The Impact of the World War II
Project: The Impact of the World War II
Author: Lem Chuck Moth
Started date: September/01/2011
Last updated: June/30/2018
All right reserved.
Since this paper is still drafted, the readers would be advised to ignore any context errors. The content is not final and subjected to be reviewed.
World War II was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. In a glance, it was the same World War I with the same participants and although there were some membership changed, both the Allied and the Axis blocs were fighting to control the world. It started at first as a fighting to control the economy, but along the way it became a fighting on ideological change. It was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by many million fatalities of war related destruction and massacres including the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease and the use of nuclear weapons. Also included were many million casualties, most of which were civilians in the Soviet Union and China due to the political reform to communism. After the war ended the conflict of ideologies continued claiming many more millions of additional victims of execution of both sides, during the Cold war. Following the Korean War, the Vietnam wars at last brought Cambodia into a total destruction. Unlike the two World Wars that plagued Europe to its knee, the Indochinese war plagued Cambodia to its total destruction. Under the clever maneuver of Ho-Chi-Ming, the top leadership of the Free World, including the United States in a direct clash with the communist blocs that included China and the Soviet Union were fighting their cold war at the expense of the Indochinese native states. After the war ended, Cambodia fell into the Dark Age while other contenders were enjoying their post-war reward. Ho-Chi-Minh that was the initiator of war had been rewarded the most. Besides having a unified Vietnam, he was hailed as a hero while his recruit Pol-Pot was blamed for all crimes that occurred to Cambodia. Without giving him the benefit of the doubt, western writers immediately referred him as the Brother Number One that is a title often associated to the Third World leaders who were found guilty for the genocide against their own people and other sinister crimes against humanity. Evidences however show that China and Hanoi were actually running the whole Vietnam War against the United States of America.
The Impact of Science on Humanity
Dawin formulated his theory of Natural Selection based mostly on his observation conducted on the island of Galapagos. Even though his observation was very limited to verify the validity of his theory, he received tremendous support from his colleagues mostly because they share the same view as his. His theory was immediately accepted and received support not from scientific communities alone, but rather from the political liberalism that built their ideology's credibility based on science. While Agnosticism still has doubt about the existence of God, the liberalism rejected altogether the concept of God' s intervention in humanity. In the name of science, they went ahead attacking not only Christianity, but other religions as well. By doing so, they were in par with their conservative compatriots in misleading humanity about the nature and the role of science. Driven by their own political drive, they went on applying without restrain the Darwinism of Natural Selection in their core ideology. Coupled with capitalism, socialism was particularly the culprit of the crimes against humanity of modern time. In the far right, Adoft Hithler formed his "National Socialist German Workers' Party" (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei in German) between 1920 and 1945 to promote his own political career that became known as the most sinister regime of the world. On the far left, Vladimir I. Lenin started his career with the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' party of which he led the Bolsheviks to launch the Russian Revolution of 1917. Through his exploit, he became flagged as the first great dictator of the Soviet Union. Hitler and Lenin were both advocate of Science and technology that became since the trade-mark of Western civilization. Even though the World War II was originated in Europe, we shall argue that the westernization also brought the prospect of the destructive war to be applied all around the world. Unfortunately, Southeast Asia that was one of the hot seats of colonization became next the victim of the westernization.
JAPAN AT THE CROSS ROAD
Japan and the United States were two among the last participants of the World War I. Both shared common past heritage as being formed as new nations, under the same model of the western development. Both were drawn into the International conflicts after building themselves up as superpowers. History will bring themselves up in collision course when their cardinal sins, greed and irrationality took hold of their nation 's spirituality. To understand Japan's self-imposed disaster by the World War II, we shall look pass the secular scope of Japanese involvement in Southeast Asia as the last superpower to bring the destructive war into the region.
The Birth of Modern Japan
Like most Asian countries, China in particular, Japan had been in transition from its past feudal system to the centralized way of governing as dictated by the Yang and Yin cosmology. Through feudality, Japan determination to be independent was procured by its own self-sustainment life-style and self-isolation from the west. With no interest in luxury goods that were brought by foreign merchant ship, the island closed its shore to the Portuguese, Dutch and even to British trade. Nevertheless, when American steamships with the state-of-the-art military equipment showed up in their sea-shore, Japan had to think twice about their future relationship with the west. The American Perry Expedition in 1853-54 ended Japan's seclusion of the shogunate period for good and the return of the imperial control in 1868 started on a new phase of Japanese history (SWW: Tojo's strategic Dilemma: p. 241). By opening Japanese door to Western civilization, the Meiji period transformed Japan into a military power without falling into the western trap of colonization. During its modernization, Japan managed to maintain its own suzerainty despite extensive contact with western culture. This was due perhaps to the remoteness of islands far from the colonial base of both France and England. Through a fast modernization of its equipment, its naval bases were already strong enough to match other colonial fleet of the Pacific. The first test of its military strength was conducted successfully against Taiwan in 1874. It was followed quickly by a series of victorious military ventures against its neighboring countries. The campaign against Korea and China during the first Sino-Japanese War and Russia during Russo-Japanese War reflects the new Japanese policy of military expansionism. It means for Japan a safer environment that secures the protection of its homeland. In reality, it was the same as the United States policy of controlling raw materials and market places through strategical territories of the colonial rule. Territorial gains were achieved in Korea, the southern half of Sakhalin (Karafuto in Japanese), and Manchuria. From the invasion of Manchuria in 1931, the conflict escalated into a prolonged war with China from 1937. Japan then joined the alliance to fight in World War I, against the central axis consortium. After the war ended, Japan assumed control over Germany's possessions in Asia, notably China's Shandong Province, and the German-controlled Mariana, Caroline, and Marshall islands in the Pacific Ocean. The Japanese claim of their right over the German colonies was apparently not shared by the Chinese government. China soon challenged Japan and requested back the control to its government. Supported by other members of the alliance, China soon gained control over their lost territories.
As China had been cooperating with them for some time, delegating them back to China was not a bad idea for the European alliance whose interest to make commercial with China was still a high priority of their colonial drive. The insistence of the Japanese government in sustaining control over these strategic location reflected Japanese ambition over the Southern Sea venture altogether. Trying to rebuild their Southeast Asian venture, the Japanese interference became much more than a set back to them. Now that the United States also made known of its interest on the Asian affair, Japanese ambition was not left unchallenged. During the World War I, Japanese General charter had developed its Naval base to become the most powerful navy of Asia. Alarmed of the potential Japanese obtrusion to their venture, the allies tried to curb Japanese strength. At the 1921-22 Washington Naval Conference, the five powers signed their Naval Disarmament Treaty to limit their defense expedenture, While insisting that it required a ratio of seven ships for every eight United States naval ships, the Imperial Navy settled for three to five. The London Naval Treaty of 1930 brought about further reductions, but after the end of 1935 Japan no longer honored the pact and started on its military built-up unrestrained. While approaching the Nazi camp for a change of partnership, Japan started on its own military campaign against neighboring states. In 1937, Japan was already at war with the Republic of China. But only in September 1939 that the World War II had its official starting date when the Nazi Germany invaded Poland, prompting France and the United Kingdom to declare war on their old enemy. The joining of Japan on the side of the Central Axis changed completely the course of the colonization of Southeast Asia. Since it was fighting along side the NAZI against the European allies, it was in its best interest to enlist any resistance available against the colonial rules as much as they could find and as fast as possible (Viet: The Vietnamese Deal with Two Masters: Japanese Approaches to the Vietnamese). In its move across the Pacific, Japan invaded the alliance's colonies one by one by recruiting support from the colonist opposition camps.
