British Warship Was hits by Argentine missile |
Unfinished journey (46)
(Part forty-six, Depok, West Java, Indonesia, 6 September
2014, 21:42 pm)
Only an hour sitting in the classroom learning English,
the students come from various countries, besides Indonesia is also the origin
of Japan, Turkey, Malaysia and Middle East Countries like Saudi Arabia, Iraq
and Yemen, we are practicing English through watching together broadcast
television, CNN, incidentally at the time CNN broadcast directly Malvinas war
(Falklands war) between the UK and Argentina.
'' hard to believe in today's modern age there are still
British colonialism as the Falkland Islands, '' said my English lecturer at
California State University, Fresno, USA.
Then I replied: '' Indonesia also had a bitter experience
how it feels to live under colonial British, Dutch, Portuguese and Japanese.
Falklands War
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Falklands War
Falklands War timeline map
Map outlining the British recapture of the islands
Date 2 April – 14 June 1982[1][2]
(2 months, 1 week and 5 days)
Location Falkland
Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and surrounding sea and
airspace
Result British
victory
Status quo ante bellum in South Georgia and the
Falklands.
Argentine occupation of Southern Thule ended.
Belligerents
United Kingdom Argentina
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom War Cabinet[3]
United Kingdom Prime Min. M. Thatcher
United Kingdom Adm. Sir T. Lewin
United Kingdom Adm. Sir J. Fieldhouse
United Kingdom R Adm. J. Woodward
United Kingdom Maj.Gen. J. Moore
United Kingdom Brig. J. Thompson
Argentina Military Junta
Argentina President L. Galtieri
Argentina Adm. J. Anaya
Argentina Brig.Gen. B. Lami Dozo
Argentina V Adm. J. Lombardo
Argentina Brig. E. Crespo
Argentina B.Gen. M. Menéndez
Casualties and losses
258 killed[nb 1]
775 wounded
115 PoWs[nb 2]
2 destroyers
2 frigates
1 LSL ship
1 LCU craft
1 container ship
24 helicopters
10 fighters
1 bomber (interned)
649 killed[nb 3]
1,657 wounded[6]
11,313 PoWs
1 cruiser
1 submarine
4 cargo vessels
2 patrol boats
1 spy trawler
25 helicopters
35 fighters
2 bombers
4 cargo aircraft
25 COIN aircraft
9 armed trainers
3 civilians accidentally killed by British shelling
[show] v t e
Falklands War
The Falklands War (Spanish: Guerra de las Malvinas), also
known as the Falklands Conflict, Falklands Crisis and the Guerra del Atlántico
Sur (Spanish for "South Atlantic War"), was a ten-week war between
Argentina and the United Kingdom over two British overseas territories in the
South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich
Islands. It began on Friday 2 April 1982 when Argentina invaded and occupied
the Falkland Islands (and, the following day, South Georgia and the South
Sandwich Islands) in an attempt to establish the sovereignty it had long
claimed over them. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task
force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious
assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with the
Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982, returning the islands to British control.
649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three
Falkland Islanders died during the hostilities.
The conflict was a major episode in the protracted
historical confrontation over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina has
asserted and maintains that the islands have been Argentinian territory since
the 19th century[7][8][9] and, as such, the Argentine government characterised
their action as the reclamation of their own territory. The British government
saw it as an invasion of territory that has been British since the 19th
century. Neither state, however, officially declared war and hostilities were almost
exclusively limited to the territories under dispute and the area of the South
Atlantic where they lie.
The conflict has had a strong impact in both countries
and has been the subject of various books, articles, films and songs. Patriotic
sentiment ran high in Argentina, but the outcome prompted large protests
against the ruling military government, hastening its downfall. In the United
Kingdom, the Conservative Party government, bolstered by the successful
outcome, was re-elected the following year. The cultural and political weight
of the conflict has had less effect in Britain than in Argentina, where it
remains a ready topic for discussion.[10]
Relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina were
restored in 1989 following a meeting in Madrid, Spain, at which the two
countries' governments issued a joint statement.[11] No change in either
country's position regarding the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands was made
explicit. In 1994, Argentina's claim to the territories was added to its constitution.[12]
4 External links
Lead-up to the conflict[edit]
Main article: Events leading to the Falklands War
In the period leading up to the war – and, in particular,
following the transfer of power between the military dictators General Jorge
Rafael Videla and General Roberto Eduardo Viola late in March 1981 – Argentina
had been in the midst of a devastating economic stagnation and large-scale
civil unrest against the military junta that had been governing the country
since 1976.[13] In December 1981 there was a further change in the Argentine
military regime bringing to office a new junta headed by General Leopoldo
Galtieri (acting president), Brigadier Basilio Lami Dozo and Admiral Jorge
Anaya. Anaya was the main architect and supporter of a military solution for
the long-standing claim over the islands,[14] calculating that the United
Kingdom would never respond militarily.[15]
Malvinas War |
Admiral Jorge Anaya was the driving force in the Junta's
decision to invade.[16][17][18]
By opting for military action, the Galtieri government
hoped to mobilise the long-standing patriotic feelings of Argentines towards
the islands, and thus divert public attention from the country's chronic
economic problems and the regime's ongoing human rights violations.[19] Such
action would also bolster its dwindling legitimacy. The newspaper La Prensa
speculated in a step-by-step plan beginning with cutting off supplies to the
Islands, ending in direct actions late in 1982, if the UN talks were
fruitless.[20]
The ongoing tension between the two countries over the
islands increased on 19 March when a group of Argentine scrap metal merchants
(actually infiltrated by Argentine marines) raised the Argentine flag at South
Georgia, an act that would later be seen as the first offensive action in the
war. The Royal Navy ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance was dispatched from Stanley
to South Georgia in response, subsequently leading to the invasion of South
Georgia by Argentine forces on 3 April. The Argentine military junta,
suspecting that the UK would reinforce its South Atlantic Forces,[21] ordered
the invasion of the Falkland Islands to be brought forward to 2 April.
Britain was initially taken by surprise by the Argentine
attack on the South Atlantic islands, despite repeated warnings by Royal Navy
captain Nicholas Barker and others. Barker believed that Defence Secretary John
Nott's 1981 review (in which Nott described plans to withdraw the Endurance,
Britain's only naval presence in the South Atlantic) sent a signal to the
Argentines that Britain was unwilling, and would soon be unable, to defend its
territories and subjects in the Falklands.[22][23]
Argentine invasion[edit]
Main articles: 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands,
Invasion of South Georgia, Argentine air forces in the Falklands War, Argentine
naval forces in the Falklands War and Argentine ground forces in the Falklands
War
On 2 April 1982, Argentine forces mounted amphibious
landings of the Falkland Islands, following the civilian occupation of South
Georgia on 19 March, before the Falklands War began. The invasion met a nominal
defence organised by the Falkland Islands' Governor Sir Rex Hunt, giving
command to Major Mike Norman of the Royal Marines. Events included the landing
of Lieutenant Commander Guillermo Sanchez-Sabarots' Amphibious Commandos Group,
the attack on Moody Brook barracks, the engagement between the troops of Hugo
Santillan and Bill Trollope at Stanley, and the final engagement and surrender
at Government House.
Initial British response[edit]
Further information: British naval forces in the
Falklands War, British ground forces in the Falklands War and British air
services in the Falklands War
The cover of Newsweek magazine, 19 April 1982, depicts
HMS Hermes, flagship of the British Task Force.
Word of the invasion first reached Britain from Argentine
sources.[24] A Ministry of Defence operative in London had a short telex
conversation with Governor Hunt's telex operator, who confirmed that Argentines
were on the island and in control.[24][25] Later that day, BBC journalist
Laurie Margolis was able to speak with an islander at Goose Green via amateur
radio, who confirmed the presence of a large Argentine fleet and that Argentine
forces had taken control of the island.[24] Operation Corporate was the
codename given to the British military operations in the Falklands War. The
commander of task force operations was Admiral Sir John Fieldhouse. Operations
lasted from 1 April 1982 to 20 June 1982.[26] The British undertook a series of
military operations as a means of recapturing the Falkands from Argentine
occupation. The British government had taken action prior to the 2 April
invasion. In response to events on South Georgia the submarines HMS Splendid
and HMS Spartan were ordered to sail south on 29 March, whilst the stores ship
Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Fort Austin was dispatched from the Western
Mediterranean to support HMS Endurance.[27] Lord Carrington had wished to send
a third submarine but the decision was deferred due to concerns about the
impact on operational commitments.[27] Coincidentally on 26 March, the
submarine HMS Superb left Gibraltar and it was assumed in the press it was
heading south. There has since been speculation that the effect of those
reports was to panic the Argentine junta into invading the Falklands before
nuclear submarines could be deployed.[27]
The following day, during a crisis meeting headed by the
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the Chief of the Naval Staff, Admiral Sir
Henry Leach, advised them that "Britain could and should send a task force
if the islands are invaded". On 1 April Leach sent orders to a Royal Navy
force carrying out exercises in the Mediterranean to be prepared to sail south.
Following the invasion on 2 April, after an emergency meeting of the cabinet,
approval was given for the formation of a task force to retake the islands.
This was backed in an emergency session of the House of Commons the next
day.[28]
On 6 April, the British Government set up a War Cabinet
to provide day-to-day political oversight of the campaign.[3] This was the
critical instrument of crisis management for the British with its remit being
to "keep under review political and military developments relating to the
South Atlantic, and to report as necessary to the Defence and Overseas Policy
Committee." Until it was dissolved on 12 August, the War Cabinet met at
least daily. Although Margaret Thatcher is described as dominating the War
Cabinet, Lawrence Freedman notes in the Official History of the Falklands
Campaign that she did not ignore opposition or fail to consult others. However,
once a decision was reached she "did not look back".[3]
Position of third party countries[edit]
On the evening of 3 April, Britain's United Nations
ambassador Sir Anthony Parsons put a draft resolution to the United Nations
Security Council. The resolution, which condemned the hostilities and demanded
immediate Argentine withdrawal from the Islands, was adopted by the council the
following day as United Nations Security Council Resolution 502, which passed
with ten votes in support, one against (Panama) and four abstentions (China,
the Soviet Union, Poland and Spain).[28][29][30] The UK received further
political support from the Commonwealth of Nations and the European Economic
Community. The EEC also provided economic support by imposing economic
sanctions on Argentina. Argentina itself was politically backed by a majority
of countries in Latin America and the Non-Aligned Movement.[citation needed] On
20 May 1982 the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Robert Muldoon, announced that
he would make HMNZS Canterbury available for use where the British thought fit
to release a Royal Navy vessel for the Falklands.[31]
The war was an unexpected event in a world strained by
the Cold War and the North–South divide. The response of some countries was the
effort to mediate the crisis and later as the war began, the support (or
criticism) based in terms of anti-colonialism, political solidarity, historical
relationships or realpolitik. In other cases it was only verbal
support.[citation needed]
The United States was concerned by the prospect of
Argentina turning to the Soviet Union for support,[32] and initially tried to
mediate an end to the conflict. However, when Argentina refused the US peace
overtures, US Secretary of State Alexander Haig announced that the United
States would prohibit arms sales to Argentina and provide material support for
British operations. Both Houses of the US Congress passed resolutions
supporting the US action siding with the United Kingdom.[33]
The US provided the United Kingdom with military
equipment ranging from submarine detectors to the latest
missiles.[34][35][36][37] President Ronald Reagan approved the Royal Navy's
request to borrow the Sea Harrier-capable amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima
(LPH-2) if the British lost an aircraft carrier. The United States Navy
developed a plan to help the British man the ship with American military
contractors, likely retired sailors with knowledge of the Iwo Jima's
systems.[38] France provided dissimilar aircraft training so Harrier pilots
could train against the French aircraft used by Argentina.[39] French and
British intelligence also worked to prevent Argentina from obtaining more
Exocet missiles on the international market,[40] while at the same time Peru
attempted to purchase 12 missiles for Argentina, in a failed secret
operation.[41][42] Chile gave support to Britain in the form of intelligence
about Argentine military and early warning radar.[43][44] Throughout the war,
Argentina was afraid of a Chilean military intervention in Patagonia and kept
some of her best mountain regiments away from the Falklands near the Chilean
border as a precaution.[45]
While France overtly backed the United Kingdom, a French
technical team remained in Argentina throughout the war. French government
sources have said the French team was engaged in intelligence-gathering;
however, it simultaneously provided direct material support to the Argentines,
identifying and fixing faults in Exocet missile launchers.[46] According to the
book Operation Israel, advisors from Israel Aerospace Industries were already
in Argentina and continued their work during the conflict. The book also claims
that Israel sold weapons and drop tanks in a secret operation in Peru.[47][48]
Peru also openly sent "Mirages, pilots and missiles" to Argentina
during the war.[49] Peru had earlier transferred ten Hercules transport planes
to Argentina soon after the British Task Force had set sail in April 1982.[50]
Nick van der Bijl records that after the Argentine defeat at Goose Green,
Venezuela and Guatemala offered to send paratroops to the Falklands.[51]
Through Libya, under Muammar Gaddafi, Argentina received 20 launchers and 60
SA-7 missiles, as well as machine guns, mortars and mines; all in all, the load
of four trips of two Boeing 707 of the AAF, refuelled in Recife with the
knowledge and consent of the Brazilian government.[52] Some of these
clandestine logistics operations were mounted by the Soviet Union.[53]
British Task Force[edit]
Main article: British logistics in the Falklands War
HMS Invincible, part of the task force. Pictured in 1990
Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Sea Harrier FRS1. The gloss
paint scheme was altered to a duller one en route south.
