* ImprovisedWeapon / ClosestThingWeGot : The LTTE's military was rather (in)famous by the degrees to which they went to turn almost any captured vehicle into a WeaponizedCar. This was the case in particular with LTTE's rag-tag air force, consisting mostly of modified small civilian planes used for various air strikes and minor terror bombing operations. 
**To counteract the LTTE's guerilla approach to ground and aerial warfare, the Sri Lankan government started investing more into dedicated [[StandardHollywoodStrafingProcedure cointerinsurgency]] [[DeathFromAbove combat aircraft]] since the 1990s. Notably, Sri Lanka remains the only non-Latin American country to ever operate the Argentinian [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FMA_IA_58_Pucar%C3%A1 FMA Pucará]]  COIN plane. After most of the Pucarás were retired due to war-weariness, the country purchased second-hand [[CoolPlane MiG 27s]] during the 2000s to act as more powerful close air support and ground attack aircraft when dealing with LTTE forces.

13th Sep '12 1:16:26 PM Byzantine

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13th Sep '12 1:14:25 PM Byzantine

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6th Jul '12 4:25:52 PM Kalmbach

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The war itself was just a part of the whole ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The Sinhalese are the ethnic majority of Sri Lanka and make up three quarters of the population. The Tamils inturn just make up 17% of the population, and both groups immigrated to Sri Lanka from India during ancient times. According to the historians, the Sinhalese came to the island four hundreds years before the Tamils, something that the Tamils are quick to deny. The background to the conflict is debatted; some historians believes that it started during the British adminstration of the island between 1815 to 1948. Others believes it started already at the 11th century, when the Tamil Chola Empire invaded Sri Lanka and destroyed the Sinhalese kingdom of Anuradhapura in 1017. 
In 377 BC, the Sinhalese king Pandukabhaya founded the ever first kingdom on Sri Lanka in the city Anuradhapura, which also bared the kingdom's name. Through the centuries, it became an mighty kingdom, there Sinhalese literature and culture dominated the island. Also the technology was advanced enough to create massive harvests each year for the population to feed on. Trade with the Roman Empire made the kingdom even more powerful, due to the Romans' generous payment for Sri Lankan spices.
However, misfortune would come when King Raja Raja Chola I of Chola Empire invaded the kingdom 993 and in 1017, his son, Rajendra Chola I, sacked and destroyed the city of Anuradhapura, forcing the exiled Sinhalese to the south. 
After the Chola victory, war between the Tamil superpower and the new Sinhalese kingdom of Polonnaruwa was fought in some hundreds years. In the 14th century, the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was replaced by the Kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy as the main Sinhalese players. The Tamils in turn created the Kingdom of Jaffna in 1215, after the Chola Empire lost their grips on the island. 
The competition was then fought for some more centuries until the Portugese came to island and conquered all the three nations. In 1815, the British came and took over the island, naming it Ceylon. The British were quick to reform the whole system; The political power was centralized and moved to capital city Colombo, former capital city of Kotte, Christianity was brought in and plenty of Christian schools of British model were built everywhere on the island. Also plenty of the rainforest was cut down in order to give ground to the tea-plantations. Because the demand for tea was strong in the homeland, the British recruited Tamils from India proper as plantation-workers and transported them to Ceylon.

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The war itself was just a part of the whole ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. The Sinhalese are the ethnic majority of Sri Lanka and make up three quarters of the population. The Tamils inturn just make up 17% of the population, and both groups immigrated to Sri Lanka from India during ancient times. According to the historians, the Sinhalese came to the island four hundreds years before the Tamils, something that the Tamils are quick to deny. The background to the conflict is debatted; some historians believes that it started during the British adminstration of the island between 1815 to 1948. Others believe it started already at the 11th century, when the Tamil Chola Empire invaded Sri Lanka and destroyed the Sinhalese kingdom of Anuradhapura in 1017.
In 377 BC, the Sinhalese king Pandukabhaya founded the ever first kingdom on Sri Lanka in the city Anuradhapura, which also bore the kingdom's name. Through the centuries, it became an mighty kingdom; their Sinhalese literature and culture dominated the island. Also the technology was advanced enough to create massive harvests each year for the population to feed on. Trade with the Roman Empire made the kingdom even more powerful, due to the Romans' generous payment for Sri Lankan spices.
However, misfortune would come when King Raja Raja Chola I of Chola Empire invaded the kingdom 993 and in 1017, his son, Rajendra Chola I, sacked and destroyed the city of Anuradhapura, forcing the exiled Sinhalese to the south.
After the Chola victory, war between the Tamil superpower and the new Sinhalese kingdom of Polonnaruwa was fought for some hundreds of years. In the 14th century, the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was replaced by the Kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy as the main Sinhalese players. The Tamils in turn created the Kingdom of Jaffna in 1215, after the Chola Empire lost their grips on the island.
The competition was then fought for some more centuries until the Portugese came to the island and conquered all the three nations. In 1815, the British came and took over the island, naming it Ceylon. The British were quick to reform the whole system; The political power was centralized and moved to capital city Colombo, former capital city of Kotte, Christianity was brought in and plenty of Christian schools of British model were built everywhere on the island. Also plenty of the rainforest was cut down in order to give ground to the tea-plantations. Because the demand for tea was strong in the homeland, the British recruited Tamils from India proper as plantation-workers and transported them to Ceylon.

