The liberation of Korea from its 1910 annexation by the Japanese Empire is officially recognised as having taken place in 1945 upon Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces of the Second World War. However, Korean civilian activism against the regime had a long-standing history, culminating in the 1919 March 1st Independence Movement, which saw more than a thousand individual demonstrations nationwide.
1980s Britain was stamped by Thatcherite politics, unemployment, and a rising pop culture. Alongside this, amidst the climactic conclusion of the Cold War, fears of nuclear attack swept through the British public. In 1981, President Reagan named Greenham Common, Berkshire, as a base for US cruise missiles to be positioned in by 1983, galvanising fear of nuclear attack. By 1991, these missiles had been removed from Greenham.
Why do very few people, in this country at least, seem not to know nor even to have heard of the May Fourth Movement (1919) in China? Coverage of China is ubiquitous in Western media; China’s geopolitical manoeuvres, fluctuating economic growth, and unique political ideology are a source of profound intrigue and criticism amongst social commentators.
On the 7th of October 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to, “cripple Hamas mercilessly and avenge this black day they have brought upon Israel” in response to the barbarous attacks carried out by the terrorist group against innocent Israeli citizens. But this isn’t just a modern-day issue; the conflict between Hamas and Israel has been playing out for almost half a century, dating back to the ‘First Intifada’ in 1987.
At the end of the 1960s, the world was witnessing one of the most volatile moments in American history. Accelerated by the unrest caused by the U.S. involvement in Vietnam, many movements had found support and power to rebel against America.
