In November 1991, eleven republics (Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) announced secession from the Soviet Union.

Perestroika was intended to energize Soviet economy which was lagging behind the developed countries of the capitalist world.

In order to maintain a parity with the US, in the context of President Reagan's Star Wars programme, it became necessary for the Soviet Union to allocate more funds to the military. The increase in military budget further strained the Soviet economy.

(i) At the end of October 1945, the Jewish underground organizations like Irgun Zvai Leumi (Zionist Para-military Organization) and the Stern Gang (Zionist Terrorist Organization) began to launch terror attacks on a large scale.
(ii) Railways, bridges, airfields and government offices were blown up. The British government presented the dispute to the UN for a decision.
(iii) Succumbing to the pressure of great powers, the UN resolved to partition. Palestine into a Jewish state and an Arab state (29 November 1947).

In Palestine, the ancient home of Jews, only a few thousand Jews were living in 1900. Some 15 million were scattered around Europe and North America. This is referred to as the Diaspora.

(i) By the end of Second World War Viet Minh controlled the northern half of Vietnam. Viet Minh formed a government led by Ho Chi Minh in Hanoi.
(ii) This Viet Minh government quickly occupied the southern half of Vietnam. However, the Allied Powers decided at Potsdam that the British in the south and the Chinese in the north should defend Indo-China from the Japanese.
(iii) In March the two governments (French and Viet Minh) reached an agreement by which North Vietnam was to be a free state, within an Indo-Chinese Federation. But the new French constitution included all overseas colonies in a French Union.
(iv) In 1949 the French attempted to secure the support of the population by declaring Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia independent within the French Union, retaining only foreign affairs and defense under French control. However, the problem of Indo- China soon became involved in the Cold War.
(v) While the French were receiving considerable financial aid from America, the Viet Minh were helped by the new Chinese communist government. The French troops were eventually defeated.
(vi) South Vietnam, approximately of the same size and population, was ruled by Ngo Dinh Diem.
(vii) Diem refused to hold the elections to decide on a united Vietnam.
(viii) However, by 1962, it was clear that Diem was incapable of controlling the situation. This led to the posting of more US armed forces in the area.
(ix) The US bombed both North and South in the hope that it could force the liberation forces to abandon the struggle.
(x) The fighters of North Vietnam, trained in guerilla warfare, had grown out of spontaneous struggles against a repressive regime.
(xi) The American troops also used bacteriological weapons.
(xii) Incendiary bombs such as napalm and Agent Orange (to defoliate the forest cover) were used.
(xiii) Escalation of the total military outlay caused the US big business to protest. The youths rebelled against the conscription and the horrors of war.
(xiv) Anti-Vietnam War protests rocked universities and colleges across the US and in Europe and became part of the 1960s counterculture.
(xv) No other single issue united millions of people all over the world as the war of Vietnam.

Communist Victory:
(i) With the surrender of the Japanese (1945), both the Kuomintang and the communists sought to occupy the Japanese areas.
(ii) In this race the Kuomintang was successful. The cities and railways soon fell into their hands.
(iii) Even the area around Peking was soon controlled by Chiang Kai-shek's forces, largely because of the military aid given by the USA.
(iv) With the massive support provided by the USA, Kuomintang government controlled the administration, ports and communication system.
(v) But the soldiers, mainly drawn from the peasants, were disillusioned and discontented.
(vi) Mao was keen on obtaining the support of the middle class.
(vii) Mao continued the use of guerrilla tactics but also ordered large-scale military movements.
(viii) Cities fell one by one and Chiang Kai-shek's army began to disintegrate quickly.
(ix) In the summer of 1948, Communist control had been established over most parts of China.