History is not the same everywhere. How else can you explain the historical record of events that differ from nation to nation? Since the 20th century, several governments have realized that they can rewrite history in their favor. And they did it. Governments promote these revised versions of history in their schools and textbooks. Their students learn a distorted storytelling that they often believe in as adults. Surprisingly, history distortion is not a third world problem. It covers developed and developing countries. However, Asian countries seem to be at the forefront.
10. South Korea
In 2015, the South Korean National Institute of Korean History gained public attention after making controversial changes to the country's history textbooks. The changes provided overtly positive views of South Korea and contributed to portraying Japan and North Korea in a negative light. In particular, they stepped up criticism of North Korea and denounced its Juche ("self-reliance") ideology.
Conservatives who have proposed the changes have expressed concern that South Korean youth might grow up admiring the Juche, even if North Korea was not essentially self-reliant. North Korea depends on China for basic needs, including oil and food. Conservatives have also denounced current history books for blaming North and South Korea for the Korean War, although North Korea was the first to attack.
The conservatives added that the current textbooks they say are being written by liberals widely criticize Park Chung Hee's military regime, which came to power after a coup in 1961. They said the current textbooks downplay his accomplishments and shed light on his government's crimes.
Curiously, Park Chung Hee's daughter, Park Geun-hye, was president when the history textbook changes were proposed. The conservative South Korean government planned to bring textbooks to the country's schools by March 2017. This was to be followed by a ban on any other history textbook in use at the time. The government abandoned these bans after a series of protests and criticism over attempts to brainwash the population.
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9. Iraq
In 1973, Saddam Hussein rewrote textbooks on Iraqi history to promote himself and the ideology of his Baath Party. According to the amendments, Hussein saved the Arab lands from the invasion of Jews, whom he described as greedy people.
Years later, according to Hussein, Iraq won the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988. and the 1991 Gulf War against the United States. Both facts were false.
These textbooks became a source of concern for the US-led coalition that toppled Saddam's government in 2003. Working closely with a group of Iraqi educators, the US government removed all references to Saddam Hussein and the Baath Party. They removed several links to Iran, Kuwait, Jews, Kurds, Sunnis, Shiites, and the United States. Educators also edited the details of the 1991 Gulf War to make it "less controversial."
8. India and Pakistan
India and Pakistan have had a complicated relationship since they gained independence from Britain in 1947. Tensions between both regions led to the division of British India into India and Pakistan in the same year. This was followed by several riots, wars and subsequent independence of Bangladesh from Pakistan.
These days, any country is always looking for ways to take revenge on the other. They brought their wars to schools, where they edited their history books to present a distorted version of past events to their citizens. The history books in both countries give different reasons for the 1947 division. Pakistani textbooks claim that Pakistani Muslims split from India after Indian Hindus turned them into slaves immediately after independence. Meanwhile, Indian textbooks claim that the Pakistanis used the creation of a new country only as a bargaining chip and never wanted it.
India and Pakistan were embroiled in a series of deadly riots that killed 200,000-500,000 people immediately after the separation. While Pakistani textbooks blame India for the riots, claiming that the Indians attacked first, Indian textbooks suggest that both sides were guilty. History textbooks printed in both countries also claim victory in the 1965 war. Pakistani textbooks claim that India "begged for mercy" and "fled to the UN" after suffering a series of defeats at the hands of the Pakistani military. Indian textbooks claim that India almost reached Lahore in Pakistan before the UN ordered it to stop fighting.
On the subsequent secession of Bangladesh from Pakistan, Pakistani textbooks accuse India of supporting Bangladesh during the Bangladesh Liberation War, which led to Bangladesh's independence. Indian textbooks accuse Pakistan of attacking Bangladeshis and argue that India only helped a group of people fighting for freedom.
7. Japan
Japan has strained relations with China and South Korea. Massive anti-Japanese sentiment emerged in both countries during the 20th century due to territorial disputes and World War II, when Japan invaded and committed war crimes against the citizens of China and Korea. In 2017, the Japanese government insisted on editing history textbooks for younger students. The editorial board was headed by the ironically named Society for the Dissemination of Historical Facts.
The group seized some of the Japanese textbooks containing references to the 300,000 Chinese killed during the infamous 1937 Nanjing Massacre. References to 400,000 Korean and Chinese women who were forced into prostitution by Japan during World War II were removed from the books. New textbooks have also blamed the US for bombing Pearl Harbor. Its authors argued that the bombings were a response to several US trade embargoes against Japan; the country's government considered them an unofficial declaration of war.
Critics said the textbook was an attempt to remove from Japan the vast number of war crimes it committed during the 20th century. Interestingly, the Society for the Dissemination of Historical Facts was already working on a fourth edition at the time the controversy began. This indicates that the Japanese government is gradually removing controversial paragraphs from its history textbooks from year to year.
Hiromichi Moteki, director of the society, disagrees that the Japanese government is editing history. He insists that the new textbooks are accurate, as opposed to the misleading facts promoted in Chinese and Korean textbooks. Moteki added that Japan actually developed Korea and improved the quality of life for its citizens after the 1910 invasion. According to him, it was the Koreans who, in fact, exploited the Japanese, and not vice versa, as everyone thinks. He also portrayed the Nanjing Massacre as "communist propaganda" and said that the Japanese military never used women as prostitutes.
6. China
In 1966, Chinese leader Mao Zedong introduced a series of reforms that he called the Cultural Revolution. He argued that this was part of an attempt to rebuild China with its communist ideology. However, from the inside, it was also part of Mao's ploy to regain his position as leader of the Chinese Communist Party.