The Fight against the Colonial Rule
Through their implanted spies in the cities, the Japanese troops were able to form support groups along the way over their conquest's path into Southeast Asia. As they were progressing across the colonies, the freedom fight against the European colonists became the effective propaganda against the European alliance. Their first recruits were not from the native tribesmen who were resisting the colonization from the start, but from the city' s power-elite who happened to be of western educated background. Mostly of Cinicized root, many had their parents taking part of the colonization as collaborators and still hold their position as colonial functionaries. Others were from wealthy families having more or less connections with the Chinese secret societies that were still active of the time. Having served the colonial rule for a long period of time, all were now eager to free themselves and took on the opportunity to assert their own political and economical freedom of initiation. Now that the wind is blowing in opposite direction, the shift of collaboration would set the pace of the Japanese advance in Southeast Asia in a record time and at the same time delivered the liberated colonies into their hands. The Japanese campaign to drive off colonial rule suited perfectly their objective since it gave them opportunities to fight for their own agenda. Through the Japanese support, they procured themselves means and proceeded to recruit colonial fighters among themselves in the heart of the cities. To fight off colonial rule, all they needed to do was to stay behind the Japanese troops, taking care of any necessary chores to reorganize the country. Taking the opportunity of the absence of colonist' s troops who were pulled to fight the war in their homeland, they managed to capture as much territory as they could. In no time, they were able to launch attacks on scattered colonist army on their own. They then asserted themselves as the leader of the new nation and proclaim themselves independent. On the other hand, the natives who were the first to resist the colonial rules found themselves in an odd situation to choose side between the colonists and their supposedly liberators. The colonial process of eliminating the native leadership was playing a big part of the outcome. As they were left virtually with no leader of their own, they were subject to political manipulation of both sides. In the city, most westernized natives had already adapted their life style to the New World and were slow to take on a real political position. Finding no real benefit in cooperating with the Japanese, they ended up fighting on the loosing side with their old oppressors. In Burma where ethnic tribesmen had been under the Christian churches for most of the colonial rule, fighting along side the British colonists was not one of their hard decisions to make. On the other hand, Cambodians who were resisting the French occupation since the early stage, were the last to take advantage of the Japanese invasion to fight for their freedom. The dilemma was not about the lack of will from the general people as more volunteers for fighting against colonial occupation had turned out in high numbers. The lack of sigh and planning in the leadership role failed the whole liberation movement. With the help of Japan, the Cambodian liberation front was formed under the leadership of a few Khmer intellectuals (Notes: The leadership of the Free Khmer). The organization was however too weak to stand on its own feet and succumbed under the French authority as soon as it was uncovered. When Japan lost the war, members that escaped the French persecution stayed underground to continue on the Free Khmer movement (Notes: The Khmer Issarak). At the mean time, Cinicized elite was well prepared and was found crucial in supporting the Japanese drive against the European colonists. Their cooperation allowed the Japanese authorities to drive out the French rule from Southeast Asia in just a short time. When France fell under the control of Germany in 1940, Japan was on the move to take control of Indochina. Under the control of the Axis alliance, the French Vichy regime of Marshal Philippe Petain was not in a position to oppose the Japanese oppressive demand. Once in control of Indochina, the Japanese authorities rewarded their suitors handsomely of the booties wrested from the French Colonial rule. To Bangkok, the return of the Battambang and Siem-Riep provinces back to Syam gave the new power elite under the leadership of Luang Phibunsongkhram a political boost that later rivaled the suzerainty of Bangkok's royal palace. To Hue, the bargain included South Vietnam as a whole into the control of King Bao Dai (Viet: The Vietnamese Deal with Two Masters: The Administrative Tangle). North Vietnam might have been handed over to him also if the Vietnamese communist front-line did not already held their claim over the French colonial headquarters at Hanoi. After the withdrawal of the French colonist, both the Free and Communist Vietnamese factions found through the Japanese intervention the prospect of laying claim to all French Indochina.
The Conflict of Nationality
Problematic unrest due to the activities of various nationalist movement brought by Chinese migrants into Southeast Asia became the next political turmoil that further plagued the native people 's fight for self-autonomy. Split among them were networked groups with tie to different political houses of China. In addition to anti-Japanese activists, Kuomingtang nationalist and communist associations were found widespread in coastal Chinese communities. Their political activity and open criticisms during the Japanese invasion alienated against other groups of Chinese migrants of no less dominant status. Among them were the Shan Chinese or Miao-Yao tribesmen whose presence in the northern part of the countries could date since the fall of Angkor by the Mongol incursion. Of mountainous background, the Miao-Yao communities mostly stayed isolated while their aristocratic members had moved to mix in with the Valley people that were composed mostly of Lao, Mon and to some extend Khmer people. Their legacies had been known since the settlement of King Ashoka' s direct descendants in promoting Buddhism in Indochina. Assimilated themselves into the Sri Vijayan line of kings they were very much considered as the contributing power to the early Indianization of Southeast Asia. Along with the Khmer court and the South Indian Cholan Empire, the next formation of the Angkorian Cakravatin Empire represented the last of the Meru Culture. During the Mongol' s incursion however, a new generation of Mien leadership came with Tartaric Tai-Yuan or Chinese Confucianist culture. Under the Mongolian control, they became the dominant figure of northern Siam communities and intruded their ways into the local Siam royal courts. Through intermarriage with the local authority, they made themselves as the new Siam aristocrats who through bribery made themselves as insiders of the Lao courts. It was then that the Tai nationality came into play in the politic of Southeast Asia. Along with Xiang-Mai and King Ngam Moung, Sokhodaya (Happy Thai) was formed as Muang Tai to become the cultural center of the Thai culture (Sokhodaya: The Tai Identity: The Tai Language and Scripture). Under the Burmese occupation, they were playing crucial part in the early attacks by Hamsavati on Ajudhya. By aligning with Bangkok, they were left to rule northern Siam as warlord kings. Since then the relationship of northern Siam with Bangkok was solidified under the initiative of king Taksin but became rocky during the reigns of later Cakri kings (The Kingdom of Siam: The Connection with Prey-Nokor: The Thonpuri' s Strategy). Late in the colonial rule, they were inducted into the Tai nationality through the new Thai Migration theory. In the promotion of the Tai nationality, scholars also linked the Thai language to the Tai-Kadaya of Central Asia and the Tai migration theory became since the sole explanation of the Thai Culture in Indochina, ignoring in the process the orphanage of Thai Language among other language in Indochina and the total abstinence of any trace of its foreign source. Mostly based on linguistic study, the theory included all northern Siam and Shan inhabitants as belonging to the same Tai ethnicity. Contradicting itself to the legacy of Khun Borom, the theory included Lao and the southern Siam communities in the same Thai race migrating south to supplant the Mon-Khmer tribesmen (Xiang-Mai: The nanChao' s connection: Khun Borom of Nan-chao). The Three Shan brothers whom we had argued were members of the Angkorian court had also been portrayed as of Tai ethnicity. This revelation from the scientific communities became a new blow to the Siamese court that apparently did not endorse the European finding. Claiming themselves as Siamese, the court of Bangkok was seen closely related to the Han Chinese communities of the south (Notes: Blood Relationship of the Siam royal House). With the finding that the Chinese communities of Bangkok and the royal palace itself did not have the same Tai ancestry, the Tai revolution targeted particularly the monarchy. Their anger went further when the Japanese propaganda machine accused the collaboration of the palace with the colonial rule to be as unpatriotic as other condolence to mischief Chinese activities in Bangkok. Capitalizing on the nationality' s conflict between the two Chinese camps, the Japanese troops made their entrance into Syam rather quick and settled themselves in the heart of the cities virtually with no resistance. The cooperation of Phibunsongkhram moreover allowed Japanese troops to use Syam for their next campaign. As they prepared to attack Burma they helped the Thai movement in setting up their political base against the monarchy.
THE BIRTH OF THAILAND
Among many ethnic Chinese migrants to settle in the south, the Han Chinese were the dominant group that exerted direct control on the court of Bangkok. Their presence in southern Siam dated back since the Ming Dynasty as part of Chinese mass migration along the seacoast of Southeast Asia. Of Yueh background, they came with their own political agenda and their close connection with their mother country. Their contribution to the early formation of Thonburi earned them the recognition from the royal palace and the free access to Siam politic ever since (The Kingdom of Siam: The formation of Thonpuri: The Reign of King Tak-sin). Needless to say, the new Cinicized system of Bangkok did not work for the whole Siam as a nation. Pertaining on the international seatrade, the economic opportunities stayed put at the south while the north was more and more isolated and left to its natural environment.
