting the Laotian government
  backed by the United States against the Pathet Lao and its North Vietnamese allies. 

• The 1973 Paris Peace Accords officially ended direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, but a declared cease-fire across North and South Vietnam did not last long. The final series
  of increasingly large-scale offensive operations by North
  Vietnam and the Viet Cong began in December 1974. On
  April 30, 1975, NVA troops entered the city of Saigon and quickly overcame all
  resistance, capturing key buildings and installations.
• In 1976, North and
  South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Cambodia fell to the communist Khmer Rouge in 1975.

  The Pathet Lao overthrew
  the monarchy of Laos in 1975, establishing the Lao People’s Democratic
  Republic under the leadership of a member of the royal family, Souphanouvong.
  Over 3 million people left
  Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the Indochina refugee crisis. The
  widespread use of chemical defoliants by the U.S. military between 1961 and 1971 continues to impact the health of those who survived the war and generations of their descendants.

Key Terms

Second Indochina War

A military conflict known commonly in the United States as the Vietnam War and in Vietnam as Resistance War Against America or the American War, that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1955 (with some sources citing 1956 or 1959 as the starting date) to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies. The war is therefore considered a Cold War-era proxy war.

Geneva Conference

A 1954 conference among
several nations that took place in Geneva, Switzerland, to settle
outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and discuss the
possibility of restoring peace in Indochina. The Soviet Union, the United
States, France, the United Kingdom, and the People’s Republic of
China were participants throughout the conference, while other countries
concerned were represented during the discussion of questions of interest to
them. These included the countries that contributed troops to the United
Nations forces in the Korean War and countries that participated in the
resolution of the First Indochina War between France and the Viet Minh.

Paris Peace Accords

A peace treaty signed on January 27, 1973, to establish peace in Vietnam and end the Vietnam War. The treaty included the governments of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam), the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), and the United States, as well as the Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) that represented indigenous South Vietnamese revolutionaries. It ended direct U.S. military combat and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam.

Pathet Lao

A communist political movement and organization in Laos formed in the mid-20th century. The group was ultimately successful in assuming political power in 1975 after the Laotian Civil War. It was always closely associated with Vietnamese communists and fought against the anti-communist forces in the Vietnam War. Eventually, the term became the generic name for Laotian communists.

Khmer Rouge

The name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. It was formed in 1968 as an offshoot of the Vietnam People’s Army from North Vietnam, and allied with North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and Pathet Lao during the Vietnam War against the anti-communist forces from 1968 to 1975.

Vietnamization

A policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to “expand, equip, and train South Vietnam’s forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops.”  

Viet Cong

A political organization
and army, known also as the National Liberation Front, that operated in South
Vietnam and Cambodia during the Vietnam War. It was allied with North
Vietnam and fought against the armies of South Vietnam and the United
States. It had both guerrilla and regular army units, as well as a network
of cadres who organized peasants in the territory it controlled.

Viet Minh

A national
independence coalition formed in 1941 with the initial goal to seek
independence for Vietnam from the French Empire. After World War II, the
organization opposed the reoccupation of Vietnam by France and later opposed
South Vietnam and the United States in the Vietnam War.

Second Indochina War

Following the Geneva Conference, Vietnam was temporarily partitioned at the 17th parallel and civilians were given the opportunity to move freely between the two provisional states for a 300-day period. Elections throughout the country were to be held in 1956 to establish a unified government.  While the North remained under the control of communists, the South constituted the State of Vietnam, with Bao Dai as Emperor and Ngo Dinh Diem as his prime minister. Neither the United States government nor the State of Vietnam signed anything at Geneva. With respect to the question of reunification, the non-communist Vietnamese delegation objected strenuously to any division of Vietnam, but lost out when the French accepted the proposal of Viet Minh delegate Pham Van Dong, who proposed that Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of “local commissions.” The United States countered with what became known as the “American Plan,” with the support of South Vietnam and the United Kingdom. It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the United Nations, but was rejected by the Soviet delegation. In 1957, independent observers from India, Poland, and Canada representing the International Control Commission (ICC) stated that fair, unbiased elections were not possible, with the ICC reporting that neither South nor North Vietnam had honored the armistice agreement.

