History Of Southeast Asia

Happy New Year, and here is the first episode for 2020! In Episode 81 the first American combat troops come to Vietnam, only to find that their visit will not be a short one, and that a lot more Americans will have to join them. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast! And here is the new Podcast Hall of Fame page, to honor those who have donated already!

Episode 80 is now available, and as promised, we are going back to follow the Second Indochina War in Vietnam. Today we look at events in 1964, with special attention on the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, and learn what caused the United States to get totally involved in the war. This is the last episode of the podcast scheduled for 2019, so Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year and all that! Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

This episode covers the part of the Second Indochina War in Laos, the Laotian Civil War, from 1968 to 1974. Now all we have left to do with Laos is talk about how the Civil War ended, which I plan to do when we wrap up the Vietnam War as well. Here is the map I posted with Episode 74, shared again to help with the geography. Tchepone, the objective of the 1971 South Vietnamese invasion, is near the source of the Xe Banghiang River. Long Tieng is not shown; that Hmong community and CIA base is near Xiangkhoang. Source: WorldAtlas.com. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

After a two-episode break, we are going back to the narrative about the Second Indochina War in Laos, this time covering events from 1964 to 1968, with special emphasis on the battles for Nam Bac Valley and Lima Site 85. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!  

This is another special episode, prompted because a donor to the podcast asked three questions that I should have answered two or three years ago. May you find the answers enlightening (pun intended). You may want to go back and re-listen to the early episodes that discussed Buddhism's impact on Southeast Asia, especially Episodes 2, 3, 5, 6, and 7, after hearing this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoeeIiCpbcw Here is a documentary I watched forty years ago about the Torajas, a tribe living on the eastern Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Because of the work of Dutch missionaries, most of the Torajas converted to Christianity in the first half of the twentieth century, and because this is Indonesia, the world’s largest Moslem country, a few have converted to Islam, but a core group in the tribe still practice the old-time animism, which involves water buffalo sacrifices and an elaborate cult of the dead. I am posting the link because the Torajas are mentioned in this episode. Do you think you would like to

Today we are taking a break from the ongoing narrative. Several podcasts tell spooky stories for their late October episodes, so this episode will look at myths and legends from Southeast Asia, especially those about monsters. You may not want to listen to this alone! Among the monsters Southeast Asians believe in, one of the most hideous appears as a woman's head with an assortment of internal organs hanging underneath. She goes by many names; Cambodians calls her the Ap, Laotians calls her the Kasu, Thais calls her the Krasue, and Malaysians calls her the Penanggalan, while the Philippines has a similar monster called the Manananggal. Source: Infogalactic.com. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

This episode continues the narrative we started last time, on the Second Indochina War's phase in Laos, also called the Laotian Civil War. Unfortunately, the cease-fire and the coalition government set up at the end of the previous episode couldn't last. Today we look at events in 1963 and 1964, and learn the overall trends that will characterize the war until the next cease-fire is signed, in 1973. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

Because the previous three episodes were focused on just Vietnam, it is now time to go west and catch up on the Second Indochina War in Laos. This episode covers the history of Laos from 1954 to 1962. The communists in Laos, the Pathet Lao, would have gotten nowhere without lots of help from the communists in Vietnam. As a result, the front man for the Pathet Lao, Prince Souphanouvong, spent much of his time in North Vietnam. This picture shows him with Ho Chi Minh. Just in case you're not familiar with the geography, here's a map of the country, courtesy of WorldAtlas.com. All the places I mention are shown here. You can also see how little flat land the country has -- just the white areas along the Mekong River, plus the Plain of Jars. In a press conference on March 23, 1961, US President John F. Kennedy made the first call for a cease-fire in Laos. The black and grey areas on the map indicate the territories the Pathet Lao had taken up to that date; over the next month and a half, North Vietnam

For today's episode, the narrative on the war in Vietnam continues, covering events in 1962 and 1963. We will see the Americans increase their commitment, because they are no closer to winning than they were before. Nevertheless, the Viet Cong will win the first big battle of the war, at Ap Bac. And then we will see the downfall of the South Vietnamese government, after President Ngo Dinh Diem makes one mistake too many. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

Today's episode covers Vietnam during the early years of the Second Indochina War, from 1957 to the end of 1961. We will see communist guerrillas and their partners stage attacks, with guns and bombs, mostly against South Vietnamese officials, but sometimes even Americans become targets. At the end of 1960, they will be organized to form the Viet Cong, a major player in the conflict from now on. We will also see the response of the South Vietnamese president, Ngo Dinh Diem; he enjoyed a string of successes in the previous episode, but begins to falter now. Finally, the United States sends military advisors to go with the military equipment being sent to South Vietnam. In that way, the Americans show they are determined to stay until communism is defeated. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

Happy New Month, if you are listening on the day this episode was uploaded! Here the podcast narrative will begin covering the Second Indochina War, or as Americans call it, the Vietnam War. This is the table-setting episode for the conflict, describing Vietnam in the mid-1950s, the events that caused the war to begin, and the motivations for the United States to get involved. The main character in today's episode is Ngo Dinh Diem, the president of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1963. Here is his picture. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

Today is the first day of a new month, Canada's 152nd birthday, and the third anniversary of the podcast! So naturally we have a special episode for today. This time, instead of the usual historical narrative, we will meet the hill tribes of Vietnam and Laos, also called the Degar or Montagnards. There are 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam, and 160 in Laos, but most of the time we only hear from the dominant majorities, the Vietnamese and the Lao. Therefore this episode will give equal time to the other groups. And here is a link to the Lithophone video mentioned in the episode. This rocks -- literally! https://www.youtube.com/watch?reload=9&v=trTDTCixA_c Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!  

