Kelly Clarkson's Song Lyric Connects To The Cold War

As twenty-first century singer, Kelly Clarkson, once sang, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” This song lyric connects to the Cold War because the war did not negatively affect all the countries that participated. In fact some countries greatly benefitted from the war because the harsh circumstances forced them to change traditional ways and become stronger for the future. The Cold War carries a mixed legacy because many non-Communist countries underwent a positive experience due to cultural reorganization, although cruel Communist control reigned across many regions of Southeast Asia. First, the Indochinese wars transformed the regions of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam into Communist states, and this caused the split of French Indochina

On February 15th, 1942, Singapore surrendered to Japanese rule after Singapore acted as Britain’s main naval base since 1922. After the loss, Lieutenant General Arthur Ernest Percival, a British officer, declared that his troops “were unable to continue the fight any longer” and he admitted it as the “worst defeat” ever for Britain because they controlled Singapore at the time. Here, this quote lays down the background of how Japan began their rule and it makes Japan come across as tyrannical and oppressive, but in fact Japan helped Singaporese. At the time, Japan had industrialized and modernized more compared to Singapore, so they brought their knowledge into Singapore with a period of urbanization. Japan’s direct investment into Singapore helped them strengthen their economy because Japan used their more advanced knowledge. James Tanoos, a Cold-War scholar, later described Singapore as a “new manufacturing presence in East Asia” who “prompted sharp economic development and rapid overall economic growth.” Here, Tanoos refers to the Japan and Singapore relationship, and his analysis proves that the Japanese involvement helped economic development and growth. Overall, this situation provides another example of a non-Communist state who improved economically during this time

Even after Singapore gained its political independence, Singapore continued as a strategic naval base for the British, which made the British needed to focus on Singapore’s political future to remain a strong base for them. An article from Singapore’s national library asserts that the “politics that led to self government and then to political independence...was...influenced by the British” and the British also “fundamentally shape[d] the political future of the island state.” This passage displays two separate ways how the British government positively affected Singapore for the future. First, the British maneuvers helped contribute to Singapore’s self government and political independence for the first time. Secondly, in this way, Britain restructured Singapore politically, so that they would be strong as a viable naval base and manage outside Communist threats. Also, because Singapore served as the key British base in Eastern Asia, Singapore could rely on Britain’s defense for them in return until the mid 1970’s. In a book by Ly Tuong Van under Griffith University, Lau asserts that “Singapore could no longer depend on Britain for their defence” because Britain withdrew the last military forces in 1971. Here, the author implies that Britain helped provide protection and defense for Singapore, while they had military forces in the country. Therefore,