The British government had no contingency plan for an
invasion of the islands, and the task force was rapidly put together from
whatever vessels were available.[54] The nuclear submarine Conqueror set sail
from France on 4 April, whilst the two aircraft carriers Invincible and Hermes,
in the company of escort vessels, left Portsmouth only a day later.[28] Upon its
return to Southampton from a world cruise on 7 April, the ocean liner SS
Canberra was requisitioned and set sail two days later with 3 Commando Brigade
aboard.[28] The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2 was also requisitioned and left
Southampton on 12 May with 5th Infantry Brigade on board.[28] The whole task
force eventually comprised 127 ships: 43 Royal Navy vessels, 22 Royal Fleet
Auxiliary ships and 62 merchant ships.[54]
The retaking of the Falkland Islands was considered
extremely difficult: the main constraint being the disparity in deployable air
cover. The British had a total of 42 aircraft (28 Sea Harriers and 14 Harrier
GR.3s) available for air combat operations,[55] against approximately 122
serviceable jet fighters, of which about 50 were employed as air superiority
fighters and the remainder as strike aircraft, in Argentina's air forces during
the war.[56] The US Navy considered a successful counter-invasion by the
British to be 'a military impossibility'.[57]
By mid-April, the Royal Air Force had set up the airbase
of RAF Ascension Island, co-located with Wideawake Airfield (USA) on the
mid-Atlantic British overseas territory of Ascension Island, including a
sizeable force of Avro Vulcan B Mk 2 bombers, Handley Page Victor K Mk 2
refuelling aircraft, and McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR Mk 2 fighters to protect
them. Meanwhile the main British naval task force arrived at Ascension to
prepare for active service. A small force had already been sent south to
recapture South Georgia.
Encounters began in April; the British Task Force was
shadowed by Boeing 707 aircraft of the Argentine Air Force during their travel
to the south.[58] Several of these flights were intercepted by Sea Harriers
outside the British-imposed exclusion zone; the unarmed 707s were not attacked
because diplomatic moves were still in progress and the UK had not yet decided
to commit itself to armed force. On 23 April a Brazilian commercial Douglas
DC-10 from VARIG Airlines en route to South Africa was intercepted by British
Harriers who visually identified the civilian plane.[59]
Recapture of South Georgia and the attack on the Santa
Fe[edit]
The South Georgia force, Operation Paraquet, under the
command of Major Guy Sheridan RM, consisted of Marines from 42 Commando, a
troop of the Special Air Service (SAS) and Special Boat Service (SBS) troops
who were intended to land as reconnaissance forces for an invasion by the Royal
Marines. All were embarked on RFA Tidespring. First to arrive was the
Churchill-class submarine HMS Conqueror on 19 April, and the island was
over-flown by a radar-mapping Handley Page Victor on 20 April.
The first landings of SAS troops took place on 21 April,
but—with the southern hemisphere autumn setting in—the weather was so bad that
their landings and others made the next day were all withdrawn after two
helicopters crashed in fog on Fortuna Glacier. On 23 April, a submarine alert
was sounded and operations were halted, with the Tidespring being withdrawn to
deeper water to avoid interception. On 24 April, the British forces regrouped
and headed in to attack.
On 25 April, after resupplying the Argentine garrison in
South Georgia, the submarine ARA Santa Fe was spotted on the surface[60] by a
Westland Wessex HAS Mk 3 helicopter from HMS Antrim, which attacked the
Argentine submarine with depth charges. HMS Plymouth launched a Westland Wasp
HAS.Mk.1 helicopter, and HMS Brilliant launched a Westland Lynx HAS Mk 2. The
Lynx launched a torpedo, and strafed the submarine with its pintle-mounted
general purpose machine gun; the Wessex also fired on the Santa Fe with its
GPMG. The Wasp from HMS Plymouth as well as two other Wasps launched from HMS
Endurance fired AS-12 ASM antiship missiles at the submarine, scoring hits.
Santa Fe was damaged badly enough to prevent her from diving. The crew
abandoned the submarine at the jetty at King Edward Point on South Georgia.
With the Tidespring now far out to sea and the Argentine
forces augmented by the submarine's crew, Major Sheridan decided to gather the
76 men he had and make a direct assault that day. After a short forced march by
the British troops and a naval bombardment demonstration by two Royal Navy
vessels (Antrim and Plymouth), the Argentine forces surrendered without
resistance. The message sent from the naval force at South Georgia to London
was, "Be pleased to inform Her Majesty that the White Ensign flies
alongside the Union Jack in South Georgia. God Save the Queen." The Prime
Minister, Margaret Thatcher, broke the news to the media, telling them to
"Just rejoice at that news, and congratulate our forces and the
Marines!"[61]
Black Buck raids[edit]
Main article: Operation Black Buck
RAF Avro Vulcan B.Mk.2 strategic bomber
On 1 May British operations on the Falklands opened with
the "Black Buck 1" attack (of a series of five) on the airfield at
Stanley. A Vulcan bomber from Ascension flew on an 8,000-nautical-mile (15,000
km; 9,200 mi) round trip dropping conventional bombs across the runway at
Stanley and back to Ascension. The mission required repeated refuelling, and
required several Victor tanker aircraft operating in concert, including tanker
to tanker refuelling. The overall effect of the raids on the war is difficult
to determine, and the raids consumed precious tanker resources from
Ascension,[62] but also prevented Argentina from stationing fast jets on the
islands.
The raids did minimal damage to the runway, and damage to
radars was quickly repaired. As of 2014 the Royal Air Force Web site continued
to state that all the three bombing missions had been successful,[63] but
historian Lawrence Freedman, who had access to classified documents, said in a
2005 book that the subsequent bombing missions were failures.[64] Argentine
sources said that the Vulcan raids influenced Argentina to withdraw some of its
Mirage IIIs from Southern Argentina to the Buenos Aires Defence
Zone.[65][66][67] This was later described as propaganda by Falklands veteran
Commander Nigel Ward.[68] The effect of this action was, however, watered down
when British officials made clear that there would be no strikes on air bases
in Argentina.[69]
Of the five Black Buck raids, three were against Stanley
Airfield, with the other two anti-radar missions using Shrike anti-radiation
missiles.
Escalation of the air war[edit]
French-built Super Étendard of the Argentine Naval
Aviation
The Falklands had only three airfields. The longest and
only paved runway was at the capital, Stanley, and even that was too short to
support fast jets (although an arrestor gear was fitted in April to support
Skyhawks). Therefore, the Argentines were forced to launch their major strikes
from the mainland, severely hampering their efforts at forward staging, combat
air patrols and close air support over the islands. The effective loiter time
of incoming Argentine aircraft was low, and they were later compelled to
overfly British forces in any attempt to attack the islands.
The first major Argentine strike force comprised 36
aircraft (A-4 Skyhawks, IAI Daggers, English Electric Canberras, and Mirage III
escorts), and was sent on 1 May, in the belief that the British invasion was
imminent or landings had already taken place. Only a section of Grupo 6 (flying
IAI Dagger aircraft) found ships, which were firing at Argentine defences near
the islands. The Daggers managed to attack the ships and return safely. This
greatly boosted morale of the Argentine pilots, who now knew they could survive
an attack against modern warships, protected by radar ground clutter from the
Islands and by using a late pop-up profile. Meanwhile, other Argentine aircraft
were intercepted by BAE Sea Harriers operating from HMS Invincible. A
Dagger[70] and a Canberra were shot down. Combat broke out between Sea Harrier
FRS Mk 1 fighters of No. 801 Naval Air Squadron and Mirage III fighters of
Grupo 8. Both sides refused to fight at the other's best altitude, until two
Mirages finally descended to engage. One was shot down by an AIM-9L Sidewinder
air-to-air missile (AAM), while the other escaped but was damaged and without
enough fuel to return to its mainland air base. The plane made for Stanley,
where it fell victim to friendly fire from the Argentine defenders.[71]
As a result of this experience, Argentine Air Force staff
decided to employ A-4 Skyhawks and Daggers only as strike units, the Canberras
only during the night, and Mirage IIIs (without air refuelling capability or
any capable AAM) as decoys to lure away the British Sea Harriers. The decoying
would be later extended with the formation of the Escuadrón Fénix, a squadron
of civilian jets flying 24 hours-a-day simulating strike aircraft preparing to
attack the fleet. On one of these flights, an Air Force Learjet was shot down,
killing the squadron commander, Vice Commodore Rodolfo De La Colina, the
highest-ranking Argentine officer to die in the war.[72][73] Stanley was used
as an Argentine strongpoint throughout the conflict. Despite the Black Buck and
Harrier raids on Stanley airfield (no fast jets were stationed there for air
defence) and overnight shelling by detached ships, it was never out of action
entirely. Stanley was defended by a mixture of surface-to-air missile (SAM)
systems (Franco-German Roland and British Tigercat) and Swiss-built Oerlikon 35
mm twin anti-aircraft cannons. Lockheed Hercules transport night flights
brought supplies, weapons, vehicles, and fuel, and airlifted out the wounded up
until the end of the conflict.
The only Argentine Hercules shot down by the British was
lost on 1 June when TC-63 was intercepted by a Sea Harrier in daylight[74][75]
when it was searching for the British fleet north-east of the islands after the
Argentine Navy retired its last SP-2H Neptune due to airframe attrition.
Various options to attack the home base of the five
Argentine Etendards at Río Grande were examined and discounted (Operation
Mikado), subsequently five Royal Navy submarines lined up, submerged, on the
edge of Argentina's 12-nautical-mile (22 km; 14 mi) territorial limit to
provide early warning of bombing raids on the British task force.[76]
Sinking of ARA General Belgrano[edit]
Two separate British naval task forces (one of surface
vessels and one of submarines) and the Argentine fleet were operating in the
neighbourhood of the Falklands, and soon came into conflict. The first naval
loss was the World War II-vintage Argentine light cruiser ARA General Belgrano.
The nuclear-powered submarine HMS Conqueror sank General Belgrano on 2 May.
Three hundred and twenty-three members of General Belgrano's crew died in the
incident. Over 700 men were rescued from the open ocean despite cold seas and
stormy weather. The losses from General Belgrano totalled nearly half of the
Argentine deaths in the Falklands conflict and the loss of the ship hardened
the stance of the Argentine government.
Regardless of controversies over the sinking, it had a
crucial strategic effect: the elimination of the Argentine naval threat. After
her loss, the entire Argentine fleet, with the exception of the conventional
submarine ARA San Luis,[60] returned to port and did not leave again for the
duration of hostilities. The two escorting destroyers and the battle group
centred on the aircraft carrier ARA Veinticinco de Mayo both withdrew from the
area, ending the direct threat to the British fleet that their pincer movement
had represented.
In a separate incident later that night, British forces
engaged an Argentine patrol gunboat, the ARA Alferez Sobral. At the time,
Alferez Sobral was searching for the crew of the Argentine Air Force Canberra
light bomber shot down on 1 May. Two Royal Navy Lynx helicopters fired four Sea
Skua missiles at her. Badly damaged and with eight crew dead, Alferez Sobral
managed to return to Puerto Deseado two days later. The Canberra's crew were
never found.
Sinking of HMS Sheffield[edit]
On 4 May, two days after the sinking of Belgrano, the
British lost the Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield to fire following an Exocet
missile strike from the Argentine 2nd Naval Air Fighter/Attack Squadron.
Sheffield had been ordered forward with two other Type 42s to provide a
long-range radar and medium-high altitude missile picket far from the British
carriers. She was struck amidships, with devastating effect, ultimately killing
20 crew members and severely injuring 24 others. The ship was abandoned several
hours later, gutted and deformed by the fires that continued to burn for six
more days. She finally sank outside the Maritime Exclusion Zone on 10 May.
The incident is described in detail by Admiral Sandy
Woodward in his book One Hundred Days, Chapter One. Woodward was a former
commanding officer of Sheffield.[77]
The tempo of operations increased throughout the second
half of May as United Nations attempts to mediate a peace were rejected by the
British, who felt that any delay would make a campaign impractical in the South
Atlantic storms. The destruction of Sheffield (the first Royal Navy ship sunk
in action since World War II) had a profound impact on the British public, bringing
home the fact that the "Falklands Crisis", as the BBC News put it,
was now an actual "shooting war".
British special forces operations[edit]
Given the threat to the British fleet posed by the
Etendard-Exocet combination, plans were made to use SAS troops to attack the
home base of the five Etendards at Río Grande, Tierra del Fuego. The operation
was codenamed "Mikado". The operation was later scrapped, after
acknowledging its chances of success were limited, and replaced the use of C-130s
with a plan to lead HMS Onyx to drop SAS operatives several miles offshore at
night for them to make their way to the coast aboard rubber inflatables and
proceed to destroy Argentina's remaining Exocet stockpile.[78]
An SAS reconnaissance team was dispatched to carry out
preparations for a seaborne infiltration. A Westland Sea King helicopter
carrying the assigned team took off from HMS Invincible on the night of 17 May,
but bad weather forced it to land 50 miles (80 km) from its target and the
mission was aborted.[79] The pilot flew to Chile, landed south of Punta Arenas,
and dropped off the SAS team. The helicopter's crew of three then destroyed the
aircraft, surrendered to Chilean police on 25 May, and were repatriated to the
UK after interrogation. The discovery of the burnt-out helicopter attracted
considerable international attention. Meanwhile, the SAS team crossed and
penetrated deep into Argentina, but cancelled their mission after the
Argentines suspected an SAS operation and deployed some 2,000 troops to search
for them. The SAS men were able to return to Chile, and took a civilian flight
back to the UK.[80]
According to Col. Richard Hutchings, the helicopter pilot
who took part in that operation, as well as testimonies by Argentine veterans,
sabotage operations were carried out by the SAS and SBS inside Argentina.
Thousands of Argentine troops were stationed throughout Patagonia, guarding
strategic targets, especially airfields and aviation fuel dumps, from sabotage
by British commandos. SAS and SBS troops were allegedly involved in a number of
firefights with Argentine troops during sabotage missions, including
engagements with Argentine special forces. Hutchings, who was given access to
Argentine military records and incident reports, claimed that 15 Argentine
soldiers were killed in firefights with British special forces on the Argentine
mainland.[81]
On 14 May the SAS carried out the raid on Pebble Island
at the Falklands, where the Argentine Navy had taken over a grass airstrip map
for FMA IA 58 Pucará light ground-attack aircraft and T-34 Mentors. The raid
destroyed several aircraft.[nb 4]
Land battles[edit]
Landing at San Carlos—Bomb Alley[edit]
Main articles: Operation Sutton and Battle of San Carlos
British sailors in anti-flash gear at action stations on
HMS Cardiff near San Carlos, June 1982.
