1975 Invasion of East Timor
East Timor was a Portuguese colony up until the Japanese occupation of World War II. After the war the Dutch East Indies became independent as the Republic of Indonesia. East Timor went back under the control of Portugal and was known at the time as Portuguese Timor. Then the Carnation Revolution in Portugal led to the Portuguese government deciding to pull away from its colonial possessions.
Political parties quickly formed in East Timor and there was some fighting when the parties split and one gained control of the military. Eventually the military switched sides and the fighting ceased. Despite the fact that the turmoil in East Timor stopped, Indonesia still saw the Portuguese coup as a chance to annex East Timor. Indonesia was not in a position to expand because of domestic political factors but when East Timor’s left-wing political faction won out, they feared that a communist state might form. If East Timor became communist, then it might be in a position to act as base for unfriendly actors to get into Indonesia. Indonesia also claimed that a communist East Timor could be a threat to Western submarines or spread secessionist ideas to Indonesian states.
On December 7, 1975, Indonesia invaded East Timor. 641 paratroopers landed in Dill, where they fought the East Timor military. In 6 hours, they had overtaken the city. On December 10, another invasion captured Baucau. Then on Christmas Day, 10,000 to 15,000 troops arrived in Liquisa and Maubara. The Indonesian troops continued to occupy East Timor and by April 1976, 35,000 soldiers were occupying the state.
The troops loyal to the left-wing party in East Timor were massively outnumbered and therefore fled to the mountains to launch a guerrilla rebellion. The fight for East Timor continued through 1978, until the Indonesian military resorted to brutal tactics to finally suppress the rebellion. A brutal regime would remain in East Timor until 1999.