Independence Day 2022: Not just India, these 5 nations also celebrate I-Day on August 15

As India celebrates its 75th year of independence today on 15th August, marked by great fervour and the Centre’s impassioned Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav push with a nationwide Har Ghar Tiranga movement, people across the country commemorate this as the day the country gained freedom from Britain. 

However, it isn’t the only country that celebrates Independence Day on August 15. On the same day as India, five other countries around the world mark a similar occurrence. Read ahead for additional information on which other countries gained independence today.

Bahrain

On August 15, 1971, the people of Bahrain who lived as a British colony banded together to proclaim independence, following a United National poll popularly known as the Independence Survey held among its nationals in 1970. The referendum was to determine whether the residents of the island nation preferred their own sovereignty or wished to be ruled by Iranians. It must be noted that the territory was already under British rule but Iran made a historical claim to the territory. The territorial disputes led to the Shah of Iran approaching the UN Secretariat to resolve the dispute which ended up with a referendum vote.

Following the referendum and a successful bill passed in the UN, Bahrain gained its independence on August 15, 1971. The UN report and resolution were debated and accepted in both the lower and upper houses of the Iranian parliament by 14 May 1970, renouncing their claim to Bahrain. The British revoked its special agreements with Britain in August 1971, allowing Bahrain to subsequently declare independence. Just a few days after, on 29 August 1971, Bahrain and Iran established diplomatic ties. 

North and South Korea

The former Japanese colonies, which were separated on August 15, 1945, after the end of World War II commemorate the end of their colonisation period. This is the only common national holiday observed by both North Korea and South Korea, who despite all the overlapping similarities, political and cultural, remain distant and enemies to this day. 

August 15 marks the unconditional surrender of the Japanese forces and commemorates the occasion when the United States and the Allied powers liberated Korea after 35 years of colonial rule. The day is celebrated as the ‘National Liberation Day of Korea’ although both the Korean nations were never fortunate enough to celebrate the occasion together since then.

Democratic Republic of Congo

The Democratic Republic of Congo gained full independence from France nearly 80 years after French administration and colonisation on August 15, 1960. The day is marked by jubilant celebrations across the country and is observed as the Congolese National Day. 

Congo was originally called Zaire and it is a Central African country surrounded by the Central African Republic in the north, Uganda in the east, Burundi in the south and Angola in the west. The DRC has a tragic history of being controlled by various colonial powers namely Britain, Belgium and France. It was also one of the most affected nations during the slave trade era.

Liechtenstein

Crowned as the world’s sixth smallest country, Liechtenstein also celebrates its independence from Germany on August 15, 1866. However, Liechtenstein does not observe the occasion as its day of independence, instead, the tiny European nation celebrates it as a national holiday created to combine a religious feast along with the birth anniversary of Prince Franz Josef II, the nation’s reigning prince at the time, who ruled the nation between 1938 until his death in 2009.