The Rise of Phibun Sangrama
For their own colonial drive, Bangkok also worked to strengthen its control over the Siam country. The Siam court found in westernization the right knowledge and methodology for colonialization. With the support of the west, Bangkok had already worked in dismantling feuldality of all their dependency, especially in Xiang-mai, Nokor Rajasima (the Khorat Plateau) and Sri Dharmaraja. Of its pro-westernized policy, Bangkok' court gradually replaced local warlord kings with its own delegates and absorbed these local dependencies into Siam (The Kingdom of Siam: The early colonial Work: The Strategy over its Dependency). With feudality out off the way, Bangkok was building up a central government that exerted its power through a strong military army. At the same time, the Siam court took the advice of European colonists to eliminate the last of the Angkorian feudal system that was cropping underneath the lower level Siamese administration and had been long challenging Bangkok' s total authority (Thai: Mongkut and Chulalongkorn: Siam in 1910:P P.212-215). As the relationship with petty royal houses of northern Siam became more and more strained, the westernization was Bangkok' s last hope to quiet down their resistance. The consolidation of the Siam feudalities into a nation was then seen as a crucial solution to bring northern Siam countries under Bangkok' s control (The Westernisation: The Impact on Southeast Asia: The Birth of new Nations). To achieve that, a military built up was the next primary concern of the court of Siam. Starting from the reign of king Cholalongkorn (Rama V, 1868-1910), Bangkok had committed itself to increase its military expedenture. Through her well-publicized book "Ana and the King", the English tutor described her own perception about the transformation of Bangkok into a sarellite of the British India. It portrays an abrupt change that gave Bangkok a new British image of governmental system under a strong military regime led by the king. Traditional Culture that was inherited from the Ayudhyan court was mostly lost as the new generation of westernized court members brought Bangkok and subsequently the whole Siam country into the modern world. Following the lost of the northeastern territory to France, the next king Vajiravudh continued on strengthening the Siamese national defense. With the British support, Bangkok built its army to pair up with the colonial French army. Nevertheless, the king had committed a serious political mistake concerning the northern Siam countries. The building of a strong army means a threat to their independence. In a twist of fate, the military built-up did not only fail to consolidate northern Siam but also jeopardized the safeguarding the court of Bangkok as well. During the World War II, local uprising curbed the control of Bangkok and the whole Siam country was ready for a change. It was from the army recruits of the national defense that the next political opponents, most were from the north, emerged to challenge the court of Bangkok' s authority. After a series of military coups, the power of the Siam court eroded and the Palace' s forceful withdrawal from politic changed the situation of the Siam country for good. Phibun Samgram succeeded to legitimize his own government system through the western concept of the Tai state. To make way for the Tai Nation, he later changed the name of the country as Thailand. For other feudal communities in isolation including the Lao, Karen, the Khmer and the Mon who still retained their ethnic tradition, he changed their past historical background to fit the new development. In the new history of Thailand, the Tai people had migrated from China and had completely displaced the natives from Siam. The minority ethnic people who are still living in Thailand now are being identified as migrants from neighboring nations during later time. By then, Phibun had already been in contact with the Japanese troops making its way to take control of the French Indochina from both the French colonist and fascist groups. His fight for gaining back the Khmer provinces of Battambang and Siem Reap were done mostly in conjunction to the Japanese invasion of the French Indochina. In later Siam history book, the advent of Japanese interference in the Siam-French conflict was omitted. In December 1941, when the Japanese troops invaded Thailand, Phibun ordered all resistance to stop. Needless to say, the government of Phibum continued on catering the Japanese troops during the rest of their stay in Thailand. As we shall see, Phibun' rise to power was not a coincidence, but was actually the effect of many circumstances resulted from the chaos of the world politic.
The Decline of the Monarchy
With the French colonial rule taking hold of Laos, Bangkok basically lost all its control over the northern Siam country. To counter balance with the French incursion, King Mongkot approached England for protection. Taking control of Burma, British colonists had extensively recruited its army' s troops from the Mien migrants and could use their influence to settle down Mien' s unrest in northern Siam country. To further strengthen Bangkok' s position against France, the next king Cholalongkorn followed the British advice and started on Siam' s military built up. Since the situation was more critical for the protection of northern part of Siam in particular, he had recruited young Tai advocate from all over the Siam countries to take part of the national Siam army. After succeeding his father, King Vajiravudh (Rama VI, 1910-1925) soon started to see the mistake of his father' s policy. In his essay called " The Jews of the East", in which he related Shan Chinese or Mien to the eastern Jew, he brought out the danger of the Mien dominance in the north as a national crisis. His new finding by all means alienated against the core of the Tai communities of northern Siam country who saw the king distancing himself more and more from them. Their first reaction started when King Vajiravudh was working on building his own army, the wild Tiger Corps to become the royal court' s army in total separation from the national defense. Among his recruits were members of the new generation of Chinese southern migrants that became by now powerful elite of Bangkok. The King' s action was by all mean driven by his newfound insight about the Siamese nationalism as a whole that had been impacted by the Tai communities of the north. In his essay, the king stressed on Mien' s monopoly and urged Siamese to take on more active role on northern Siam' economy (Thai: The rise of the Elite Nationalism: King Vajiravudh and the Thai Nation: P. 229). His comment was a direct response to the emergence of the strong Tai nationalist under the influence of aristocratic Shan Chinese whose infiltration in Northern Siam countries had transformed this part of Indochina as the Mien Country. Nevertheless, his attempt to pull northern Siam from the Tai aristocracy back under the control of Bangkok undermined the hard core of the Tai movement that received strong support from the new generation of army officers who happened to be of Tai affiliated background. A plot against the palace was then launched but was foiled with a large number of its core members being arrested. The coup was organized by the classmate of the 1909' s army academy joining themselves to plot against the king. That would not deter the will of the new Tai nationalism. As we shall see, more unrest continued that led to the emergence of stronger and stronger subversion against the monarchy (Thai: The rise of Elite Nationalism: P. 238). During the next reign of King Prajadhipok (Rama VII, 1925-1935) who was handpicked by King Vajiravudh from one among many of his stepbrothers, the palace lost the fight. In the name of the Tai race, the military coup in 1932 succeeded and changed the politic of Bangkok for good. Among the leaders of the coup, were Pridi Phanomyong who worked in the ministry of Justice on codification law and taught at the Cholalongkorn University and Plaek Khittasankha who later emerged as a major of the army general staff with the title of Phibunsangram. With the support of the new colonist want-to-be Japan, the Siamese traditional past was to be dismantled in preparing Siam as a new Japanese ally. King Prajadhipok initially accepted the change, granting the Constitution but later abdicated from his position due to conflicts within the government. Upon his abdication, King Prajadhipok said that the duty of a ruler was to reign for the good of the whole people, not for a selected few. The revolutionary government resolved the court' s crises by installing the last king' s ten-year old nephew, Ananda Mahidol as the new monarch. Within a decade Thai politics ran into turmoil as the revolutionary temperaments plunged into factions of both military and civilian membership. Fear of communism, extreme revolutionary ideas and ultra-nationalism caused the sharp fighting among the new ruling elite. Eventually the military faction emerged to dominate the rest of government in taking hold of the national affair. The new regime became authoritarian under the Prime Minister Plaek Phibunsongkhram who was a member of the Revolutionary military wing. His regime was also famous in promoting the'Pan-Thaism', the ultra-nationalist policy aiming at unifying Thai-speaking people nearby into a Tai nation. Moreover, in 1941, Phibun regime decided to ally with Japan. The young King Ananda Mahidol (Rama VIII) died in 1946 under somewhat mysterious circumstances, the official explanation being that he shot himself by accident while cleaning his gun. He was succeeded by his brother Bhumibol Adulyadej who was better known of his longest reign in Siam.
