I understand the need to simplify the decolonisation of Indonesia for a 39 minute video, but there are points that, while not discussed even in Indonesian historiography, may be better told: 1. After the Japanese surrender, they didn't necessarily gave up power in Indonesia; the British actually ordered them to keep law and order until British-Indian troops can arrive. Unfortunately, the Japanese weren't exactly sure what to do, and they decided on a policy of first dissolving the Japanese-trained Indonesian paramilitary (PETA), before interning most of their own forces. They reversed the latter policy after the British pressured them, but this was half of the reason why the Indonesians could even take over administration and power in the first place. 2. The "functional" Indonesian administration generally only extended to Java, and lesser still to Sumatra. You should have mentioned that Australian troops have arrived in Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan), Celebes (Sulawesi), Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara), and the Moluccas (Maluku) by September of 1945, nipping the independence movement in these outer islands in the bud. Also, telling the fact that the British used (British-)Indian troops in Indonesia would be better, as it explained the British reluctance to involve themselves in Indonesian-Dutch affairs, as they were using colonial troops to subdue a colony in revolt. 3. As mentioned in point 1, the Japanese was tasked to maintain law and order, so it would be best to highlight the situation at the time in the four large cities of Java: Batavia/Jakarta in the north-west coast of Java, Bandung in inland west Java, Semarang in the north coast of central Java, and Surabaya in the north-east coast of Java. This is necessary since the Japanese actions there have large implications to how the independence went: 3A. In Batavia, the Japanese and the Indonesian can be said to have "shared" power, but the Japanese were generally in control - for example, the Japanese restricted a particular large mass rally in mid-September. Afterwards, when the British-Indians arrived there by the end of September, they have little difficulty taking over the city since the Indonesians weren't fully in power. 3B. Then, in Bandung, the Indonesians did take control of the city as agreed with the Japanese commander there, but after the Indonesians supposedly violated the agreement, the Japanese took over the city back without a fight on October 10th, allowing the British-Indians in soon after. 3C. Semarang was the bloodiest one of the bunch, before the Battle of Surabaya, that is. Basically, the Indonesians took over Semarang's administration, but they forcibly asked for weapons from the Japanese in Semarang (led by Major Kido Shinichiro). While the Japanese commander of Central Java sympathised with the Indonesians, Major Kido disagreed, so they asked the Japanese HQ in Batavia to weigh in. The HQ allowed the use of force to retain their weapons, so on October 15th, Major Kido and his troops assaulted Semarang, taking control of the city and defending it from Indonesian counterattacks until the British-Indians arrived on October 19th. 3D. Surabaya was a unique case. The three cities I mentioned previously had the Japanese prevail, but Surabaya was the odd one out. To simplify, the Indonesians took over administration of the city, but not its military presence. Then, a Dutch naval captain went to Surabaya to accept the Japanese garrison's surrender. The surrender was supposed to be just for show, but the Japanese mistakenly thought of it as an actual surrender (that their duties to keep law and order was complete). As such, the Japanese surrendered and didn't bother opposing the Indonesians when the latter took over their weapons stores. Unfortunately, the Japanese garrison in Surabaya was in charge of eastern Java, which meant other garrisons in smaller eastern Java cities gave up to the Indonesians with little opposition, allowing 24 thousand rifles and pistols and MGs, even artillery guns and tanks, to fall to Indonesian hands. 4. Battle of Surabaya, simplified. Referring to point 3D, the weapons the Indonesians took allowed their militia there to fight. The British-Indians arrived initially on Oct. 26th, and reached an agreement with the Indonesians soon after. Unfortunately, a leaflet drop from Batavia contained terms violating this agreement, so tens if not hundreds of thousands of Indonesians (20-30 thousand armed militia, the rest were civilians who fought) in Surabaya attacked the British-Indian brigade there, resulting in thousands of Indonesian casualties, 1200 British-Indian ones, and 200 or so of Dutch and Allied civilian casualties. A ceasefire was agreed on a few days later, but while enforcing this ceasefire, the British brigadier-general was killed in confusing circumstances. Because the British needed Surabaya (the largest port in Indonesia), and the fact that about 3-6 thousand Allied civilians were still in Indonesian hands, the British brought a division to Surabaya to clear the city, starting on Nov. 10. The British moved methodically, using tanks and planes and support from artillery and warships to reduce their casualties. AFAIK, about 100 to 300 British-Indians became casualties in this stage, with thousands to tens of thousands of casualties on the Indonesian side. Surabaya was cleared by the end of Nov. 1945. 5. I was a little surprised you didn't mention the Bersiap as a Dutch, because here in Indonesia, it wasn't mentioned in our historiography. To be fair, it is contentious, but such atrocities did happen and were perpetrated by Indonesian youths, and not just to the Dutch, but also to other Europeans, the Indos, the Ambonese and Timorese (despite them being native Indonesian as well), and Indonesian Chinese. Anyway, to conclude and provide a TL;DR, I suppose you could have mentioned about: 1. That the Japanese were supposed to maintain law and order, only doing so in the three large cities of Java: Batavia/Jakarta, Bandung, and Semarang, because an incident involving a Dutch naval captain in the large port city of Surabaya caused the Japanese to surrender prematurely, allowing the Indonesians to take tens of thousands of weapons easily. 2. That the British had to use Indian troops in Indonesia, which was problematic considering the independence movement situation in the British Raj/India. 3. That the Australians had occupied the rest of Indonesia save for Java and Sumatra, which meant the Dutch were able to easily take over administration there. 4. That the Battle of Surabaya began with the British-Indians arriving there on Oct. 26, followed up by a string of incidents between them and the Indonesians. This erupted in a small battle a few days later, which was resolved temporarily by a ceasefire, but not before the British brigadier there was killed under confusing conditions. The importance of this port city, combined with strong Indonesian oppostion and that thousands of Allied civilians were still imprisoned in the city, meant the British decided to clear the city, supported by tanks, planes, and warships, from Nov. 10 to the end of the months. 5. The Bersiap (I'm sure you have better sources for this). For references, I personally recommend these three journals by Han Bing Siong, since they are excellent in terms of analysing a variety of Dutch and Indonesian and even Japanese sources critically: • Siong, H.B. (2003). "Captain Huyer and the massive Japanese arms transfer in East Java in October 1945". Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 159(2-3). • Siong, H.B. (2000). "Sukarno-Hatta versus the Pemuda in the first months after the surrender of Japan (August-November 1945)". Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 156(2). • Siong, H.B. (1996). "The secret of major Kido; The battle of Semarang, 15-19 October 1945". Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 152(3). As for other sources: • There are no English-language book from a truly Indonesian perspective, but Benedict Anderson's "Java in a Time of Revolution" comes close. • The Australian official history of the Second World War is good if you want to know about how the Australians came to occupy eastern Indonesia, but they only go so far. Available on the Australian War Museum, online, for free. • The British official history of the Pacific War - "The War Against Japan" specifically it's fifth volume - is not... great, but it's decent enough for a general overview of their occupation of Indonesia. Available on Google Books, for free. • The book "The British Occupation of Indonesia: 1945-1946" by Richard McMillan is less biased and more condensed than the British official history. • This journal by Parrott is, even after close to 50 years, a great dissection of the death of that British brigadier in Surabaya that I mentioned: Parrott, J.G.A. (1975). "Who Killed Brigadier Mallaby?" Indonesia, 20, 87-111. Regardless of these criticisms, in general your overview is already largely accurate, so I'd like to convey a sincere thank you for the coverage of the Indonesian independence. There isn't a lot of coverage which isn't biased, and the fact that you disclosed your Dutch background shows you strive to be unbiased. Again, much thanks for the great video!
Addendum: I have chosen to not get into any specifics on Sumatra because, full disclosure, I have done no research at all about the situation in Sumatra in 1945 (and until 1949). However, both McMillan's British Occupation and the British official history I mentioned above have sections dedicated to the Sumatra situation, so do check them out.
You tell stories that aren't often heard, unbiased to what will get the most views. Please don't stop! Your videos are always a treat regardless of the topic.
Very interesting and informative. Decolonization is an important topic that too few historians cover, probably because it is too controversial and contemporary. I appreciate you stating your potential bias during the Dutch part.
We should never have decolonized. The west had the world in the palm of out hands and we let it all go. These people don’t even appreciate that we gave them independence
I know very little about any of these topics so I can't speak for the accuracy of this video but I personally enjoyed it! I like overviews like this as it gives me the ability to look into the subjects mentioned later on since I prior did not know about the subjects. Well done!
As a fellow Dutchman I am very happy with this detailed information on what went on in Indonesia. I was taught nothing about any of this in history classes. Je hebt ook meer dan gelijk over onze Koning, echt hoor, totaal geen charisma en kan niet eens een goede speech geven, echt beschamend haha.
thank you, as Indonesian. but for the part of East Timor, is basically is that we copied the Dutch colonialism with some spices of our own, which is Very bad and worse. especially during Suharto military dictatorship. thankfully we have national National reformation that ousted him and Habibie made a referendum to East Timor (but the Military and the militias decide to attacked after the referendum is not in their favour, which Ultimately bring Australian led Interfet that put down the Militias and some Indonesian military. and left during late year 1999.)
@@mohammadrickypratama6720 Hmm, interesting. It saddens me that we the Dutch have learned Indonesia the ropes of colonialism. One only has to look at Papua New-Guinea and see what Indonesia is doing there currently to realize it's exactly what the Dutch Empire once did to all of Indonesia.
