I’m sending out today’s roundup a bit early because I have a commitment this evening. As always I will catch up on anything I miss on Sunday.
TODAY IN HISTORY
April 17, 1895: Representatives of the Empire of Japan and China’s Qing Dynasty sign the Treaty of Shimonoseki, ending the First Sino-Japanese War. Reflecting the decisive Japanese victory, the treaty obliged the Qing to renounce Chinese claims on Korea, cede islands in the Taiwan Strait (including Taiwan itself) to Japan, pay reparations, and establish “most favored nation” trade status with Japan. European powers France, Germany, and Russia intervened to force Japan to give up control of the Liaodong Peninsula, which had been another stipulation of the treaty. The newly independent Korea quickly fell under Japan’s sway, which brought the Japanese into Russia’s orbit and led to the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War.
April 17, 1975: The Cambodian Civil War ends with the Khmer Rouge capture of Phnom Penh and the ouster of the short-lived Khmer Republic. The Khmer Rouge briefly restored the Cambodian monarchy before embarking on one of the most brutal genocides in history, in which upwards of 25 percent of the Cambodian population was killed through a mix of mass executions, forced labor, and other more indirect forms of violence. That genocide finally ended when Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979 and removed the Khmer Rouge from power.
MIDDLE EAST
LEBANON
Lebanon’s ten day ceasefire took effect at midnight on Friday and the most immediate result appears to be a stream of displaced people returning to their homes in the southern part of the country despite a continued Israeli occupation and against warnings from Lebanese authorities. Al Jazeera is reporting “tens of thousands” of returnees, though how many will be able to stay once they’ve assessed the destruction that the Israeli military (IDF) has wrought on their towns and villages remains to be seen. But the pull home is so strong that they’re not only ignoring the continued IDF threat, they’re undertaking the difficult task of crossing the main coastal bridge that the IDF had damaged in its attempt to cut southern Lebanon off from the rest of the country.