Siam became Thailand
Born in the northern Siam country, Phibun' s tie to the Tai nationalism might have been through his father' s ancestry. He was quoted to be a mixture of Lao from his mother side and of Chinese (more precisely Shan Chinese or Mien) from his father side. Typical of the northern Siam country, the mixture constituted the majority of the new Thai-speaking people. Long time oppressed by Ayudhya and Bangkok, the Northern Siam country was politically underrepresented as compared to its southern richer Siam country. In conjunction with the Han Chinese communities of Bangkok, the southern economy was more connected to the seatrade ran mostly by new migrants from China. The plot had given Phibun the opportunities to lift the Thai speaking people of northern Siam community back to the time of Sokhodaya supremacy. With Phibun as the head of the government, the prevailing theme was the intensified Tai nationalism. In economy, the new Tai government tried to revert colonial practices and, to some extend replaced it with a new Japanese style of economic models. Pridi' s new revenue code, passed in March 1939 was apparent to remove previous privileged for colonial enterprise. Much heavier taxation was levied on commercial class, represented mainly by the Chinese and partly by European firms. It was followed by stringent regulations to check Chinese immigration and reserve for Siamese nationals a number of occupations previously monopolized by Chinese. The government went so far as to close hundreds of Chinese schools, suppress Chinese newspapers, deports of opium addicted and arrest leaders of the Chinese community. The reason given was that the terrorist activities of the Chinese secret societies constituted a menace to public order. European interests were also hit directly or indirectly by the new measures. Leases for the teak industry, which was under British management, were renewed with less favorable terms. An attempt was made to take over local shipping by buying vessels to be operated by a state company and by legislation that requires 70% of Siamese ownership and 75% Siamese crew of the vessel. Another interesting manifestations of the new chauvinism were the change in the official name for the country from Siam to Thailand in June 1939. The new elite was always proudly referred to their country as Muang Tai and decreed foreigners to use the same name (Notes: The Land of the Free). To establish the Tai nation, Phibun exercised harsh treatment on both officials and population. The palace was the most affected as Phibun was on the odyssey to westernize Siam according to Japanese initiative. To Phibun, the Japanese transformation from a small feudal kigdom to a most powerful state of Southeast Asia served as a role model for Siam to follow. Phibun then started the campaign of replacing Siamese traditional style with European manners. Among the changes was the adoption of the New Year day' s on January 1 of the western solar calendar, instead of the traditional Sangran festival' s day in April. Chewing betel nuts were then discouraged and were disposed to stop. Traditional clothes and attires were replaced also by westernized styled of clothing. All schools had to adopt the curricula; textbooks and examination were administered closely by the minister of education. State subsidies were given to private Siamese firms of Tai affinity. Technical, commercial and agricultural schools were founded, and many Siamese students were sent abroad for technical training. Through westernization, Phibun saw Thailand as potentially no less glorious than Japan. On the verge of the Japanese invasion, Phibun prepared Thailand for the Japanese control and as a collaborator, he made himself and Thailand as the beneficiary of the fascist regime. Under the Japanese initiative, it became the base of Vietnamse, Lao, Cambodia and Burmese nationalists against colonial rules. Betting on fascist power, Phibun took on the leading role of colonial fight. In early January 1941, Thailand invaded French Indochina that marked the beginning the French-Thai War. The Thais, well equipped and slightly outnumbering the French forces, easily reclaimed Laos. Nevertheless, the French decisively won the naval Battle of Koh Chang with its still strong navy force. The Japanese mediated the conflict, and a general armistice was declared on 28 January. A peace treaty that was signed in Tokyo forced the French colonists to relinquishing their hold on the disputed territories, including the provinces of Battambang and Siemreap. When the Japanese troops moved into Thailand, Phibun government secured the Japanese with the transit right and necessary support. In return, the Japanese rewarded Thailand with more territory controls in Laos, northern MalaYa, and the Shan country of Burma.
THE BIRTH OF INDOCHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY
Until the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933-1945), the American policy was based on a total withdrawal from the war. The invasion of Japanese troops in Southeast Asia however weakens the colonial establishment of the European allies and subsequently strengthened the Axis regime. After the attack on Harbor and the fall of the French Indochina into the control of Japan, the American president started to have serious concern about the outcome of the war, In the effort to stop the drive of the Japanese troops in the Pacific ream, he was eager to use any mean possible to procure American security. After Bangkok fell into his side, all he needed to do was to find similar solution to rid off the Japanese presence in the French Indochina.
The Grand Alliance
Under the Grand Alliance directive, Franklin D. Roosevelt was willing to cooperate with any fighting factions that seamed fit to resist the Japanese fascist regime. His approach became since the backbone of American policy during the Cold War. Under threat, America was willing to work with any organization, regardless of its political and moral standing, as long it is not dealing directly with the target enemy at the time and get the job done. At first, he approached the Comingtang party of China to take on the mission. On the verge of falling under communism themselves, the Comingtang rejected the American proposition. The American president had no other choice than to look on Vietnamese collaborators to carry on the project. Ho Chi Minh took on the job even though the payment was rather small while other leaders of the Viet nationalist party were not interested in the deal. Ho knew that the mission was his only chance to revise his career plan. For now Ho could not care less about the payment; it was the opportunity that he was looking for. Being let down by the Cominhtang, the American proposition provided him with opportunity to restore back his credibility. To fight against the fascist regime, he had the green light from the alliance to resuscitate back his own guerrilla fighting groups across Southeast Asia. They were no other than the freedom fighters formed earlier to fight off the European colonial rule. His focus point was particularly set on the French Indochina where both the Japanese and French fascist regimes were taking hold. It took no time for him to gather back the scattered Remnant of the Indochinese Communist Party in French Indochina and transformed them into communist fighters, As during this late stage, Japanese troops already took Bangkok under its control, Ho was allowed to extend his campaign into Thailand. It turned out that the fight against Japanese fascist regime was not much he could do after the American government declared war with Japan. What Ho had to do was to wait patiently for the World War II to conclude itself. He knew that the Japanese defeat was near after the dropping of the first Bomb atomic in Hiroshima. At the mean time, he spent most of his time and effort to carry on his own project. Having implanting agents all over the French Indochina, Ho prepared the terrain for the next turn of event. When the World War II was winding down, he had already transformed the French Indochina into becoming the fighting zone against the French colonial rule. Thanks to the Grand Alliance initiative, the Vietminh was now in a position to drive France out from Indochina. From Vietnamese source, the Vietminh took full control of the French Cochinchina by completing the conversion of Viet peasants into communist fighters as early as in 1950 (Viet: America' s Mandarin: P. 344). The gaining of poor peasants support was particularly critical to face off the French return in the attempt to restore back the French Indochina. After the World War II ended, the Vietminh had already set itself on top of to game to face the French return.
When the cold war started, the Vietminh wasted no time to force the alliance with communism. By doing so, Ho betrayed the American government of his original commitment. Despite repetitive attempt by America to persuade him of distancing himself from the Soviet Union, Ho used his new credential to build closer connection with the Comintern. Like the ICP had stated in their resolution, he knew that the colonial rule would end and when that happened he was well prepared to take advantage of it. With the support of the rising communist world power, the Vietminh would be in a position to claim the whole of French Indochina for itself. The fight against the return of France was moreover made easier with the interference of American new policy in Southeast Asian politic. Even though France still claimed the control of the Indochinese union and that foreign intervention was not appreciated, France undeniably needed help to fight against the Vietminh. Nevertheless, France would find itself virtually with no support from the free world in fighting against the Vietminh. As to the American alliance, America was already preparing itself to take over the control of Southeast Asia from both Britain and France. Having expressing dissatisfaction with the French performance as a colonial power over the French Indochina, America was eager to take over the protectorate role from France on its own account. Under the Presidency of Dwight Eisenhower, America had already prepared itself to subsidize the French colonial war against the Vietminh. In its own fight against the Vietminh, we shall see that America proved itself to be no better than France.
