It’s interesting to contrast our Independence Day with other countries’ similar observances. The one I’m most familiar with, Samil, is the Korean independence commemoration day. This is a rather long stretch from our own, though.
It is true that we “declared independence” on this day, but we took several years until we fought the British to a surrender. The Koreans declared independence from Japan on March 1st, 1919. They failed. The people were brutally subjugated and kept in near-slavery until 1945, when a foreign power (that would be us) gave them their independence.
I think we are unusual in not being given independence, but fighting for it tooth and nail. It took 5 years to win our independence from Great Britain. It took 26 years for the Koreans to be *given* independence from Japan.
Australia may seem like another former British Colony to us, but some in Australia say they are not yet fully independent, as their constitution stipulates that their Head of State (a ceremonial position, to be sure) is the British monarch.
What other countries have won independence, rather than having it handed to them as a gift?
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