@@draphotube4315 the current government is very aware of the situation in west papua, and they openly said that they(papuans) fight like how we(indonesian) did during the independence, that is--in the military sense, to fight a guerrilla warfare just to show their existence to the world and gain diplomatic support But...the pro independence papuans is very small, like 1-2% of the whole population. What indonesian government do now is to divide papua into smaller provinces so that they can pour more money to the development of each region(to win papuan people's hearts) and to better control them(just like good ol' divide and conquer). There are many human right abuses today both by indonesian military(unlawful killings, robbery, mutilation, burning corpses, ect) and by local armed groups(burning school, houses, and hospital, killing health workers, teachers, truck drivers, and construction workers). The papuan issue has become a hot topic in every parlement meetings, it's more complex than it seems because the papuans themselves have different ruling factions just like the situation in palestine but with even more factions
@@faiq026 robbery ? Mutilation? Bro..you saying as if it doing by military everyday...the cases happen that 1 time only and the military punished already...while local armed group killing civilian so often, even their own people who pro-Indonesia... Most Rebel are Highlanders...they hate coastal Papuan too because Coastal people more developed...
Will you discuss Thailand and how it successfully managed to Matrix-dodge every single attempt made to colonize it, in the future? I think someone more competent than myself really should at some point, it's a staggering achievement considering what happened to so many other nations.
It wasn't colonized by the British and the French so as to create a buffer state between their colonies. It wasn't colonized by Japan as they sided with Japan during WW2 to avoid being conquered by the Japanese.
@@xmarkclx to nationalize and modernize the country. the nam "Siam" itself is a foreign word used by foreigners first to identify the country. the name has changed during the interwar era where fascism took control of then siam to thailand but we, thai, have been calling the country "Thai" informally and often referred ourselves Thai for many centuries. so as to nationalize the country the leader had to change the country to Thailand, as we Thai call it "Prathet Thai" (Prathet cam from the word Pradesh of Pali-Sanskrit root) which means The land of the Thai.
@@xmarkclx Although they were never get colonised but they lost much of their territories for that undertaking. Siam was primarily a name those colonial powers used to identify this country while people in this area both called themselves Thai and Siam so in order to natinalise the country; The parliament officially declared "Thai" as the one to be used in 1939 Thai means "to be free" people in this country value harmony and freedom above all else. Thailand means Land of the freemen. They were the first asian nation to establish a diplomatic and trade relation with United States of America and is still consider one of the oldest US allies in the region today.
You deliver excellent content to your audience. It's very interesting material. All of your effort put into creating this video is much appreciated. I'm truly grateful for your help!
As a Vietnamese, I must say the Indochina/Vietnam lack an important point. Vietnam was working with the USA during WW2 to distract the Japan and to disrupt their colonialism in Indochina, with the expectation that it would be granted independence after WW2. However the USA decided to side with France
@@anaskhoiri3653 Thailand would not like that one bit I imagine, Thailand and Vietnam have fought for centuries over Laos and Cambodia so it would just reignite the dispute. Laos also had its own established state before colonisation and nationalist movements. The Papuan identity is a very recent one since for most of history it was individual kingdoms and tribes doing their own thing
Your Dutch, so I don't totally fault you for an oversight. But in the Philippines there was a war against the colonization of the United States from 1899-1905 more or less. Present historians called it "America's first Vietnam". The war wasn't very mild, mind you, there were a lot of atrocities made by the Americans. However, after 1905 if I remember my history correctly things simmered down and the USA allowed the Philippines a certain amount of self-rule leading to independence. Eventually the Philippine elite went onboard with the USA and that's the time they sent delegates to the USA for independence. The move could have been smooth had the Japanese not invaded. For many Filipinos, the Japanese threw a monkey wrench into the planned Philippine Nation. Anyway, I just want to point out that there was a "War of Independence" against the United States and it wasn't all that peaceful.
I was just about to comment this. The Phillipines was not a peaceful ownership or transition of power. It was definitely more peaceful RELATIVE to many of the others specifically near the end, but The Philippines war is very often glossed over by US history teachers and educators. Mostly due to government pressure to stick to a predetermined script and testing schedule. However the Philippines and the US are pretty strong allies today, which is nice to see. Many immigrants come here from the Philippines. It's just sad to see something so bad happen.
@@PresAlexWhit correct, compared to the others, I admired America's magnanimity in the administration of what was known as the Philippine Islands. Compared to other colonial powers, the United States IMPROVED the infrastructure of the Philippines, but couldn't do much with the resources as we were "duplicating what the American farmers were planting". Many Filipinos felt that life was comfortable and orderly so there was no need to change the status quo. Even President Quezon, Commonwealth Philippine President said to this effect, "Why didn't the Americans treat us badly". President Quezon felt that the "soft colonialization" of the Philippines resulted in the complacency of many Filipinos in desiring full independence. I read somewhere that Ho Chi Minh said, "If the French treated us like the way the Americans did to the Philippines, I wouldn't ask for independence." I dare say many Filipinos today secretly wish that we became another Puerto Rico or Guam as many believe that life under American rule was a lot better than after America left.
@@HistoryScope Personally it was less that you didn't talk about the war, but that you didn't give the war enough criticism and light. Still, it's a fantastic video.
I just spent over a month in SE Asia (Malaysia Indonesia and Singapore , and had some idea about this topic yet looked around most bigger cities and very limited information was offered, or it told the story in Singapore of the British during WWII, indeed a short yet insightful piece, wanting more. I'm from American and we have so limited knowledge of this part of the world...yet its valued and needed. Keep on offering these pieces,
11:05 as an American, I very much admire (and envy) your honesty, and humility when discussing these kinds of historical topics. I wish more of my fellow countrymen were capable of analyzing history in this manner. Too many people prefer mythology over history, and what’s worse is they are often incapable of knowing the difference between the two. Cheers 🍻 ✌🏻🇺🇸
I would argue we need someone to do a deep dive into the genocide we committed in the Philippines and the way that MacArthur basically ended democratic processes in East Asia for decades
@@thestanfordreport agreed. It’s so odd in MacArthur’s case because he actually instituted some pretty good policies when it came to Japan. *he obviously seriously dropped the ball in a lot of ways.
There is an error here. Philippines was actually the first Asian country to declare independence from any European power. This was during the Philippine revolution against Spain and were won by the Filipinos in 1898 without much help from Americans. But by that time, Spain had already sold the Philippines to the Americans in the Treaty of Paris. And so War broke out between Filipinos and the Americans.
When I learned about Indonesian occupation of East Timor it pains me... like how the hell that we didn't see the hypocrisy in that??? we pretty much became the same as the Dutch before us. And situations in Papua (or Irian Jaya) aren't much better, I've seen some of the most racist shit in the way we look and treat them, although it does getting better now. I really hope that this country wouldn't be such an oppressive power in the future
This is a really great and informative video. As a South East Asian, I learnt a bunch! Just one thing. You mentioned one of the reasons why the colonised peoples wanted to overthrow colonialism - because the rule was unjust, unfair, and exploitative. However you missed out one basic thing, which is that most people just don't want to have some other dudes suddenly take over control of their homeland.
As a Czech I agree, we lived under someone else's rule for most of the millenia we exist. But still there are periods we actually consider a good ones, like the end of Austria-Hungary. The colonizers always soften in time, allowing regional governments. But this exact era is best to be prolonged as much as possible, because that is the time you can actually get something in return from the empire. You get the time to learn how to rule yourself. It feels to me like some of the countries in Asia and most of the countries in Africa skipped this era and turned into chaos.
with regard to the Philippines, there is this small yet major detail that happened between the change of colonizers from Spain to USA. on the last decade of the Spanish era, Spain was losing control of the archipelago with endless uprising, and when the Spanish-American war happened, they just sold the Philippines instead to the USA and staged a mock battle rather than losing to the locals. after which, the Philippine-American war happened exactly after the Spain left. I hope that adds a little detail there. thank you. Love your video by the way, learned a lot of the Ideas and situation on East Asian countries on how they develope there national identity and gained independence.
What do you expect from Americans they always want to look like a hero but in the end they are the worst, until now they trying to dictate the Philippines, when a nonallies party won in the 2016 presidential election, they always demonize Press Duterte even here in RUclips.
What's sad though is that some americans and even filipinos believed the lie that was propagated by the US government during that time which was "they will give the Philippines independence" which contradicts everything the US did after they got the Philippines. From fighting filipino revolutionaries to the kiram bates treaty.
About European journey to Indonesia: 1. The Portuguese arrived from their base in India, initially setting shop up in Malacca, but then explore a bit more to the east and build fortifications around the Spice Islands, and then establishing shops and missions in East Nusa Tenggara region, converting Kingdom of Larantuka into Catholicism. They only later settles around East Timor after being pushed out from Flores by the Dutch. 2. The Dutch followed the Portuguese, and during the Eighty Years war (and Spanish-Portugal union), take over a lot of Portuguese colony in India and East Indies, also taking over Malacca and setting shop first in Banten, then expand east to the Spice Islands, then Java and the rest of the Islands. 3. The British followed the Dutch and take over most of their possession in India and Malaya, they initially settled Bancoolen in Sumatra but traded the colony for Singapore and Malacca, and guaranteed Dutch supremacy over the Islands. They later take over the whole colony during the Napoleonic War but returned it after the defeat of Napoleon and restoration if Dutch Monarchy.