The Birth of Vietminh
In his petition to gain acceptance of the Comintern, Ho Chi Minh presented Vietnam as one of the most revolutionary nation of the world and its people as the most abused by imperial powers in the history of humankind. In his manifesto, Ho portrayed the Vietnamese people as the best among the peasants and the working class to stand up fighting for their own right. If the claim sounds too good to be true, it nevertheless made sense according to the Leninist doctrine. Nevertheless, we shall argued that many historical facts were found to be fabricated to fit the new Vietminh' s agenda in the so-called reunification of the whole Vietnamese state. Starting from the Mongol incursion down to the French colonial rule, the Vietnamese peasants had nothing to fight for. For the most part, they were not natives of the French Cochinchina and did not really own the land. As we had argued, the real fighting in the past was done by the Nguyen Dynasty who started their venture at the expense of Champapura and Cambodia. On top of that, the southern move had never been completed if the French colonial rule had not been establishing over Southeast Asia. Along side the formation of the French Indochina, the French Colonists conditioned the French Cochinchina into becoming a southern part of Vietnam. To benefit themselves, the French colonists sold short native lands and resources to the high bid offered by Chinese aristocrats or wealthy Viet settlers who were among the few to can afford the land ownership. The Viet migrants were needed as laborers working for the Chinese landowners or in some cases were producing crops on rental land. In the colonial setting, they played part of the oppressing role along with the Viet aristocracy on the native Cambodian and Cham peasants. Knowing it or not, Stalin and his European allies saw the Vietnamese cause as not worthy of their immediate attention. Of all his effort, Ho was denied any opportunity other than working as a spy for them. To start on communism in Southeast Asia, they assigned him to form the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) on the ground of the native communities who were actually the real peasants of their land. After the fall of the ICP, it appeared that Ho lost all connection with the Comintern and had to work as a free agent again while looking for another opportunity to restart his own communist agenda. Taking on big or small assignments that came to his disposition, he procured himself specialized skills that were proved to be crucial for his next move. His works that were concerning spying and building communist parties in Southeast Asia, might not fulfill his ambition (about the Indocinese states under Vietnam) at the moment but shall suit him well in the long run. For instance, the work for the Comingtang that landed him in the Chinese Jail after it was foiled by the Chinese communist party of Mao Tse Tong got him deeper insight on the up coming upcoming dynamic of the World War II. The ordeal gave him a valuable knowledge to deal with the Japanese fascist regime that was already on its way to take control of Southeast Asia. In the time that France shows no sign of letting go its colony, Japan stepped into the Southeast Asian history and by dismantling the French control over Indochina, left the French colony into the hand of the Vietnamese nationalists. It was Japan that helped King Kao Dai, the last members of the Nguyen dysnaty to take over the French Cochinchina and after forming South Vietnam, declared the whole Vietnam independent from France. By the time that Ho Chi Minh ' s career was finished with the Comintern, another opportunity came by to change the dynamic of the Southeast Asian politic for good. The turning point of the World War II in 1942-43 and the formation of the Communist Party of China with Mao Tse Tong as the Chairman in 1943 provided the Viet Nationalist with opportunity to reform itself at the Yunnan province. In its reform, the party included many revolutionary figures freed from Chinese detention due to their earlier activities in Southern China. Among them was Ho Chi Minh who was still virtually unknown to the Viet nationalist communities, but already a capable member of the International Communist Party. The project that was initiated by the American president Franklin D. Roosevelt allowed Ho to regroup the scattered ICP members and transformed them into guerrilla' s fighters under the control of the Vietminh. Ho Chi Minh got the job because with little budgeting, the plan failed to generate interest among other Viet nationalists. They soon realized their mistake as Ho used it to propel his own nationalist goal. In accord with the Grand Alliance' s goal, he was able to carry on his communist agenda while working on the American cause. Added into his good fortune, the Japanese withdrawal from Southeast Asia averted him from the promised work to the American president. Originally set to fight against the Japanese advancement in the pacific region, the project ended up preparing the Vietminh to fight off the French colonial return to Indochina. After liberating itself from the Vichy regime, France challenged the authority of America by claiming back their Southeast Asian colonies left into the Japanese hand during the war. By then, Ho was able to channel his work for the American cause into the next freedom fight for Vietnam' s independence.
Pridi Phanomyong and the Pact with the Communist Bloc
Pridi Phanomyong emerged among young advocate for the change of Siam, almost at the same time as PhibunSangkram. Unlike Phibun whose primary goal was to make the change through the intereference of Japan by military mean, Pridi was working on Siam political change through the constitution. In the military coup in 1932, both were crucial in persuading the reigning king Prajadhipok to step down and allowed the young military recruits to start on their new political career. Many observers attributed the king' s abdication in March 1935 to his ten-year-old son as a personal weakness that allowed the military strongman Phibunsangkram to rise and to take the rein of the country politic. Others saw that the king' s action was nevertheless dictated by circumstances rather by personal decision. Having leant to European powers during the time of peace, the World War II took the Siamese in a total surprise. As the war was winding down, Phibun' s bet on Japanese supremacy ended when Japan was losing its éclat and subsequently the war in 1944. It appeared that all his dream went into smoke and his Tai campaigning project also went under water. When the Tojo government in Japan resigned in July 1944, it all came out clears that Japan would loose the war. Under Pridi as the head of the government, Thailand became back as the Siam country. In foreign affair Siam had to work out with the allies to recompense for war casualties inflicted by Phibun' s policy. In a rush against time, Pridi tried to revert what had been done for Japan. A delegate to America, bringing along a declaration of war against washington, stopped short from deliver it to the American government. The delegate was sent immediately following the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor in response to the American president Franklin D Roosevelt declaration of war with Japan. It had been immediately converted into a Free Thai underground and sent back to start the resistance against the remaining Japanese troops in Thailand. In a convenient accommodation, its headquarters was set in Pridi' s office in the heart of the government. As we shall see, the American president would not care about the long-term effect of Bangkok' s flip-flop policy. In a similar move, he had also commissioned the Vietminh to start on organizing resistance against the Japanese fascist regime in Southeast Asia. It is important to note that until the end of the World War II, America still consider the Soviet Union as an ally to fight against the Axis alliance. The use of the communist Vietminh in the fight against Japan was not against the American policy of the time. It turned out that both organizations had little impact on the withdrawal of the Japanese troops from Southeast Asia. As we shall see, the Japanese defeat was mostly due to the direct attack from America rather than from the Southeast Asian resistance. At the contrary, we shall see the American initiative had induced adverse effect on the future of communist infiltration in Southeast Asia. Of socialist background, Pridi took the advantage of the underground movement to work out a plan along side the Indochinese communist party. On his own term, Phibun had also proposed to the Thai congress a plan to move his government' s headquarters to Petchabun. He asserted later that it was his well thought strategy to drive off the Japanese troops from Thailand. The rugged mountainous region would facilitate the uprising against the Japanese occupation. The congress however voted against it, for apparently the fight against the Japanese was seen as unnecessary. With the actual turn of event, the Japanese defeat was just a matter of time. All they concerned about now was the return of the colonial rule of which Bangkok' s betrayal had caused a considerable lost of benefit. After the surrender of the Japanese troops in Southeast Asia, the European colonists came back a full force to claim what they had left before the war started. To punish Bangkok, Britain commanded a big recompensation package from Thailand that America had to interfere. In the proposal, Britain wanted to include a possible invasion of the country itself. Taking Bangkok under its control was always been Britain' s option in the history of Southeast Asian colonial rule. France on the other hand, requested back no less territory lost than the retrocession of the territory yielded by the Vichy regime in 1941. Once again the United States intervened but agreed that both Battambang and Siemreap provinces were handed back to Cambodia. For further retaliation, both the French and Brittish authorities had pressed for Phibun' s punishment. Even though he had pull himself out from politic and stayed in the background, Phibun was arrested to be trialed as a war criminal. As we shall see this development was also reversed through American intervention during the Cold War. Through interference against the two past colonial rulers, America ended up becoming Bangkok' s unofficial protectorate.