During the night on 21 May the British Amphibious Task
Group under the command of Commodore Michael Clapp (Commodore, Amphibious
Warfare – COMAW) mounted Operation Sutton, the amphibious landing on beaches
around San Carlos Water,[nb 5] on the northwestern coast of East Falkland
facing onto Falkland Sound. The bay, known as Bomb Alley by British forces, was
the scene of repeated air attacks by low-flying Argentine jets.[82][83]
The 4,000 men of 3 Commando Brigade were put ashore as
follows: 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (2 Para) from the RORO ferry Norland
and 40 Commando Royal Marines from the amphibious ship HMS Fearless were landed
at San Carlos (Blue Beach), 3rd Battalion, Parachute Regiment (3 Para) from the
amphibious ship HMS Intrepid were landed at Port San Carlos (Green Beach) and
45 Commando from RFA Stromness were landed at Ajax Bay (Red Beach). Notably the
waves of eight LCUs and eight LCVPs were led by Major Ewen Southby-Tailyour,
who had commanded the Falklands detachment only a year previously. 42 Commando
on the ocean liner SS Canberra was a tactical reserve. Units from the Royal
Artillery, Royal Engineers, etc. and armoured reconnaissance vehicles were also
put ashore with the landing craft, the Round table class LSL and mexeflote
barges. Rapier missile launchers were carried as underslung loads of Sea Kings
for rapid deployment.
By dawn the next day they had established a secure
beachhead from which to conduct offensive operations. From there Brigadier
Julian Thompson's plan was to capture Darwin and Goose Green before turning
towards Port Stanley. Now, with the British troops on the ground, the Argentine
Air Force began the night bombing campaign against them using Canberra bomber
planes until the last day of the war (14 June).
HMS Antelope smoking after being hit, 23 May
At sea, the paucity of the British ships' anti-aircraft
defences was demonstrated in the sinking of HMS Ardent on 21 May, HMS Antelope
on 24 May, and MV Atlantic Conveyor (struck by two AM39 Exocets) on 25 May
along with a vital cargo of helicopters, runway-building equipment and tents.
The loss of all but one of the Chinook helicopters being carried by the
Atlantic Conveyor was a severe blow from a logistics perspective.
Also lost on this day was HMS Coventry, a sister to
Sheffield, whilst in company with HMS Broadsword after being ordered to act as
decoy to draw away Argentine aircraft from other ships at San Carlos Bay.[84]
HMS Argonaut and HMS Brilliant were badly damaged. However, many British ships
escaped being sunk because of weaknesses of the Argentine pilots' bombing
tactics described below.
To avoid the highest concentration of British air
defences, Argentine pilots released ordnance from very low altitude, and hence
their bomb fuzes did not have sufficient time to arm before impact. The low
release of the retarded bombs (some of which had been sold to the Argentines by
the British years earlier) meant that many never exploded, as there was
insufficient time in the air for them to arm themselves. A simple free-fall
bomb will, during a low altitude release, impact almost directly below the
aircraft which is then within the lethal fragmentation zone of the resulting explosion.
A retarded bomb has a small parachute or air brake that
opens to reduce the speed of the bomb to produce a safe horizontal separation
between the two. The fuze for a retarded bomb requires a minimum time over
which the retarder is open to ensure safe separation. The pilots would have
been aware of this, but due to the high concentration levels required to avoid
SAMs and Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA), as well as any British Sea Harriers,
many failed to climb to the necessary release point. The Argentinian forces
solved the problem by fitting an improvised retarding devices, allowing the
pilots to effectively employ low-level bombing attacks on 8 June.
In his autobiographical account of the Falklands War,
Admiral Woodward blamed the BBC World Service for disclosing information that
led the Argentines to change the retarding devices on the bombs. The World
Service reported the lack of detonations after receiving a briefing on the
matter from a Ministry of Defence official. He describes the BBC as being more
concerned with being "fearless seekers after truth" than with the
lives of British servicemen.[85] Colonel 'H'. Jones levelled similar
accusations against the BBC after they disclosed the impending British attack
on Goose Green by 2 Para.
Thirteen bombs hit British ships without detonating.[86]
Lord Craig, the retired Marshal of the Royal Air Force, is said to have
remarked: "Six better fuses and we would have lost"[87] although
Ardent and Antelope were both lost despite the failure of bombs to explode. The
fuzes were functioning correctly, and the bombs were simply released from too
low an altitude.[85] [88] The Argentines lost 22 aircraft in the attacks.[nb 6]
Battle of Goose Green[edit]
Infantry deployment in East Falklands after landing in
San Carlos
Main article: Battle of Goose Green
From early on 27 May until 28 May 2 Para, (approximately
500 men) with artillery support from 8 (Alma) Commando Battery, Royal
Artillery, approached and attacked Darwin and Goose Green, which was held by
the Argentine 12th Infantry Regiment. After a tough struggle that lasted all
night and into the next day, the British won the battle; in all, 17 British and
47 Argentine soldiers were killed. In total 961 Argentine troops (including 202
Argentine Air Force personnel of the Condor airfield) were taken prisoner.
The BBC announced the taking of Goose Green on the BBC
World Service before it had actually happened. It was during this attack that
Lieutenant Colonel H. Jones, the commanding officer of 2 Para was killed at the
head of his battalion while charging into the well-prepared Argentine
positions. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
With the sizeable Argentine force at Goose Green out of
the way, British forces were now able to break out of the San Carlos beachhead.
On 27 May, men of 45 Cdo and 3 Para started a loaded march across East Falkland
towards the coastal settlement of Teal Inlet.
Special forces on Mount Kent[edit]
Meanwhile, 42 Commando prepared to move by helicopter to
Mount Kent.[nb 7] Unknown to senior British officers, the Argentine generals
were determined to tie down the British troops in the Mount Kent area, and on
27 and 28 May they sent transport aircraft loaded with Blowpipe surface-to-air
missiles and commandos (602nd Commando Company and 601st National Gendarmerie
Special Forces Squadron) to Stanley. This operation was known as Operation
AUTOIMPUESTA (Self-Determination-Initiative).
British reute to attack Malvinas |
For the next week, the SAS and the Mountain and Arctic
Warfare Cadre (M&AWC) of 3 Commando Brigade waged intense patrol battles
with patrols of the volunteers' 602nd Commando Company under Major Aldo Rico,
normally 2nd in Command of the 22nd Mountain Infantry Regiment. Throughout 30
May, Royal Air Force Harriers were active over Mount Kent. One of them, Harrier
XZ963, flown by Squadron Leader Jerry Pook—in responding to a call for help
from D Squadron, attacked Mount Kent's eastern lower slopes, and that led to
its loss through small-arms fire. Pook was subsequently awarded the
Distinguished Flying Cross.[89]
The Argentine Navy used their last AM39 Exocet missile
attempting to attack HMS Invincible on 30 May. There are Argentine claims that
the missile struck;[90][91] however the British have denied this, some citing
that HMS Avenger shot it down.[92][93] When Invincible returned to the UK after
the war she showed no signs of missile damage.
On 31 May, the M&AWC defeated Argentine Special
Forces at the Battle of Top Malo House. A 13-strong Argentine Army Commando
detachment (Captain José Vercesi's 1st Assault Section, 602nd Commando Company)
found itself trapped in a small shepherd's house at Top Malo. The Argentine
commandos fired from windows and doorways and then took refuge in a stream bed
200 metres (700 ft) from the burning house. Completely surrounded, they fought
19 M&AWC marines under Captain Rod Boswell for forty-five minutes until,
with their ammunition almost exhausted, they elected to surrender.
Three Cadre members were badly wounded. On the Argentine
side there were two dead including Lieutenant Ernesto Espinoza and Sergeant
Mateo Sbert (who were decorated for their bravery). Only five Argentines were
left unscathed. As the British mopped up Top Malo House, down from Malo Hill
came Lieutenant Fraser Haddow's M&AWC patrol, brandishing a large Union
Flag. One wounded Argentine soldier, Lieutenant Horacio Losito, commented that
their escape route would have taken them through Haddow's position.
601st Commando tried to move forward to rescue 602nd
Commando Company on Estancia Mountain. Spotted by 42 Commando, they were
engaged with 81mm mortars and forced to withdraw to Two Sisters mountain. 602nd
Commando Company on Estancia Mountain realised his position had become
untenable and after conferring with fellow officers ordered a withdrawal.[94]
The Argentine operation also saw the extensive use of
helicopter support to position and extract patrols; the 601st Combat Aviation
Battalion also suffered casualties. At about 11.00 am on 30 May, an
Aerospatiale SA-330 Puma helicopter was brought down by a shoulder-launched
Stinger surface-to-air missile (SAM) fired by the SAS in the vicinity of Mount
Kent. Six National Gendarmerie Special Forces were killed and eight more
wounded in the crash.[95]
As Brigadier Thompson commented, "It was fortunate
that I had ignored the views expressed by Northwood HQ that reconnaissance of
Mount Kent before insertion of 42 Commando was superfluous. Had D Squadron not
been there, the Argentine Special Forces would have caught the Commando before
de-planing and, in the darkness and confusion on a strange landing zone,
inflicted heavy casualties on men and helicopters."[96]
Bluff Cove and Fitzroy[edit]
Main article: Bluff Cove Air Attacks
By 1 June, with the arrival of a further 5,000 British
troops of the 5th Infantry Brigade, the new British divisional commander, Major
General Jeremy Moore RM, had sufficient force to start planning an offensive
against Stanley. During this build-up, the Argentine air assaults on the
British naval forces continued, killing 56. Of the dead, 32 were from the Welsh
Guards on RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram on 8 June. According to
Surgeon-Commander Rick Jolly of the Falklands Field Hospital, more than 150 men
suffered burns and injuries of some kind in the attack, including, famously,
Simon Weston.[97]
The Guards were sent to support an advance along the
southern approach to Stanley. On 2 June a small advance party of 2 Para moved
to Swan Inlet house in a number of Army Westland Scout helicopters. Telephoning
ahead to Fitzroy, they discovered the area clear of Argentines and (exceeding
their authority) commandeered the one remaining RAF Chinook helicopter to
frantically ferry another contingent of 2 Para ahead to Fitzroy (a settlement
on Port Pleasant) and Bluff Cove (a settlement on Port Fitzroy).
This uncoordinated advance caused planning nightmares for
the commanders of the combined operation, as they now found themselves with a
30 miles (48 km) string of indefensible positions on their southern flank.
Support could not be sent by air as the single remaining Chinook was already
heavily oversubscribed. The soldiers could march, but their equipment and heavy
supplies would need to be ferried by sea. Plans were drawn up for half the
Welsh Guards to march light on the night of 2 June, whilst the Scots Guards and
the second half of the Welsh Guards were to be ferried from San Carlos Water in
the Landing Ship Logistics (LSL) Sir Tristram and the landing platform dock
(LPD) Intrepid on the night of 5 June. Intrepid was planned to stay one day and
unload itself and as much of Sir Tristram as possible, leaving the next evening
for the relative safety of San Carlos. Escorts would be provided for this day,
after which Sir Tristram would be left to unload using a Mexeflote (a powered
raft) for as long as it took to finish.
Political pressure from above to not risk the LPD forced
Commodore Clapp to alter this plan. Two lower-value LSLs would be sent, but
without suitable beaches on which to land, Intrepid's landing craft would need
to accompany them to unload. A complicated operation across several nights with
Intrepid and her sister ship Fearless sailing half-way to dispatch their craft
was devised. The attempted overland march by half the Welsh Guards failed,
possibly as they refused to march light and attempted to carry their equipment.
They returned to San Carlos and were landed directly at Bluff Cove when
Fearless dispatched her landing craft. Sir Tristram sailed on the night of 6
June and was joined by Sir Galahad at dawn on 7 June. Anchored 1,200 feet (370
m) apart in Port Pleasant, the landing ships were near Fitzroy, the designated
landing point.
The landing craft should have been able to unload the
ships to that point relatively quickly, but confusion over the ordered
disembarcation point (the first half of the Guards going direct to Bluff Cove)
resulted in the senior Welsh Guards infantry officer aboard insisting his
troops be ferried the far longer distance directly to Port Fitzroy/Bluff Cove.
The alternative was for the infantrymen to march via the recently repaired
Bluff Cove bridge (destroyed by retreating Argentine combat engineers) to their
destination, a journey of around seven miles (11 km).
On Sir Galahad's stern ramp there was an argument about
what to do. The officers on board were told they could not sail to Bluff Cove
that day. They were told they had to get their men off ship and onto the beach
as soon as possible as the ships were vulnerable to enemy aircraft. It would
take 20 minutes to transport the men to shore using the LCU and Mexeflote. They
would then have the choice to walk the 7 miles to Bluff Cove or wait until dark
to sail there. The officers on board said they would remain on board until dark
and then sail. They refused to take their men off the ship. They possibly
doubted that the bridge had been repaired due to the presence on board Sir
Galahad of the Royal Engineer Troop whose job it was to repair the bridge. The
Welsh Guards were keen to rejoin the rest of their Battalion who were
potentially facing the enemy without their support. They had also not seen any
enemy aircraft since landing at San Carlos and may have been overconfident in
the air defences. Ewen Southby-Tailyour gave a direct order for the men to
leave the ship and go to the beach. The order was ignored.
The longer journey time of the landing craft taking the
troops directly to Bluff Cove and the squabbling over how the landing was to be
performed caused enormous delay in unloading. This had disastrous consequences.
Without escorts, having not yet established their air defence, and still almost
fully laden, the two LSLs in Port Pleasant were sitting targets for two waves
of Argentine A-4 Skyhawks.
The disaster at Port Pleasant (although often known as
Bluff Cove) would provide the world with some of the most sobering images of
the war as TV news video footage showed Navy helicopters hovering in thick
smoke to winch survivors from the burning landing ships. British casualties
were 48 killed and 115 wounded.[98] Three Argentine pilots were also killed.
