Kenneth Li

Euro Hist.
4-25-08
Period 6th
Ch. 37 pgs.1048-1055, Ch. 38 pgs.1066-1077

I. Taiwan
1) Taiwan is mountainous island less than hundred miles off coast of central
China; has 22 million people population.
i) Originally was part of Ch’ing empire but became Japanese colony b/c of
Sino-Japanese War the seas.
ii) Taiwan was easy to rule b/c they were used to being ruled by higher
ranking people from across the seas.
iii) By the end of WWII the Japanese established common schools for
71% of school age children to attend.
2) Anti-colonial feelings rose.
i) Taiwanese petitioned for better freedoms during the 20s.
ii) Made a few changes but then turned strict again when it went to war
with China.
iii) Taiwanese were happy to see Japanese leave.
iv) But the new rulers were much more harsh and looted economy.
3) In mid-fifties order was restored, and rapid economic growth followed.
i) With outbreak of Korean War U.S. aid was essential; foreign investment
welcomed.
ii) Started to produce many electronics, like computers, computer mice,
keyboards, etc.
iii) Largest producer of these by late 90s.
4) Taiwan’s politics were authoritarian.
i) Until 1987 martial law ruled and opposition was banned.
ii) A bit of the KMT was able to dominate Taiwanese population.
5) Social and educational changes during 60s.
i) More and more went into universities.
ii) Taiwanese and mainlanders intermarried, giving more power to
Taiwanese.
iii) Chiang Kai-shek dies; son becomes president from 1976-1988.
iv) 1987 is where martial law ends and opposition parties allowed again.
6) Lee succeeds Chiang’s son; Lee says in 1996 he was elected President in
first free election in 5,000 years of Chinese history.
i) Chinese tried saving Taiwanese voters by shooting missiles into water,
but Taiwanese put even more votes to Lee.
7) Peking said Taiwan was province of China unlawfully controlled by
“bandit” government.
i) Doesn’t stop taking Taiwan by force.
ii) From 1950-1979 Taiwan became protégé of the U.S., which recognized
claim to be legitimate government of China.
iii) In 1979 U.S. broke off with it to say Peking as sole government.
 iv) In late 90s, China and U.S. were apprehensive of Taiwan.
II. Korea
1) Korea and Vietnam both became colonies.
i) Vietnam part of French Indochina, Korea part of Japan.
ii) Both experienced civil war.
iii) Never before had the United States fought in countries about which it
knew so little.
2) Social ills and political and economic and weaknesses that characterized
Choson dynasty in 1800 continued through 19th century.
i) Defeating China in Sino-Japanese War Russia in Russo-Japanese War, it
made Korea protectorate in 1905 and annexed it in 1910.
A. As Japanese Colony
1) Annexation was followed by changes designed to make Korea into model
colony.
i) Attendance at common schools increased from 20 thousand in 1910 to
1.2 million in 1939, while attendance at higher common schools,
girl’s higher schools and trade schools also rose.
ii) Most large scale industries were Japanese-owned but Korean
entrepreneurs began textile mills, shipping lines, and small
industries.
iii) By 1930s a modern culture was forming in Korea’s cities.
2) Being Japanese colony was nonetheless a hard road to modernity.
i) Any benefits to Koreans were incidental.
ii) Japanese in Korea received better salaries, medical care, education, and
jobs than their Korean counterparts.
iii) Colonial regime suppressed all nationalist movements and political
opposition, denying Koreans experience of self-government.
iv) Legacy of colonial rule in Korea was an animosity that persisted to this
day.
B. North and South
1) With Japan’s defeat in 1945, U.S. forces occupied Korea south of 38
parallel and Soviet troops occupied north.
i) In the south, United States initially sought to encourage formation of
democratic, self-governing nation.
ii) With Rhee’s installation as first president of Republic of Korea, the
U.S. formally ended its military government of Korea.
iii) Government was strongly supported by conservative Koreans and by
million Koreans who had fled the north.
2) In north, Russians established a Communist government under Kim Il-sung.
i) At the end of 1948 Soviet Union withdrew its troops from North Korea.
ii) U.S. also briefly dissociated itself from Chinese Nationalist regime on
Taiwan as part of its policy of “letting the dust settle.”