THE COLD WAR
The World War II concluded itself with the lost of the Nazi to the European allies. The end of the war allowed the European Countries to resuscitate back their colonial enterprises. Setbacks however forced them to review back their policy to face mounting opposition. In Southeast Asia, nationalist movements that were formed during the Japanese occupation stayed after Japanese troops retreated back home. Even though their armies were not as sophisticate as the colonial armies were, their collective resistance was then enough to discourage the hard core of colonial organization to restore theirs venture. The French' s defeat at Dien-Bien-Phu furthermore ended the colonial era in Southeast Asia while a new order was conceived and along the way, the Cold War made its debut to bring the world a new breach of conflicts.
The End of the World War II
After securing the French Indochina under their control, the Japanese troops quickly passed through Thailand without any incidences. Continuing into Burma, the real battle began. As in Indochina, the Japanese already prepared the terrain of the conquered territory before they moved in. Through a new organization formed by a radical student named Aung San, the Japanese made a final preparation for the invasion. In 1940, the high members of the Takhin Party were invited to Japan in the final preparation so that during the invasion, the Japanese troops would have fewer problems to face the British resistance. However, an unexpected event changed the situation completely for the fascist Japanese troops. The subsequent raid of the Japanese airplanes over Pearl Harbor in 1941 changed the whole American policy. Alarmed by the total destruction inflicted by the raid, the American president declared war with Japan and joint the European allies to fight off the fascist regime. By joining force with the European alliance, the American military force turned around the course of the war in favor of the European alliance. At the late stage of the War, the allies forced Germany and its Axis alliance to retreat from all fronts. While Germany was loosing ground in Europe, the Japanese troops found themselves fighting for the loosing side. In Burma, the situation was worsening as the front line of Japanese army was heavily defeated by the British allies. To make the matter worst, the Americans landed their troops in Okinawa on the Japanese Liuchiu Islands. Facing with repeated attacks, the Japanese defense was succumbing. Hoping for the turn around of its Axis alliance' s campaign in Europe, Japan took on the last despaired measures to keep the situation afloat. The suicide missions of the Kamikaze pilots prevented the American fleet from gaining any ground and delayed the take over of Okinawa. Tokyo stood firm even though the drop of the first bomb atomic caused a wide scale of destruction at Hiroshima. Only after the drop of the second bomb at Nagasaki that Japan finally decided to surrender after receiving the new that Berlin was overran by the European allies. With The Japanese troops out of the way, Britain and France made their return to Southeast Asia. They were soon facing with their collaborators turned into freedom fighters. Weaken by the wars, both colonists were not in the position to face serious resistance. Trough war torn destruction, other European nations were no longer vigorous and abandoned altogether their colonial drive (The End Time: The Apocalypse: The Third Reich). Under a new wave of rationalization, they lost most of their aggressive drive. Furthermore, the return of the colonists to their former colonies was more and more seen in Europe as bad omen to their countries. As antiwar sentiment was emerging from all stratum of the European societies, colonial wars were no longer the option. The finding might have been causing the next change of policy of all colonial powers in regard to their colonies. After the abandonment of Britain and the United States of their territorial rights over China, other European colonists who possessed the same right also followed suit. While the American gradually freed the Philippines and transformed it into becoming an American ally, England also followed the same policy with India. In Burma where natives took the side of the British Empire against Japanese troops, recognition of native states came immediately after the war was over. In forming the Union of Burma, the British policy was in a sense trying to restore the political setting prior to the colony that guaranteed the autonomy of the native states. In Rangoon where immigrants diluted the natives, England' s proposal was immediately turned down. The Dilemma was that the Takhin Party wanted all along a full independence to take control of the whole Burma for itself. Presiding over other quasi-independent native states was not in the party guideline. When the new party leader Aung San worked toward a compromise, he was assassinated and the party fell into the hands of radical leadership. The fact that England failed to form a coalition of local government to take care of the Union, but instead delegated Burma to the sole control of the Thakin Party was by a large the root cause of Burma' s later crisis. Like the British India, France also prepared its French Indochina into becoming a French Union of Indochinese states. The formation of the French Union promised more suzerainty to both Cambodia and Laos from the French Indochina. In this new alliance, the French government had built itself closer relationship with both native countries than during their colonial start-up. Unfortunately, France failed to revert back the French Cochinchina into its natural settings. As most isolated mountainous tribesmen were still retaining their autonomy, the Khmer communities of Camboja krom were treated as Vietnamese of ethnic Khmer. This was because the French colonists wanted to retain full control of the Mekong Delta' s fertile land for themselves. The situation was moreover complicated with the presence of the Vietnamese communist party who had nurtured the same ambition for the whole Indochina. In a similar move of the Takhin party, the Vietminh also wanted the same resolution from France.
The End of the Colonial Era
After the World War II, a new era of self-determination took hold of the world. Led by America, democracy was in the rise and Europeans were particularly enthusiastic to end the tyranny of their old imperialism. Among the most affected by the outcome, career colonialists found out that their era was coming to a close. Through suffering under war torn destruction, European nationalists became more realistic of the war' s expectation. French people, in particular, lost most of their napoleonic arrogance and became more critical of the old colonial regime. As public opinion became more and more crucial in the election' s outcome, the elected leadership of the countries started to cater to the population. Outside of Europe, the colonies were fighting for their freedom while the colonists looked for ways to outmaneuver their campaign. During their absences, Cambodia under King Sihanouk, Lao under King Suvannaphuma and Vietnam under King Kao-dai all declared their independence. During the high of the World War II, France was invaded by Germany. Under General de Gaulle' s leadership, the French army fought with the coalition forces to free Europe from the Hitler' s fascist regime. France used Indochinese soldiers to fight Germany while Indochina was left under the Japanese occupation. When America under the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1932-1948) joined the World War II and started its own incursion in the politic of Southeast Asia, it appeared that the colonial era was over. Driving the Japanese troops out, America allowed the occupied countries to be free at the condition that they stayed in the alliance with America. After the liberation, France started on rebuilding itself but showed no sign of letting go its colonies. Britain also started on claiming back their colonies. Nevertheless, they were far wiser this time. Pressured by the change of the world opinion about the evil of colonization and their own experiences under the fascist rule, they adopted a more liberal policy toward the colonies. Following the American model of alliance, the notion of Union was issued by both the French and British government. The formation of the French Union, by all mean, allowed its member to be free at the condition that they remained faithful to the French alliance. Likewise, the formation of the British Union, by all means, allowed its member to be free at the condition that they remained faithful to the British alliance. Under these conditions, it appeared that humanity could solve its own colonial problem through a newfound rationality. The Cold War however changed the whole process and by launching a New World Order (or a New World Conflict), added more complication to the natural evolution. To start, America under the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1948-1969) soon changed its foreign policy in regard to its new alliance. One of many more added-on conditions is the accommodation of the American military bases on its own territory. By letting the American troops stayed, the allies became part of the Southeast Asian organization protected by the free world. At the same time, the French and British colonists were back to their old colonies to restart their own ventures. Following the American New policy, a new form of alliance was conceived to allow old colonies to receive protection by taking side with a military superpower. On the front side, the proposition appears promising as the alliance was promoting a common wealth of its members. On the flip side, it still retained American or European authority in disguise as the head of the Union to maintain all their privileges in controlling the whole affair of the Union. In that situation, the conversion back to colonization was a matter of political changing game. While the proposition appeared to gain acceptance from the natives, it was flatly rejected by the new-formed nationalist movements who understood that the proposition would keep them out from realizing their own ambition. In Burma, the fight with the Takhin Party started as soon as Britain' s proposal was rejected. With only the support of indigenous tribesmen, Britain soon lost the fight for the Union of Burma. In Thailand where substantial investment was made, British lost its claim in dealing with the rising government ran by Pridi Phanomyong. At the same time, France also proposed to change the French Indochina into a French Union of Indochinese states. They gave Cambodia, Lao and Vietnam suzerainty and internal freedoms at the condition that they stayed subordinated to France. The proposition was however rejected by the Vietminh. Being the last of the Nguyen dynasty, King Bao Dai apparently knew about the dynamic of the Yin-yang energy more than the new French government did. In a letter addressed to the French court, he warned the latter not to fight the Vietminh for it would face a certain defeat. Still, France went on for the final campaign to free Tongkin from the Vietminh. Underestimating the commitment of the Commintern toward the latter, the French army found out too late that their solo campaign against the new communist block was in fact suicidal. After the Geneva accords were concluded, French troops had to move out from Indochina altogether after Cambodia Laos were granted full independance and king Bao-Dai' s court of Hue withdrew his colonial support.