The air strike delayed the scheduled British ground attack on Stanley by two
days.[99] However, Argentine General Mario Menendez, commander of Argentine
forces in the Falklands, was told that 900 British soldiers had died. He
expected that the losses would cause enemy morale to drop and the British
assault to stall.
Fall of Stanley[edit]
The road to Stanley
Argentine prisoners of war – Port Stanley.
On the night of 11 June, after several days of
painstaking reconnaissance and logistic build-up, British forces launched a
brigade-sized night attack against the heavily defended ring of high ground
surrounding Stanley. Units of 3 Commando Brigade, supported by naval gunfire
from several Royal Navy ships, simultaneously attacked in the Battle of Mount
Harriet, Battle of Two Sisters, and Battle of Mount Longdon. Mount Harriet was
taken at a cost of 2 British and 18 Argentine soldiers. At Two Sisters, the
British faced both enemy resistance and friendly fire, but managed to capture
their objectives. The toughest battle was at Mount Longdon. British forces were
bogged down by assault rifle, mortar, machine gun, artillery fire, sniper fire,
and ambushes. Despite this, the British continued their advance.
During this battle, 13 were killed when HMS Glamorgan,
straying too close to shore while returning from the gun line, was struck by an
improvised trailer-based Exocet MM38 launcher taken from the destroyer ARA
Seguí by Argentine Navy technicians.[100] On the same day, Sgt Ian McKay of 4
Platoon, B Company, 3 Para died in a grenade attack on an Argentine bunker,
which earned him a posthumous Victoria Cross. After a night of fierce fighting,
all objectives were secured. Both sides suffered heavy losses.
The night of 13 June saw the start of the second phase of
attacks, in which the momentum of the initial assault was maintained. 2 Para
with CVRT support from The Blues and Royals, captured Wireless Ridge at the
Battle of Wireless Ridge, with the loss of 3 British and 25 Argentine lives,
and the 2nd battalion, Scots Guards captured Mount Tumbledown at the Battle of
Mount Tumbledown, which cost 10 British and 30 Argentine lives.
A pile of discarded Argentine weapons in Port Stanley
With the last natural defence line at Mount Tumbledown
breached, the Argentine town defences of Stanley began to falter. In the
morning gloom, one company commander got lost and his junior officers became
despondent. Private Santiago Carrizo of the 3rd Regiment described how a
platoon commander ordered them to take up positions in the houses and "if
a Kelper resists, shoot him", but the entire company did nothing of the
kind.[101]
A ceasefire was declared on 14 June and the commander of
the Argentine garrison in Stanley, Brigade General Mario Menéndez surrendered
to Major General Jeremy Moore the same day.
See also: Argentine surrender in the Falklands War
Recapture of South Sandwich Islands[edit]
The Argentine Thule Garrison at the Corbeta Uruguay base
On 20 June the British retook the South Sandwich Islands,
(which involved accepting the surrender of the Southern Thule Garrison at the
Corbeta Uruguay base) and declared hostilities to be over. Argentina had
established Corbeta Uruguay in 1976, but prior to 1982 the United Kingdom had
contested the existence of the Argentine base only through diplomatic channels.
Casualties[edit]
The Argentine Military Cemetery, on East Falkland
The British Military Cemetery at San Carlos on East
Falkland
In total 907 were killed during the 74 days of the
conflict:
Argentina – 649[102]
Ejército Argentino (Army) – 194 (16 officers, 35
Non-commissioned officers (NCO) and 143 conscript privates)[103]
Armada de la República Argentina (Navy) – 341 (including
321 in Belgrano and 4 naval aviators)
IMARA ( Marines ) – 34[104]
Fuerza Aérea Argentina (Air Force) – 55 (including 31
pilots and 14 ground crew)[105]
Gendarmería Nacional Argentina (Border Guard) – 7
Prefectura Naval Argentina (Coast Guard) – 2
Civilian sailors – 16
United Kingdom – A total of 255 British servicemen and 3
female Falkland Island civilians were killed during the Falklands War.[106]
Royal Navy – 86 + 2 Hong Kong laundrymen (see below)[107]
Royal Marines – 27 (2 officers, 14 NCOs and 11
marines)[108]
Royal Fleet Auxiliary – 4 + 6 Hong Kong sailors[109][110]
Merchant Navy – 6[109]
British Army – 123 (7 officers, 40 NCOs and 76
privates)[111][112][113]
Royal Air Force – 1 (1 officer)[109]
Falkland Islands civilians – 3 women killed by friendly
fire[109]
Of the 86 Royal Navy personnel, 22 were lost in HMS
Ardent, 19 + 1 lost in HMS Sheffield, 19 + 1 lost in HMS Coventry and 13 lost
in HMS Glamorgan. Fourteen naval cooks were among the dead, the largest number
from any one branch in the Royal Navy.
Thirty-three of the British Army's dead came from the
Welsh Guards, 21 from the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, 18 from the
2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, 19 from the Special Air Service, 3 from
Royal Signals and 8 from each of the Scots Guards and Royal Engineers. The 1st
battalion/7th Duke of Edinburgh's Own Gurkha Rifles lost one man killed.
Two more British deaths may be attributed to Operation
Corporate, bringing the total to 260:
Captain Brian Biddick from SS Uganda underwent an
emergency operation on the voyage to the Falklands. Later he was repatriated by
an RAF medical flight to the hospital at Wroughton where he died on 12
May.[114]
Paul Mills from HMS Coventry suffered from complications
from a skull fracture sustained in the sinking of his ship and died on 29 March
1983; he is buried in his home town of Swavesey.[115]
There were 1,188 Argentine and 777 British non-fatal
casualties.
Further information about the field hospitals and
hospital ships is at Ajax Bay and List of hospitals and hospital ships of the
Royal Navy. On the Argentine side beside the Military Hospital at Port Stanley,
the Argentine Air Force Mobile Field Hospital was deployed at Comodoro
Rivadavia.
Red Cross Box[edit]
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Before British offensive operations began, the British
and Argentine governments agreed to establish an area on the high seas where
both sides could station hospital ships without fear of attack by the other
side. This area, a circle 20 nautical miles in diameter, was referred to as the
Red Cross Box (48°30′S 53°45′W), about 45 miles (72 km) north of Falkland
Sound). Ultimately, the British stationed four ships (HMS Hydra, HMS Hecla and
HMS Herald and the primary hospital ship Uganda) within the box, while the
Argentinians stationed three (Almirante Irizar, Bahia Paraiso and Puerto
Deseado).
Hecla at HM Naval Base Gibraltar, during conversion to a
hospital ship for service during the Falklands War
The hospital ships were non-warships converted to serve
as hospital ships. The three British naval vessels were survey vessels and
Uganda was a passenger liner. Almirante Irizar was an icebreaker, Bahia Paraiso
was an Antarctic supply transport and Puerto Deseado was a survey ship. The
British and Argentine vessels operating within the Box were in radio contact
and there was some transfer of patients between the hospital ships. For
example, the British hospital ship SS Uganda on four occasions transferred
patients to an Argentinian hospital ship. The British naval hospital ships
operated as casualty ferries, carrying casualties from both sides from the
Falklands to Uganda and operating a shuttle service between the Red Cross Box
and Montevideo.
Throughout the conflict officials of the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) conducted inspections to verify that all
concerned were abiding by the rules of the Geneva Convention. On 12 June some
personnel transferred from the Argentine hospital ship to the British ships by
helicopter. Argentine naval officers also inspected the British casualty
ferries in the estuary of the River Plate.
British casualty evacuation[edit]
Hydra worked with Hecla[116] and Herald, to take
casualties from Uganda to Montevideo, Uruguay,[117] where a fleet of Uruguayan
ambulances would meet them. RAF VC10 aircraft then flew the casualties to the
UK for transfer to the Princess Alexandra Royal Air Force Hospital at RAF
Wroughton, near Swindon.
Aftermath[edit]
Main article: Aftermath of the Falklands War
This brief war brought many consequences for all the
parties involved, besides the considerable casualty rate and large materiel
loss, especially of shipping and aircraft, relative to the deployed military
strengths of the opposing sides.
In the United Kingdom, Margaret Thatcher's popularity
increased. The success of the Falklands campaign was widely regarded as the
factor in the turnaround in fortunes for the Conservative government, who had
been trailing behind the SDP-Liberal Alliance in the opinion polls for months
before the conflict began, but after the success in the Falklands the
Conservatives returned to the top of the opinion polls by a wide margin and
went on to win the following year's general election by a landslide.[118]
Subsequently, Defence Secretary Nott's proposed cuts to the Royal Navy were
abandoned.
The islanders subsequently had full British citizenship
restored in 1983, their lifestyle improved by investments Britain made after
the war and by the liberalisation of economic measures that had been stalled
through fear of angering Argentina. In 1985, a new constitution was enacted
promoting self-government, which has continued to devolve power to the
islanders.
In Argentina, the Falklands War meant that a possible war
with Chile was avoided. Further, Argentina returned to a democratic government
in the 1983 general election, the first free general election since 1973. It
also had a major social impact, destroying the military's image as the
"moral reserve of the nation" that they had maintained through most
of the 20th century.
Various figures have been produced for the number of
veterans who have committed suicide since the war. Some studies have estimated
that 264 British veterans and 350–500 Argentine veterans have committed suicide
since 1982.[119][120][121] However, a detailed study[122] of 21,432 British
veterans of the war commissioned by the UK Ministry of Defence found that only
95 had died from "intentional self-harm and events of undetermined intent
(suicides and open verdict deaths)", a ratio no higher than that of the
general population.[123]
Military analysis[edit]
Militarily, the Falklands conflict remains the largest
air-naval combat operation between modern forces since the end of the Second
World War.[according to whom?] As such, it has been the subject of intense
study by military analysts and historians.[according to whom?] The most
significant "lessons learned" include: the vulnerability of surface
ships to anti-ship missiles and submarines, the challenges of co-ordinating
logistical support for a long-distance projection of power, and reconfirmation
of the role of tactical air power, including the use of helicopters.[according
to whom?]
In 1986 the BBC broadcast the Horizon programme; "In
the Wake of HMS Sheffield", in-which lessons learned from the conflict
were discussed, along with measures since-taken to implement them, such as
stealth ships, and ship's close-in weapons systems.
Memorials[edit]
The Monumento a los Caídos en Malvinas ("Monument
for the Fallen in the Falklands") in Plaza San Martín, Buenos Aires; a
member of the historic Patricios regiment stands guard.[nb 8]
In addition to memorials on the islands, there is a
memorial in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London to the British war
dead.[124] In Argentina, there is a memorial at Plaza San Martín in Buenos
Aires,[125] another one in Rosario, and a third one in Ushuaia.
During the war, British dead were put into plastic body
bags and buried in mass graves. After the war the bodies were recovered; 14
were reburied at Blue Beach Military Cemetery and 64 were returned to Britain.
Many of the Argentine dead are buried in the Argentine
Military Cemetery west of the Darwin Settlement. The government of Argentina
declined an offer by Britain to have the bodies repatriated to the
mainland.[126]
Minefields[edit]
Although some minefields have been cleared, a substantial
number of them still exist in the islands, such as this one at Port William on
East Falkland.
As of 2011 there were 113 uncleared minefields on the
Falkland Islands and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) covering an area of 13 km2 (5.0
sq mi). Of this area, 5.5 km2 (2.1 sq mi) on the Murrell Peninsula were
classified as being "suspected minefields" – the area had been
heavily pastured for the previous 25 years without incident. It was estimated
that these minefields had 20,000 anti-personnel mines and 5,000 anti-tank
mines. No human casualties from mines or UXO have been reported in the Falkland
Islands since 1984, and no civilian mine casualties have ever occurred on the
islands. The UK reported six military personnel were injured in 1982 and a
further two injured in 1983. Most military accidents took place while clearing
the minefields in the immediate aftermath of the 1982 conflict or in the
process of trying to establish the extent of the minefield perimeters, particularly
where no detailed records existed.
On 9 May 2008, the Falkland Islands Government asserted
that the minefields which represent 0.1% of the available farmland on the
islands "present no long term social or economic difficulties for the
Falklands" and that the impact of clearing the mines would cause more
problems than containing them. However, the British Government, in accordance
with its commitments under the Mine Ban Treaty has a commitment to clear the
mines by the end of 2019. [127][128] In May 2012, it was announced that 3.7 km2
(1.4 sq mi) of Stanley Common (which lies between the Stanley – Mount Pleasant
road and the shoreline) was made safe and had been opened to the public,
opening up a 3-kilometre (1.9 mi) stretch of coastline and a further two
kilometres of shoreline along Mullet's Creek.[129]
Press and publicity[edit]
Argentina[edit]
Gente's "Estamos ganando" headline ("We're
winning")
Selected war correspondents were regularly flown to Port
Stanley in military aircraft to report on the war. Back in Buenos Aires
newspapers and magazines faithfully reported on "the heroic actions of the
largely conscript army and its successes".[20]
Officers from the intelligence services were attached to
the newspapers and 'leaked' information confirming the official communiqués
from the government. The glossy magazines Gente and Siete Días swelled to sixty
pages with colour photographs of British warships in flames – many of them
faked – and bogus eyewitness reports of the Argentine commandos' guerrilla war
on South Georgia (6 May) and an already dead Pucará pilot's attack on HMS
Hermes[20] (Lt. Daniel Antonio Jukic had been killed at Goose Green during a
British air strike on 1 May). Most of the faked photos actually came from the
tabloid press. One of the best remembered headlines was "Estamos
ganando" ("We're winning") from the magazine Gente, that would
later use variations of it.[130]
The Argentine troops on the Falkland Islands could read
Gaceta Argentina—a newspaper intended to boost morale among the servicemen.