Very good video, as an Indian I've learned very little about South-east and East asian independence and decolonisation and this video gave me much insight on where to start. I hope to see a video on South Asia soon :) much love ❤️
East Asia was never colonized. The Russians held big chunks of China for less then a decade. Nations like China, Mongolia, japan, north and south korea were never under European control and if they were at one point the rule was very short
@@user-qwertyuiopasdfghj ok? They annexed that from the Qing dynasty but other then that it doesn’t even count since the majority aka all of east Asia was uncolonized by Europeans
As ethnic Javanese Indonesian, Im obviously can't represent the opinion of West Papuan people. But to my knowledge they indirectly colonized by the dictatorship regime held by the longest serving and least talked about dictator in Asia, Suharto. The were left behind economically for a very long time compared to the the nearest islands near Java vicinity. There were squeezed dry of their natural resources by the Suharto regime with Western Companies. They face severe racial issue and often regarded as the odd one out even among thousands of ethnicity in Indonesia. But its getting better now after the National Reformation and economic boom around the country, even if the infrastructure growth was painful slow the start of Reformation. But right now its definitely among long term plans for Central government in Java to raise Papuan living standard by taking them along with the Economic growth. It still not perfect and I would like it to be more faster and even among the region. But it has to happen eventually, I always consider them a part of my country even though they were neglected and rather oppressed up until decades ago. I want to live in the world where Papuan people is a common sight in Jakarta (Indonesia capital city). I can only hope our future politicians would concentrate their efforts more often there in Papua. Regarding East Timor, I didn't knew that the oppression was so bad. I was not born yet when it was happen and almost no history books mentioned it, perhaps unsurprisingly. Will check it later in Wikipedia.
@@yodaeee what's wrong with being sympathetic? The West Papuans are being subjugated by the Rest of Indonesia .The natives are being kicked out of their own land, Their Resources exploited,and culture fading and dying , it's only right to be sympathetic
The awkward situation the Japanese occupation forces in Southeast Asia faced when their country surrendered cannot be underestimated. They were defeated in the war, but still had to maintain their garrisons to maintain order in the populace until Allied forces could arrive to take over the occupation. In Indonesia, the local militias had become such a threat that the Japanese and Allied forces actually cooperated a couple of times to fight against the militia, mobs and looters during the chaotic transition times.
It was transfering ownership similar to Philippines handed over to American by the Spaniards, similar case from Japanese imperialism wanting to hold what bloodshed they have made.
Sukarno declared independence after Japanese defeat defeat in 1945. A lot of stranded Japanese sided with Indonesian Republican Army to attack Dutch military outpost. For example Nakajima plane very useful in reconnaissance and bombing of Dutch and British military outpost in Surabaya.
History Scope, I'm actually dissapointed in your portrayal of the formation of Malaysia. Firstly, the idea of the formation of Malaysia was first proposed by the Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who then became the country's founding father and first Prime Minister, who made the declaration on the 27th of May 1961. To be exact, the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew believed it essential for Singapore to merge with Malaya, NOT with Sarawak, Sabah (what you called East Borneo in the video), and Brunei. The idea was NOT thought up by Singapore but rather Malaya, and although Singapore may have wanted a merger it does not mean the idea should be credited to and be acknowledged as a Singaporean-originated formation. Sincerely, a disgruntled Malaysian
What I know is that the formation of the Federation of Malaya and the state of Malaysia was designed by the British. And at that time the British were based in Singapore. So isn't the one in the video true?
@@hanflax4679 To make it very clear, the history of the negotiations for the formation of Malaysia is very complex and opaque due to the fact that these negotiations weren't recorded or transcribed. What is a fact is that Tunku Abdul Rahman was the first person to suggest openly of a greater Federation of the British colonies that include Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei. However, due to ethnic pressures it seemed that he got more weary in terms of including Singpore in the federation. The deal and the subsequent legal document, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), proposed by the UK to the now independent Malaya, and Singapore was that a federation would be formed of the two nations and the colonies of Sabah and Sarawak, which the UK still had de facto rule over, basically packaging the merging of the 4 regions as a done deal. In technicality, yes, the UK did propose the deal but to say that they were the brainchild or that they had done it from Singapore wouldn't be right as Malaya had sought negotiations first and Singapore had already gained independence.
The Geneva conference did not split Vietnam into 2 "countries" but rather 2 occupations zones. After 2 years, there would be a general election to choose one single ruling regime.
Not so fun fact: The Spanish doesn't want to accept defeat to the filipino rebels, so they joint forces with the Americans and staged a battle in Manila. The so-called "battle" left American forces in control of Intramuros, the center of Manila. Manila was the only part of the Philippines under the Americans at the time, which became the first stage of the Philippine-American war a year later. The Filipinos was felt betrayed by the Americans, they once looked up to them as liberators.
@@anon2427 yea 'cause killing at least 200 thousand civilians is the right thing to do, right? And what thousands? Less than a thousand Americans died in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war.
@@anon2427 How many Americans died fighting the Spanish in the Philippines, idiot? Literally one American sailor died in the Battle of Manila Bay. You didn't do any bleeding for the Filipinos.
@@lopobiaxander5604 "yea 'cause killing at least 200 thousand civilians is the right thing to do, right?" .... yeah. Anything is right if it's for the good of the nation.
Being completely unbiased as humans is impossible, but I really liked your disclaimer and it shows you try to be as fair as possible. You should be proud of the video, it's great informative content.
Thank you for your cogent, pedagogical and balanced account of decolonization in South East Asia. There were many surprises and I learned about aspects and details,as well of the contextual reality of that crucial significant time of change and suffering which resulted in independence and sovereignty together with freedom from foreign suppression.
@History Scope, about the Philippines the Spaniards didn’t loose to America, the Spaniards were weak at that time and was about to loose to Filipinos. Spain afraid to loose to Filipinos, they sold the archipelago to the US for 20 million dollars and had a mock fight to represent their defeat by the Americans
The war between Spain and the U.S. was mostly about Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Phillipines were a side issue. The U.S. had a small, but much more modern navy than the Spain. Once war started the U.S. attacked the Spanish at Manila mostly because that’s where their fleet was. They were kind of the dog that caught the car it had been chasing. Once started war begats war, so the U.S. then fought a much bigger war against The Philippines, which in the pattern of the contemporary Boer war, settled on mass killing by Marines to end it. Over time it became obvious for quite a few reasons that recolonization of the Philippines was a horrible idea for both the U.S. and The Philippines. This video was a quick summation. Missed was that there was a hard date set for the U.S. leaving. Memory says this was put back by a year due to WWII, but that might not be correct. Currently the question is whether The Philippines is losing the slow motion war of the dashed line. Time will tell.
Correct me if I am wrong, if I remember correctly, after WW2 in Malaya, British tried to rule the land again under the Malayan Union that takes over the sultan's power, but thwarted by the smart local people and the people that supported the royals. Then the emergency happened due to the communism parties that tries to take over the peninsula. During the insurgency, the British agreed for Malaya's peaceful independence under the promise that they do not support the communism and the British can still keep their profits from their companies that is still in the land. Later in the 80s, Mahathir's group executed an operation "Dawn Raid" to take over the British companies that is still holding lands in Malaysia through stock takeover. I am not sure if there is still other stories after that, but I think that was last story that is related with the former colonizer in Malaysia.
damn wish more could have been talked about the other countries such as Vietnam while indonesia got almost 50 percent of the video, this would have made the video longer.. still a good video
Very interesting topic and video is well made. Thank you very much for your approach to tell the history. P.S.: the Dutch King stuttering while apologizing to Indonesian people meaning what exactly?
I feel like you are using the verb "colonise" a bit inflationarily. Will there be a video about the "decolonisation of europe" and how the soviets "decolonised" Poland in 1990?
I'd like to add in a bit that after the Geneva accords, Vietnam was split into 2 military zones, not 2 countries (parallel 17 was not a border). The idea was to have a referendum in 1955 to unify the 2 zones under a certain form of government (north or south). Fearing the communist takeover, the US decided to intervene. The last time in Vietnamese history when the country was truly slit was during the prolonged civil war between the Trinh - Nguyen in the 17th century.
I really like your videos! Excellent primers!!! What I like the most is your bluntness when talking about bad characteristics particularly when you talk about Europeans. Though I disagree with some of your views on economics - globalization and some aspects of neo-liberalism you seem to like - your videos, in my opinion, are on the top level of History videos on RUclips.
I highly recommend that you use "Far East"" instead of East Asia to avoid confusion because East Asia is a smaller region that does not include Southeast Asia. That's all and this video was very well made
@@jrexx2841 In the end, the boundaries of these regions aren't clearly defined. Most of what native English speakers tend to think of when they say "Middle East" would be part of the Near East for me. As long as enough context is given, there won't be any misunderstandings though.
Your recognition of the purpose of colonial industries and infrastructure earned a like a like and subscribe. 👍🏾 Most RUclips Historians miss this simple point.
Wow....I appreciate seeing the attempt at covering the darker period of your own country. As an American, we don't do this very well of even our own country. Being of the younger generations who realize we can't ignore our past if we wish to make a functional future and do what our parents couldn't, the recognition of our mistakes is required. I commend your effort and respect your approach more than i can find the words to say. I know we are capable of making a better path!
After the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the 1954 Geneva Agreement did not divide Vietnam into two countries, but only into two regions. Both Vietnams will hold general elections in 1956. The American Domino doctrine was so exaggerated that they intervened in South Vietnam and tore up the Geneva accords.
Thank you for this! There is scant little material available on RUclips in English about decolonisation of powers other than the British Empire! Thank you
Well done, you've covered most of us, south east Asian, weren't even aware of our neighbor history eventhough it's directly impact our country own history. Thank You.