The International Treaties and Pacts
As the fight for the world' s resources aggravated, the human specie set itself into a tall spin of self-destruction. Amid their fighting, pacts and alliances were formed to protect each party' s interest. Intergovernmental organization were formed basically for leveraging collective defense, in which each member state agreed to join the coalition of force in response to an outsider' s attack. On that premise, the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 was mostly seen as the cause of the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in a response to the apparent threat of the Communist bloc. The organization was formed in 1951 by selected countries of the Free World as a consolidated command infrastructure under the leadership of the American president Dwight D. Eisenhower(1953-1961). Its headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the original member states across North America and Europe. NATO was well known of its military spending that surpassed all other world organizations in combined defense spending. Following the successful formation of NATO, the communist bloc also worked on their consolidation. The Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation, and Mutual Assistance that was more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was formed supposedly to be the communist counter-balance of the NATO pact. It was a mutual defense treaty that was joined originally by eight members of the communist States of Central and Eastern Europe in existence after the World War II. The founding treaty was established under the initiative of the Soviet Union and signed on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw. In a close look, the two military treaties were nothing more than a complementary package to the economic pacts created by the two blocs to control international trading. For instance, the Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CoMEcon), the regional economic organization for the communist States of Central and Eastern Europe. The Warsaw Pact was in part a Soviet military reaction to the integration of West Germany into NATO in 1955, per the Paris Pacts of 1954 but was primarily motivated by Soviet desires to maintain control over military forces in Eastern Europe. Like the CoMEcon, economic and political treaties that strengthen the Free World had been signed by its members. The result was the spitting of the world into two blocks seemingly fighting each other under a warlike phenomenon known as the Cold War. Even though the treaties were conceived to provide protection to its members in regard to the new emerging wars, such risks had been minimized through mutual agreement of each pact' s members. They nevertheless created an hostile environment that jeopardized the safety and welfare of the rest of the countries of the world that was not part of their alliance. Kept out of the pacts either voluntarily or involuntarily, they were known as the Third World' s countries. Subjected to be abuse by both camps, their government had to pay high prices for protection against actual attack, either by a member of other pact or just by an opposition party. Their surviving chances depended on how much they were willing to pay for the military superpowers that created lucrative international business opportunity, second only to the colonization. To benefit from the new market, both camps had come up with their own game plan to conduct the whole affair of the Third World Business. In a hierarchy setting, each block shared the benefit through a top down pyramid scheme. A unilateral rule set each pact to support the leading nation as the top gun and consequently the top earner of the union while the rest of its members took on the subordinating or collaborating roles. Needless to say, the distribution of wealth created rivalry in the organization since the early start. In the free world, the absence of a rival of equal strength kept America as the leader of the Free World Organization. Nevertheless, NATO' s unity was breached since its early history with the protest from France during Charles de Gaulle' s presidency. De Gaulle objected the United States' unilateral role in the organization and the special supporting role of the United Kingdom from the beginning. In a memorandum sent to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan on 17 September 1958, he argued for the creation of a tripartite directorate that would put France on an equal footing with the US and the UK. However, France' s objection died down after a series of events that shifted the French influence in the world and Southeast Asian politic into the hand of the United States for good. The lost of the battle of Dien Bien Phu, for instance, took away French credibility of the Southeast Asian affair and forced France to stay behind the scene. With England as a strong supporter, America' s position in the Free World never been challenged ever since.
THE SECOND INDOCHINESE WAR
Under capitalism, war became one of the commodities for corporal profit ever made by military industry (Notes: Profit vs Justice). Both the Free and the Communist camps were willing to compromise world peace by promoting the arm-race. Behind the thick curtain of political maneuvers, International conflicts were promoted to create market opportunity for the military industries of both sides. Trouble spots were made available to propell local wars in the prospect of marketing military products. Since the Cold War, Indochina became such a potential battle ground due mostly to its past legacy connected to the colonial rule. Beneath the surface, Noth Vietnam was watching anxiously for the opportunity to start a war of its own to secure its position to exploit the trouble region.
The American or the Vietnam War?
In the new constrain of space and time, Southeast Asia became again the fighting ground for International conflict. Just got out of the colonial era, Cambodia and Laos became entangled in a new war imposed on them by the Cold War. As we shall argued, they were the victims of the New World order set by the western world in their drive to control the whole world. In the new arrangement, both the colonial powers and collaborators were set to benefit from the war while the International community is powerless (or careless) against the outcome of the new conflict. To start on a new war, America did not need to look far for a suitable contender. The Geneva Convention set North Vietnam free with all their military capability to destabilize to whole of the region. After the victory against France for the fight of independance, the Vietminh were at the hight of its self-esteem and already had its own agenda. Using the same mean and setup that suited them well during the first Indochinese War, they took the American odyssey as another opportunity to launch the second Indochinese war. As they had done before, they dragged along the Pathet Lao and the Khmer Issarack to fight on their side. With China on their back, Ho' s immediate target was the French colony of Cochinchina where, through many centuries of Vietnamization under the colonial rule, became politically known as South Vietnam. Again, the Yin-Yang cosmogony would play a big part in his new plan. Having been nurturing imperialism from the Han era, China saw in communism an ideology that fits perfectly into its own expansionist policy. Unlike Russia that was formed through the union of states by the communist pact, China used the communist flag to extend its frontier into neighboring states. It was also the same strategy that Ho Chi Minh had envisioned for Vietnam in regard to its southern neightbors as well (Notes: Relationship between the Vietminh and China). To his benefit, the Cold War came with a new way of intruding into each national politic. By now, the CIA and the KGB and later the Chinese Spy ring were already famous for their political intrusion of the third world countries. As he himself had extensive experience with the new spying warfare, Ho' s political carreer excelled and was going to become the cornerstone of the Southeast Asian Communist Party. With the support of the Comintern, the French Indochina was set to become the next communist state under the Vietminh ambitious control. At the same time, America saw from the beginning that the French Indochina was a strategic location in the fight against communism. With the emergence of the communist state of China, the lost of Southeast Asia to communism was a matter of time. While America justified its war on fighting Communism, Ho-Chi-Minh took the opportunity to bring the Cold War home. To benefite from it he needed to transforme it into the hot war of Vietnam where Cambodia and Laos became their possible target for the take over. With good preparation, he secretly formed the Vietcong and supplied the organization through the Ho-Chi-Minh' s trail. Built accross Laos and Cambodia, the trail became later the smoking gun for America in implicating the two countries of breaking their neutrality. Like the Vietminh who saw the two countries becoming part of the Indochinese communist under its control, America wanted the two countries closely under Thailand's watch as part of SEATO's pact. In fact, it was not neutrality that the two camps wanted them to adher to, but a complicity to the next destructive war that benefited either one of the two war monger neighboring nations. In a world where only tiger and crocdile thrived through the natural selection process, the life and death of a small hare does not matter. While the Vietminh secretly broke the Geneva accords in developping the Vitcong, America started harassing the two neutral countries of not joining SEATO. For Ho Chi Minh, the two countries' s refusal to join SEATO gave him a rare opportunity to target them as preys of easy catch. As much as he should take the sole responsibility for initiating the war that he labeled as the American War, he denounced America of the same crime that he himself had done to the two previous French Indochinese states. By forming a new Indochina under the control of Hanoi, Ho-Chi-Minh's plan would fit perfectly into the American War' s objective. After all, it was the whole of Indochina that America wanted for the new world order, regardless of the political impacts from the war that the two countries had to indure.
Communism or the Land Encroachment ?