In a referendum on the future of the State of Vietnam in 1955, Diem rigged the poll supervised by his brother and was credited with 98.2% of the vote, including 133% in Saigon. Three days later, he declared South Vietnam to be an independent state under the name Republic of Vietnam (ROV), with himself as president. Likewise, Ho Chi Minh and other communist officials always won at least 99% of the vote in North Vietnamese “elections.”
Diem also launched the “Denounce the Communists” campaign, during which communists and other anti-government elements were arrested, imprisoned, tortured, or executed. He instituted the death penalty against any activity deemed communist in 1956.

Between 1954 and 1957 there was large-scale but disorganized dissidence in the countryside, which the Diem government succeeded in quelling. However, by mid-1957 through 1959, incidents of violence increased. There had been some division among former Viet Minh groups, whose main goal was to hold the elections promised in the Geneva Accords, leading to “wildcat” activities separate from the other communists and anti-government of Vietnam (GVN) activists. In 1960, the National Liberation Front, known more commonly as the Viet Cong, was formally created with the intent of uniting all anti-GVN activists, including non-communists. In 1959, North Vietnam invaded Laos and used 30,000 men to build invasion routes through Laos and Cambodia by 1961. About 40,000 communist soldiers infiltrated into the south from 1961-63. North Vietnam sent 10,000 troops of the North Vietnamese Army to attack the south in 1964, and this figure increased to 100,000 in 1965.

Because of the ongoing conflict and constant tensions, the beginning date of the Second Indochina War, known in the US as the Vietnam War and in Vietnam as the American War, is a matter of debate. U.S. government reports currently cite November 1, 1955, as the commencement date of the “Vietnam Conflict” because that was when the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Indochina (deployed to Southeast Asia under President Truman) was reorganized into country-specific units and MAAG Vietnam was established. Other start dates include when Hanoi authorized Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam to begin a low-level insurgency in December 1956, or September 26, 1959, when the first battle occurred between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese army.
Eventually, the war pitted the Communist Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) and the Viet Cong against United States troops and the United States-backed ARVN (Republic of Vietnam soldiers). The war would last until 1975.

Vietnamization

Following the escalation of the war under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations,
Richard Nixon began troop withdrawals in 1969. His plan, called the Nixon Doctrine, was to build up the ARVN so that they could take over the defense of South Vietnam. The policy became known as Vietnamization. On October 10, 1969, Nixon ordered a squadron of 18 B-52s loaded with nuclear weapons to race to the border of Soviet airspace to convince the Soviet Union, in accord with the madman theory, that he was capable of anything to end the war.

Nixon also pursued negotiations and began to pursue détente (relaxation policy) with the Soviet Union and rapprochement with China. This policy helped to decrease global tensions. Détente led to nuclear arms reduction on the part of both superpowers but Nixon was disappointed that China and the Soviet Union continued to supply the North Vietnamese with aid. In September 1969, Ho Chi Minh died. Beginning in 1970, American troops were withdrawn from border areas where most of the fighting took place and instead redeployed along the coast and interior.

A Viet Cong prisoner captured in 1967 by the U.S. Army awaits interrogation. He has been placed in a stress position by tying a board between his arms. 

A large number of war crimes took place during the Vietnam War. War crimes were committed by both sides during the conflict and included rape, massacres of civilians, bombings of civilian targets, terrorism, the widespread use of torture, and the murder of prisoners of war. Additional common crimes included theft, arson, and the destruction of property not warranted by military necessity.

The United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and the Khmer Rouge were all found guilty of war crimes.

Cambodia and Laos

Prince Norodom Sihanouk had proclaimed Cambodia neutral since 1955, but the communists used Cambodian soil as a base and Sihanouk tolerated their presence because he wished to avoid being drawn into a wider regional conflict. Under pressure from Washington, however, he changed this policy in 1969. In 1970, Prince Sihanouk was deposed by his pro-American prime minister Lon Nol. North Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1970 at the request of Khmer Rouge deputy leader Nuon Chea. U.S. and ARVN forces launched an invasion into Cambodia to attack NVA and Viet Cong bases.