Happy Father's Day, if you are in the United States! And on this day 71 years ago, the communist revolt called "The Malayan Emergency" began. Now with today's podcast episode, we finish our coverage of the early Cold War years by looking at the Malayan Emergency, and we will follow the path the Malay peninsula took to become independent. Hint: it was different from the rest of Southeast Asia, where nationalist movements developed many years earlier. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!

Today we will wrap up the First Indochina War by covering the showdown which proved to the French that they couldn't stay in Vietnam anymore -- the battle of Dien Bien Phu! Over the course of the war, the French had seven generals commanding their forces. The last of those generals was Henri Navarre, who led from May 1953 to the end of the war in mid-1954. Here he is, from a Time Magazine cover dated December 28, 1953. His job was to stabilize the situation so that France could negotiate from a position of strength (by this time, the French no longer expected to win the war), but instead his strategy led to the disastrous battle of Dienbienphu. When the French established their base at Dien Bien Phu, they put a dashing tank commander, Colonel Christian de Castries, in charge of it. Rumor has it that de Castries left gambling debts and heartbroken mistresses back in France. Actually he proved to be a poor choice, because he was experienced in mobile warfare, and here his job was to defend a fixed posit

For Part 4 in our series on the First Indochina War, this episode covers the events of 1952 and most of 1953. We will look at the battles in northwest Vietnam, as the Viet Minh invade this area. Then we will see the opening of a second front in Laos, which will start an on-and-off civil war that will last for the next 22 years. Finally, we will learn how Laos and Cambodia achieved full independence from France. Today's map shows the campaigns in northern Vietnam (then called Tonkin) in 1952. The Viet Minh (pink arrows) advanced from the Red River valley to the Black River valley. By the end of 1952 they had also reached the western border, making it possible for them to invade Laos in 1953. The blue arrow marks the French counterattack, Operation Lorraine; it turned back before it captured its main objective, the Viet Minh supply base at Yen Binh. However, the French garrison surrounded at Na San was able to resist all attacks after the enemy surrounded it, until it was evacuated in August 1953. Sour

Today's episode is the third in our series about the Indochina Wars. Here we will look at the campaigns of 1951. In response to the successful Viet Minh (Vietnamese Communist) offensive of 1950, the French send in their best general, Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. It was only during the eleven months when de Lattre was in command (December 1950 - November 1951) that the French felt they had a good chance of winning. Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. The Americans called him "D.D.T.," and the French called him Roi Jean (King John). This map shows a close-up of the Red River delta, in northern Vietnam, 1951. The orange dots mark spots where the Viet Minh made unsuccessful invasions of the delta. Another invasion, which isn't marked, took place at Vinh Yen, northwest of Hanoi. To stop these incursions, General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny built a massive defensive barrier, shown by the red line. This barrier was called the "De Lattre Line"; it kept Hanoi, Haiphong and the delta in French hands for the rest of

In this episode we begin covering the events of the First Indochina War, waged between the French and the Vietnamese communists, then called the Viet Minh. Here we go from 1946 to 1950. For most of this time the struggle was a stalemate, with the French controlling all cities in Vietnam, while the Viet Minh roamed the countryside. Then in 1950 the Viet Minh won a key battle in the area northeast of Hanoi; this is now considered the turning point of the war. Here is a map of the First Indochina War, not long after it started, in 1947. The French controlled the violet areas, while the Viet Minh controlled the areas colored reddish-orange. For nearly three years after this -- in 1948, 1949 and early 1950 -- the front lines between the two sides barely moved at all. For that reason, one of the names given for this conflict is "the Quicksand War." Here is another map of the First Indochina War, showing the situation at the end of 1950. As with the 1947 map, the French control the violet areas, and the Co

This is the first in what will be a series of episodes about the Indochina Wars, which afflicted Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos for more than forty years (1945-1989). Today we introduce the scene and the characters in 1945-46, between the end of World War II and the beginning of what is officially called the First Indochina War. During World War II, The United States gave aid to anyone fighting the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan), and that included communists. As a result, the US Army's intelligence agency, the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), sent a team into Vietnam in July 1945, and they gave the Viet Minh equipment and guerrilla training. Among those standing in this picture, Ho Chi Minh is the third from the left. The individual wearing a tie is Vo Nguyen Giap, the Viet Minh military commander. Between Ho and Giap is the OSS team leader, Major Allison Thomas. Indochina was temporarily partitioned in late 1945 and early 1946, until the French returned to re-occupy their colony. Judging fro

Now for this episode, we will learn about how modern Burma (Myanmar since 1989) became independent. Although the Burmese do not have to fight the British anymore, their troubles will come in bunches. Back with Episode 32, I posted a picture of a Burmese 90 kyat note, featuring a picture of the nationalist Saya San. Now here is a 15 kyat note (1986 edition), showing Aung San. Because Aung San is considered the father of modern Myanmar/Burma, and he is the real-life father of Aung San Suu Kyi, his picture has appeared on several denominations, including the 1 kyat, 35 kyat, and 100 kyat bills. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!  

For the next part of our narrative on Southeast Asia in the postwar/Cold War era, we will look at the Philippines, from 1945 to 1957. Here independence comes to the islands on July 4, 1946. Then a communist guerrilla movement, one that fought the Japanese during World War II, turns against both the government and the Americans. Listen in to find out how a remarkable Filipino beat this challenge. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASIA, to let them know I sent you, and you will get the first month's hosting for free! Support this podcast!