Assignment:
Pacific Century 3: From Barrel of a Gun: the Rise of Asian Nationalism (Video made in 1992)
Summary
Describes the revolution began by Southeast Asia's political leaders following WWII. Shows how the Pacific war, the Cultural Revolution in China and the Vietnam War stem from the roots of nationalism. The end of colonial dominance and the subsequent rise of nationalism and communism are told through the lives of Ho Chi Minh, The Vietnamese revolutionary, and Sukarno, the founding father of Indonesia.
Questions
1. Who was Sukarno? What was his relationship with Japanese forces during WWII?
2. Why did the Dutch treasure East Indies (later Indonesia)? What main crops did Indonesia produce for the Dutch?
3. In what order did these three different groups of French-conquerors, traders, and missionaries-come to Vietnam? Why did the French treasure Vietnam?
4. What was China's contribution to the European war (WWI)? How was China treated by western powers at the Paris Peace Conference?
5. What was Japan interested in Indonesia?
6. Why did Ho Chi-Minh embrace the United States initially instead of France?
7. How did the United States force the Dutch to leave Indonesia in 1949 after confirmation that Sukarno was not a communist?