The ostensibly neutral Laos had long been the scene of a civil war, pitting the Laotian government backed by the US against the Pathet Lao and its North Vietnamese allies. After meeting resistance, ARVN forces retreated and fled along roads littered with their own dead. The operation was a fiasco and represented a clear failure of Vietnamization. Vietnamization was again tested by the Easter Offensive of 1972, a massive conventional NVA invasion of South Vietnam. The NVA and Viet Cong quickly overran the northern provinces and in coordination with other forces attacked from Cambodia, threatening to cut the country in half. U.S. troop withdrawals continued. American air power responded, beginning Operation Linebacker, and the offensive was halted. It became clear that without American air power South Vietnam could not survive. The last remaining American ground troops were withdrawn by the end of March 1973. U.S. naval and air forces remained in the Gulf of Tonkin, as well as Thailand and Guam.

No Peace after Paris Peace Accords

The war was the central issue of the 1972 U.S. presidential election. Nixon’s National Security Advisor, Henry Kissinger, continued secret negotiations with North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho. On January 15, 1973, Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action against North Vietnam. The Paris Peace Accords on “Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam” were signed on January 27, 1973, officially ending direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. A cease-fire was declared across North and South Vietnam. U.S. prisoners of war were released. The agreement guaranteed the territorial integrity of Vietnam and, like the Geneva Conference of 1954, called for national elections in the North and South. 

Despite the accords, military conflict between the South and the North continued. The final
series of increasingly large-scale and ambitious offensive operations by North Vietnam and the Viet Cong began in December 1974. The eventual goal of these operations was to defeat the armed forces and force the surrender of the government of South Vietnam.
The operational plan for what would be known as the Ho Chi Minh Campaign called for the capture of Saigon before May 1. By the end of April, the ARVN had collapsed on all fronts except in the Mekong Delta. Thousands of refugees streamed southward ahead of the main communist onslaught. Chaos, unrest, and panic broke out as hysterical South Vietnamese officials and civilians scrambled to leave Saigon. Martial law was declared. On April 30, 1975, NVA troops entered the city of Saigon and quickly overcame all resistance, capturing key buildings and installations.

Aftermath in Southeast Asia

On July 2, 1976, North and South Vietnam were merged to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Despite speculation that the victorious North Vietnamese would massacre South Vietnamese, there is a widespread consensus that no mass executions took place. However, in the years following the end of the war, up to 300,000 South Vietnamese were sent to reeducation camps, where many endured torture, starvation, and disease while being forced to perform hard labor. In addition, 200,000 to 400,000 Vietnamese boat people died at sea, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, fell to the communist Khmer Rouge on April 17, 1975. Under the leadership of Pol Pot, the Khmer Rouge would eventually kill 1-3 million Cambodians out of a population of around 8 million in one of the bloodiest genocides in history. After repeated border clashes in 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and ousted the Khmer Rouge, who were being supported by China, in the Cambodian-Vietnamese War. In response, China invaded Vietnam in 1979. The two countries fought a brief border war, known as the Sino-Vietnamese War. 

The Pathet Lao overthrew the monarchy of Laos in December 1975, establishing the Lao People’s Democratic Republic under the leadership of a member of the royal family, Souphanouvong. The change in regime was relatively peaceful, although 30,000 former officials were sent to reeducation camps, often enduring harsh conditions for several years.

Over 3 million people left Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the Indochina refugee crisis. Most Asian countries were unwilling to accept the refugees, many of whom fled by boat and were known as boat people. Between 1975 and 1998, an estimated 1.2 million refugees from Vietnam and other Southeast Asian countries resettled in the United States, while Canada, Australia, and France resettled over 500,000. China accepted 250,000 people. Of all the countries of Indochina, Laos experienced the largest refugee flight in proportional terms, as 300,000 people out of a total population of 3 million crossed the border into Thailand. Included among their ranks were about 90% of the educated and professional elites. Vietnam retained its pro-Soviet orientation after the war and remained an important ally of the USSR in the region.

