LAHORE: While many nations have completely vanished off the face of the globe since the advent of the 19th century, countries like Pakistan, former Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia etc have split into pieces owing to various internal and external reasons, reveals an exclusive research conducted by the “Jang Group and Geo Television Network” with reference to the heart-breaking and distressing Fall of Dhaka some 44 years ago on December 16 (today).
December 16 marks the black day for Pakistani history as the country had lost its eastern wing on this day in 1971; just a year after the first democratic election in the history of Pakistan had taken place in December 1970.
During the eventful 1970 ballot exercise, Sheikh Mujib’s party Awami League had won majority seats (167) and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party had emerged triumphant on 88 seats only. While Mujib’s Awami League had not won a single seat from West Pakistan, Bhutto’s PPP had met the same fate in country’s Eastern part.
On the midnight of March 25 and 26, 1971, a severe crackdown was initiated against Mujibur Rehman and his Awami League stalwarts in East Pakistan on General Yahya Khan’s order. This state offensive had spurred a revolt that had already been brewing for some time.
The Indian Army had then seized a golden opportunity to prepare the “Mukti Bahini,” a guerrilla force of the Bengalis and insurgency was triggered by the rebels.
The result of the war is an ignominious part of our history: the name of East Pakistan was removed from world map and Bangladesh emerged as a new state with the Fall of Dhaka.
The month of December also holds traumatic memories for the former Soviet Union (USSR), the largest country in the world at that time.
On December 26, 1991, a day after Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev had resigned and relinquished office, the dissolution of the USSR had given birth to 15 new states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, the Russian Federation, Belarus, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Georgia).
It was a sad and regretful sight for many of the pro-Soviet Union residents, as their flag was lowered from the Kremlin for the last time and replaced with the pre-revolutionary Russian flag.
The Soviet Union had collapsed with dramatic speed in the last quarter of 1991. Between August and December, 1991, not fewer than 10 republics had declared their independence, largely out of fear of another coup.
Having enslaved Eastern Europe for over 40 years, the mighty Marxist-Leninist state of Soviet Union had actually managed to beat the Nazis when no one thought that Hitler could be stopped. It had sent ripples down the spines of American leaders in 1962, when it had very nearly got into a shooting war with the United States over Cuba.
It was the former Soviet Union that had instigated the 1950 Korean War in 1950 where a United Nations force led by the United States had fought for South Korea and China (assisted by the Soviet Union) had fought for North Korea.
Following the fall of the Soviet Union, many of its satellite states like Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Romania had disintegrated.
These politically and economically influenced countries, though formally independent, were controlled through Communist ideology by the USSR till it had crumbled itself.
Yugoslavia found itself divided up into Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovenia in the early 1990s after a series of political upheavals and conflicts.
After World War II, Yugoslavia was set up as a federation of ethnically and historically divided six republics called Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia.
Czechoslovakia had split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993.
Here follows the list of some other “missing countries and empires” that had once held massive sway in global affairs:
While we have talked about the merger of nations like East Germany, annals of history reveal that there are numerous “missing” countries that no longer exist on the world map today.
Among the countries and empires that have somehow vanished from the planet, the Austro-Hungary Empire (1867-1918) features prominently.
While all of the countries that found themselves on the losing side after the First World War had suffered economically and geographically to some degree, none lost more than the once-powerful monarchy called the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
The dissolution of this empire had led to the existence of modern countries of Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, with parts of it going to Italy, Poland and Romania.
Then, there was a country called Tibet, which had managed to become an independent country in 1913 despite having existed for over a thousand years. This nation had run afoul of Communist China in 1951 and was occupied by Mao Zedong’s forces, thus ending its brief foray as a sovereign nation.
China had occupied Tibet throughout the 1950’s, until the country had finally rebelled in 1959, which had resulted in China’s annexation of the region and the dissolution of the Tibetan government. Tibet thus became a disputed region, rather than a country.
South Vietnam is yet another candid example of countries that no longer exist.
The Vietnam War or the Second Indo-China War was fought between 1955 and 1975 between the United States-led South and the Soviet-backed North Vietnam. The United States had entered this conflict to prevent a Communist takeover of South Vietnam. It was one of the most draining and costly wars in American history.
The capture of Saigon by the North Vietnamese Army in April 1975 had marked the end of the war, and North and South Vietnam were reunified the following year.
The fall of Saigon had led to its renaming as Ho Chi Minh City.
The list of “vanished states” also includes the short-lived United Arab Republic (1958-1971), which was an experiment that was doomed to fail almost from the start.
It was Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s idea to unite with neighbouring Syria, in an alliance that would effectively surround their sworn enemy, Israel, and make them a regional superpower.