Man, I spent a lot of time trying to place your accent. It does sound Dutch, but it’s different than many of my Dutch friends’ accents. Where are you from?
If the subject matter applies to both, East Asia is acceptable. And in older times westerners and even in middle East, they refer to both regions as Far East (Asia).
@@justinianflavius9571 ASIA IS LITERALLY 10 TIMES BIGGER THAN EUROPE. IS IT ALSO ACCEPTABLE IF WE START CALLING THE WHOLE OF EUROPE AS WESTERN EUROPE??? IF I START ALSO SAYING THAT RUSSIA, BALTIC STATES & NORDIC COUNTRIES ARE IN WESTERN EUROPE??? LESSON HERE IS DON'T YOU JUST REFER TO US AS FAR EAST OR THAT EAST ASIA IS ACCEPTABLE.WE HOLD MORE THAN 60% OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION, SO PEOPLE LIKE YOU SHOULD START TAKING US MORE SERIOUSLY.
@@KARL-el3hr the topic was not about the entire Asia. The explanation I gave is to give context on why he referred to the place geographically based from where they are (and the maker of the video is from Netherlands), like how we refer to their area as "the west". And how is it not taking you seriously? And "people like me"? I live in South East Asia. How are you offended by this?
Philippines just hit different because the nationalism movement emerged in the mid 19th century which Spain couldn't sustain and the US exploited. Of course that's the Filipino version. There's definitely American-centric and Spanish-centric version of these events but I think the reality is somewhere in the middle.
I wonder, was the Middle East decolonization separated from the asian decolonization since the beginning or was it a decision made during the production of this video?
I think my country should do more to compensate Indonesia, I'm dutch, but its kinda shameful. Kinda really, yk? Still to all your Indonesians, thanks for accepting me. I feel so accepted by their culture, have a lot of Indonesian friends & am learning the language because I really want to visit Indonesia soon. Selamat malam everyone:)
@@LucidFL maybe, their shared deep seated hatred towards the colonizing Dutch probably what makes them united under one flag. But you could also argue that a strong visionary leader would be born eventually and united them one way or the other. But it could also easily divided between various nations like northern Southeast Asia. But your opinion and mine are only hypothetical. For what I know Indonesian ancestors might as well take the whole indochina archipelago if the Dutch didn't colonize them, just speaking.
Having good trade relations these days, and becoming brothers like the way Germans and the Dutch now treat each other with how many ties they have together, besides some people still upset that the Germans stole their bicycles, is a good way of healing from the past. Indonesia is obviously going to have much closer relations with neighbours like Australia and Malaysia, but the Dutch can still participate. Keeping racism out of contemporary Dutch politics is also a good way to show that the NL is still committed to that healing as well.
@@harukrentz435 I mean, I think the Majapahit Empire came pretty close to unifying Indonesia right? Or is this a wrong observation? But it's like, not all nations can last forever. And there was a power difference compared to the European powers like the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch. But I do appreciate you not feeling too much resentment towards the dutch, and this is why I appreciate your culture and people so much, even though I am Dutch, I am often feeling so welcomed by Indonesians. I can't express how nice that is, since Indonesia is my favorite part of the world (along with the Netherlands, since I obviously like my own country) And also when they hear I am so interested in their country, I will get all kinds of lovely stories and history and cultural stuff, I feel like the Indonesian culture is way more welcoming and warm compared to the western culture. So again thank you and your people :)
Now .. our English is so bad lol 😂 but yeah so proud because no one a Calming to take our country away.. just like china - Taiwan , Russia- Ukraine , Israel- Palestine . North Korea- South Korea .. we don’t work about those things like those countries 😅😢😂
Legend has it that when the Dutch tried to reassert its dominance after WW2, the local Jakartan populace stormed a government building and tore off the blue stripe of the Dutch flag. As a result, the Indonesian flag was formed.
Hotel Yamato Incident? That's on Soerabaja, the largest city on Java's eastern half. The Red and White is also always intended to have ratio of 2:3, not 4:9 like Hotel Yamato's Flag
I enjoyed this video, but I think it really suffers from having too little time devoted to some of these events, particularly in the cases of Indochina and the Philippines, but to a lesser extent Korea and Myanmar too. Since India is already going to be it's own separate video, I think it would have made sense to do the same with Indonesia (including perhaps Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste) as well. That way you could have expanded on Indonesia, which seems to be a topic close to your heart given your background, as well as arguably the most important topic in the region given how massive Indonesia is; and that way this video could have focused more in depth with everyone else. Regardless, great video and waiting for the next!
Decolonization happened not in spite of Imperial Japan's east Asian war, but BECAUSE of it. It was Japan that waged this war, to liberate the peoples of east asia from the western imperialists and unite them under a greater east Asian co prosperity sphere. Chiang kai shek, on the other hand was a Christian convert and a staunch supporter of the western imperialists, and actually a mere tool of their interests!
The Portuguese didn't come in that direction. The Spanish did come from America via the Pacific Ocean to the Phillipines, Taiwan and Japan. The Portuguese came from Indian Ocean side not the Pacific Ocean.
I understand the need to simplify the decolonisation of Indonesia for a 39 minute video, but there are points that, while not discussed even in Indonesian historiography, may be better told:
1. After the Japanese surrender, they didn't necessarily gave up power in Indonesia; the British actually ordered them to keep law and order until British-Indian troops can arrive. Unfortunately, the Japanese weren't exactly sure what to do, and they decided on a policy of first dissolving the Japanese-trained Indonesian paramilitary (PETA), before interning most of their own forces. They reversed the latter policy after the British pressured them, but this was half of the reason why the Indonesians could even take over administration and power in the first place.
2. The "functional" Indonesian administration generally only extended to Java, and lesser still to Sumatra. You should have mentioned that Australian troops have arrived in Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan), Celebes (Sulawesi), Lesser Sunda Islands (Nusa Tenggara), and the Moluccas (Maluku) by September of 1945, nipping the independence movement in these outer islands in the bud. Also, telling the fact that the British used (British-)Indian troops in Indonesia would be better, as it explained the British reluctance to involve themselves in Indonesian-Dutch affairs, as they were using colonial troops to subdue a colony in revolt.
3. As mentioned in point 1, the Japanese was tasked to maintain law and order, so it would be best to highlight the situation at the time in the four large cities of Java: Batavia/Jakarta in the north-west coast of Java, Bandung in inland west Java, Semarang in the north coast of central Java, and Surabaya in the north-east coast of Java. This is necessary since the Japanese actions there have large implications to how the independence went:
3A. In Batavia, the Japanese and the Indonesian can be said to have "shared" power, but the Japanese were generally in control - for example, the Japanese restricted a particular large mass rally in mid-September. Afterwards, when the British-Indians arrived there by the end of September, they have little difficulty taking over the city since the Indonesians weren't fully in power.
3B. Then, in Bandung, the Indonesians did take control of the city as agreed with the Japanese commander there, but after the Indonesians supposedly violated the agreement, the Japanese took over the city back without a fight on October 10th, allowing the British-Indians in soon after.
3C. Semarang was the bloodiest one of the bunch, before the Battle of Surabaya, that is. Basically, the Indonesians took over Semarang's administration, but they forcibly asked for weapons from the Japanese in Semarang (led by Major Kido Shinichiro). While the Japanese commander of Central Java sympathised with the Indonesians, Major Kido disagreed, so they asked the Japanese HQ in Batavia to weigh in. The HQ allowed the use of force to retain their weapons, so on October 15th, Major Kido and his troops assaulted Semarang, taking control of the city and defending it from Indonesian counterattacks until the British-Indians arrived on October 19th.
3D. Surabaya was a unique case. The three cities I mentioned previously had the Japanese prevail, but Surabaya was the odd one out. To simplify, the Indonesians took over administration of the city, but not its military presence. Then, a Dutch naval captain went to Surabaya to accept the Japanese garrison's surrender. The surrender was supposed to be just for show, but the Japanese mistakenly thought of it as an actual surrender (that their duties to keep law and order was complete). As such, the Japanese surrendered and didn't bother opposing the Indonesians when the latter took over their weapons stores. Unfortunately, the Japanese garrison in Surabaya was in charge of eastern Java, which meant other garrisons in smaller eastern Java cities gave up to the Indonesians with little opposition, allowing 24 thousand rifles and pistols and MGs, even artillery guns and tanks, to fall to Indonesian hands.
4. Battle of Surabaya, simplified. Referring to point 3D, the weapons the Indonesians took allowed their militia there to fight. The British-Indians arrived initially on Oct. 26th, and reached an agreement with the Indonesians soon after. Unfortunately, a leaflet drop from Batavia contained terms violating this agreement, so tens if not hundreds of thousands of Indonesians (20-30 thousand armed militia, the rest were civilians who fought) in Surabaya attacked the British-Indian brigade there, resulting in thousands of Indonesian casualties, 1200 British-Indian ones, and 200 or so of Dutch and Allied civilian casualties. A ceasefire was agreed on a few days later, but while enforcing this ceasefire, the British brigadier-general was killed in confusing circumstances. Because the British needed Surabaya (the largest port in Indonesia), and the fact that about 3-6 thousand Allied civilians were still in Indonesian hands, the British brought a division to Surabaya to clear the city, starting on Nov. 10. The British moved methodically, using tanks and planes and support from artillery and warships to reduce their casualties. AFAIK, about 100 to 300 British-Indians became casualties in this stage, with thousands to tens of thousands of casualties on the Indonesian side. Surabaya was cleared by the end of Nov. 1945.