Vietnamese women and children in My Lai before being killed in the massacre, March 16, 1968. They were killed seconds after the photo was taken. 

Estimates of casualties in the Vietnam War vary widely. They include both civilian and military deaths in North and South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Civilian deaths caused by both sides amounted to a significant percentage of total deaths, perhaps from 30 to nearly 50%. Civilian deaths caused by communist forces, which included the Viet Cong, North Vietnamese Army, Pathet Lao, and Khmer Rouge, mostly resulted from assassinations and terror tactics. Civilian deaths caused by the armed forces of the governments of South Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the United States, South Korea, and other allies were primarily the consequence of extensive aerial bombing and the use of massive firepower in military operations conducted in heavily populated areas.

One of the most controversial aspects of the U.S. military effort in Southeast Asia was the widespread use of chemical defoliants between 1961 and 1971. They were used to defoliate large parts of the countryside to prevent the Viet Cong from being able to hide their weapons and encampments under the foliage. These chemicals continue to change the landscape, cause diseases and birth defects, and poison the food chain today. Vietnamese victims affected by Agent Orange attempted a class action lawsuit against Dow Chemical and other U.S. chemical manufacturers, but District Court Judge Jack B. Weinstein dismissed their case. They appealed, but the dismissal was cemented in 2008 by the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. As of 2006, the Vietnamese government estimates that there are over 4,000,000 victims of dioxin poisoning in Vietnam, although the United States government denies any conclusive scientific links between Agent Orange and the Vietnamese victims of dioxin poisoning. In some areas of southern Vietnam, dioxin levels remain at over 100 times the accepted international standard. The U.S. Veterans Administration has listed prostate cancer, respiratory cancers, multiple melanoma, diabetes type 2, B-cell lymphomas, soft-tissue sarcoma, chloracne, porphyria cutanea tarda, peripheral neuropathy, and spina bifida in children of veterans exposed to Agent Orange.

35.5.5: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge

The Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia (1975-1979) introduced an extreme governing system based on the relocation of urban residents to rural areas and halting nearly all economic, social, and cultural activities. It was responsible for mass atrocities known as the Cambodian genocide.  

Learning Objective

Summarize the crimes perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge

Key Points

• The
  history of the Khmer Rouge is tied to the history of the communist movement in
  Indochina. In 1951, the Indochinese Communist Party was reorganized into
  three national units — the Vietnam Workers’ Party, the Lao Issara (in
  Laos), and the Kampuchean (or Khmer) People’s Revolutionary Party. However, during
  the 1950s, Khmer students in Paris organized their own communist movement. From their ranks came the men and women who returned home and took
  command of the party apparatus during the 1960s, led an effective insurgency
  against Lon Nol from 1968 until 1975, and established the regime of Democratic
  Kampuchea under the leadership of Pol Pot. 
• In
  1968, the Khmer Rouge was officially formed and its forces launched a national
  insurgency across Cambodia. Vietnamese support for the insurgency made it impossible
  for the Cambodian military to effectively counter it. For the next two years
  the insurgency grew as Prince Sihanouk, head of Cambodia, did very little to stop it. The political appeal of the Khmer Rouge
  increased after the removal of Sihanouk as
  head of state in 1970 by Premier Lon Nol. Sihanouk, in exile in Beijing, made an alliance with the
  Khmer Rouge, after which their ranks swelled from 6,000 to 50,000 fighters. Many of the new recruits for
  the Khmer Rouge were apolitical peasants who fought in support of the Prince,
  not for communism. On April 17, 1975 the Khmer Rouge
  captured Phnom Penh.
• The
  Khmer Rouge carried out a radical program that included isolating the country
  from all foreign influences, closing schools, hospitals, and factories,
  abolishing banking, finance, and currency, outlawing all religions,
  confiscating all private property and relocating people from urban areas to
  collective farms, where forced labor was widespread. The purpose of this policy
  was to turn Cambodians into “Old People” (as opposed the urban
  populations known as “New People”) through agricultural labor.