Egypt and Syria were several hundred miles apart and it was thus almost impossible to create a central government. There were differences on national priorities too.
The June 5 to 10, 1967 Six-Day War, fought between Israel and the alliance of Egypt, Jordan and Syria, had led to the destruction of the entire Egyptian air force.
While less than a thousand Israelis had been killed in this conflict, over 20,000 personnel of the Arab forces lost lives. This war had weakened the existence of the United Arab Republic.
After Gamal Abdel Nasser’s death in 1970, the United Arab Republic had quickly dissolved, restoring the nations of Egypt and Syria once again.
Then, we have all heard about the 625-year-long Ottoman Empire, of the greatest empires in history that had extended from Morocco to the Persian Gulf, and from Sudan to as far north as Hungary.
The Ottoman Empire had finally breathed its last in November of 1922, when it was but a shadow of its former self and had outlived its usefulness.
In 1922, the Turks had won their war of independence in 1922 and abolished the magnificent Sultanate—-creating the modern-day nation of Turkey.
It saw itself dismantled in the aftermath, with the biggest chunk of it (Egypt, Sudan, and Palestine) going to England.
Gran Colombia was once a South American country, which included what is now Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and Ecuador from 1819-1830. Gran Colombia ceased to exist when Venezuela and Ecuador had seceded.
New Granada, a South American country that was part of Gran Colombia between 1819 and1830, was independent from 1830 to 1858 when it became known as the Grenadine Confederation, then the United States of New Granada in 1861, the United States of Colombia in 1863, and finally, the Republic of Colombia in 1886.
The kingdom of Prussia, which once included the northern two-thirds of Germany and western Poland, was fully disbanded at the end of World War II.
Here follows list of countries that have experienced mergers or have annexed with other nations:
East Germany was probably best known for its Berlin Wall and its tendency to shoot people who attempted to cross over it. The demise of the old Soviet Union had brought an end to this failed experiment in Communism, and it was integrated back into the rest of Germany in 1990. East Germany was created from the Soviet-controlled sector of Germany after the Second World War.
Yemen had split in 1967 into two countries, North Yemen (Yemen Arab Republic) and South Yemen (People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen). However, in 1990 the South and North Yemen rejoined to form a unified Yemen.
Though Hawaii was a kingdom for hundreds of years, it wasn’t recognized as an independent country until the 1840s. The country was annexed to the United States in 1898. The Republic of Texas had gained independence from Mexico in 1836 and had existed as an independent country until its annexation to the United States in 1845.
In 1777, Vermont had declared independence and had existed as an independent country until 1791, when it became the first state to enter the United States after the 13 colonies. Similarly, parts of Florida, Mississippi and Louisiana were independent for some 90 days in 1810.
The Eighth Century Indian state of Sikkim was once a monarchy too. The land-locked Sikkim, nestled securely in the Himalayan Mountains between India and China, had decided to merge with modern India in 1975.
Bengal was once an independent kingdom from 1338 to 1539, but now it is part of Bangladesh and India.
The Mediterranean island of Corsica (now part of France), was ruled by various nations over the course of history and had witnessed several brief periods of independence.
From 1907 to 1949, Newfoundland had existed as the self-governing dominion. In 1949, Newfoundland had joined Canada as a province. The Persian Empire had extended from the Mediterranean Sea to India. Modern Persia was founded in the 16th century and later became known as Iran.
The two African countries of Tanganyika and Zanzibar had united in 1964 to form Tanzania.
By the way, despite recent advances in autonomy, part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, both Scotland and Wales were independent nations that were merged with England to form the United Kingdom.
Today, major political parties in Scotland want independence from the rest of the United Kingdom. As a result of this pressure, Scotland and other regions of the UK have received much more autonomy than what actually they had in the past.
The independence movement has quieted down in Quebec, but only after Canada had established French on an equal footing with English, and after the province of Quebec had received other special treatment from the rest of Canada.
Here follows a list of some modern-day countries that have had changes in names:
The name of Ethiopia until the early 20th century was Abyssinia.
Prior to 1966, Lesotho’s name was Basutoland. Burma had officially changed its name to Myanmar in 1989
Catalonia or the autonomous region of Spain was independent from 1932 to1934 and from 1936 to 1939.
Siam had changed its name to Thailand in 1939.
Ceylon had changed its name to Sri Lanka in 1972.
Prior to 1980, Zimbabwe was known as Rhodesia.
Southwest Africa had gained independence and became Namibia in 1990.
Transjordan had become the independent kingdom of Jordan in 1946.
In 1998, Western Samoa had changed its name to Samoa.
In 1997, Zaire had changed its name to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