Over the next 10 years, Mao infringed on the rights of several people, which led to a series of protests and other acts of civil disobedience that ended only after his death in 1976. This period is controversial in Chinese history, prompting the government to remove details of the revolution from its history books in 2018. An entire chapter on the Cultural Revolution was removed from the state-approved history textbook and replaced with a chapter on the development of China.
The deletions included all references to the protests and government-backed violence that rocked China at the time. The Chinese government was able to edit history with ease because the textbooks are published by the government's People's Education Press.
5. Taiwan
In 2015, a series of protests erupted in Taiwan after the government tried to edit school history books and distort the country's history. The changes were seen as part of a long-term plan to reunite Taiwan with China. Taiwan's plan to edit past events began in 2013, when some Taiwanese professors launched a government-approved program to fine-tune the island's history.
In February 2014, the professors announced that they had made some adjustments to Taiwan's history and plan to introduce them to schools by August 2015. The changes included the renaming of the Taiwanese Zheng Dynasty to the Sino-Taiwanese Ming Zheng Dynasty, after the Ming Dynasty, which ruled mainland China between 1368 and 1644. However, Taiwan was never part of the Ming Dynasty and only became part of China in 1683.
Other corrections revealed that the professors changed Taiwan's history after the government of the Republic of China under the Kuomintang took control of Taiwan in 1949. The changes were followed by a series of protests by Taiwanese high school students who demanded that the government abandon attempts to edit their textbooks. A professor (who was not involved in the project) argued that the amendments would change 60 percent of Taiwan's history.
4. Afghanistan
In 2012, the Afghan Ministry of Education updated the history curriculum. This resulted in the immediate removal of 40 years of the country's history, including life under the communist government of Afghanistan, several coups in the 1970s, and the 1979 Soviet invasion. The curriculum also ruled out details about the anti-Soviet resistance led by the Mujahideen (who later became the Taliban), the deadly civil war waged by the Mujahideen factions after the Soviet Union was expelled from their territories, and the subsequent American invasion and occupation.
Any reference to these events had to be enclosed in just a few lines. The government said changes are needed to unify a divided nation, where citizens have more loyalty to their tribes, clans and political beliefs than to the nation itself. Critics say the changes were an attempt to gain approval from the Taliban and other armed groups in conflict with the government.
The history curriculum taught in schools at the time portrayed these armed groups as bad people. The government may try to negotiate with them when US troops leave Afghanistan. One critic has compared deleting information about the US invasion and occupation to trying to "hide the sun between two fingers."
3. Turkey
Schools in Germany use Turkish textbooks to teach Turkish students about Turkish history. As of 2013, the government-approved history textbook was Turkce ve Turk Kulturu (Turkish Language and Turkish Culture). However, the book caused so much controversy that people began to call for its ban.
Critics said that Turkce ve Turk Kulturu often changed history in favor of Turkey. Like other Turkish history textbooks, he omits or changes several references to the facts of the genocide that led to the death of 1.5 million Armenians during and after the First World War. Instead, the authors argued that the Armenians allied with their allies (including Russia, Britain, and the United States) during World War I to destroy the Ottoman Empire, which split into several nations after the war (including Turkey).
The authors also argued that Armenia voluntarily ceded its lands to Turkey after the war, which is a lie. Critics also condemned the book out of fears that it aggressively promoted Turkish nationalism. This was due to the fact that it contained an oath of loyalty to the Turkish state: "My goal is to protect the young, honor the elderly and love my country and homeland more than myself." The book was published by the Turkish Ministry of Education and distributed by the Turkish Embassy.
2. Chile
In 2012, the country of Chile found itself in a quandary after its ministry of education tried to edit parts of its history textbooks concerning the government of General Augusto Pinochet, who ruled Chile until 1990. The new books called Pinochet's rule "regime" instead of "dictatorship."
Critics, who were mainly from the left opposition, argued that the reclassification was an attempt to rewrite history to appease the ruling center-right government, which found favor with the general when he was in power. The government denied these allegations, saying it simply wants to use a less politically charged word.
1. Serbia
Slobodan Milosevic was President of Serbia from 1989 to 1997, when he became President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia should not be confused with Yugoslavia, which disintegrated into several independent states in the period 1990-1992. Serbia and Montenegro were part of the new states. Both states soon merged to create the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was not recognized in the West. However, the union lasted until 2003, when it was renamed the Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
Three years later, they split into two separate states. Milosevic is infamous for having fought four wars during his reign - in Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo and Slovenia. He is also accused of ethnic cleansing in Bosnia and Croatia. However, it all ended when his government collapsed following massive protests in October 2000.
Milosevic edited Serbian history textbooks while in power. He filled them with propaganda and accused other nations of hating Serbia for no reason. Coincidentally, he himself faced history editing in 2001 when the new Serbian government removed all references to him from history books.
The new Serbian history textbooks have cleverly avoided mentioning Milosevic's name, although they have dealt with several events closely associated with him, including the war in Kosovo in 1999, the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999, and the October 2000 protests. For example, one line from the edited textbooks mentions only “mass demonstrations in Belgrade on October 5, 2000” without indicating that the protests were aimed at Milosevic.
Radoslav Petkovic, director of the state publishing house that produced the textbook, later clarified that they had avoided mentioning the names of key Serbian statesmen for the previous 10 years. He added that they tried to ignore this 10-year period in Serbia's history.