5. I was a little surprised you didn't mention the Bersiap as a Dutch, because here in Indonesia, it wasn't mentioned in our historiography. To be fair, it is contentious, but such atrocities did happen and were perpetrated by Indonesian youths, and not just to the Dutch, but also to other Europeans, the Indos, the Ambonese and Timorese (despite them being native Indonesian as well), and Indonesian Chinese.
Anyway, to conclude and provide a TL;DR, I suppose you could have mentioned about:
1. That the Japanese were supposed to maintain law and order, only doing so in the three large cities of Java: Batavia/Jakarta, Bandung, and Semarang, because an incident involving a Dutch naval captain in the large port city of Surabaya caused the Japanese to surrender prematurely, allowing the Indonesians to take tens of thousands of weapons easily.
2. That the British had to use Indian troops in Indonesia, which was problematic considering the independence movement situation in the British Raj/India.
3. That the Australians had occupied the rest of Indonesia save for Java and Sumatra, which meant the Dutch were able to easily take over administration there.
4. That the Battle of Surabaya began with the British-Indians arriving there on Oct. 26, followed up by a string of incidents between them and the Indonesians. This erupted in a small battle a few days later, which was resolved temporarily by a ceasefire, but not before the British brigadier there was killed under confusing conditions. The importance of this port city, combined with strong Indonesian oppostion and that thousands of Allied civilians were still imprisoned in the city, meant the British decided to clear the city, supported by tanks, planes, and warships, from Nov. 10 to the end of the months.
5. The Bersiap (I'm sure you have better sources for this).
For references, I personally recommend these three journals by Han Bing Siong, since they are excellent in terms of analysing a variety of Dutch and Indonesian and even Japanese sources critically:
• Siong, H.B. (2003). "Captain Huyer and the massive Japanese arms transfer in East Java in October 1945". Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 159(2-3).
• Siong, H.B. (2000). "Sukarno-Hatta versus the Pemuda in the first months after the surrender of Japan (August-November 1945)". Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 156(2).
• Siong, H.B. (1996). "The secret of major Kido; The battle of Semarang, 15-19 October 1945". Bijdragen tot de taal-, land- en volkenkunde, 152(3).
As for other sources:
• There are no English-language book from a truly Indonesian perspective, but Benedict Anderson's "Java in a Time of Revolution" comes close.
• The Australian official history of the Second World War is good if you want to know about how the Australians came to occupy eastern Indonesia, but they only go so far. Available on the Australian War Museum, online, for free.
• The British official history of the Pacific War - "The War Against Japan" specifically it's fifth volume - is not... great, but it's decent enough for a general overview of their occupation of Indonesia. Available on Google Books, for free.
• The book "The British Occupation of Indonesia: 1945-1946" by Richard McMillan is less biased and more condensed than the British official history.
• This journal by Parrott is, even after close to 50 years, a great dissection of the death of that British brigadier in Surabaya that I mentioned:
Parrott, J.G.A. (1975). "Who Killed Brigadier Mallaby?" Indonesia, 20, 87-111.
Regardless of these criticisms, in general your overview is already largely accurate, so I'd like to convey a sincere thank you for the coverage of the Indonesian independence. There isn't a lot of coverage which isn't biased, and the fact that you disclosed your Dutch background shows you strive to be unbiased. Again, much thanks for the great video!
absolute poggerinos comment right here. absolutely insightful, even more so than i know, and im indonesian ahaha
Thank you for the extra information!
I planned to study the crap out of this video, and you are REALLY helping with that. I appreciate it very much.
Damn, You gotta get pinned.
Addendum: I have chosen to not get into any specifics on Sumatra because, full disclosure, I have done no research at all about the situation in Sumatra in 1945 (and until 1949). However, both McMillan's British Occupation and the British official history I mentioned above have sections dedicated to the Sumatra situation, so do check them out.
Thank you for the 5 people who liked my video within 10 seconds of me uploading. I don't know who you are, but I love you!
Np, im sure it will be a nice video, watching it now!
Im waiting every day for a video for jou i love you too
Your videos are always informative, to its a instant like ☺️
Real heroes
Just finished watching the vid.
You tell stories that aren't often heard, unbiased to what will get the most views. Please don't stop! Your videos are always a treat regardless of the topic.
Checked today and i've been randomly unsubscribed despite being a subscriber for a long time. Thought I'd let you know
@@jadeon4657 On his behalf, thanks
LOL THIS DUDE LITERALLY LIED ABOUT AMERICA AND THE PHILIPPINE WAR LMAO THE AMERICANS KILLED 5 times the number of people than the japanese😂😂😂😂
Very interesting and informative. Decolonization is an important topic that too few historians cover, probably because it is too controversial and contemporary. I appreciate you stating your potential bias during the Dutch part.
Very true. It’s a very black and white perspective, but it’s important to know there were multiple factors involved
We should never have decolonized. The west had the world in the palm of out hands and we let it all go. These people don’t even appreciate that we gave them independence
@@tylerclayton6081 appreciate independence that should never have been taken? Or appreciate the independence that was begrudgingly given? Lmao
It shouldnt be since the whole world got plunged into war cos of it
I would like to know where did you get the idea that China was colonized.
I know very little about any of these topics so I can't speak for the accuracy of this video but I personally enjoyed it! I like overviews like this as it gives me the ability to look into the subjects mentioned later on since I prior did not know about the subjects. Well done!
Love this content! Thanks so much for making it!
These videos are such quality and consistency! Dont stop until you feel burnt out
As a fellow Dutchman I am very happy with this detailed information on what went on in Indonesia. I was taught nothing about any of this in history classes. Je hebt ook meer dan gelijk over onze Koning, echt hoor, totaal geen charisma en kan niet eens een goede speech geven, echt beschamend haha.
I listened to that speech several times while making this video and kept thinking "you have one job!".
thank you, as Indonesian. but for the part of East Timor, is basically is that we copied the Dutch colonialism with some spices of our own, which is Very bad and worse. especially during Suharto military dictatorship. thankfully we have national National reformation that ousted him and Habibie made a referendum to East Timor (but the Military and the militias decide to attacked after the referendum is not in their favour, which Ultimately bring Australian led Interfet that put down the Militias and some Indonesian military. and left during late year 1999.)
@@mohammadrickypratama6720 Hmm, interesting. It saddens me that we the Dutch have learned Indonesia the ropes of colonialism. One only has to look at Papua New-Guinea and see what Indonesia is doing there currently to realize it's exactly what the Dutch Empire once did to all of Indonesia.
@@draphotube4315 the current government is very aware of the situation in west papua, and they openly said that they(papuans) fight like how we(indonesian) did during the independence, that is--in the military sense, to fight a guerrilla warfare just to show their existence to the world and gain diplomatic support
But...the pro independence papuans is very small, like 1-2% of the whole population. What indonesian government do now is to divide papua into smaller provinces so that they can pour more money to the development of each region(to win papuan people's hearts) and to better control them(just like good ol' divide and conquer). There are many human right abuses today both by indonesian military(unlawful killings, robbery, mutilation, burning corpses, ect) and by local armed groups(burning school, houses, and hospital, killing health workers, teachers, truck drivers, and construction workers).
The papuan issue has become a hot topic in every parlement meetings, it's more complex than it seems because the papuans themselves have different ruling factions just like the situation in palestine but with even more factions
@@faiq026 robbery ? Mutilation? Bro..you saying as if it doing by military everyday...the cases happen that 1 time only and the military punished already...while local armed group killing civilian so often, even their own people who pro-Indonesia...
Most Rebel are Highlanders...they hate coastal Papuan too because Coastal people more developed...
Will you discuss Thailand and how it successfully managed to Matrix-dodge every single attempt made to colonize it, in the future? I think someone more competent than myself really should at some point, it's a staggering achievement considering what happened to so many other nations.
I second this, and why do they even call themselves Thailand. It has been called Siam on most old maps.
It wasn't colonized by the British and the French so as to create a buffer state between their colonies.
It wasn't colonized by Japan as they sided with Japan during WW2 to avoid being conquered by the Japanese.
@@xmarkclx to nationalize and modernize the country. the nam "Siam" itself is a foreign word used by foreigners first to identify the country. the name has changed during the interwar era where fascism took control of then siam to thailand but we, thai, have been calling the country "Thai" informally and often referred ourselves Thai for many centuries. so as to nationalize the country the leader had to change the country to Thailand, as we Thai call it "Prathet Thai" (Prathet cam from the word Pradesh of Pali-Sanskrit root) which means The land of the Thai.
@@xmarkclx Although they were never get colonised but they lost much of their territories for that undertaking. Siam was primarily a name those colonial powers used to identify this country while people in this area both called themselves Thai and Siam so in order to natinalise the country; The parliament officially declared "Thai" as the one to be used in 1939 Thai means "to be free" people in this country value harmony and freedom above all else. Thailand means Land of the freemen. They were the first asian nation to establish a diplomatic and trade relation with United States of America and is still consider one of the oldest US allies in the region today.
They murdered their own students and threw their neighbors under the bus.
You deliver excellent content to your audience. It's very interesting material. All of your effort put into creating this video is much appreciated. I'm truly grateful for your help!
As a Vietnamese, I must say the Indochina/Vietnam lack an important point. Vietnam was working with the USA during WW2 to distract the Japan and to disrupt their colonialism in Indochina, with the expectation that it would be granted independence after WW2. However the USA decided to side with France
Communism came from China to Indochina.
