East Timor or Timor-Leste is a country in South East Asia that shares borders with Indonesia (see map on right). A small country about 300 miles from Australia, it was occupied by Portugal for 400 years. On the 28th of November, 1975 East Timor declared independence. Invaded by Indonesia one week later, what followed was a vicious occupation that would span 24 years and would leave as many as 200,000 civilians - around a third of the pre-invasion population - dead.
A short history:
In 1975, the new Portuguese government allowed local political parties for the first time. A coalition was formed between the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the Association of Timorese Social Democrats (ASDT). This coalition was named the Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (or FRETLIN) and received 55% of the March 1975 votes.
Indonesia launched ‘Operation Komodo’ – attempting to undermine the independence of East Timor. Although it started non-violently, in 1975 it switched to a directly military operation. December 7th - nine days after FRETLIN declared independence - Indonesia inva...
Appy’s book is valuable to its readers in showing how Vietnam became the template for every American war since, from novelties like the invasion of Grenada to the seemingly never-ending conflicts post-9/11. But before all that, there was Vietnam, and, larger lessons aside, Appy’s book is a fascinating, insightful, infuriating and thought-provoking study of that conflict, from its earliest days
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
The years 1961 to 1972 saw the American involvement in Vietnam. For a little over ten years, America sent its sons off to fight for an unknown cause in a country they knew little about. When the United States finally pulled out of Southeast Asia, many were left scratching their heads. Over 58,000 young men died without really knowing why. Although it is a work of fiction, Tim O’Brien’s Going After Cacciato expresses the views of those who spent their lives in the jungles of Vietnam.
E-History (2012, N.d.). Retrieved March 25, 2012, from http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/essays/battlecommand/index.cfm.
Fussell, Paul. "Vietnam." The Bloody Game: An Anthology of Modern War. Ed. Paul Fussell. London: Scribners, 1991. 651-6.
"Peacekeeping and Peacemaking." Reading and Remembrance . N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2014. . (tags: none | edit tags)
What Happened in Nam? The soldiers' tale: bearing witness to modern war. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: A. Lane, in the year 1997. 177. - 222. - 177. - 222. Print.
In the book Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism written by Benedict Anderson the effects colonization had on Indonesia are reviewed. Decolonization of countries was induced by revolutions and the spread of nationalism after the 18th century. Independence was followed by state building based on the origin, power and function of nationalism felt in Indonesia (Anderson). Liberalism and Mar...
This book details the discussion of government policy in the stages of the Vietnam crisis from 1961-July 1965. It examines the main characters of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara, in addition to the military, which included the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It began in the Kennedy era amidst the Bay of Pigs incident and how that led to mistrust of the military planning by advisors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It continues with Johnson and his administration making decisions over and over that continued to commit more and more involve...
Unlike many other European countries that sought out the territory in Southeast Asia merely for increasing their power through trade, the French first began interactions with the region as early as the 17th century. Alexandre De Rhodes began an expedition to the Southeast Asia region with the desire to expand the Jesuit missionaries throughout the region to further their belief. For many years until the 18th century, the Jesuits expanded and created many missionaries throughout the region. The 18th century had brought an astronomical expansion in the trading markets throughout Europe and Asia as all the European superpowers began colonizing all of Southeast Asia to further their trading “empires.” The French would also begin to participate, not at the same level as countries such as the Netherlands or Great Britain, but more in moderation. At that time the French believed to confine their participation in Southeast Asia to religious advancement and moderate trading. It wasn’t until the 19th century until things would begin to take a turn and the French would become a major participant in Vietnam’s history.
The world’s history is majorly shaped by mega wars that happen both inside and outside the boundaries of individual nations. Almost every sovereign state in the world had to forcefully liberate itself from its colonizers and oppressors mainly through warfare. For instance, America had to fight a long and exhausting revolutionary war against the British before it could attain its independence in 1783, likewise is the fate of many other nations. It is important to understand the two distinct types of wars that exist and their implications. Guerrilla warfare and the conventional military warfare are two types of war that are very different in their execution and military approach. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the similarities and differences existing between the American war in Vietnam and the American Revolution (Vetter, 1997).
Stewart Gordon is an expert historian who specializes in Asian history. He is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan and has authored three different books on Asia. Gordon’s When Asia Was The World uses the narratives of several different men to explore The Golden Age of medieval Asia. The fact that this book is based on the travels and experiences of the everyday lives of real people gives the reader a feeling of actually experiencing the history. Gordon’s work reveals to the reader that while the Europeans were trapped in the dark ages, Asia was prosperous, bursting with culture, and widely connected by trade. This book serves to teach readers about the varieties of cultures, social practices, and religions that sprang from and spread out from ancient Asia itself and shows just how far Asia was ahead of the rest of the world
In the beginning the world wide question was, “How did this bloody war start?”, and “How did we the United States become a part of this gruesome, cold blooded war”. The war started November 1, 1959, however prior to the event, Vietnam was belonging to t...
Costello, Mary. "Vietnam Aftermath." Editional Research Reports 1974 1 (1974): 1. CQ Researcher Online. Web. 5 Mar. 2014.
The newest country in the world is South Sudan, which gained its independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, as a result of a referendum that passed with 98.83% of the vote. South Sudan is one of the poorest countries in Africa, although it has the third largest oil reserves in Sub-Saharan Africa. Though it is currently a sovereign state, South Sudan still faces issues that can disrupt its stability and eventually lead into the new nation’s first civil war.