Biggest Country Rivalries in Asia

so many people requested this in the comments plus on the discord server so here we go the biggest country rivalries in Asia throughout history a few countries have had relations of animosity towards each other sometimes this was because of a difference of culture religion claims over territory or simply because of stupid arguments between rulers who dragged their people into meaningless conflicts these conflicts at their time of origin are important because they paved the way for a non friendly relationship between a lot of states changing the course of history in the process I already did this for Europe taking a look at a few of the biggest country rivalries there so now let's do it for Asia since the last video about this topic was in Europe let's start with the country closest to Europe with the rivalry of the Ottomans / Turks versus Russia this all begins in early medieval times Slavic and Turkish people have been in contact for centuries medieval Turkish kingdoms like caesarea volga bulgaria the crimean khanate and others were established in parts of present-day Russia the Turks in Anatolia were separated from Russia by the Black Sea and by the caucus mountains and these Turks founded the Ottoman Empire and began expanding outwards while Russia was doing the same and so claiming parts of the same territory the two empires began a series of clashes over the Black Sea the collapse of Constantinople in 1453 to the Muslim Ottomans marked the end of the question Byzantine Empire and Russia became the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church and its rulers inherited the byzantine orthodox legacy which might have also contributed to increasing the conflict after this the ottomans started supporting small turkish & islamic vassals within Russia which further aggravated things at the same time Russia helped Christian and Orthodox populations inside the Ottoman Empire rebel against their new rule in more modern history Europe also played a role in making the situation worse Germany for instance started having close relations with the Ottoman Empire and this caused an increase of Russian support that our Balkan nations who were against the Ottomans it's crazy to think how some medieval kingdoms settling where they did some what started a chain of events that contributed towards a world war centuries later but I guess that's how everything in history works eventually the Ottoman Empire collapsed and became the Republic of Turkey the Russian Empire became the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation these days relations are somewhat better although some disagreements remain with conflicts between the two happening in neighboring regions but the Russians weren't the only enemies of the Ottomans there is another Persia now Iran it started with the establishment of the Safavid dynasty in Persia in the early 16th century and a power struggle inside the Ottoman Empire apparently there was some type of internal fight for the Ottoman throne and once selling the first became Emperor he thought that it had been the Safavid dynasty who had been supporting his internal opponents so he used that as a reason to go to war the initial conflict culminated in the Battle of Culloden in 1514 and was followed by a century of border confrontation so it seems to have started as a conflict between rulers evolving into common claims for territory at certain points and eventually also being a conflict between their different interpretations and following of Islam eventually in the 18th century they reached a somewhat peaceful agreement to coexist but some tensions still remain but the Turks versus the Iranians aren't the only rivalry in the Middle East this is a region with a lot of animosity between its countries another one is Iran versus Saudi Arabia this one sadly remains a relationship of conflict and rivalry for instance the countries have no diplomatic relations since 2016 the two countries have significant differences even today that explain this animosity they had different interpretations and ways of following their religion one is an absolute monarchy the other is an autocratic regime with elements of parliamentarism but under theocratic rule to my knowledge at least from what I could find there was no particular rivalry or even relationship between the two states or their predecessors before the transformation of Persia into Iran or the current state of Iran to better put it only in 1929 they signed a friendship treaty however the friendship quickly went wrong for the reasons we've seen Saudi Arabia itself also has other rivals such as one of its closest neighbors Qatar historically there isn't much to this one but since it's a current event I thought I'd mention it before 2017 the two countries maintained cordial ties and Qatar was actually mainly subservient to Saudi Arabia in matters relating to foreign policy but a change in power in Qatar saw them reclaimed their sovereignty in foreign affairs often diverging from Saudi Arabia and this caused tension between the two states leading to a breakdown of diplomatic ties and even somewhat of an economic blockade moving east one of the biggest rivalries in the world between countries and one of the two on the thumbnail India vs. Pakistan this one starts with a key moment the independence of British colonies in the region when the British Empire decided to give independence to the British Raj dividing it into India and Pakistan they allowed the 608 princely states that made up the territory to decide which of the two countries they wanted to join with the exception