Why vietnam not take laos like Indonesia take west Papua? You all have rights but not take it
@@anaskhoiri3653 Thailand would not like that one bit I imagine, Thailand and Vietnam have fought for centuries over Laos and Cambodia so it would just reignite the dispute.
Laos also had its own established state before colonisation and nationalist movements. The Papuan identity is a very recent one since for most of history it was individual kingdoms and tribes doing their own thing
@@anaskhoiri3653 And today Laos and Vietnam are each others' best allies.
@@anaskhoiri3653 oh why don't the US take Canada/Mexico?
Yeah we don't wanna
Your Dutch, so I don't totally fault you for an oversight. But in the Philippines there was a war against the colonization of the United States from 1899-1905 more or less. Present historians called it "America's first Vietnam". The war wasn't very mild, mind you, there were a lot of atrocities made by the Americans. However, after 1905 if I remember my history correctly things simmered down and the USA allowed the Philippines a certain amount of self-rule leading to independence. Eventually the Philippine elite went onboard with the USA and that's the time they sent delegates to the USA for independence. The move could have been smooth had the Japanese not invaded. For many Filipinos, the Japanese threw a monkey wrench into the planned Philippine Nation. Anyway, I just want to point out that there was a "War of Independence" against the United States and it wasn't all that peaceful.
I was just about to comment this. The Phillipines was not a peaceful ownership or transition of power. It was definitely more peaceful RELATIVE to many of the others specifically near the end, but The Philippines war is very often glossed over by US history teachers and educators. Mostly due to government pressure to stick to a predetermined script and testing schedule. However the Philippines and the US are pretty strong allies today, which is nice to see. Many immigrants come here from the Philippines. It's just sad to see something so bad happen.
I said as much in the video: "but in 1899, a war broke out"
@@HistoryScope ok then must have missed that.
@@PresAlexWhit correct, compared to the others, I admired America's magnanimity in the administration of what was known as the Philippine Islands. Compared to other colonial powers, the United States IMPROVED the infrastructure of the Philippines, but couldn't do much with the resources as we were "duplicating what the American farmers were planting". Many Filipinos felt that life was comfortable and orderly so there was no need to change the status quo. Even President Quezon, Commonwealth Philippine President said to this effect, "Why didn't the Americans treat us badly". President Quezon felt that the "soft colonialization" of the Philippines resulted in the complacency of many Filipinos in desiring full independence. I read somewhere that Ho Chi Minh said, "If the French treated us like the way the Americans did to the Philippines, I wouldn't ask for independence." I dare say many Filipinos today secretly wish that we became another Puerto Rico or Guam as many believe that life under American rule was a lot better than after America left.
@@HistoryScope Personally it was less that you didn't talk about the war, but that you didn't give the war enough criticism and light. Still, it's a fantastic video.
I'm a new subscriber. I'm in love with your content. I'm already re-watching this video. Please keep up the good work.
watched the whole video as usual, leaned some new stuff.
very good video, keep it up!
left a like on it too
I just spent over a month in SE Asia (Malaysia Indonesia and Singapore , and had some idea about this topic yet looked around most bigger cities and very limited information was offered, or it told the story in Singapore of the British during WWII, indeed a short yet insightful piece, wanting more. I'm from American and we have so limited knowledge of this part of the world...yet its valued and needed. Keep on offering these pieces,
11:05 as an American, I very much admire (and envy) your honesty, and humility when discussing these kinds of historical topics. I wish more of my fellow countrymen were capable of analyzing history in this manner. Too many people prefer mythology over history, and what’s worse is they are often incapable of knowing the difference between the two. Cheers 🍻 ✌🏻🇺🇸
I would argue we need someone to do a deep dive into the genocide we committed in the Philippines and the way that MacArthur basically ended democratic processes in East Asia for decades
@@thestanfordreport agreed. It’s so odd in MacArthur’s case because he actually instituted some pretty good policies when it came to Japan.
*he obviously seriously dropped the ball in a lot of ways.
There is an error here. Philippines was actually the first Asian country to declare independence from any European power. This was during the Philippine revolution against Spain and were won by the Filipinos in 1898 without much help from Americans. But by that time, Spain had already sold the Philippines to the Americans in the Treaty of Paris. And so War broke out between Filipinos and the Americans.
@@kahldiss2689wrong. 1946 is the indepence of the philippines. The 1898 independence was a sham because the americans took over
@@josemartymario3137 you have a reading comprehension problem.
Philippine DECLARATION of independence on June 12, 1898 is not a myth.
YES! So happy to see these lesser taught (at least in the West) parts of history!
Great video History Scope!
I agree your videos are extremely underrated don't stop!! this channel has much potential to be much more!
When I learned about Indonesian occupation of East Timor it pains me... like how the hell that we didn't see the hypocrisy in that??? we pretty much became the same as the Dutch before us. And situations in Papua (or Irian Jaya) aren't much better, I've seen some of the most racist shit in the way we look and treat them, although it does getting better now.
I really hope that this country wouldn't be such an oppressive power in the future
They deserve the treatment.
@@yodaeee taek kowe cuk...
@@yodaeee, East Timorese are not commies
It's going on the right path nowadays. Let's keep it that way
@@yodaeee So, did they deserve to get massacred? Just like how TNI committed a brutal massacre toward east timorese.
Your videos are great, dude 👍🏼
This is a really great and informative video. As a South East Asian, I learnt a bunch! Just one thing. You mentioned one of the reasons why the colonised peoples wanted to overthrow colonialism - because the rule was unjust, unfair, and exploitative. However you missed out one basic thing, which is that most people just don't want to have some other dudes suddenly take over control of their homeland.
Are you Filipino?
As a Czech I agree, we lived under someone else's rule for most of the millenia we exist. But still there are periods we actually consider a good ones, like the end of Austria-Hungary. The colonizers always soften in time, allowing regional governments. But this exact era is best to be prolonged as much as possible, because that is the time you can actually get something in return from the empire. You get the time to learn how to rule yourself. It feels to me like some of the countries in Asia and most of the countries in Africa skipped this era and turned into chaos.
Great Videos!,I learn alot from your videos
Great video, however you left out the fact that Malaysia forced Singapore to become independent in 1965.
with regard to the Philippines, there is this small yet major detail that happened between the change of colonizers from Spain to USA. on the last decade of the Spanish era, Spain was losing control of the archipelago with endless uprising, and when the Spanish-American war happened, they just sold the Philippines instead to the USA and staged a mock battle rather than losing to the locals. after which, the Philippine-American war happened exactly after the Spain left. I hope that adds a little detail there. thank you. Love your video by the way, learned a lot of the Ideas and situation on East Asian countries on how they develope there national identity and gained independence.
What do you expect from Americans they always want to look like a hero but in the end they are the worst, until now they trying to dictate the Philippines, when a nonallies party won in the 2016 presidential election, they always demonize Press Duterte even here in RUclips.
@@corral5418 Bro, I avoid hate comments in a discussion video. so sorry, not trying to offend you.
What's sad though is that some americans and even filipinos believed the lie that was propagated by the US government during that time which was "they will give the Philippines independence" which contradicts everything the US did after they got the Philippines. From fighting filipino revolutionaries to the kiram bates treaty.
@@bushybrowser9535 you have no history, facts
Until now phenoi is still 🇺🇸 esleyb 🙄 don't you think?
Gotta give props to Thailand for having always been canny and wily enough to evade the colonial rush of Southeast Asia.
Love these videos, no one produces them better than this guy
7:31 Japanese flag turning into a questionmark was one of the few things I didn't know I needed to see until I saw it. Btw great video 👍
Thank you. I felt very smart for thinking of that one :D
About European journey to Indonesia:
1. The Portuguese arrived from their base in India, initially setting shop up in Malacca, but then explore a bit more to the east and build fortifications around the Spice Islands, and then establishing shops and missions in East Nusa Tenggara region, converting Kingdom of Larantuka into Catholicism. They only later settles around East Timor after being pushed out from Flores by the Dutch.
2. The Dutch followed the Portuguese, and during the Eighty Years war (and Spanish-Portugal union), take over a lot of Portuguese colony in India and East Indies, also taking over Malacca and setting shop first in Banten, then expand east to the Spice Islands, then Java and the rest of the Islands.
3. The British followed the Dutch and take over most of their possession in India and Malaya, they initially settled Bancoolen in Sumatra but traded the colony for Singapore and Malacca, and guaranteed Dutch supremacy over the Islands. They later take over the whole colony during the Napoleonic War but returned it after the defeat of Napoleon and restoration if Dutch Monarchy.
Very good video, as an Indian I've learned very little about South-east and East asian independence and decolonisation and this video gave me much insight on where to start. I hope to see a video on South Asia soon :) much love ❤️
East Asia was never colonized. The Russians held big chunks of China for less then a decade. Nations like China, Mongolia, japan, north and south korea were never under European control and if they were at one point the rule was very short
@@prince_yt3406 Russia colonized china but more Russian girls marry Chinese guys amwf than the other way around.
@@myphuonghuynh151 Russia never colonized China. The only thing they ruled in China was outer Manchuria and that was very brief
@@prince_yt3406 no Russia still has outer Manchuria today.
@@user-qwertyuiopasdfghj ok? They annexed that from the Qing dynasty but other then that it doesn’t even count since the majority aka all of east Asia was uncolonized by Europeans
Great video as always!
Great video!!!
As ethnic Javanese Indonesian, Im obviously can't represent the opinion of West Papuan people. But to my knowledge they indirectly colonized by the dictatorship regime held by the longest serving and least talked about dictator in Asia, Suharto. The were left behind economically for a very long time compared to the the nearest islands near Java vicinity. There were squeezed dry of their natural resources by the Suharto regime with Western Companies. They face severe racial issue and often regarded as the odd one out even among thousands of ethnicity in Indonesia.