Some of its untruths could easily be unveiled by the soldiers who recovered
corpses.[131]
The Malvinas course united the Argentines in a patriotic
atmosphere that protected the junta from critics, and even opponents of the
military government supported Galtieri; Ernesto Sabato said: "Don't be
mistaken, Europe; it is not a dictatorship who is fighting for the Malvinas, it
is the whole Nation. Opponents of the military dictatorship, like me, are
fighting to extirpate the last trace of colonialism."[132] The Madres de
Plaza de Mayo were even exposed to death threats from ordinary people.[20]
HMS Invincible was repeatedly sunk in the Argentine press,[133]
and on 30 April 1982 the Argentine magazine Tal Cual showed Prime Minister
Thatcher with an eyepatch and the text: Pirate, witch and assassin.
Guilty![134] Three British reporters sent to Argentina to cover the war from
the Argentine perspective were jailed until the end of the war.[135]
United Kingdom[edit]
The Sun's "Gotcha" headline
Seventeen newspaper reporters, two photographers, two
radio reporters and three television reporters with five technicians sailed
with the Task Force to the war. The Newspaper Publishers' Association selected
them from among 160 applicants, excluding foreign media. The hasty selection
resulted in the inclusion of two journalists among the war reporters who were
interested only in Queen Elizabeth II's son Prince Andrew, who was serving in
the conflict.[136]
Merchant vessels had the civilian Inmarsat uplink, which
enabled written telex and voice report transmissions via satellite. SS Canberra
had a facsimile machine that was used to upload 202 pictures from the South
Atlantic over the course of the war. The Royal Navy leased bandwidth on the US
Defense Satellite Communications System for worldwide communications.
Television demands a thousand times the data rate of telephone, but the
Ministry of Defence was unsuccessful in convincing the US to allocate more
bandwidth.[137]
TV producers suspected that the enquiry was half-hearted;
since the Vietnam War television pictures of casualties and traumatised
soldiers were recognised as having negative propaganda value. However the
technology only allowed uploading a single frame per 20 minutes – and only if
the military satellites were allocated 100% to television transmissions.
Videotapes were shipped to Ascension Island, where a broadband satellite uplink
was available, resulting in TV coverage being delayed by three weeks.[137]
The press was very dependent on the Royal Navy, and was
censored on site. Many reporters in the UK knew more about the war than those
with the Task Force.[137]
The Royal Navy expected Fleet Street to conduct a Second
World War-style positive news campaign[138] but the majority of the British
media, especially the BBC, reported the war in a neutral fashion.[139] These
reporters referred to "the British troops" and "the Argentinian
troops" instead of "our lads" and the "Argies".[140]
The two main tabloid papers presented opposing viewpoints: The Daily Mirror was
decidedly anti-war, whilst The Sun became well known for headlines such as
"Stick It Up Your Junta!", which, along with the reporting in other
tabloids,[141] led to accusations of xenophobia[133] [141][142] and
jingoism.[133] [142][143][144] The Sun was condemned for its "Gotcha"
headline following the sinking of the ARA General Belgrano.[145][146][147]
Cultural impact[edit]
Main article: Cultural impact of the Falklands War
There were wide-ranging influences on popular culture in
both the UK and Argentina, from the immediate postwar period to the present.
The then elderly Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges described the war as
"a fight between two bald men over a comb".[148] The words yomp and
Exocet entered the British vernacular as a result of the war. The Falklands War
also provided material for theatre, film and TV drama and influenced the output
of musicians. In Argentina, the military government banned the broadcasting of
music in the English language, giving way to the rise of local rock
musicians.[149] History of Indonesia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Part of a series on the
History of Indonesia
Prehistory
Early kingdoms
Kutai 300s
Tarumanagara 358–669
Kalingga 500s–600s
Srivijaya 600s–1200s
Sailendra 800s–900s
Sunda 669–1579
Medang 752–1006
Kahuripan 1006–1045
Kediri 1045–1221
Singhasari 1222–1292
Majapahit 1293–1500
Rise of Muslim states
Spread of Islam 1200–1600
Ternate Sultanate 1257–present
Samudera Pasai Sultanate 1267–1521
Malacca Sultanate 1400–1511
Cirebon Sultanate 1445–1677
Demak Sultanate 1475–1548
Aceh Sultanate 1496–1903
Pagaruyung Kingdom 1500–1825
Banten Sultanate 1526–1813
Mataram Sultanate 1500s–1700s
European colonisation
Portuguese 1512–1850
Dutch East India Company 1602–1800
Netherlands East Indies
1800–1942
1945–1950
Emergence of Indonesia
National Awakening 1908–1942
Japanese occupation 1942–1945
National Revolution 1945–1950
Independence
Liberal democracy 1950–1957
Guided Democracy 1957–1965
Transition 1965–1966
New Order 1966–1998
Reformasi 1998–present
Timeline
Portal icon Indonesia portal
v t e
See also: Timeline of Indonesian history
The history of Indonesia has been shaped by its geographic
position, its natural resources, a series of human migrations and contacts,
wars and conquests, as well as by trade, economics and politics. Indonesia is
an archipelagic country of 17,508 islands (6,000 inhabited) stretching along
the equator in South East Asia. The country's strategic sea-lane position
fostered inter-island and international trade; trade has since fundamentally
shaped Indonesian history. The area of Indonesia is populated by peoples of
various migrations, creating a diversity of cultures, ethnicities, and
languages. The archipelago's landforms and climate significantly influenced
agriculture and trade, and the formation of states. The boundaries of the state
of Indonesia represent the twentieth century borders of the Dutch East Indies.
Fossilised remains of Homo erectus and his tools,
popularly known as the "Java Man", suggest the Indonesian archipelago
was inhabited by at least 1.5 million years ago. Austronesian people, who form
the majority of the modern population, are thought to have originally been from
Taiwan and arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BCE. From the 7th century CE, the
powerful Srivijaya naval kingdom flourished bringing Hindu and Buddhist
influences with it. The agricultural Buddhist Sailendra and Hindu Mataram dynasties
subsequently thrived and declined in inland Java. The last significant
non-Muslim kingdom, the Hindu Majapahit kingdom, flourished from the late 13th
century, and its influence stretched over much of Indonesia. The earliest
evidence of Islamised populations in Indonesia dates to the 13th century in
northern Sumatra; other Indonesian areas gradually adopted Islam which became
the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. For
the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious
influences.
Europeans arrived in Indonesia from the 16th century
seeking to monopolise the sources of valuable nutmeg, cloves, and cubeb pepper
in Maluku. In 1602 the Dutch established the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and
became the dominant European power by 1610. Following bankruptcy, the VOC was
formally dissolved in 1800, and the government of the Netherlands established
the Dutch East Indies under government control. By the early 20th century,
Dutch dominance extended to the current boundaries. The Japanese invasion and
subsequent occupation in 1942-45 during WWII ended Dutch rule, and encouraged
the previously suppressed Indonesian independence movement. Two days after the
surrender of Japan in August 1945, nationalist leader, Sukarno, declared
independence and became president. The Netherlands tried to reestablish its
rule, but a bitter armed and diplomatic struggle ended in December 1949, when
in the face of international pressure, the Dutch formally recognised Indonesian
independence.
An attempted coup in 1965 led to a violent army-led
anti-communist purge in which over half a million people were killed. General
Suharto politically outmanoeuvred President Sukarno, and became president in
March 1968. His New Order administration garnered the favour of the West whose
investment in Indonesia was a major factor in the subsequent three decades of
substantial economic growth. In the late 1990s, however, Indonesia was the
country hardest hit by the East Asian Financial Crisis which led to popular
protests and Suharto's resignation on 21 May 1998. The Reformasi era following
Suharto's resignation, has led to a strengthening of democratic processes,
including a regional autonomy program, the secession of East Timor, and the
first direct presidential election in 2004. Political and economic instability,
social unrest, corruption, natural disasters, and terrorism have slowed
progress. Although relations among different religious and ethnic groups are
largely harmonious, acute sectarian discontent and violence remain problems in
some areas.
]
The replica of Java man skull, originally discovered in
Sangiran, Central Java.
Main article: Prehistoric Indonesia
In 2007 analysis of cut marks on two bovid bones found in
Sangiran, showed them to have been made 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago by
clamshell tools. This is the oldest evidence for the presence of early man in
Indonesia. Fossilised remains of Homo erectus, popularly known as the
"Java Man" were first discovered by the Dutch anatomist Eugène Dubois
at Trinil in 1891, and are at least 700,000 years old, at that time the oldest
human ancestor ever found. Further Homo erectus fossils of a similar age were
found at Sangiran in the 1930`s by the anthropologist Gustav Heinrich Ralph von
Koenigswald, who in the same time period also uncovered fossils at Ngandong
alongside more advanced tools, re-dated in 2011 to between 550,000 and 143,000
years old.[1][2] In 1977 another Homo erectus skull was discovered at
Sambungmacan[3]
In 2003, on the island of Flores, fossils of a new small
hominid dated between 74,000 and 13,000 years old and named "Flores
Man" (Homo floresiensis) were discovered much to the surprise of the scientific
community.[4] This 3 foot tall hominid is thought to be a species descended
from Homo Erectus and reduced in size over thousands of years by a well known
process called island dwarfism. Flores Man seems to have shared the island with
modern Homo sapiens until only 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. In
2010 stone tools were discovered on Flores dating from 1 million years ago,
which is the oldest evidence anywhere in the world that early man had the
technology to make sea crossings at this very early time.[5]
The archipelago was formed during the thaw after the
latest ice age. Early humans to travelled by sea and spread from mainland Asia
eastward to New Guinea and Australia. Homo sapiens reached the region by around
45,000 years ago.[6] In 2011 evidence was uncovered in neighbouring East Timor,
showing that 42,000 years ago these early settlers had high-level maritime
skills, and by implication the technology needed to make ocean crossings to
reach Australia and other islands, as they were catching and consuming large
numbers of big deep sea fish such as tuna.[7]
Austronesian people form the majority of the modern
population. They may have arrived in Indonesia around 2000 BCE and are thought
to have originated in Taiwan.[8] Dong Son culture spread to Indonesia bringing
with it techniques of wet-field rice cultivation, ritual buffalo sacrifice,
bronze casting, megalithic practises, and ikat weaving methods. Some of these
practices remain in areas including the Batak areas of Sumatra, Toraja in
Sulawesi, and several islands in Nusa Tenggara. Early Indonesians were animists
who honoured the spirits of the dead as their souls or life force could still
help the living.
Ideal agricultural conditions, and the mastering of
wet-field rice cultivation as early as the 8th century BCE,[9] allowed
villages, towns, and small kingdoms to flourish by the 1st century CE. These
kingdoms (little more than collections of villages subservient to petty
chieftains) evolved with their own ethnic and tribal religions. Java's hot and
even temperature, abundant rain and volcanic soil, was perfect for wet rice
cultivation. Such agriculture required a well organized society in contrast to
dry-field rice which is a much simpler form of cultivation that doesn't require
an elaborate social structure to support it.
Buni culture clay pottery was flourished in coastal
northern West Java and Banten around 400 BCE to 100 CE [10] The Buni culture
was probably the predecessor of Tarumanagara kingdom, one of the earliest Hindu
kingdom in Indonesia that produces numerous inscriptions, which marked the
beginning of historical period in Java.
Hindu-Buddhist civilizations[edit]
Early kingdoms[edit]
Indonesia like much of Southeast Asia was influenced by
Indian culture.[11] From the second century, through the Indian Dynasties like
the Pallava dynasty, Gupta Empire, Pala Empire and Chola Empire in the
succeeding centuries up to the 12th century, Indian culture spread across all
of Southeast Asia.[11]
1600-year-old stone inscription from the era of
Purnawarman, king of Tarumanagara, founded in Tugu sub-district of Jakarta.
References to the Dvipantara or Yawadvipa, a Hindu
kingdom in Java and Sumatra appear in Sanskrit writings from 200 BCE. In
India's earliest epic, the Ramayana, Sugriva, the chief of Rama's army
dispatched his men to Yawadvipa, the island of Java, in search of Sita.[12] The
earliest archeological relic discovered in Indonesia is from the Ujung Kulon
National Park, West Java, where an early Hindu statue of Ganesha estimated from
the 1st century CE was found on the summit of Mount Raksa in Panaitan island.
There is also archeological evidence of Sunda kingdom in West Java dating from
the 2nd-century, and Jiwa Temple in Batujaya, Karawang, West Java was probably
built around this time. South Indian culture was spread to Southeast Asia by
the south Indian Pallava dynasty in the 4th and 5th century.[13] and by 5th
century, stone inscriptions written in Pallava scripts were found in Java and
Borneo.
British soldier in Indonesia |
A number of Hindu and Buddhist states flourished and then
declined across Indonesia. Three rough plinths dating from the beginning of the
4th century are found in Kutai, East Kalimantan, near Mahakam River. The
plinths bear an inscription in the Pallava script of India reading "A gift
to the Brahmin priests".
8th century Borobudur buddhist monument, Sailendra
dynasty
One such early kingdom was Tarumanagara, which flourished
between 358 and 669 CE. Located in West Java close to modern-day Jakarta, its
5th century king, Purnawarman, established the earliest known inscriptions in
Java, the Ciaruteun inscription located near Bogor. On this monument, King
Purnavarman inscribed his name and made an imprint of his footprints, as well
as his elephant's footprints. The accompanying inscription reads, "Here
are the footprints of King Purnavarman, the heroic conqueror of the
world". This inscription is written in Pallava script and in Sanskrit and
is still clear after 1500 years. Purnawarman apparently built a canal that
changed the course of the Cakung River, and drained a coastal area for
agriculture and settlement purpose. In his stone inscriptions, Purnawarman
associated himself with Vishnu, and Brahmins ritually secured the hydraulic
project.[14]
Around the same period, in the 6th to 7th century, the
Kalingga Kingdom was established in Central Java northern coast, mentioned in
Chinese account.[15] The name of this kingdom was derived from ancient Indian
kingdom of Kaling, which suggest the ancient link between India and Indonesia.