of a few most of the Muslim majority States has ceded Pakistan while most of the Hindu majority states joined India this caused a gigantic transfer of population between territories with some people wanting to live in the new country of India and some in Pakistan these transfers of population were apparently somewhat chaotic and thousands of people perished in the travels causing each country to blame the other for it having gone wrong the reason for these migrations the difference of religion also helps us understand the origin of the problem the conflict between the two faiths another issue came from the fact that they emerge from the same area and thus claim parts of the same territory the state of Junagadh was an example having a mostly Hindu population but a Muslim ruler who joined Pakistan causing India to not accept it Kashmir had the opposite situation a mostly Muslim population ruled by a Hindu King except this one wanted to remain independent while both countries wanted to annex it the initial conflicts over mutual accusations religious differences and mutually claimed territory all caused by the way independence from the British came to be was what caused the rivalry to start lasting in part until today Pakistan is India's biggest rival to the west to the east they have another one whose rivalry is rooted in different reasons and this is China the first record of contact between China and India were written during the second century BC Buddhism was transmitted from India to China in the first century for instance and trade relations via the ancient Silk Road acted as economic contact between the two regions from the 1st century onwards many Indian scholars and monks travelled to China while many Chinese scholars and monks also traveled to India it seems that during these early times the relationship between the Chinese and Indian ruling dynasties was peaceful they had good relationships reinforced by the exchange of knowledge sharing of religions and trade the first example of a major conflict came only in the 18th century and didn't happen with India as a whole this was the sino SiC war in 1841 the Sikh Empire invaded Tibet and Chinese forces defeated their army forcing them to withdraw and then a mutual agreement of non-interference with each country's frontiers was signed during British occupation of India the English used that territory somewhat as a base for their opium wars against China when India achieved independence the first position towards China was won a friendship between the two largest Asian nations but this wasn't fully achieved as an old problem came back it had traditionally served as a buffer zone and India believed it had inherited special privileges in it from the British wash however efforts for cooperation continue in 1950 India established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China being the first non communist nation in Asia to do so and in 1954 they finally signed an agreement regarding Tibet granting its rule to China but then in 1959 the Dalai Lama spiritual leader of Tibet sought sanctuary in India where he established that the baton government in exile China then accused India of expansionism and imperialism in Tibet and throughout the Himalayan region claiming over a hundred thousand square kilometers of territory over which India's maps showed sovereignty and demanding rectification of the entire border and thus a border conflict began in which some military skirmishes actually took place in the 1960s China became closer to Pakistan and even backed them in their conflict with India in 1965 while India was supposedly supporting Tibetan rebels another conflict came to be later in the region of Sikkim demonstrating the main issue of the relations between the two countries the dispute over the border however it seems that more recently these issues have been resolved with compromises on each end and the beginning of what seems to be a peaceful coexistence where the rivalry only remains as the two compete to be the world's biggest economies China itself also has a few of its own rivals one of the biggest is Taiwan Taiwan used to be a part of mainland China but after the civil war once it became evident that the People's Republic was victorious the Kwame Tang who was in charge of the Republic of China fled to Taiwan and this was around 1949 the two governments continued in a state of war until 1979 when a key event took place the u.s. recognized the People's Republic of China in the mainland after this Taiwan implemented a policy called the three knows which are no declaration of independence no unification with the mainland and also no use of force essentially their rivalry has lasted since the Chinese Civil War as they both represent the two opposing sides the conflict has dialed down and thankfully gone past military issues but the People's Republic still claims a won China and wants to eventually incorporate Taiwan something which the heirs of the Kwame Tang are mostly against in a speech in 2017 general secretary Xi emphasized the PRC sovereignty over Taiwan stating that we have sufficient abilities that ward any form of Taiwan independence attempts however Taiwan remains effectively independent since 1949 the rivalry with the mainland also remains sometimes having periods of closer approximation sometimes of increased tension for the south we have other examples like Vietnam China and Vietnam had contact since the Chinese warring States period and the Vietnamese folk dynasty in the 3rd century BC but this contact soon became that of two enemies between the 1st century BC and 5th century AD Vietnam was