But its getting better now after the National Reformation and economic boom around the country, even if the infrastructure growth was painful slow the start of Reformation. But right now its definitely among long term plans for Central government in Java to raise Papuan living standard by taking them along with the Economic growth.
It still not perfect and I would like it to be more faster and even among the region. But it has to happen eventually, I always consider them a part of my country even though they were neglected and rather oppressed up until decades ago. I want to live in the world where Papuan people is a common sight in Jakarta (Indonesia capital city). I can only hope our future politicians would concentrate their efforts more often there in Papua.
Regarding East Timor, I didn't knew that the oppression was so bad. I was not born yet when it was happen and almost no history books mentioned it, perhaps unsurprisingly. Will check it later in Wikipedia.
So you are sympathetic to them? Man, just denounce your ethnicity. By reading this comment just made me ashamed.
@@yodaeee what's wrong with being sympathetic? The West Papuans are being subjugated by the Rest of Indonesia .The natives are being kicked out of their own land, Their Resources exploited,and culture fading and dying , it's only right to be sympathetic
@@yodaeee im sympathic to papuan because indonesia is not just jakarta, im from sulawesi send love to papuan people.
@@yodaeee you literally have the same world view of pro colonialist European, so yes you should be ashamed of yourself
@@reykategen1316 new capital isn't jakarta anymore, Bhinneka Tunggal ika 🇮🇩💯💯
The awkward situation the Japanese occupation forces in Southeast Asia faced when their country surrendered cannot be underestimated. They were defeated in the war, but still had to maintain their garrisons to maintain order in the populace until Allied forces could arrive to take over the occupation. In Indonesia, the local militias had become such a threat that the Japanese and Allied forces actually cooperated a couple of times to fight against the militia, mobs and looters during the chaotic transition times.
what country are you from?
It was transfering ownership similar to Philippines handed over to American by the Spaniards, similar case from Japanese imperialism wanting to hold what bloodshed they have made.
Sounds like you were trying to glorify the Japanese
It’s not so surprising. Even if recently at war, both countries shared that same goal of maintaining control over the colonized.
Sukarno declared independence after Japanese defeat defeat in 1945. A lot of stranded Japanese sided with Indonesian Republican Army to attack Dutch military outpost. For example Nakajima plane very useful in reconnaissance and bombing of Dutch and British military outpost in Surabaya.
Excellent video...!!! 👍
I really enjoy your channel
Love your videos!
History Scope, I'm actually dissapointed in your portrayal of the formation of Malaysia.
Firstly, the idea of the formation of Malaysia was first proposed by the Malayan Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman who then became the country's founding father and first Prime Minister, who made the declaration on the 27th of May 1961. To be exact, the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew believed it essential for Singapore to merge with Malaya, NOT with Sarawak, Sabah (what you called East Borneo in the video), and Brunei. The idea was NOT thought up by Singapore but rather Malaya, and although Singapore may have wanted a merger it does not mean the idea should be credited to and be acknowledged as a Singaporean-originated formation.
Sincerely, a disgruntled Malaysian
What I know is that the formation of the Federation of Malaya and the state of Malaysia was designed by the British. And at that time the British were based in Singapore. So isn't the one in the video true?
@@hanflax4679 To make it very clear, the history of the negotiations for the formation of Malaysia is very complex and opaque due to the fact that these negotiations weren't recorded or transcribed.
What is a fact is that Tunku Abdul Rahman was the first person to suggest openly of a greater Federation of the British colonies that include Singapore, Sabah, Sarawak, and Brunei. However, due to ethnic pressures it seemed that he got more weary in terms of including Singpore in the federation.
The deal and the subsequent legal document, the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63), proposed by the UK to the now independent Malaya, and Singapore was that a federation would be formed of the two nations and the colonies of Sabah and Sarawak, which the UK still had de facto rule over, basically packaging the merging of the 4 regions as a done deal.
In technicality, yes, the UK did propose the deal but to say that they were the brainchild or that they had done it from Singapore wouldn't be right as Malaya had sought negotiations first and Singapore had already gained independence.
@@hanflax4679 Malayan Union was rejected.
@@hanflax4679 malaysia merdeka di kasih oleh england now merdeka ...merdeka itu melawan bukan bukan di kasih belajar membedakan
Thankyou for beeing honest abt the indonesian part as indonesian i am very happy about you beeing honest especially if you are dutch thankyou again
Excellent overview of the history of South East Asia. 👍👍👍👍
The Geneva conference did not split Vietnam into 2 "countries" but rather 2 occupations zones. After 2 years, there would be a general election to choose one single ruling regime.
I needed this video when I was studying modern history at school
Great timing. I needed a video to watch
Great job!
Not so fun fact:
The Spanish doesn't want to accept defeat to the filipino rebels, so they joint forces with the Americans and staged a battle in Manila. The so-called "battle" left American forces in control of Intramuros, the center of Manila.
Manila was the only part of the Philippines under the Americans at the time, which became the first stage of the Philippine-American war a year later.
The Filipinos was felt betrayed by the Americans, they once looked up to them as liberators.
Well said
@@anon2427 yea 'cause killing at least 200 thousand civilians is the right thing to do, right?
And what thousands? Less than a thousand Americans died in the Philippines during the Spanish-American war.
@@anon2427 How many Americans died fighting the Spanish in the Philippines, idiot? Literally one American sailor died in the Battle of Manila Bay. You didn't do any bleeding for the Filipinos.
@@lopobiaxander5604 "yea 'cause killing at least 200 thousand civilians is the right thing to do, right?"
.... yeah. Anything is right if it's for the good of the nation.
It's yankees hypocripsy after all
Believe in USA is fatal
Being completely unbiased as humans is impossible, but I really liked your disclaimer and it shows you try to be as fair as possible. You should be proud of the video, it's great informative content.
Thank you for your cogent, pedagogical and balanced account of decolonization in South East Asia.
There were many surprises and I learned about aspects and details,as well of the contextual reality of that crucial significant time of change and suffering which resulted in independence and sovereignty together with freedom from foreign suppression.
Very educational. Should use this video in schools.
This was really interesting, are you planning on covering Roman history?
Maybe, there are vague ideas but nothing concrete.
@@HistoryScope I would watch an entire video of yours about Roman concrete
@@HistoryScope please shut up. East Asia= China japan Korea Taiwan Mongolia. No more.
Can you make a video about history of Netherland ? Please :)
Love the music at the end
This is such a great channel. I love to learn more about the story of de-colonization in the world.
@History Scope, about the Philippines the Spaniards didn’t loose to America, the Spaniards were weak at that time and was about to loose to Filipinos. Spain afraid to loose to Filipinos, they sold the archipelago to the US for 20 million dollars and had a mock fight to represent their defeat by the Americans
The war between Spain and the U.S. was mostly about Cuba and Puerto Rico. The Phillipines were a side issue. The U.S. had a small, but much more modern navy than the Spain. Once war started the U.S. attacked the Spanish at Manila mostly because that’s where their fleet was. They were kind of the dog that caught the car it had been chasing. Once started war begats war, so the U.S. then fought a much bigger war against The Philippines, which in the pattern of the contemporary Boer war, settled on mass killing by Marines to end it. Over time it became obvious for quite a few reasons that recolonization of the Philippines was a horrible idea for both the U.S. and The Philippines. This video was a quick summation. Missed was that there was a hard date set for the U.S. leaving. Memory says this was put back by a year due to WWII, but that might not be correct.
Currently the question is whether The Philippines is losing the slow motion war of the dashed line. Time will tell.
Correct me if I am wrong, if I remember correctly, after WW2 in Malaya, British tried to rule the land again under the Malayan Union that takes over the sultan's power, but thwarted by the smart local people and the people that supported the royals. Then the emergency happened due to the communism parties that tries to take over the peninsula.
During the insurgency, the British agreed for Malaya's peaceful independence under the promise that they do not support the communism and the British can still keep their profits from their companies that is still in the land.
Later in the 80s, Mahathir's group executed an operation "Dawn Raid" to take over the British companies that is still holding lands in Malaysia through stock takeover.
I am not sure if there is still other stories after that, but I think that was last story that is related with the former colonizer in Malaysia.
Can we have more little icons on the maps? I think there a nice touch, and its visualizes your words for me.
Love your channel!
damn wish more could have been talked about the other countries such as Vietnam while indonesia got almost 50 percent of the video, this would have made the video longer.. still a good video
Nice video but more than half of it was just about the Netherlands and Indonesia in deep detail and you just touched on the rest.
Very interesting topic and video is well made. Thank you very much for your approach to tell the history.
P.S.: the Dutch King stuttering while apologizing to Indonesian people meaning what exactly?
@History Scope, I really love your videos and I even made a map of pre-WW2 of which I'll show you it on Discord
Go ahead. Just let me know it's you somehow
@@HistoryScope Ok
I feel like you are using the verb "colonise" a bit inflationarily. Will there be a video about the "decolonisation of europe" and how the soviets "decolonised" Poland in 1990?
I'd like to add in a bit that after the Geneva accords, Vietnam was split into 2 military zones, not 2 countries (parallel 17 was not a border). The idea was to have a referendum in 1955 to unify the 2 zones under a certain form of government (north or south). Fearing the communist takeover, the US decided to intervene. The last time in Vietnamese history when the country was truly slit was during the prolonged civil war between the Trinh - Nguyen in the 17th century.