• Money
  was abolished, books were burned, and teachers, merchants, and almost the entire
  intellectual elite of the country were murdered to make the agricultural
  communism, as Pol Pot envisioned it, a reality. The planned relocation to the
  countryside resulted in the complete halting of almost all economic
  activity. 
• In 1978, Pol Pot, fearing a Vietnamese attack,
  ordered a pre-emptive invasion of Vietnam. At the end of the same year, the
  Vietnamese armed forces, along with the Kampuchean United Front for National
  Salvation, an organization that included many dissatisfied former Khmer Rouge
  members, invaded Cambodia and captured Phnom Penh in January 1979.
• The
  Khmer Rouge government arrested, tortured, and eventually executed anyone
  suspected of belonging to several categories of supposed “enemies.” Various studies have estimated the death toll at between 740,000 and
  3 million most commonly between 1.4 million and 2.2 million, with
  perhaps half of those deaths due to executions and the rest from
  starvation and disease. Because
  of the intense opposition to the Vietnam War, for years many Western scholars denied the genocide perpetrated by the
  Khmer Rouge regime.

Key Terms

Democratic Kampuchea

The name of the Khmer Rouge-controlled state that between 1975 and 1979 existed in present-day Cambodia. It was founded when the Khmer Rouge forces defeated the Khmer Republic of Lon Nol in 1975. During its rule between 1975 and 1979, the state and its ruling Khmer Rouge regime was responsible for the deaths of millions of Cambodians through forced labor and genocide. After losing control of most of Cambodian territory to Vietnamese occupation, it survived as a rump state supported by China.

Cambodian Genocide

Mass attrocities carried out by the Khmer Rouge regime led by Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979, in which an estimated 1.5 to 3 million people died. 

Khmer Rouge

The name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. It was formed in 1968 as an offshoot of the Vietnam People’s Army from North Vietnam, and allied with North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and Pathet Lao during the Vietnam War against the anti-communist forces from 1968 to 1975.

Khmer Rouge: Rise to Power

The history of the Khmer Rouge is tied to the history of the communist movement in Indochina. In 1951, the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) was reorganized into three national units — the Vietnam Workers’ Party, the Lao Issara (in Laos), and the Kampuchean (or Khmer) People’s Revolutionary Party (KPRP). According to a document issued after the reorganization, the Vietnam Workers’ Party would continue to “supervise” the smaller Laotian and Cambodian movements. Most KPRP leaders and rank-and-file seem to have been either Khmer Krom, or ethnic Vietnamese living in Cambodia. The party’s appeal to indigenous Khmers appears to have been minimal.

During the 1950s, Khmer students in Paris organized their own communist movement, which had little if any connection to the hard-pressed party in their homeland. From their ranks came the men and women who returned home and took command of the party apparatus during the 1960s, led an effective insurgency against Lon Nol from 1968 until 1975, and established the regime of Democratic Kampuchea. Some members of the Paris group, most notably Pol Pot and Ieng Sary, turned to Marxism-Leninism and joined the French Communist Party. In 1951, the two men went to East Berlin to participate in a youth festival. This experience is considered a turning point in their ideological development. Meeting with Khmers who were fighting with the Viet Minh, they became convinced that only a tightly disciplined party organization and a readiness for armed struggle could achieve revolution. They transformed the Khmer Students Association (KSA), to which most of the 200 or so Khmer students in Paris belonged, into an organization for nationalist and leftist ideas. After returning to Cambodia in 1953, Pol Pot threw himself into party work. 

In 1960, 21 leaders of the KPRP held a secret congress in a vacant room of the Phnom Penh railroad station. This pivotal event remains shrouded in mystery because its outcome has become an object of contention (and considerable historical rewriting) between pro-Vietnamese and anti-Vietnamese Khmer communist factions. The question of cooperation with or resistance to Prince Sihanouk (head of the Cambodian state) was thoroughly discussed. The KPRP was renamed the
Workers’ Party of Kampuchea (WPK).