The political history of Indonesian archipelago during
the 7th to 11th centuries was dominated by Srivijaya based in Sumatra, also
Sailendra that dominated central Java and constructed Borobudur, the largest
Buddhist monument in the world. The history prior of the 14th and 15th
centuries is not well known due to scarcity of evidence. Two major states
dominated this period; Majapahit in East Java, the greatest of the pre-Islamic
Indonesian states, and Malacca on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, arguably
the greatest of the Muslim trading empires.[16]
Medang[edit]
Prambanan in Java; built during the Sanjaya dynasty of
Mataram, it is one of the largest Hindu temple complexes in south-east Asia.
Main article: Medang Kingdom
Medang or previously known as Mataram was an Indianized
kingdom based in Central Java around modern-day Yogyakarta between the 8th and
10th centuries. The center of the kingdom was moved from central Java to east
Java by Mpu Sindok. An eruption of Mount Merapi volcano or a power struggle may
have caused the move.
Pemimpin penjajah Belanda di Indonesia |
The first king of Mataram was Sri Sanjaya and left
inscriptions in stone.[17] The monumental Hindu temple of Prambanan in the
vicinity of Yogyakarta was built by Daksa. Dharmawangsa ordered the translation
of the Mahabharata into Old Javanese in 996.
The kingdom collapsed into chaos at the end of
Dharmawangsa's reign under military pressure from Srivijaya. One of the last
major kings of Mataram was Airlangga who reigned from 1016 until 1049.[18]
Airlangga was a son of Udayana of Bali and a relative of Dharmawangsa
re-established the kingdom including Bali under the name of Kahuripan.
Srivijaya[edit]
Main article: Srivijaya
The empire of Srivijaya in Southeast Asia
Srivijaya was an ethnic Malay kingdom on Sumatra which
influenced much of the Maritime Southeast Asia. From the 7th century CE, the
powerful Srivijaya naval kingdom flourished as a result of trade and the
influences of Hinduism and Buddhism that were imported with it.[19]
As early as the 1st century CE Indonesian vessels made
trade voyages as far as Africa. Picture: a ship carved on Borobudur, circa 800
CE.
Srivijaya was centred in the coastal trading centre of
present day Palembang. Srivijaya was not a "state" in the modern
sense with defined boundaries and a centralized government to which the
citizens own allegiance.[20] Rather Srivijaya was a confederacy form of society
centered on a royal heartland.[21] It was a thalassocracy and did not extend
its influence far beyond the coastal areas of the islands of Southeast Asia.
Trade was the driving force of Srivijaya just as it is for most societies
throughout history.[22] The Srivijayan navy controlled the trade that made its
way through the Strait of Malacca.[20]
By the 7th century, the harbors of various vassal states
of Srivijaya lined both coasts of the Straits of Melaka.[21] Around this time,
Srivijaya had established suzerainty over large areas of Sumatra, western Java,
and much of the Malay Peninsula. Dominating the Malacca and Sunda straits, the
empire controlled both the Spice Route traffic and local trade. It remained a
formidable sea power until the 13th century. This spread the ethnic Malay
culture throughout Sumatra, the Malay Peninsula, and western Borneo. A
stronghold of Vajrayana Buddhism, Srivijaya attracted pilgrims and scholars
from other parts of Asia.
The relation between Srivijaya and the Chola Empire of
south India was friendly during the reign of Raja Raja Chola I but during the
reign of Rajendra Chola I the Chola Empire attacked Srivijaya cities.[23] A
series of Chola raids in the 11th century weakened the Srivijayan hegemony and
enabled the formation of regional kingdoms based, like Kediri, on intensive
agriculture rather than coastal and long distance trade. Srivijayan influence
waned by the 11th century. The island was in frequent conflict with the
Javanese kingdoms, first Singhasari and then Majapahit. Islam eventually made
its way to the Aceh region of Sumatra, spreading its influence through contacts
with Arabs and Indian traders. By the late 13th century, the kingdom of Pasai
in northern Sumatra converted to Islam. The last inscription dates to 1374,
where a crown prince, Ananggavarman, is mentioned. Srivijaya ceased to exist by
1414, when Parameswara, the kingdom's last prince, converted to Islam and
founded the Sultanate of Malacca on the Malay peninsula.
Singhasari and Majapahit[edit]
Wringin Lawang, the split gate shows the red brick
construction, and strong geometric lines of Majapahit architecture. Located at
Jatipasar, Trowulan, East Java.
Main articles: Singhasari and Majapahit
Despite a lack of historical evidence, it is known that
Majapahit was the most dominant of Indonesia's pre-Islamic states.[24] The
Hindu Majapahit kingdom was founded in eastern Java in the late 13th century,
and under Gajah Mada it experienced what is often referred to as a "Golden
Age" in Indonesian history,[25] when its influence extended to much of
southern Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Sumatra, and Bali[citation needed] from about
1293 to around 1500.
The founder of the Majapahit Empire, Kertarajasa, was the
son-in-law of the ruler of the Singhasari kingdom, also based in Java. After
Singhasari drove Srivijaya out of Java in 1290, the rising power of Singhasari
came to the attention of Kublai Khan in China and he sent emissaries demanding
tribute. Kertanagara, ruler of the Singhasari kingdom, refused to pay tribute
and the Khan sent a punitive expedition which arrived off the coast of Java in
1293. By that time, a rebel from Kediri, Jayakatwang, had killed Kertanagara.
The Majapahit founder allied himself with the Mongols against Jayakatwang and,
once the Singhasari kingdom was destroyed, turned and forced his Mongol allies
to withdraw in confusion.
Gajah Mada, an ambitious Majapahit prime minister and
regent from 1331 to 1364, extended the empire's rule to the surrounding
islands. A few years after Gajah Mada's death, the Majapahit navy captured
Palembang, putting an end to the Srivijayan kingdom. Although the Majapahit
rulers extended their power over other islands and destroyed neighbouring
kingdoms, their focus seems to have been on controlling and gaining a larger
share of the commercial trade that passed through the archipelago. About the
time Majapahit was founded, Muslim traders and proselytisers began entering the
area. After its peak in the 14th century, Majapahit power began to decline and
was unable to control the rising power of the Sultanate of Malacca. Dates for
the end of the Majapahit Empire range from 1478 to 1520. A large number of
courtiers, artisans, priests, and members of the royal family moved east to the
island of Bali at the end of Majapahit power.
The age of Islamic states[edit]
The spread of Islam[edit]
Main article: The spread of Islam in Indonesia
The earliest accounts of the Indonesian archipelago date
from the Abbasid Caliphate, according to those early accounts the Indonesian
archipelago were famous among early Muslim sailors mainly due to its abundance
of precious spice trade commodities such as nutmeg, cloves, galangal and many
other spices.[26]
Although Muslim traders first traveled through South East
Asia early in the Islamic era, the spread of Islam among the inhabitants of the
Indonesian archipelago dates to the 13th century in northern Sumatra.[27]
Although it is known that the spread of Islam began in the west of the archipelago,
the fragmentary evidence does not suggest a rolling wave of conversion through
adjacent areas; rather, it suggests the process was complicated and slow.[27]
The spread of Islam was driven by increasing trade links outside of the
archipelago; in general, traders and the royalty of major kingdoms were the
first to adopt the new religion.[28]
Other Indonesian areas gradually adopted Islam, making it
the dominant religion in Java and Sumatra by the end of the 16th century. For
the most part, Islam overlaid and mixed with existing cultural and religious
influences, which shaped the predominant form of Islam in Indonesia,
particularly in Java.[28] Only Bali retained a Hindu majority. In the eastern
archipelago, both Christian and Islamic missionaries were active in the 16th
and 17th centuries, and, currently, there are large communities of both
religions on these islands.[28]
Sultanate of Mataram[edit]
Main article: Sultanate of Mataram
The cemetery compound of Mataram Sultans in Kota Gede,
Yogyakarta.
The Sultanate of Mataram was the third Sultanate in Java,
after the Sultanate of Demak Bintoro and the Sultanate of Pajang.
According to Javanese records, Kyai Gedhe Pamanahan
became the ruler of the Mataram area in the 1570s with the support of the kingdom
of Pajang to the east, near the current site of Surakarta (Solo). Pamanahan was
often referred to as Kyai Gedhe Mataram after his ascension.
Pamanahan's son, Panembahan Senapati Ingalaga, replaced
his father on the throne around 1584. Under Senapati the kingdom grew
substantially through regular military campaigns against Mataram's neighbors.
Shortly after his accession, for example, he conquered his father's patrons in
Pajang.
The reign of Panembahan Seda ing Krapyak (c. 1601–1613),
the son of Senapati, was dominated by further warfare, especially against
powerful Surabaya, already a major center in East Java. The first contact
between Mataram and the Dutch East India Company (VOC) occurred under Krapyak.
Dutch activities at the time were limited to trading from limited coastal
settlements, so their interactions with the inland Mataram kingdom were
limited, although they did form an alliance against Surabaya in 1613. Krapyak
died that year.
Krapyak was succeeded by his son, who is known simply as
Sultan Agung ("Great Sultan") in Javanese records. Agung was
responsible for the great expansion and lasting historical legacy of Mataram
due to the extensive military conquests of his long reign from 1613 to 1646.
After years of war Agung finally conquered Surabaya. The
city surrounded by land and sea and starved it into submission. With Surabaya
brought into the empire, the Mataram kingdom encompassed all of central and
eastern Java, and Madura; only in the west did Banten and the Dutch settlement
in Batavia remain outside Agung's control. He tried repeatedly in the 1620s and
1630s to drive the Dutch from Batavia, but his armies had met their match, and
he was forced to share control over Java.
In 1645 he began building Imogiri, his burial place,
about fifteen kilometers south of Yogyakarta. Imogiri remains the resting place
of most of the royalty of Yogyakarta and Surakarta to this day. Agung died in
the spring of 1646, with his image of royal invincibility shattered by his
losses to the Dutch, but he did leave behind an empire that covered most of
Java and its neighboring islands.
Upon taking the throne, Agung's son Susuhunan Amangkurat
I tried to bring long-term stability to Mataram's realm, murdering local leaders
that were insufficiently deferential to him, and closing ports so he alone had
control over trade with the Dutch.
By the mid-1670s dissatisfaction with the king fanned
into open revolt. Raden Trunajaya, a prince from Madura, lead a revolt
fortified by itinerant mercenaries from Makassar that captured the king's court
at Mataram in mid-1677. The king escaped to the north coast with his eldest
son, the future king Amangkurat II, leaving his younger son Pangeran Puger in
Mataram. Apparently more interested in profit and revenge than in running a
struggling empire, the rebel Trunajaya looted the court and withdrew to his
stronghold in East Java leaving Puger in control of a weak court.
Amangkurat I died just after his expulsion, making
Amangkurat II king in 1677. He too was nearly helpless, though, having fled
without an army or treasury to build one. In an attempt to regain his kingdom,
he made substantial concessions to the Dutch, who then went to war to reinstate
him. For the Dutch, a stable Mataram empire that was deeply indebted to them
would help ensure continued trade on favorable terms. They were willing to lend
their military might to keep the kingdom together. Dutch forces first captured
Trunajaya, then forced Puger to recognize the sovereignty of his elder brother
Amangkurat II. The kingdom collapsed after a two-year war, in which power plays
crippled the Sunan.
The Sultanate of Banten[edit]
Main article: The Sultanate of Banten
In 1524–25, Sunan Gunung Jati from Cirebon, together with
the armies of Demak Sultanate, seized the port of Banten from the Sunda
kingdom, and established The Sultanate of Banten. This was accompanied by
Muslim preachers and the adoption of Islam amongst the local population. At its
peak in the first half of the 17th century, the Sultanate lasted from 1526 to
1813 AD. The Sultanate left many archaeological remains and historical
records.[29]
Colonial era[edit]
Beginning in the 16th century, successive waves of
Europeans—the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and British—sought to dominate the
spice trade at its sources in India and the 'Spice Islands' (Maluku) of
Indonesia. This meant finding a way to Asia to cut out Muslim merchants who,
with their Venetian outlet in the Mediterranean, monopolised spice imports to
Europe. Astronomically priced at the time, spices were highly coveted not only
to preserve and make poorly preserved meat palatable, but also as medicines and
magic potions.
The arrival of Europeans in South East Asia is often
regarded as the watershed moment in its history. Other scholars consider this
view untenable,[30] arguing that European influence during the times of the
early arrivals of the 16th and 17th centuries was limited in both area and
depth. This is in part due to Europe not being the most advanced or dynamic
area of the world in the early 15th century. Rather, the major expansionist
force of this time was Islam; in 1453, for example, the Ottoman Turks conquered
Constantinople, while Islam continued to spread through Indonesia and the
Philippines. European influence, particularly that of the Dutch, would not have
its greatest impact on Indonesia until the 18th and 19th centuries.
The Portuguese[edit]
Main article: Portuguese colonialism in Indonesia
The nutmeg plant is native to Indonesia's Banda Islands.
Once one of the world's most valuable commodities, it drew the first European
colonial powers to Indonesia.
New found Portuguese expertise in navigation, ship
building and weaponry allowed them to make daring expeditions of exploration
and expansion. Starting with the first exploratory expeditions sent from newly
conquered Malacca in 1512, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in
Indonesia, and sought to dominate the sources of valuable spices[31] and to
extend the Catholic Church's missionary efforts. The Portuguese turned east to
Maluku and through both military conquest and alliance with local rulers, they
established trading posts, forts, and missions on the islands of Ternate,
Ambon, and Solor among others. The height of Portuguese missionary activities,
however, came at the latter half of the 16th century. Ultimately, the
Portuguese presence in Indonesia was reduced to Solor, Flores and Timor in
modern day Nusa Tenggara, following defeat at the hands of indigenous
Ternateans and the Dutch in Maluku, and a general failure to maintain control
of trade in the region.[32] In comparison with the original Portuguese ambition
to dominate Asian trade, their influence on Indonesian culture was small: the
romantic keroncong guitar ballads; a number of Indonesian words which reflect
Portuguese’s role as the lingua franca of the archipelago alongside Malay; and
many family names in eastern Indonesia such as da Costa, Dias, de Fretes,
Gonsalves, etc. The most significant impacts of the Portuguese arrival were the
disruption and disorganisation of the trade network mostly as a result of their
conquest of Malacca, and the first significant plantings of Christianity in
Indonesia. There have continued to be Christian communities in eastern
Indonesia through to the present, which has contributed to a sense of shared
interest with Europeans, particularly among the Ambonese.[33]
Dutch East-India Company[edit]
Main article: Dutch East India Company in Indonesia
An early 18th-century Dutch map from a time when only the
north coastal ports of Java were well known to the Dutch
In 1602, the Dutch parliament awarded the VOC a monopoly
on trade and colonial activities in the region at a time before the company
controlled any territory in Java. In 1619, the VOC conquered the West Javan
city of Jayakarta, where they founded the city of Batavia (present-day
Jakarta). The VOC became deeply involved in the internal politics of Java in
this period, and fought in a number of wars involving the leaders of Mataram
and Banten.
