Who were the Tamil Tigers?
Between 1983 and 2009, Sri Lanka was engulfed in Civil War. There was one group above all who would dominate this conflict. Their name would become infamous around the world as they fought for a Tamil homeland on an island dominated by a Sinhalese majority. Using suicide squads and child soldiers they would fight the world’s fourth largest army to a standstill and assassinated presidents and prime ministers. Were they terrorists or were they freedom fighters? This is the story of the Tamil Tigers.
"Correction:" , 03:43, Jaffna was not ~50% Tamil. The number was more like 10%. According to Gordon Weiss: 'Prior to the rise of the Tamil Tigers, around 10 per cent of the population of Jaffna had been Sinhalese who had peacefully coexisted with their neighbours for generations'
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Sources:
-A History of Sri Lanka, K. M. de Silva
-Elephant Complex; Travels in Sri Lanka, John Gimlette
-The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, Gordon Weiss
-The Ocean of Churn: How the Indian Ocean Shaped Human History, Sanjeev Sanyal
-This Divided Island: Stories from the Sri Lankan War, Samanth Subramanian
Various news sources, especially The Economist
00:00 Intro
00:54 Who were the Tamil Tigers?
04:58 Attacks
06:48 Diaspora and Funding
09:52 Truth Tigers
12:30 Tiger Divisions
15:19 Sri Lankan Army
17:00 Batticaloa to Trincomalee
17:48 Trincomalee
22:02 Pigeon Island
23:11 Football and Fuel
Correction: 03:43 Jaffna was not ~50% Tamil. The number was more like 10%. According to Gordon Weiss: 'Prior to the rise of the Tamil Tigers, around 10 per cent of the population of Jaffna had been Sinhalese who had peacefully coexisted with their neighbours for generations'
"Correction:" , 03:43, Jaffna was not ~50% Tamil. The number was more like 10%. According to Gordon Weiss: 'Prior to the rise of the Tamil Tigers, around 10 per cent of the population of Jaffna had been Sinhalese who had peacefully coexisted with their neighbours for generations'