The 2-28 Incident and crackdown

What happened

A dispute over confiscated contraband in Taipei triggers an island-wide uprising against the incoming Nationalist administration. The response is a violent crackdown in which thousands are estimated to have been killed, including much of the local educated elite. Casualty estimates vary widely and remain debated.

2-28 is the founding trauma of modern Taiwanese politics and the origin of the political divide that still shapes the island's parties. It is also why democratisation, when it came, was inseparable from questions of Taiwanese identity.

Confidence: High