Decolonization In East Asia

Prior to World War I, world powers mainly consisted of a few major European empires all of which owned colonies across the globe. However, following the Second World War, empires disbanded, and many colonies began to form independent nations. This time period is commonly called the decolonization era. This movement of decolonization was strongly backed by the newly formed United Nations. In 1960 the UN passed the General Assembly Resolution 1514 which stated, “ [this charter] proclaims the necessity of bringing to a speedy and unconditional end colonialism in all its forms and manifestations (UN Charter).” Despite being almost 20 years prior to World War I, the origins of decolonization in Southeast Asia can be traced to the Philippine-American …show more content…
Due to the United States vastly superior firepower, the beginning stages of the war were fairly one-sided (Schirmer 10). In order to stand a chance against the technologically superior US, the Filipinos had to result to using guerilla tactics (Schirmer 10). These tactics greatly prolonged the war and the Americans began to become increasingly frustrated. This led to the little known atrocities committed by U.S. troops. Reports of the burning of villages, and the killing of non-combatants and the application of water torture began to make their way stateside through letters written by U.S. Soldiers (Schirmer 13). Eventually the U.S. captured Emilio Aguinaldo, the military and spiritual leader of the Filipino independence movement (UCLA 13). Soon after the Filipino leaders considered defeat and an American government is set up (UCLA 16). It was stated that the intention of this set up was to prepare the Philippines for eventual self-rule (Schimer …show more content…
During this time period many of the Southeast Asian countries were still under the colonial rule of mainly France and Great Britain. The idea of anti-colonization began to take a foothold within the world around this time in conjunction with the spread of nationalism amongst the colonies, but was put on hold during the Second World War. This was due to the Japanese assaults on colonized portions of Southeast Asia, in which it took allied holdings (Christle 14). After the war, the colonial powers found themselves in a completely changed political environment (Christle 16). After the Second World War the Philippines were the only colony to transition to an independent government rapidly and smoothly (Christle 16). Other Imperial powers such as Britain, had lost control of their holdings and had no means to get them back and had to accept the nationalistic movements (Christle