In 1962, Tou Samouth, the WPK secretary, was murdered by the Cambodian government. A year later, Pol Pot was chosen to succeed Tou Samouth as the party’s general secretary. Pol Pot was also put on a list of 34 leftists who were summoned by Sihanouk to join the government and sign statements saying Sihanouk was the only possible leader for the country. Pol Pot and one more leader, Chou Chet, were the only people on the list who escaped. The region where Pol Pot moved to was inhabited by tribal minorities, the Khmer Loeu, whose rough treatment (including resettlement and forced assimilation) at the hands of the central government made them willing recruits for a guerrilla struggle. In 1965, Pol Pot made a visit of several months to North Vietnam and China. 

In 1968, the Khmer Rouge was officially formed and its forces launched a national insurgency across Cambodia. Although North Vietnam had not been informed of the decision, its forces provided shelter and weapons to the Khmer Rouge after the insurgency started. Vietnamese support for the insurgency made it impossible for the Cambodian military to effectively counter it. For the next two years the insurgency grew as Sihanouk did very little to stop it. As the insurgency grew stronger, the party finally openly declared itself to be the Communist Party of Kampuchea (CPK).

The political appeal of the Khmer Rouge increased as a result of the situation created by the removal of Sihanouk as head of state in 1970. Premier Lon Nol, with the support of the National Assembly, deposed Sihanouk. Sihanouk, in exile in Beijing, made an alliance with the Khmer Rouge and became the nominal head of a Khmer Rouge-dominated government-in-exile (known by its French acronym, GRUNK) backed by China. After Sihanouk showed his support for the Khmer Rouge by visiting them in the field, their ranks swelled from 6,000 to 50,000 fighters. Many of the new recruits for the Khmer Rouge were apolitical peasants who fought in support of the Prince, not for communism. Sihanouk’s popular support in rural Cambodia allowed the Khmer Rouge to extend its power and influence to the point that by 1973 it exercised de facto control over the majority of Cambodian territory, although only a minority of its population. Many people in Cambodia who helped the Khmer Rouge against the Lon Nol government thought they were fighting for the restoration of Sihanouk. By 1975, with the Lon Nol government running out of ammunition, it was clear that it was only a matter of time before the government would collapse. On April 17, 1975, the Khmer Rouge captured Phnom Penh.

Khmer Rouge Regime

The Khmer Rouge carried out a radical program that included isolating the country from all foreign influences; closing schools, hospitals, and factories, abolishing banking, finance, and currency; outlawing all religions; confiscating all private property; and relocating people from urban areas to collective farms where forced labor was widespread. The purpose of this policy was to turn Cambodians into “Old People” (as opposed the urban populations known as “New People”) through agricultural labor. 

The Khmer Rouge attempted to turn Cambodia into a classless society by depopulating cities. The entire population was forced to become farmers in labor camps. The total lack of agricultural knowledge by the former city dwellers made famine inevitable. Rural dwellers were often unsympathetic or too frightened to assist them. Such acts as picking wild fruit or berries were seen as “private enterprise” and punished by death. The Khmer Rouge forced people to work for 12 hours, without adequate rest or food. These actions resulted in massive deaths through executions, work exhaustion, illness, and starvation. Commercial fishing was banned in 1976, resulting in a loss of primary food sources for millions of Cambodians, 80% of whom rely on fish as their only source of animal protein.

Money was abolished, books were burned, and teachers, merchants, and almost the entire intellectual elite of the country were murdered to make the agricultural communism as Pol Pot envisioned it a reality. The planned relocation to the countryside resulted in the complete halting of almost all economic activity. 

All religion was banned. Any people seen taking part in religious rituals or services were executed. Thousands of Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians were killed for exercising their beliefs. Family relationships not sanctioned by the state were also banned and family members could be put to death for communicating with each other. Married couples were only allowed to visit each other on a limited basis. If people were seen engaged in sexual activity, they would be killed immediately.
In many cases, family members were relocated to different parts of the country with all postal and telephone services abolished.

Almost all freedom to travel was abolished. Almost all privacy was eliminated. People were not even allowed to eat in privacy. Instead, they were required to eat with everyone in the commune. 

