History of Southeast Asia

Today a new podcast has been launched that I think you're going to love. It is called "American Innovations," and it combines science and history with a dramatic presentation. Check it out on iTunes, listen and enjoy! I know I'm going to. American Innovations by Wondery  

Today marks a new month, and you know what that means -- it's time for a new episode! This time we have an overview of what life was like for those in Southeast Asia, during the years when Japan ruled the region (hint: most of it is bad.) A Ten Peso bill, printed by the Japanese for use in the Philippines. Inflation soon made them nearly worthless, and because the Filipinos had been exposed to Hol...

Today we have a diversion from the narrative the podcast has been following lately. When Japan conquered Southeast Asia in early 1942, it gained access to the Indian Ocean, and the Japanese ventured into that ocean afterwards. This episode will look at what followed: the invasion of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, the bombing of Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), and a battle between the British, Frenc...

This year three holidays fall on April 1: April Fool's Day, Easter and Passover. Now you have another reason to celebrate; Episode 42 is now available! This episode begins coverage of the Burma campaign, a nasty jungle war that would go on between Japan and the Allies for the rest of World War II in the Pacific. Today we will see the Japanese conquest of Burma (modern Myanmar), from December 1941...

Now it is time to finish what we started in Episode 38 , and cover the conclusion of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. Although the Japanese win again, it takes five months for them to conquer the islands, a longer time than any of their other campaigns so far, because both the Americans and Filipinos were united in resisting them. Both of the maps below are thumbnails. Click on either one...

This episode is a break from the narrative usually presented. Recently Charles Kimball was interviewed for another podcast, History Fangirl, to give the historical background behind Thailand and Bangkok. A copy of that interview has been reposted here. And below is a link to the podcast of Stephanie Craig, the History Fangirl; check it out to see what other places she has visited. Bangkok and the...

It only took three months for the Japanese to conquer most of Indonesia, an area the Dutch had dominated for more than three hundred years. This episode continues the World War II narrative of the previous three episodes, by covering the strategy and tactics Japan used in the world's largest archipelago. Here is the companion map, showing the paths taken by the Japanese in the Dutch East Indies. A...

Episode 38 continues on the topic the podcast has been covering since the year began -- World War II in Southeast Asia. This time we will see the Japanese invasion of the Philippines begin, but it won't finish in this episode; resistance to the Japanese is far tougher here than it was in Malaya and Singapore. And this episode will also give the biography of the American commander, Douglas MacArthu...

In the last episode you heard about Japan invading China, occupying French Indochina, and bombing Pearl Harbor. Now this episode covers the 1941 Japanese invasion of Thailand, Malaya, and Singapore. Are you ready? Here is the companion map, showing the campaign in Malaya, December 1941-January 1942. The red dates are the dates when the Japanese conquered specific locations, while the blue date ind...

Happy New Year, and to begin 2018, the podcast will begin covering the course of World War II in Southeast Asia. We will start by looking at the events in the early twentieth century that motivated Japan to conquer most of East Asia and the western Pacific, and we will finish with the event that brought the United States into the war, the attack on Pearl Harbor. This map is a simple, graphic repre...

This is the last episode in the French Indochina mini-series (the others are Episodes 25, 26 and 34), and the last episode for 2017. Here we wrap up by looking at the development of nationalist movements in Vietnam before World War II, with special emphasis on Ho Chi Minh, who will be the most important nationalist after the war. Finally we will meet the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, two new religious sect...

For Episode 34, we continue our look at Southeast Asia in the early twentieth century (up to 1941), with a visit to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, while the French were running those countries. If you're interested in the Vietnam War coming later on, you may consider this episode a prequel, or a table-setting episode. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the de...

This episode continues our narrative on Southeast Asia in the early twentieth century, by looking at Indonesia, then called the Dutch East Indies, from 1901 to 1941 (A.D.). First we will learn how oil was discovered in the islands, and how it replaced spices as Indonesia's most important product. Then we will see how the Dutch administered the islands during that time. Finally we will follow the d...

For our 32nd episode (33rd if you count the introduction), we will return to the Southeast Asian mainland, and cover the history of Burma, modern-day Myanmar, in the early twentieth century. In particular we will concentrate our attention on the nationalist movements that sprang up, to oppose British rule. Three of the nationalists we will meet here, Aung San, U Nu and Ne Win, will become importan...

With this episode, we begin a narrative completely in the twentieth century, so welcome to recent history! Here we also conclude the four-part miniseries about the Philippines, around the beginning of the twentieth century. This time we will cover the years from 1902 to 1941, looking at the minor wars that came after the Philippine Insurrection (or Philippine-American War, if you're politically co...

This is the third episode in the mini-series we are currently doing about the Philippines. Here we cover the three-year war the Americans fought to keep the islands after they arrived in 1898. This also completes our narrative on Southeast Asia in the nineteenth century. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code, HSEASI...

This episode covers the part of the Spanish-American War that was fought in the Philippines. In doing so we will introduce the last colonial power to come to Southeast Asia, the United States. In the past the narrative could cover centuries of events with one episode, but this time almost everything happened in one year, 1898. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click her...

This episode catches up on the Philippines, a part of Southeast Asia the podcast last talked about in Episode 14. Here you will hear how Spain lost its tight grip on the islands, and the development of Southeast Asia's first modern nationalist movement. The narrative will cover events in the 1700s and most of the 1800s, and end right before the United States got involved in the Philippines, the to...

Having talked about how the Europeans conquered other parts of Southeast Asia in previous episodes, today we will look at the one nation that kept itself from becoming a colony -- Siam. This episode covers the years from 1782 to 1939. Here you will learn how Siam did it, and why it is now called Thailand. Here is a map of Siam in the early 1800s, when the kingdom was at its greatest size. These bo...

This podcast episode finishes what the previous episode started, covering the French conquest of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, from 1867 to 1907. This map shows the French conquest, step by step. Although it is a French language map, if you can read English you should be able to figure out what the text is saying in most places. The white area around Hanoi was temporaily captured by Francis Garnier'...

Now the podcast moves to the east side of the Southeast Asian mainland. This is the first in a two-part series on how the French conquered Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. If you are interested in what I may say in the future about the twentieth-century Vietnam War, this episode is an important stepping stone, setting the stage to that conflict by bringing in the French. Do you think you would like to...

Would you believe it, the podcast is now one year old! In continuation of the narrative, this episode will cover the history of Burma/Myanmar in the nineteenth century. The main event is the British conquest, which made Burma part of British India. You will also hear me read a poem by Rudyard Kipling; listen and enjoy! I have several pictures to share today. The first is a map showing Britain's ga...

With this episode the podcast introduces the fourth Western empire to acquire colonies in Southeast Asia, the British Empire. Although Britain was a late participant in the imperial game, by the nineteenth century they were outperforming every other imperial power. Here you will hear how the British gained control over Malaya, Singapore, and part of Borneo. This episode calls the Indian Ocean a "B...

After taking a bit of a break last month, we are now ready to resume the narrative, with the first episode covering events in the nineteenth century. This time we will see how the Dutch conquered all of Indonesia, or as they called it after they took over, the Dutch East Indies. Do you think you would like to become a podcaster on Blubrry? Click here for the details on joining. Enter my promo code...

This is a special mini-episode, because if you have been listening to the narrative, we have finished the early modern era (1500 to 1800) and are now about to begin the colonial era (1800 to 1965) in Southeast Asian history. This episode will explain what has changed in the relationship between Europe and Southeast Asia, and what made it possible for the Western nations to step in and take over, r...