In the gimmick to achieve his nationalist agenda, Ho had fouled the world that he was a genuine communist. To his people, he presented himself as the real leader of the Vietnamese Nationalist (VNQDD: The Vietnam Revolutionary League: P.203). The claim was based on the fact that Viet nationalism was in reality a product of a small group of Viet autocrats and their effort to promote it by a handful of new power elite. In connection to the Nguyen court, its main goal was to extend Vietnam' s frontier down south. As much as the drive would benefit the Viet people as a whole, only the top members of aristocratic community would be in a position to receive most of the rewards. As other imminent viet nationalist did before him, Ho Chi Minh did attend the Lycee Quoc-Hoc and started his political career as nationalist (The Indochinese Communist Party: From Nationalism to Communism: The Indochinese Communist Party). Nevertheless, he was much clever to know beforehand that Vietnamese nationalism was not in the heart of rural people in both North and South Vietnam. He also knew that Nationalism alone did not suit the Vietnamese mass of people. To attract them to his cause, he needed to substitute his nationalist drive to Communism. It was the land reform, made possible by the Communist doctrine that allowed the Viet laborers to own land. Before the Colonial rule, the control of the land and the condition of the peasantry remained the most socially volatile issues in the south. In the Mekong Delta region, native Cambodians had been long harassed by the Nguyen court and were driven out in their long journey to Cambodia. The left over land was confiscated by the Hue Court and sold to the high bit of privileged Viet Aristocrats. In a tightly controlled market, the ownership of the land became speculative. The landowners became rich through the use of cheap labor of Viet migrants from the north. During the French Colonial rule, the French colonist continued on the same practices by facilitating Viet immigration in a bigger scale (The French Indochina: The Colonization of Vietnam: The Viet Re-population). Thanks to the Grand Alliance program, Ho Chi Minh was able to start on his ambitious project. During his southern campaign, he saw the land' s reform as an opportunity to draw the Viet poor workers to his side. Because they were only laborers, most did not own land and lived in boats. After the withdraw of the Vichy French authority, the Vietminh had the control of 60 to 90 percent of the territory in the south. Under Ho Chi Minh' s direction, the Vietminh redistributed over 600,000 hectares of land.As we shall see, these Viet peasants were becoming Ho Chi Minh' s asset and either through election or guerrilla fight would join the Vietminh in controlling the whole of the French Cochinchina. Much of the land was confiscated from the French and some of the largest Vietnamese landowners. On the same token, the Vietminh also applied the communist doctrine over the Khmer Krom Land ownership. By harassing members of the well-off Khmer societies of Kampuchea Krom, many landowners were forced to leave the country for Cambodia. Abandoned lands were then confiscated and were added into the control of the Vietminh. The ones who stayed were able to retain their inherited land through constant fighting. By 1954 the Communists had already completed the redistribution of the southern land to be owned by Vietnamese migrants who later turned themselves into communists. With the promise of land ownership, the Viet peasants of the Mekong Delta were more revolutionary than the north and were susceptive to communist doctrine more than their northern peers. The French colonist who returned after the end of the world war II to recclaim their colonies. They would soon find the French Cochinchina already transformed itself into becoming a Viet Red country with the hard core of the Vietminh set in place to fight against them. With the support of the Viet peasantry who were eager to defend their new acquired land, Ho Chi Minh could bring victory to Vietnam that other Viet nationalists could not do. France saw from the start that their chance to win the war was not at the south but at the north where residual of French supporters still existed sparingly among the city dwellers. The battle of Dien Bien Phu was their last chance to retrieve back their lucrative venture. With not much help from the free world, France lost the fight. The defeat would mean the end of its control over Vietnam for good. Evidences show that the land distribution by the Vietminh in the south continued and was still in full force even during the time that the Geneva conference was concluding its accord. With the support of the people, it was undeniably that Ho Chi Minh' s drive for victory was far depassing of other Vietnamese Nationalist Parties. Let by the Vietminh, the southern Vietnamese fighters known as the Vietcong could continue its Nam-tien project undisturbed by the accords.
- HSEA: A history of Southeast Asia, by D.G.E. Hall
- SEAPP: Southeast Asia Past & Present, by D.R. Sardesai
- Thai: Thailand: A short History, by David K Wyatt
- Viet: Vietnam: A History, by Stanley Karnow
- WWWWI:Woodrow Wilson and World War I, by Robert H. Ferrell
- SWW:The Second World War, by John Keegan
- EEC:Embassy to the Eastern Courts of Cochin-China, Siam and Muscat in the U.S. Sloop-of-War Peacock, David Geisinger, Commander, By Edmund Roberts
- WWI: The World War I, Wikipedia
- WWII: The World War II, Wikipedia
1914-1918: World War I; 1939-1945: World War II; 1940: Japan took access of Indochina; 1941: The Coronation Of King Norodom Sihanouk; 1940: Harry Truman (Democrat) became president of USA; 1943: Mao Tset Tung became the chairman of the Communist Party of China; 1948: Dwight D. Eisenhower (Republican) became president of USA; 1949: The People' s republic of China was established; 1954: The Geneva accords were concluded; The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed; 1954: The Geneva accord was signed; 1955: The Warsaw Pact was signed;
- The Leadership of the Free Khmer
Among the new leadership were Son-Ngoc-Thanh and Pach Chouen, two of the founders and editors of the "Khmer Nokor Wat"' s publication. The active members were recruited mostly from monks and intellectuals in connection with "The Buddhist institution of Khmer intellectuals".
- The Khmer Issarak (The Free Khmer)
Under the leadership of Son Ngoc Thanh, an intellectual originated from Cochinchina, the Khmer Isarak regrouped themselves to fight off the French. After the French withdrew from Indochina, the Khmer Issarak was dissolved. Some of them stayed with him to form the Khmer Serey (Free Khmer) under the American tutelage, but most were picked-up by both the communist parties of China and Vietnam. They were trained to become the next generation of Cambodian socialist member of the Communist Party of Indochina.
- Blood Relationship of the Siam royal House
Beside that they were working under Taksin for the Ayudhian court, we know nothing else about the background of the two Cakri brothers. Theirs title Rama used consistently during the succession of theirs line was, in connection to the Thai Ramaken heritage was neither explicited.
- The Land of the Free
There are still debate on how the official name "Muang Thai" that became later Thailand was actually a reference to "the Country of the Free". As the Thai word "Thai" means "free", the reference might have been the political drive of the military coup under the leadership of Phibun Sangram against the monarch. Nevertheless, western scholars also see a close connection of Thailand to the ancient Sokhodaya of Northern Siam country. Under the reign of the Siam king Ramakamheang, Sokhodaya had the control of all Siam including Sri Dharmaraja. The exploit had been for long mistaken as a fight to free the Tai nation from Angkor.
- Relationship between the Vietminh and China
In the association with china, Ho knew perfectly of the danger ahead for Vietnam. Nevertheless, he knew that any arrangement with China also could be broken if he had the right support from the commintern. After all, jogglings between world powers was not new to Viet nationalist career politicians. With the risk taken out of the way, Ho went for his next ambition to extend the Vietminh' s control over all the French Indochina.
- The Communist vs the Free World
There are misconceptions about the difference between the two worlds. Thought as opposite of each other, the two political views are generally seen as having nothing in common while in reality they shared many features. Capitalism that is seen as the trademark of the free enterprise is also an important feature of communism.
- The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization of 28 member states constitutes a system of collective defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO' s headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium.
- The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a mutual defense treaty between 8 communist States of Central and Eastern Europe in existence during the Cold War. The founding treaty was established under the initiative of the Soviet Union and signed on 14 May 1955, in Warsaw. It was in the reaction to the integration of West Germany into NATO in 1955.
- The Khmer Serei activity against King Sihanouk
Stationed in the Thai provinces bordering Cambodia, the Khmer Serei were set to bring down king Sihanouk. By joining Dap Choun, the Khmer Serei could then declared itself as a legal organization at the expense of the neutral Cambodia. The scheme failed because Son Ngoc Thanh was from the beginning reluctant to take part of it. According to the Khmer source, his political drive was not against Sihanouk and the recruit of Sam Sary by the CIA to join the movement did not help. Sam Sary' s politic against King Sihanouk was too much personal and the CIA had to eliminate him to stop the Khmer Serei internal conflict from detoriating.