Southeast Asia history
identify and discuss the historical significance of names and/or terms in Southeast Asian history since c.1800. Each an half pages.
Nguyen Ai Quoc
Tuol Sleng
Sukarno
NLF
Saloth Sar
Maria Rosa Henson
Emilio Aguinaldo
Suharto
Geneva Agreements (1954)
My Lai
PKI
Santa Cruz massacre
Part II: Two Essay Questions
Each essay should be about 3 pages in length and should follow the ‘Guidelines on preparing and writing essay questions’ provided below
1. A famous history professor once said: “Western colonialism sowed the seeds of its own destruction in Southeast Asia.” What did he mean? Was he correct? Write an essay discussing these questions with reference to at least two Southeast Asian countries. Your essay must use evidence and examples drawn from the lectures and the readings, including the primary sources or ‘Documents.’
2. Before the Second World War, France was able to control Vietnam with just a few thousand soldiers, while after the war France and the United States were unable to do so with hundreds of thousands of troops. The same was true for the Dutch, who were forced to leave Indonesia in 1949 after four years of fighting. How would you explain this dramatic shift in the balance of power between Western countries and those of Southeast Asia? Write an essay considering the likely reasons for the change, focusing on the history of Vietnam and Indonesia. Your essay must use evidence and examples drawn from the lectures and the readings, including the primary sources or ‘Documents.’
3. “Foreign intervention – by governments and by international institutions like the United Nations and others – lies at the heart of most of Southeast Asia’s problems over the past half century.” Do you agree? Critically discuss this claim by examining the nature and historical consequences of foreign intervention in at least two Southeast Asian countries since c.1940. Your essay must use evidence and examples drawn from the lectures and the readings, including the primary sources or ‘Documents.’
4. “The Cambodian genocide of 1975-1979 and the mass killings in Indonesia in 1965-66 were the result of distinctive features of Khmer and Indonesian culture.” Do you agree? Critically discuss this statement by analyzing the principal reasons for the mass killings in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, and in Indonesia following the October 1965 Untung ‘coup.’ Your essay must use evidence and examples drawn from the lectures and the readings, including the primary sources or ‘Documents.’