Amazing vid
I really like your videos! Excellent primers!!! What I like the most is your bluntness when talking about bad characteristics particularly when you talk about Europeans. Though I disagree with some of your views on economics - globalization and some aspects of neo-liberalism you seem to like - your videos, in my opinion, are on the top level of History videos on RUclips.
I highly recommend that you use "Far East"" instead of East Asia to avoid confusion because East Asia is a smaller region that does not include Southeast Asia. That's all and this video was very well made
I'd recommend against "Far East" since it is a term that describes Asia relative to Europe making it pretty eurocentric.
@@kevinp1659 So is Middle East which most of the world is currently using. Almost nobody uses Western Asia lol
@@jrexx2841 or more preference them probably can called as "middle earth "
@@jrexx2841 In the end, the boundaries of these regions aren't clearly defined. Most of what native English speakers tend to think of when they say "Middle East" would be part of the Near East for me. As long as enough context is given, there won't be any misunderstandings though.
I'm glad it's not used. As Kevin P says, Eurocentric. East Asia and Southeast Asia will suffice.
Your recognition of the purpose of colonial industries and infrastructure earned a like a like and subscribe. 👍🏾
Most RUclips Historians miss this simple point.
Great video, man, we need more of these things from you!
Wow....I appreciate seeing the attempt at covering the darker period of your own country. As an American, we don't do this very well of even our own country. Being of the younger generations who realize we can't ignore our past if we wish to make a functional future and do what our parents couldn't, the recognition of our mistakes is required. I commend your effort and respect your approach more than i can find the words to say. I know we are capable of making a better path!
After the Dien Bien Phu campaign, the 1954 Geneva Agreement did not divide Vietnam into two countries, but only into two regions. Both Vietnams will hold general elections in 1956. The American Domino doctrine was so exaggerated that they intervened in South Vietnam and tore up the Geneva accords.
Thank you for this! There is scant little material available on RUclips in English about decolonisation of powers other than the British Empire! Thank you
This is amazing
Well done, you've covered most of us, south east Asian, weren't even aware of our neighbor history eventhough it's directly impact our country own history. Thank You.
Norishiake, sounds so Japanese to me
So sorry to the Indonesians for their colonial policies, that the Dutch continued to bill Indonesia for their independence until 2002.
20:00 this is another angle that i did not consider on why modern indonesia is republic in the first place, i learn something new today.
Man, I spent a lot of time trying to place your accent. It does sound Dutch, but it’s different than many of my Dutch friends’ accents. Where are you from?
Don't you mean ''Decolonization of Southeast Asia AND East Asia?'', But anyways a good video overall.
If the subject matter applies to both, East Asia is acceptable. And in older times westerners and even in middle East, they refer to both regions as Far East (Asia).
@@justinianflavius9571 Oh Ok thanks for the information, :)
@@justinianflavius9571 ASIA IS LITERALLY 10 TIMES BIGGER THAN EUROPE. IS IT ALSO ACCEPTABLE IF WE START CALLING THE WHOLE OF EUROPE AS WESTERN EUROPE??? IF I START ALSO SAYING THAT RUSSIA, BALTIC STATES & NORDIC COUNTRIES ARE IN WESTERN EUROPE??? LESSON HERE IS DON'T YOU JUST REFER TO US AS FAR EAST OR THAT EAST ASIA IS ACCEPTABLE.WE HOLD MORE THAN 60% OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION, SO PEOPLE LIKE YOU SHOULD START TAKING US MORE SERIOUSLY.
@@KARL-el3hr the topic was not about the entire Asia. The explanation I gave is to give context on why he referred to the place geographically based from where they are (and the maker of the video is from Netherlands), like how we refer to their area as "the west". And how is it not taking you seriously? And "people like me"? I live in South East Asia. How are you offended by this?
You could put the entire Declaration of Independence of Indonesia, including the title and date on a single tweet.
10.48-22 about Dutch and Indonesia relationship. Good perspective.
Ok, nice vid :)
Philippines just hit different because the nationalism movement emerged in the mid 19th century which Spain couldn't sustain and the US exploited. Of course that's the Filipino version. There's definitely American-centric and Spanish-centric version of these events but I think the reality is somewhere in the middle.
That's not the Filipino version is the American and Spanish centric Version , it's the facts.
I wonder, was the Middle East decolonization separated from the asian decolonization since the beginning or was it a decision made during the production of this video?
At first all of Asia was going to be 1 video but we soon realized that was too much. Then we separated Asia into 3 regions.
@@HistoryScope I see, well, that seems like a good decision, after all Asia is big
@@HistoryScope so will u be making a part 2 and 3
@@admiralkaede no he will make part 1+1 and part 2+1
@@ShubhamMishrabro huuh
great video!! miss your minecraft server!!!
I see a lot of self advertisement lol. But in all seriousness, very good video. I'm still waiting on a future South Africa video!!!
I think my country should do more to compensate Indonesia, I'm dutch, but its kinda shameful. Kinda really, yk? Still to all your Indonesians, thanks for accepting me. I feel so accepted by their culture, have a lot of Indonesian friends & am learning the language because I really want to visit Indonesia soon. Selamat malam everyone:)
Indonesia as a country wouldn’t exist without the Dutch
@@LucidFL maybe, their shared deep seated hatred towards the colonizing Dutch probably what makes them united under one flag. But you could also argue that a strong visionary leader would be born eventually and united them one way or the other. But it could also easily divided between various nations like northern Southeast Asia.
But your opinion and mine are only hypothetical. For what I know Indonesian ancestors might as well take the whole indochina archipelago if the Dutch didn't colonize them, just speaking.
Having good trade relations these days, and becoming brothers like the way Germans and the Dutch now treat each other with how many ties they have together, besides some people still upset that the Germans stole their bicycles, is a good way of healing from the past. Indonesia is obviously going to have much closer relations with neighbours like Australia and Malaysia, but the Dutch can still participate. Keeping racism out of contemporary Dutch politics is also a good way to show that the NL is still committed to that healing as well.
@@harukrentz435 I mean, I think the Majapahit Empire came pretty close to unifying Indonesia right? Or is this a wrong observation? But it's like, not all nations can last forever. And there was a power difference compared to the European powers like the Portuguese, Spanish and Dutch.
But I do appreciate you not feeling too much resentment towards the dutch, and this is why I appreciate your culture and people so much, even though I am Dutch, I am often feeling so welcomed by Indonesians. I can't express how nice that is, since Indonesia is my favorite part of the world (along with the Netherlands, since I obviously like my own country)
And also when they hear I am so interested in their country, I will get all kinds of lovely stories and history and cultural stuff, I feel like the Indonesian culture is way more welcoming and warm compared to the western culture. So again thank you and your people :)
I dont give a shit about it anymore. Let the past be the past.
Thailand: *This is fine.*
Thailand youths: not fine. Wanted to be colonized to be fluent in English.
Now .. our English is so bad lol 😂 but yeah so proud because no one a
Calming to take our country away.. just like china - Taiwan , Russia- Ukraine , Israel- Palestine . North Korea- South Korea .. we don’t work about those things like those countries 😅😢😂
great video, waiting for the American continent one☺️
Welcome back. Wondered if you were ever going to post again.
Me too, Lawrence, me too :(
Okinawa, the Nansei Islands, the Kuril Islands and Sakhalin are not 'colonies' but inherent territories of Japan.
Legend has it that when the Dutch tried to reassert its dominance after WW2, the local Jakartan populace stormed a government building and tore off the blue stripe of the Dutch flag. As a result, the Indonesian flag was formed.
Hotel Yamato Incident? That's on Soerabaja, the largest city on Java's eastern half.
The Red and White is also always intended to have ratio of 2:3, not 4:9 like Hotel Yamato's Flag
@@krasnamerah1926 well still a good prototype brand for propaganda
Very interesting
Fascinating stuff, thank you!
I enjoyed this video, but I think it really suffers from having too little time devoted to some of these events, particularly in the cases of Indochina and the Philippines, but to a lesser extent Korea and Myanmar too.
Since India is already going to be it's own separate video, I think it would have made sense to do the same with Indonesia (including perhaps Papua New Guinea and Timor Leste) as well. That way you could have expanded on Indonesia, which seems to be a topic close to your heart given your background, as well as arguably the most important topic in the region given how massive Indonesia is; and that way this video could have focused more in depth with everyone else.
Regardless, great video and waiting for the next!
Agreed.
I guess there was an intent to make Indochina a separate video dedicated to itself, considering the utter chaos that happened after Dien Bien Phu.
Decolonization happened not in spite of Imperial Japan's east Asian war, but BECAUSE of it. It was Japan that waged this war, to liberate the peoples of east asia from the western imperialists and unite them under a greater east Asian co prosperity sphere. Chiang kai shek, on the other hand was a Christian convert and a staunch supporter of the western imperialists, and actually a mere tool of their interests!
i was waiting for this
"Sarung Banggi" playing at the end is a pleasant surprise. Filipinos who would recognize the tune would be pleased.
Interesting facts .
The Portuguese didn't come in that direction. The Spanish did come from America via the Pacific Ocean to the Phillipines, Taiwan and Japan. The Portuguese came from Indian Ocean side not the Pacific Ocean.
Whats the music at 4:05? Does anyone know
Oooo, you MIGHT wanna doublecheck your map at 33:25, History Scope.
Me, a thai, watch this video: *interesting*
Being switzerland in asia
@@DAA-in3jl yes
( we definitely technically didn’t join World War Two, we didn’t, we totally didn’t )