The Dutch followed the Portuguese aspirations, courage,
brutality and strategies but brought better organization, weapons, ships, and
superior financial backing. Although they failed to gain complete control of
the Indonesian spice trade, they had much more success than the previous
Portuguese efforts. They exploited the factionalisation of the small kingdoms
in Java that had replaced Majapahit, establishing a permanent foothold in Java,
from which grew a land-based colonial empire which became one of the richest
colonial possessions on earth.[33]
Dutch state rule[edit]
See also: Dutch East Indies
Batavian (Jakarta) tea factory in the 1860s
After the VOC was dissolved in 1800 following
bankruptcy,[31] and after a short British rule under Thomas Stamford Raffles,
the Dutch state took over the VOC possessions in 1816. A Javanese uprising was
crushed in the Java War of 1825–1830. After 1830 a system of forced
cultivations and indentured labour was introduced on Java, the Cultivation
System (in Dutch: cultuurstelsel). This system brought the Dutch and their
Indonesian allies enormous wealth. The cultivation system tied peasants to
their land, forcing them to work in government-owned plantations for 60 days of
the year. The system was abolished in a more liberal period after 1870. In 1901
the Dutch adopted what they called the Ethical Policy, which included somewhat
increased investment in indigenous education, and modest political reforms.
The Dutch colonialists formed a privileged upper social
class of soldiers, administrators, managers, teachers and pioneers. They lived
together with the "natives", but at the top of a rigid social and
racial caste system.[34][35] The Dutch East Indies had two legal classes of citizens;
European and indigenous. A third class, Foreign Easterners, was added in
1920.[36]
Upgrading the infrastructure of ports and roads was a
high priority for the Dutch, with the goal of modernizing the economy, pumping
wages into local areas, facilitating commerce, and speeding up military
movements. By 1950 Dutch engineers had built and upgraded a road network with
12,000 km of asphalted surface, 41,000 km of metalled road area and 16,000 km
of gravel surfaces.[37] In addition the Dutch built 7,500 kilometers (4,700 mi)
of railways, bridges, irrigation systems covering 1.4 million hectares (5,400
sq mi) of rice fields, several harbours, and 140 public drinking water systems.
These Dutch constructed public works became the economic base of the colonial
state; after independence they became the basis of the Indonesian
infrastructure.[38]
For most of the colonial period, Dutch control over its
territories in the Indonesian archipelago was tenuous. In some cases, Dutch
police and military actions in parts of Indonesia were quite cruel. Recent
discussions, for example, of Dutch cruelty in Aceh have encouraged renewed
research on these aspects of Dutch rule.[39] It was only in the early 20th
century, three centuries after the first Dutch trading post, that the full
extent of the colonial territory was established and direct colonial rule
exerted across what would become the boundaries of the modern Indonesian
state.[40] Portuguese Timor, now East Timor, remained under Portuguese rule
until 1975 when it was invaded by Indonesia. The Indonesian government declared
the territory an Indonesian province but relinquished it in 1999.
The emergence of Indonesia[edit]
Indonesian National Awakening[edit]
Main article: Indonesian National Awakening
Sukarno, Indonesian Nationalist leader, and later, first
president of Indonesia
In October 1908, the first nationalist movement was
formed, Budi Utomo.[41] On 10 September 1912, the first nationalist mass
movement was formed--Sarekat Islam.[42] By December 1912, Sarekat Islam had
93,000 members.[21] The Dutch responded after the First World War with
repressive measures. The nationalist leaders came from a small group of young
professionals and students, some of whom had been educated in the Netherlands.
In the post–World War I era, the Indonesian communists who were associated with
the Third International started to usurp the nationalist movement.[43] The
repression of the nationalist movement led to many arrests, including
Indonesia's first president, Sukarno (1901–70), who was imprisoned for
political activities on 29 December 1929.[44] Also arrested was Mohammad Hatta,
first Vice-President of Indonesia.[45] Additionally, Sutan Sjahrir, who later
became the first Prime Minister of Indonesia, was arrested on this date.[46]
In 1914 the exiled Dutch socialist Henk Sneevliet founded
the Indies Social Democratic Association. Initially a small forum of Dutch
socialists, it would later evolve into the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI)
in 1924.[47] In the post–World War I era, the Dutch strongly repressed all
attempts at change. This repression led to a growth of the PKI. By December
1924, the PKI had a membership of 1,140.[21] One year later in 1925, the PKI
had grown to 3,000 members.[21] In 1926 thru 1927, there was a PKI-led revolt
against the Dutch colonialism and the harsh repression based on strikes of
urban workers.[48] However, the strikes and the revolt was put down by the
Dutch with some 13,000 nationalists and communists leaders arrested.[21] Some
4,500 were given prison sentences.[49]
Japanese soldier in Indonesia |
Sukarno was released from prison in December 1931.[50]
However, Sukarno was re-arrested again on 1 August 1933.[51]
Japanese occupation[edit]
Main article: Japanese occupation of Indonesia
The Japanese invasion and subsequent occupation during
World War II ended Dutch rule,[52] and encouraged the previously suppressed
Indonesian independence movement. In May 1940, early in World War II, the
Netherlands was occupied by Nazi Germany. The Dutch East Indies declared a
state of siege and in July redirected exports for Japan to the US and Britain.
Negotiations with the Japanese aimed at securing supplies of aviation fuel
collapsed in June 1941, and the Japanese started their conquest of Southeast Asia
in December of that year.[53] That same month, factions from Sumatra sought
Japanese assistance for a revolt against the Dutch wartime government. The last
Dutch forces were defeated by Japan in March 1942.
In July 1942, Sukarno accepted Japan's offer to rally the
public in support of the Japanese war effort. Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta were
decorated by the Emperor of Japan in 1943. However, experience of the Japanese
occupation of Indonesia varied considerably, depending upon where one lived and
one's social position. Many who lived in areas considered important to the war
effort experienced torture, sex slavery, arbitrary arrest and execution, and
other war crimes. Thousands taken away from Indonesia as war labourers
(romusha) suffered or died as a result of ill-treatment and starvation. People
of Dutch and mixed Dutch-Indonesian descent were particular targets of the
Japanese occupation.
In March 1945 Japan organized an Indonesian committee
(BPUPKI) on independence. At its first meeting in May, Soepomo spoke of
national integration and against personal individualism; while Muhammad Yamin
suggested that the new nation should claim Sarawak, Sabah, Malaya, Portuguese
Timor, and all the pre-war territories of the Dutch East Indies. The committee
drafted the 1945 Constitution, which remains in force, though now much amended.
On 9 August 1945 Sukarno, Hatta, and Radjiman Wediodiningrat were flown to meet
Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi in Vietnam. They were told that Japan intended to
announce Indonesian independence on 24 August. After the Japanese surrender
however, Sukarno unilaterally proclaimed Indonesian independence on 17 August.
A later UN report stated that four million people died in Indonesia as a result
of the Japanese occupation.[54]
Indonesian National Revolution[edit]
Main article: Indonesian National Revolution
Indonesian flag raising shortly after the declaration of
independence.
Under pressure from radical and politicised pemuda
('youth') groups, Sukarno and Hatta proclaimed Indonesian independence, on 17
August 1945, two days after the Japanese Emperor’s surrender in the Pacific.
The following day, the Central Indonesian National Committee (KNIP) declared
Sukarno President, and Hatta Vice President.[55] Word of the proclamation
spread by shortwave and fliers while the Indonesian war-time military (PETA),
youths, and others rallied in support of the new republic, often moving to take
over government offices from the Japanese.
The Netherlands, initially backed by the British, tried
to re-establish their rule,[56] and a bitter armed and diplomatic struggle
ended in December 1949, when in the face of international pressure, the Dutch
formally recognised Indonesian independence.[57] Dutch efforts to re-establish
complete control met resistance. At the end of World War II, a power vacuum
arose, and the nationalists often succeeded in seizing the arms of the
demoralised Japanese. A period of unrest with city guerrilla warfare called the
Bersiap period ensued. Groups of Indonesian nationalists armed with improvised
weapons (like bamboo spears) and firearms attacked returning Allied troops.
3,500 Europeans were killed and 20,000 were missing, meaning there were more
European deaths in Indonesia after the war than during the war. After returning
to Java, Dutch forces quickly re-occupied the colonial capital of Batavia (now
Jakarta), so the city of Yogyakarta in central Java became the capital of the
nationalist forces. Negotiations with the nationalists led to two major truce
agreements, but disputes about their implementation, and much mutual
provocation, led each time to renewed conflict. Within four years the Dutch had
recaptured almost the whole of Indonesia, but guerrilla resistance, led on Java
by commander Nasution persisted. On 27 December 1949, after four years of
sporadic warfare and fierce criticism of the Dutch by the UN, the Netherlands
officially recognised Indonesian sovereignty under the federal structure of the
United States of Indonesia (RUSI). On 17 August 1950, exactly five years after
the proclamation of independence, the last of the federal states were dissolved
and Sukarno proclaimed a single unitary Republic of Indonesia.[58]
Sukarno's presidency[edit]
Democratic experiment[edit]
Main article: Liberal democracy period in Indonesia
Campaign posters for the 1955 Indonesian election.
With the unifying struggle to secure Indonesia's
independence over, divisions in Indonesian society began to appear. These
included regional differences in customs, religion, the impact of Christianity
and Marxism, and fears of Javanese political domination. Following colonial
rule, Japanese occupation, and war against the Dutch, the new country suffered
from severe poverty, a ruinous economy, low educational and skills levels, and
authoritarian traditions.[59] Challenges to the authority of the Republic
included the militant Darul Islam who waged a guerrilla struggle against the
Republic from 1948 to 1962; the declaration of an independent Republic of South
Maluku by Ambonese formerly of the Royal Dutch Indies Army; and rebellions in
Sumatra and Sulawesi between 1955 and 1961.
In contrast to the 1945 Constitution, the 1950
constitution mandated a parliamentary system of government, an executive
responsible to the parliament, and stipulated at length constitutional
guarantees for human rights, drawing heavily on the 1948 United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.[60] A proliferation of political parties
dealing for shares of cabinet seats resulted in a rapid turnover of coalition
governments including 17 cabinets between 1945 and 1958. The long-postponed
parliamentary elections were held in 1955; the Indonesian National Party
(PNI)—considered Sukarno's party—topped the poll, and the Communist Party of
Indonesia (PKI) received strong support, but no party garnered more than a
quarter of the votes, which resulted in short-lived coalitions.[61]
Guided Democracy[edit]
Main article: Guided Democracy in Indonesia
Japanese soldier |
Coat of Arms of the Republic of Indonesia, adopted 1950
By 1956, Sukarno was openly criticising parliamentary
democracy, stating that it was "based upon inherent conflict" which
ran counter to Indonesian notions of harmony as being the natural state of
human relationships. Instead, he sought a system based on the traditional
village system of discussion and consensus, under the guidance of village
elders. He proposed a threefold blend of nasionalisme ('nationalism'), agama
('religion'), and komunisme ('communism') into a co-operative 'Nas-A-Kom'
government. This was intended to appease the three main factions in Indonesian
politics — the army, Islamic groups, and the communists. With the support of
the military, he proclaimed in February 1957, 'Guided Democracy', and proposed
a cabinet of representing all the political parties of importance (including the
PKI).[61] The US tried and failed to secretly overthrow the President, while
Secretary of State Dulles declared before Congress that "we are not
interested in the internal affairs of this country." [62]
Sukarno abrogated the 1950 Constitution on 9 July 1959 by
a decree dissolving the Constitutional Assembly and restoring the 1945
Constitution.[61] The elected parliament was replaced by one appointed by, and
subject to the will of, the President. Another non-elected body, the Supreme
Advisory Council, was the main policy development body, while the National
Front was set up in September 1960 and presided over by the president to
"mobilise the revolutionary forces of the people".[61] Western-style
parliamentary democracy was thus finished in Indonesia until the 1999 elections
of the Reformasi era.[61]
Sukarno's revolution and nationalism[edit]
Charismatic Sukarno spoke as a romantic revolutionary,
and under his increasingly authoritarian rule, Indonesia moved on a course of
stormy nationalism. Sukarno was popularly referred to as bung ("older
brother"), and he painted himself as a man of the people carrying the
aspirations of Indonesia and one who dared take on the West.[63] He instigated
a number of large, ideologically driven infrastructure projects and monuments
celebrating Indonesia's identity, which were criticised as substitutes for real
development in a deteriorating economy.[63]
Western New Guinea had been part of the Dutch East
Indies, and Indonesian nationalists had thus claimed it on this basis.