Fall of Khmer Rouge Regime

In 1978, Pol Pot, fearing a Vietnamese attack, ordered a pre-emptive invasion of Vietnam. At the end of the same year, the Vietnamese armed forces, along with the Kampuchean United Front for National Salvation, an organization that included many dissatisfied former Khmer Rouge members, invaded Cambodia and captured Phnom Penh in January 1979. Despite a traditional Cambodian fear of Vietnamese domination, defecting Khmer Rouge activists assisted the Vietnamese and with Vietnam’s approval became the core of the new People’s Republic of Kampuchea. At the same time, the Khmer Rouge retreated west and continued to control certain areas near the Thai border for the next decade.
The Khmer Rouge survived into the 1990s as a resistance movement operating in western Cambodia from bases in Thailand. In 1996, following a peace agreement, Pol Pot formally dissolved the organization. He died in 1998, having never been put on trial. Today,
Cambodia is officially a multiparty democracy but in reality, it is a communist-party state dominated by Prime Minister Hun Sen, a recast Khmer Rouge official in power since 1985.

Cambodian Genocide

The Khmer Rouge government arrested, tortured, and eventually executed anyone suspected of belonging to several categories of supposed “enemies,” including anyone with connections to the former Cambodian government or with foreign governments, professionals and intellectuals, ethnic Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai, and other minorities in the Eastern Highlands, Cambodian Christians, Muslims, and Buddhist monks, and “economic saboteurs” – a category that included many former urban dwellers deemed guilty of sabotage due to their lack of agricultural ability. Those who were convicted of treason were taken to a top-secret prison called S-21. The prisoners were rarely given food and, as a result, many people died of starvation. Others died from the severe physical mutilation caused by torture.

Modern research has located 20,000 mass graves from the Khmer Rouge era all over Cambodia. Various studies have estimated the death toll at between 740,000 and 3 million, most commonly between 1.4 million and 2.2 million, with perhaps half of those deaths due to executions and the rest from starvation and disease. The Cambodian Genocide Program at Yale University estimates the number of deaths at approximately 1.7 million (21% of the population of the country). A UN investigation reported 2–3 million dead, while UNICEF estimates that 3 million had been killed. An additional 300,000 Cambodians starved to death between 1979 and 1980, largely as a result of the after-effects of Khmer Rouge policy.

Rooms of the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum commemorating the Cambodian genocide contain thousands of photos taken by the Khmer Rouge of their victims. 

The Khmer Rouge regime targeted various ethnic groups during the genocide, forcibly relocated minority groups, and banned the use of minority languages. The Khmer Rouge banned by decree the existence of ethnic Chinese, Vietnamese, Muslim Cham, and 20 other minorities, which altogether constituted 15% of the population at the beginning of the Khmer Rouge’s rule.

Because of the intense opposition to the Vietnam War, particularly among Western intellectuals, many Western scholars denied the genocide perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge regime. Despite the eye-witness accounts by journalists prior to their expulsion during the first few days of Khmer Rouge rule and the later testimony of refugees, many academics in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, and other countries portrayed the Khmer Rouge favorably or at least were skeptical about the stories of Khmer Rouge atrocities. None of them, however, were allowed to visit Cambodia under Khmer Rouge rule and few actually talked to the refugees whose stories they believed to be exaggerated or false. Some Western scholars believed that the Khmer Rouge would free Cambodia from colonialism, capitalism, and the ravages of American bombing and invasion during the Vietnam War. Cambodian scholar Sophal Ear has titled the pro-Khmer Rouge academics as the “Standard Total Academic View on Cambodia” (STAV).

With the takeover of Cambodia by Vietnam in 1979 and the discovery of incontestable evidence, the Khmer Rouge atrocities proved to be entirely accurate. Some former enthusiasts for the Khmer Rouge recanted their previous views, others diverted their interest to other issues, and a few continued to defend the Khmer Rouge.
A few months before his death in 1998, Nate Thayer interviewed Pol Pot. During the interview, Pol Pot stated that he had a clear conscience and denied responsible for the genocide. In 2013, the Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen passed legislation that makes the denial of the Cambodian genocide and other war crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge illegal.