above_ 17th century Portuguese army stationed in Goa
Goa area covers an area of 3983 square kilometers, with a population of 637,000 in 1950, while there were only more than 500 Europeans. Portugal relied on local Roman Catholics to maintain its rule in Goa. Under the two world wars, and the world's anti-imperialist and anti-colonial waves, such a weak rule as Portugal is destined to not last. In the early 20th century, Menises Bragancha, a pioneer of the Goa national movement, said: "Goa will never give up its tradition of freedom struggle and its desire to demand a unified and free India." After " World War II ", India was independent from Britain, so the colonies of Western countries remaining on Indian Peninsula became the goal of India's recovery and complete the complete decolonization.
In 1949, India established an embassy in the Portuguese capital Lisbon , trying to resolve the issue of ownership in the Goa region through peaceful negotiations with the Portuguese government. However, Portugal insisted that Goa was its own territory and changed overseas colonies to "overseas provinces" by amending the constitution, strengthening the territorial claim against the Goa region, which deepened the conflict between the two countries.
Above picture_Goa boundary marker
Goa social groups across India condemn Portugal's practice of occupying Goa, and many local people in Goa have joined the ranks of expelling Portuguese colonists. In 1954, Goa nationalists occupied the Dagra and Nagar regions and announced their joining India. The Indian government took the opportunity to announce a ban on Portugal from passing Indian territory, which is to isolate Goa. Portugal turned his head and filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice.
In the same year, France returned five port cities to India. Taking advantage of this opportunity, in May 1955, a Goa social group from Mumbai and about 5,000 Indian volunteers entered Goa, Daman , and Diu in batches, and participated in the Peaceful Liberation Movement with the local people. The Portuguese colonial government certainly would not tolerate such action continuing, and took a resolute suppression action, killing and injuring more than 200 people, and hundreds of Goa people were arrested and exiled.
above picture_ Located in the middle of the west coast of India, Goa area
- The two sides argued, and it was difficult to push for peace negotiations
The behavior of the Portuguese authorities further intensified the anger of Indians towards Portugal, and large-scale demonstrations against Portugal were launched in various places. The Indian government expressed its solemn protest against the Portuguese authorities, imposed a trade embargo on Goa, suspended postal and exchange services in the place, and closed Portuguese embassies and consulates everywhere, and cut off diplomatic relations with Portugal. In September of the same year, Indian Prime Minister Nehru claimed that Goa had the only way to return to India, but was unwilling to choose the method of force, but would resolve the dispute through peaceful negotiations.
Why doesn’t India want to solve the problem through force at this time? Because Portugal is an NATO country located in the Western camp at this time, if it starts war with Portugal, it is risky of offending the NATO camp. The United States has a relatively ambiguous attitude towards the Goa dispute. On the one hand, it needs to appease Portugal's emotions, and on the other hand, it does not want to offend India, an emerging power, and avoid pushing it to the Soviet camp. What Portugal wants is that the United States publicly condemns India's behavior, but the United States refuses to do so, and the relationship between the United States and Portugal has also become worse.
above_NATO and Warsaw Pact 1982
The United States hopes that Portugal can solve the Goa issue through the "English-Indian model", that is, agree to Goa independence through peaceful means, so as not to let Portugal spend more financial and manpower on this enclave that is difficult to maintain for a long time. Portugal was afraid that once this did, it would trigger a chain reaction in the Portuguese colonies, and that the last overseas province would not be able to be saved, so he planned to grit his teeth and stand firm.
In November 1960, India requested United Nations to hand over the overseas territory managed by Portugal to United Nations General Assembly ruling.The United Nations General Assembly passed the proposal of the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, announcing that all forms of colonialism must end quickly and unconditionally, requiring Portugal to use these overseas territories as " non-self-governing territory " and hand over the information to the General Assembly.
1961, Portugal's overseas territories in Africa, also broke out in the anti-Portugal struggle. The United States and the Soviet Union supported the resolutions proposed by Asian, African and Latin American countries at the United Nations General Assembly on the decolonization of Angola, which gave Portugal a considerable opinion on the United States. However, the United States is unwilling to offend Portugal too much. After all, as an ally of the NATO camp, the United States wants to maintain the military base of in Portugal, and therefore negotiated with India and Portugal many times to try to prevent India from regaining the Goa region by force.
above_ Angola map
However, India's determination to regain Goa has been made. Seeing that Portugal has been reluctant to advance the negotiation process, and with the support of the Soviet Union, China and many other Asian, African and Latin America countries, it tends to take force to regain Goa. Starting from January 1961, India sponsored the Goa people to organize guerrillas to resist the Portuguese colonial authorities. The guerrillas attacked a military stronghold today, ambushed a Portuguese patrol tomorrow, and attacked a police station the day after tomorrow, causing the Goa colonial authorities to fall into the Indian people's war.