C. Civil War and U.S. Involvement
1) On June 25, 1950 North Korea invaded south in an attempt to reunite
Korean peninsula.
i) His plan was for quick victory before U.S. could intervene.
 ii) The U.S. rushed troops from Japan to South Korea and obtained United
Nations backing for its action.
iii) This marked major turn in postwar American foreign policy.
2) During first months of war, the unprepared American and South Korean
forces were driven southward into small area around Pusan on
southeastern rim of peninsula.
i) In midwar, American policy had shifted from the containment of
Communism to a rollback.
ii) After months of fierce fighting, the war became stalemated in 1951 and
ended with an armistice on July 27, 1953.
D. Recent Developments
1) In decades that followed, North Korea remained a closed, authoritarian state
with a planned economy.
i) Shortages of food, clothing, and other necessities were chronic.
ii) Korean Communist Party was Marxist-Leninist, but kinship
terminology used to describe fatherly leader, the mother party, and
familial North Korean state gave official state philosophy
an almost Confucian coloration.
2) In South Korea, Rhee remained in office until 1960, when at age eighty-five
was force to retire in wake of massive student demonstrations.
i) Opposition parties were legal and active but their leaders were often
jailed.
ii) South Koreans could read non-Communist foreign books and
magazines and travel abroad.
iii) General Chun Doo-hwan seized power the following year, transformed
himself into civilian president and ruled until 1987.
3) At inception of Park’s rule unemployment was rife and poverty widespread.
i) Management had legacy of skills from colonial era and labor was
disciplined, hard-working, and cheap.
ii) Especially notable were chaebol such as Hyundai or Daewoo, whish
resembled Mitsui or Mitsubishi zaibatsu of prewar Japan.
4) An irony of South Korean development was that industrialization and
urbanization had produced affluent and educated middle class that
would no longer tolerate authoritarian rule.
i) Although the 2 main opposition parties split the anti-government vote,
allowing Chun’s hand-picked successor, Roh Tae-woo, to become
president, most Koreans saw election as president.
ii) He then launched investigations of finances of his predecessors.
iii) In 1995 Chun and Roh were also charged with ordering killing of
hundreds of political demonstrators in Kwangju in 1980.
iv) He was pro-labor and a populist, but his liberal programs were
constrained by severe recession that gripped Korea from 1996.
5) Korean international relations have changed only slowly.
i) North Korea’s principal ties were with Soviet Union and China, the later
asserting that their solidarity was “as close as lips and teeth.”
 ii) Since then South Koreans have invested billions in China, trade
between the 2 nations has flourished, and in 1995 the Chinese
president visited Seoul.
III. Vietnam
A. The Colonial Backdrop
1) Nguyen dynasty that reunited Vietnam in 1802 was still vigorous in 1858
when France began its conquest of the area, but proved no match for
France.
2) In many ways Indochina was a classic case of colonialism: people of one
race and culture, for the sake of economic benefits and national glory,
controlling and exploiting a people of another race and culture
in a far-off land
i) Established rubber plantations in Mekong delta and tea plantations in
highlands.
ii) All were dominated by French or, in smaller enterprises, by Chinese.
iii) This distribution of wealth meant that there developed no indigenous
middle class, apart from landlords by Vietnamese.
3) During early decades of French rule, Vietnamese made futile attempts to
restore the dynasty.
i) Under French, only clandestine parties survived.
ii) He then founded Indochinese Communist Party in 1930.
iii) Shortly before the outbreak of Pacific War, Japanese occupied
Vietnam.
iv) Since then, history of Vietnam can be seen in terms of three cycles of
war followed by 2 decades of peace.
B. The Anti-colonial War
1) First war lasted from 1946 to 1954.
i) French tried to legitimize their rule by settling up in 1948 a puppet
government under Bao Dai, the last in line of Nguyen emperors.
2) A conference at Geneva divided country into Communist north and non-
Communist south.
i) Much of his political support came from 900,000 Vietnamese who had
fled from north.
C. The Vietnam War
1) Second cycles of war was from 1959-1975 and involved U.S.
i) After the rise of Communist China and outbreak of Korean War, it came
to see French actions in Vietnam as an attempt to stem tide of
Communism.
2) Fighting began with guerrilla warfare in south, which some said was local
response to Diem’s suppression of his political enemies.