subject to four separate periods of Imperial Chinese domination during one of these there was a large Han Chinese migration into Vietnam Chinese soldiers and fugitives from central China migrated and mass into northern Vietnam since then and introduced Chinese influences into Vietnamese culture with Vietnam only achieving independence again in 938 but even after this several Wars took place sometimes between independent vietnam and china and sometimes alongside european colonial powers like the sino-french war when french controlled the region of Indochina then came Japanese occupation but after the war US President Franklin Roosevelt decided that a French should not return to rule whose world apparently offered the Kwame Tang leader all of Indochina to be under Chinese rule but they reportedly refused replying under no circumstances later on during the Vietnam War the People's Republic of China was an important ally of northern Vietnam the historical rivals have now become allies and during this China waived all territorial claims in Vietnam until the south defeated also attempting to use this opportunity to increase their influence but then the temporary allies became enemies again Vietnam went war with Cambodia in 1979 and China supported their enemies while the USSR supported Vietnam but in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR and Viet Nam's 1990 exit from Cambodia the sin of Vietnamese ties began to improve and seem to be on a positive note these days as we move towards the Southeast Asia region there are a couple of the rivalries that are worth mentioning like Malaysia versus Indonesia Malaysia and Indonesia are two neighboring countries that share a lot of similarities their national languages are closely related and mutually intelligible and both of them are Muslim in their majority since independence Indonesia and Malaysia have moved in different directions in their social economic and political development leading at times to moments of tension the unequal pace of democratization in the two countries has made the relationship increasingly problematic they also have a few territorial disputes as seems to be common with neighboring states most of the current borders were inherited from the Dutch East Indies and British Malaya and currently both nations are in a territorial disputes over the oil-rich islands of Amba lots also fighting over sea borders in the Straits of Malacca for instance going back up north there's one we really can't skip over when speaking about this and that is North versus South Korea formally a single nation that was annexed by Japan in 1910 the two nations have been divided since 1945 and engaged in the Korean War from 1950 to 53 the rivalry can be pretty much explained as simply after Japanese occupation came the division of the country which was very much related to the Cold War and the desire of both the US and the USSR to have the country in its sphere of influence the north side was supported by the Soviets and then the Chinese and the South by the Americans even after the Cold War the North continued to close itself off and be more aggressive towards its neighbor however recently there have been some causes for hope with new meetings between leaders joint participation in the Olympics and signed agreements that seek a peaceful coexistence and eventual unification of the Korean people and finally speaking of Korea one of its biggest rivals throughout history Japan for over 15 centuries the relationship between Japan and Korea was characterized by cultural exchanges and economic trade but also political contact and military confrontations in 1641 the Korean king formed an alliance with Japan and Chinese culture was introduced to Japan via the Korean Peninsula later on the Mongols attempted to invade Japan through Korea with the support of the local and cordial Kingdom in fact many of the ships used by the Mongols the tryin invade Japan were built by the Korean King ships that were all destroyed by a storm by the way in the 16th century unified Japan decided to invade Korea since the Koreans had refused to allow Japanese soldiers to pass through their lands to attack China but Korea was able to maintain independence for a while and in 1897 the Joseon Kingdom was renamed the Korean Empire however they were under heavy Russian influence and when Japan declared war on Russia being victorious Korea became a protectorate of Japan and this lasted until 1945 time when independence and division happened and the events we just talked about before took place the rivalry between the north of the peninsula somewhat remains but the relations with the south seem to be positive as far as I know although there are still some wounds left a heal because of the occupation and war so those are a few of the biggest country rivalries in Asia Thanks to everyone who made suggestions on this especially on the discord server speaking of which if you want to join the server and talk to me and other subscribers the link is in the video description someone also suggested in a more positive note to make a video about the biggest country friendship / alliances in the world and I think that's a good idea so let me know in the comments if you'd be interested in seeing that thanks for watching this video and subscribe if you want to catch the next ones I will see you next time for more general knowledge

Channel: General Knowledge

Views: 278,963

Rating: 4.8545208 out of 5

Keywords: generalknowledge, funwithflags, countriesthatdon'texist

Id: 9GoMKbUtKj8

Length: 17min 51sec (1071 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 17 2020