At the same time, the National Sports Committee for Goa in India also convened a meeting of representatives of various groups and decided to hold a Goa Week event from June 12 to 18 to support and support the people's just struggle against the rule of Portuguese colonists, and called on other Asian and African countries to cut off economic and trade ties from Portugal and try to isolated Portugal diplomatically.
Above_Demonstrations, the slogan reads "Portugal abandons Goa"
- The Indian army's "glorious victory"
Although India has put pressure on Portugal in two ways, the Portuguese government still feels that India is unlikely to go to war with Western countries like itself. However, in case, 2,000 troops were drawn from the local area to assist in the defense of Goa. Nehru had not made the final decision to resolve the problem by force, but an unexpected incident occurred at this time. The Portuguese army stationed on Angidiu Island opened fire on Indian fishing boats and killed an Indian fisherman. This incident became the fuse for India to launch a military operation.
On December 7, 1961, Nehru announced that India had endured for 14 years, and Goa must return to India's arms and mobilize a large number of troops to the periphery of Goa. The United States has sensed India's intention to launch a military operation and put pressure on the Indian government on the grounds of putting aside economic aid to India, suggesting that the operation be suspended for six months. The arrow had to be fired on the string, and Nehru refused the proposal. The United States does not intend to slap its allies, so it is waiting to see how the situation will change in the future.
above picture_ Jawaharlal Nehru (November 14, 1889 - May 26, 1964), born in Allahabad City
On December 18, more than 30,000 Indian troops officially launched an attack on the Portuguese army in the Goa area under the cover of the Air Force. Because the Goa region was blocked by India for a long time, it had been in a state of difficulty, and the morale of the Portuguese army was also very low. Faced with the M26 "Pershing" tank purchased by India from the United States, the Portuguese army surrendered after symbolic resistance. The Indian army only took 26 hours to occupy Goa, Daman and Diu areas, and the combined death toll on both sides has not exceeded 100. As soon as the news of the recovery of Goa came out, India was in full swing. New Delhi newspapers declared that the war was "our most proud moment" and praised the Indian army for its "strong fighting spirit". Nehru felt that defeating the Portuguese colonial army was a manifestation of India's abundant martial ethics: "The first time our armed forces have become a very powerful and very effective combat force. I said this because I knew the inside story..." It can be said that this war made India float up and down to the sky.
In 1962, the constitutional amendment of India stipulated that Goa, Daman and Diu were directly under the jurisdiction of the Indian federal territory.Portugal lacked effective means of retaliation and was forced to recognize the established facts in 1974.
above picture_Portugal army surrendered to the Indian army
India dared to take a knife against NATO countries, which also surprised many Western countries, and the Soviet Union and China expressed their support based on their opposition to colonialism. US Secretary of State Lusk immediately summoned Indian Ambassador B.K. Nehru, protesting India's appeal to force. The mainstream American media also accused India of carrying out military conquests as wrong.
Although the United States expressed its opposition to India based on its attitude of maintaining its allies, how could it run thousands of miles away for a piece of enclave of my younger brother to fight against India, the regional power? Just just verbal support. It is an old tradition for the United States to sell its teammates and do not seek fame but to suffer real trouble.
above_The Indian army, which is popular in Goa, is
India's inflated psychology believes that the Indian army is unprecedentedly powerful at this moment and can fully deal with border conflicts. As a result, the Indian army, which took the initiative to provoke border conflicts, was beaten by our People's Liberation Army, and India's international reputation plummeted. The loss of control over Goa will have a huge psychological blow to Portugal.
India's action to regain Goa was an anti-colonial justice act, and it also demonstrated India's brave side to safeguard its national sovereignty, which is beyond refutation. However, India's honey confidence made him mistakenly estimate his strength, so he raised trouble everywhere until he was embarrassed, which made him laugh.
Author: Iron Cavalry Better-Wind Correction/Editor: Lilith
Reference materials:
[1] Hermann Kurk "History of India"
[2] David Birmingham "History of Portugal"
[3] You Jianshe "The Decolonization Process in Goa and the Reaction of the United States"
text was created by the team of the History University Hall, and the picture is from the Internet and the copyright belongs to the original author