Indonesia was able to instigate a diplomatic and military confrontation with
the Dutch over the territory following an Indonesian-Soviet arms agreement in
1960. It was, however, United States pressure on the Netherlands that led to an
Indonesian takeover in 1963.[64] Also in 1963, Indonesia commenced Konfrontasi
with the new state of Malaysia. The northern states of Borneo, formerly British
Sarawak and Sabah, had wavered in joining Malaysia, whilst Indonesia saw itself
as the rightful ruler of Austronesian peoples and supported an unsuccessful
revolution attempt in Brunei.[64] Reviving the glories of the Indonesian
National Revolution, Sukarno rallied against notions of British imperialism
mounting military offensives along the Indonesia-Malaysia border in Borneo. As
the PKI rallied in Jakarta streets in support, the West became increasingly
alarmed at Indonesian foreign policy and the United States withdrew its aid to
Indonesia.[64]
Indonesia's economic position continued to deteriorate;
by the mid-1960s, the cash-strapped government had to scrap critical public
sector subsidies, inflation was at 1,000%, export revenues were shrinking,
infrastructure crumbling, and factories were operating at minimal capacity with
negligible investment. Severe poverty and hunger were widespread.[64][65]
The New Order[edit]
Transition to the New Order[edit]
Main article: Transition to the New Order
See also: 30 September Movement and Indonesian killings
of 1965–1966
Described as the great dalang ("puppet
master"), Sukarno's position depended on balancing the opposing and
increasingly hostile forces of the army and PKI. Sukarno's anti-imperial
ideology saw Indonesia increasingly dependent on Soviet and then communist China.
By 1965, the PKI was the largest communist party in the world outside the
Soviet Union or China. Penetrating all levels of government, the party
increasingly gained influence at the expense of the army.
On 30 September 1965, six of the most senior generals within
the military and other officers were executed in an attempted coup. The
insurgents, known later as the 30 September Movement, backed a rival faction of
the army and took up positions in the capital, later seizing control of the
national radio station. They claimed they were acting against a plot organised
by the generals to overthrow Sukarno. Within a few hours, Major General
Suharto, commander of the Army Strategic Reserve (Kostrad), mobilised
counteraction, and by the evening of 1 October, it was clear the coup, which
had little coordination and was largely limited to Jakarta, had failed.
Complicated and partisan theories continue to this day over the identity of the
attempted coup's organisers and their aims. According to the Indonesian army,
the PKI were behind the coup and used disgruntled army officers to carry it
out, and this became the official account of Suharto's subsequent New Order
administration. Most historians agree[citation needed]that the coup and the
surrounding events were not led by a single mastermind controlling all events,
and that the full truth will never likely be known.
The PKI was blamed for the coup, and anti-communists,
initially following the army's lead went on a violent anti-communist purge
across much of the country. The PKI was effectively destroyed,[66] and the most
widely accepted estimates are that up to 500,000 were killed.[67] The violence
was especially brutal in Java and Bali. The PKI was outlawed and possibly more
than 1 million of its leaders and affiliates were imprisoned.[68]
Throughout the 1965–66 period, President Sukarno
attempted to restore his political position and shift the country back to its
pre-October 1965 position but his Guided Democracy balancing act was destroyed
with the PKI's destruction. Although he remained president, the weakened
Sukarno was forced to transfer key political and military powers to General
Suharto, who by that time had become head of the armed forces. In March 1967,
the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) named General Suharto
acting president. Suharto was formally appointed president in March 1968.
Sukarno lived under virtual house arrest until his death in 1970.
Entrenchment of the New Order[edit]
Main article: New Order (Indonesia)
Suharto was the military president of Indonesia from 1967
to 1998
In the aftermath of Suharto's rise, hundreds of thousands
of people were killed or imprisoned by the military and religious groups in a
backlash against alleged communist supporters.[69] Suharto's administration is
commonly called the New Order era.[70] Suharto invited major foreign
investment, which produced substantial, if uneven, economic growth. However,
Suharto enriched himself and his family through business dealings and
widespread corruption.[71]
Annexation of West Irian[edit]
See also: Western New Guinea Dispute and Operation
Trikora
At the time of independence, the Dutch retained control
over the western half of New Guinea, and permitted steps toward self-government
and a declaration of independence on 1 December 1961. After negotiations with
the Dutch on the incorporation of the territory into Indonesia failed, an
Indonesian paratroop invasion 18 December preceded armed clashes between
Indonesian and Dutch troops in 1961 and 1962. In 1962 the United States
pressured the Netherlands into secret talks with Indonesia which in August 1962
produced the New York Agreement, and Indonesia assumed administrative
responsibility for West Irian on 1 May 1963.
Rejecting UN supervision, the Indonesian government under
Suharto decided to settle the question of West Irian, the former Dutch New
Guinea, in their favor. Rather than a referendum of all residents of West Irian
as had been agreed under Sukarno, an "Act of Free Choice" was
conducted 1969 in which 1,025 Papuan representatives of local councils were
selected by the Indonesians. After training in Indonesian language they were
warned to vote in favor of Indonesian integration with the group unanimously
voting for integration with Indonesia.[citation needed] A subsequent UN General
Assembly resolution confirmed the transfer of sovereignty to Indonesia.
West Irian was renamed Irian Jaya ('glorious Irian') in
1973. Opposition to Indonesian administration of Irian Jaya (later known as
Papua) gave rise to guerrilla activity in the years following Jakarta's
assumption of control.
Annexation of East Timor[edit]
See also: History of East Timor
In 1975, the Carnation Revolution in Portugal caused
authorities there to announce plans for decolonisation of Portuguese Timor, the
eastern half of the island of Timor whose western half was a part of the
Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara. In the elections held in 1975,
Fretilin, a left-leaning party and UDT, aligned with the local elite, emerged
as the largest parties, having previously formed an alliance to campaign for
independence from Portugal. Apodeti, a party advocating integration with
Indonesia, enjoyed little popular support.
Indonesia alleged that Fretilin was communist, and feared
that an independent East Timor would influence separatism in the archipelago.
Indonesian military intelligence influenced the break-up of the alliance
between Fretilin and UDT, which led to a coup by the UDT on 11 August 1975, and
a month-long civil war. During this time, the Portuguese government effectively
abandoned the territory, and did not resume the decolonisation process. On 28
November, Fretilin unilaterally declared independence, and proclaimed the
'Democratic Republic of East Timor'. Nine days later, on 7 December, Indonesia
invaded East Timor, eventually annexing the tiny country of (then) 680,000
people. Indonesia was supported materially and diplomatically by the United
States, Australia and the United Kingdom who regarded Indonesia as an
anti-communist ally.
Following the 1998 resignation of Suharto, on 30 August
1999, the people of East Timor voted overwhelmingly for independence in a
UN-sponsored referendum. About 99% of the eligible population participated;
more than three quarters chose independence despite months of attacks by the
Indonesian military and its militia. After the result was announced, elements
of the Indonesian military and its militia retaliated by killing approximately
2,000 East Timorese, displacing two-thirds of the population, raping hundreds
of women and girls, and destroying much of the country's infrastructure. In
October 1999, the Indonesian parliament (MPR) revoked the decree that annexed
East Timor, and the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor
(UNTAET) assumed responsibility for governing East Timor until it officially
became an independent state in May 2002.
Transmigration[edit]
Main article: Transmigration program
The Transmigration program (Transmigrasi) was a National
Government initiative to move landless people from densely populated areas of
Indonesia (such as Java and Bali) to less populous areas of the country
including Papua, Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Sulawesi. The stated purpose of this
program was to reduce the considerable poverty and overpopulation on Java, to
provide opportunities for hard-working poor people, and to provide a workforce
to better utilise the resources of the outer islands. The program, however, has
been controversial with critics accusing the Indonesian Government of trying to
use these migrants to reduce the proportion of native populations in receiving
areas, in order to weaken separatist movements. The program has often been
cited as a major and ongoing factor in controversies and even conflict and
violence between settlers and indigenous populations.
Reformation Era[edit]
See also: Indonesian Revolution of 1998
Pro-democracy movement[edit]
University students and police forces clash in May 1998.
In 1996 Suharto undertook efforts to pre-empt a challenge
to the New Order government. The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), a legal
party that had traditionally propped up the regime had changed direction, and
began to assert its independence. Suharto fostered a split over the leadership
of PDI, backing a co-opted faction loyal to deputy speaker of the People's
Representative Council Suryadi against a faction loyal to Megawati Sukarnoputri,
the daughter of Sukarno and the PDI's chairperson.
After the Suryadi faction announced a party congress to
sack Megawati would be held in Medan on 20–22 June, Megawati proclaimed that
her supporters would hold demonstrations in protest. The Suryadi faction went
through with its sacking of Megawati, and the demonstrations manifested
themselves throughout Indonesia. This led to several confrontations on the
streets between protesters and security forces, and recriminations over the
violence. The protests culminated in the military allowing Megawati's
supporters to take over PDI headquarters in Jakarta, with a pledge of no
further demonstrations.
Suharto allowed the occupation of PDI headquarters to go
on for almost a month, as attentions were also on Jakarta due to a set of
high-profile ASEAN meetings scheduled to take place there. Capitalizing on
this, Megawati supporters organized "democracy forums" with several
speakers at the site. On 26 July, officers of the military, Suryadi, and Suharto
openly aired their disgust with the forums.[72]
On 27 July, police, soldiers, and persons claiming to be
Suryadi supporters stormed the headquarters. Several Megawati supporters were
killed, and over two-hundred arrested and tried under the Anti-Subversion and
Hate-Spreading laws. The day would become known as "Black Saturday"
and mark the beginning of a renewed crackdown by the New Order government
against supporters of democracy, now called the "Reformasi" or
Reformation.[73]
Economic crisis and Suharto's resignation[edit]
In 1997 and 1998, Indonesia was the country hardest hit
by the East Asian Financial Crisis,[74] which had dire consequences for the
Indonesian economy and society, and Suharto's presidency. At the same time, the
country suffered a severe drought and some of the largest forest fires in
history burned in Kalimantan and Sumatra. The rupiah, the Indonesian currency,
took a sharp dive in value. Suharto came under scrutiny from international
lending institutions, chiefly the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF)
and the United States, over longtime embezzlement of funds and some
protectionist policies. In December, Suharto's government signed a letter of
intent to the IMF, pledging to enact austerity measures, including cuts to
public services and removal of subsidies, in return for receiving the aid of
the IMF and other donors. Prices for goods such as kerosene and rice, and fees
for public services including education rose dramatically. The effects were
exacerbated by widespread corruption. The austerity measures approved by Suharto
had started to erode domestic confidence with the New Order[75] and led to
popular protests.
Suharto stood for re-election by parliament for the
seventh time in March 1998, justifying it on the grounds of the necessity of
his leadership during the crisis. The parliament approved a new term. This
sparked protests and riots throughout the country, now termed the Indonesian
1998 Revolution. Dissent within the ranks of his own Golkar party and the
military finally weakened Suharto, and on 21 May he stood down from power.[76]
He was replaced by his deputy Jusuf Habibie.
President Habibie quickly assembled a cabinet. One of its
main tasks was to re-establish International Monetary Fund and donor community
support for an economic stabilization program. He moved quickly to release
political prisoners and lift some controls on freedom of speech and
association. Elections for the national, provincial, and sub-provincial
parliaments were held on 7 June 1999. For the national parliament, Indonesian
Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P, led by Sukarno's daughter Megawati
Sukarnoputri) won 34% of the vote; Golkar (Suharto's party; formerly the only
legal party of government) 22%; United Development Party (PPP, led by Hamzah
Haz) 12%; and National Awakening Party (PKB, led by Abdurrahman Wahid) 10%.
Politics since 1999[edit]
Indonesian 2009 election ballot, since 2004 Indonesian
vote their president directly.
In October 1999, the People's Consultative Assembly
(MPR), which consists of the 500-member Parliament plus 200 appointed members,
elected Abdurrahman Wahid, commonly referred to as "Gus Dur" as
President, and Megawati Sukarnoputri as Vice President, for 5-year terms. Wahid
named his first Cabinet in early November 1999 and a reshuffled, second Cabinet
in August 2000. President Wahid's government continued to pursue
democratization and to encourage renewed economic growth under challenging
conditions. In addition to continuing economic malaise, his government faced
regional, interethnic, and interreligious conflict, particularly in Aceh, the
Maluku Islands, and Irian Jaya. In West Timor, the problems of displaced East
Timorese and violence by pro-Indonesian East Timorese militias caused
considerable humanitarian and social problems. An increasingly assertive
Parliament frequently challenged President Wahid's policies and prerogatives,
contributing to a lively and sometimes rancorous national political debate.
During the People's Consultative Assembly's first annual
session in August 2000, President Wahid gave an account of his government's
performance. On 29 January 2001 thousands of student protesters stormed
parliament grounds and demanded that President Abdurrahman Wahid resign due to
alleged involvement in corruption scandals. Under pressure from the Assembly to
improve management and coordination within the government, he issued a
presidential decree giving Vice President Megawati control over the day-to-day
administration of government. Soon after, Megawati Sukarnoputri assumed the
presidency on 23 July. In 2004, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono won Indonesia's first
direct Presidential election and in 2009 he was elected to a second term.
Terrorism[edit]
Main article: Terrorism in Indonesia
As a multi-ethnic and multi-culture democratic country
with majority of moderate Muslim population, Indonesia faces the challenges to
deal with terrorism that linked to global militant Islamic movement. The Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) militant Islamic organization that aspired for the establishment
of a Daulah Islamiyah[77] that encompassed whole Southeast Asia including
Indonesia, is responsible for series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia. This
terrorist organization that linked to Al-Qaeda, was responsible for the Bali
bombings in 2002 and 2005, as well as Jakarta bombings in 2003, 2004, and 2009.
Indonesian government, people and authorities has ever since tried to crack
down the terrorist cells in Indonesia.
Tsunami Aceh |
Tsunami disaster and Aceh peace deal[edit]
See also: Effect of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake on
Indonesia
On 26 December 2004, a massive earthquake and tsunami
devastated parts of northern Sumatra, particularly Aceh. Partly as a result of
the need for cooperation and peace during the recovery from the tsunami in
Aceh, peace talks between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement
(GAM) were restarted. Accords signed in Helsinki created a framework for
military de-escalation in which the government has reduced its military
presence, as members of GAM's armed wing decommission their weapons and apply
for amnesty. The agreement also allows for Acehnese nationalist forces to form
their own party, and other autonomy measures.(Continoe)
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