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The 23 July 1983, 15 Sinhalese soldiers in the Army were ambushed by the young LTTE in the city Jaffna, in the northern part of Sri Lanka. 13 of them were killed. The ambush was a revenge of the burndown of the ancient libary of Jaffna in 1981, which was filled with Tamil literature, by a Sinhalese mob. The burndown itself was revenge for the murder of two Sinhalese police officers the same year.
The bodies of the dead soldiers were transported to Colombo for funeral. After the funeral the anger of the Sinhalese boiled in their blood and the most bloodiest riot in Sri Lanka's history was started. Around the nation Sinhalese mobs went out looking for Tamils and attacked them as soon they saw them and destroyed their properties. The police refused to stop these acts of revenge and in some cases they even helped. The mobs didn't care if their victims were members of LTTE or not. As so long they were Tamils than that was justification enough for attacking them. This dark happening is known as "The Black July". Around 1000-1300 Tamils were killed during this riot, and over hundred thousands Tamils fled to southern India, to Europe, to Austalia or to North America.
The anger of the Tamils grew thanks to the riot. Many got their houses and their properties destroyed, their family members and friends killed, forced to run and most of them weren't even members of LTTE when they were attacked. The riot inspired though many Tamils to join LTTE and pretty soon after the riot LTTE became a strong organization, and the Sri Lankan Civil War became a circumstance.

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The 23 July 1983, 15 Sinhalese soldiers in the Army were ambushed by the young LTTE in the city Jaffna, in the northern part of Sri Lanka. 13 of them were killed. The ambush was a revenge of the burning of the ancient library of Jaffna in 1981, which was filled with Tamil literature, by a Sinhalese mob. The burning itself was revenge for the murder of two Sinhalese police officers the same year.
The bodies of the dead soldiers were transported to Colombo for funeral. After the funeral the anger of the Sinhalese boiled in their blood and the bloodiest riot in Sri Lanka's history was started. Around the nation Sinhalese mobs went out looking for Tamils and attacked them on sight, destroying their property. The police refused to stop these acts of revenge even joining them in some cases. The mobs didn't care if their victims were members of LTTE or not. So long as they were Tamils, that was justification enough for attacking them. This dark happening is known as "The Black July". Around 1000-1300 Tamils were killed during this riot, and over hundred thousands Tamils fled to southern India, to Europe, to Austalia or to North America.
The anger of the Tamils grew thanks to the riot. Many got their houses and their properties destroyed, their family members and friends killed or forced to run and most of them weren't even members of LTTE when they were attacked. The riot inspired though many Tamils to join LTTE and pretty soon after the riot LTTE became a strong organization, and the Sri Lankan Civil War became a circumstance.

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Since JVP wasn't just a Marxist party but also a Sinhalese-nationalistic party they attacked anyone they though supported the Indians or the truce. So brutal they were that in many parts of the country, dead bodies could been seen on the open streets, and soon it became an everyday thing to see such things. 
People were forced to close their stores, as a part of JVP's economical warfare, and schools were closed because the Sri Lankan government was afraid that they would turn into recruitment camps for JVP. Bloody battles and attacks between the government and JVP broke out. In an attempt to defeat JVP the government introduced a new anti-terror law, that the parlament passed, that gave the police and the military the rights to arrest and "interrogate" suspected terrorists, even if they didn't have any evidence that they were actually terrorists. Thousands of people were arrested and "disappeared" around the nation. Though the harshment, the law proved to be efficent against JVP. Slowly JVP died out until their militant strenght died out completly. JVP became extremly weakened but they would remain an importent player of the Sri Lankan chessgame, though in the parlamental game instead the militant one.

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Since JVP wasn't just a Marxist party but also a Sinhalese-nationalistic party they attacked anyone they though supported the Indians or the truce. So brutal they were that in many parts of the country, dead bodies could been seen on the open streets, and soon it became an everyday thing to see such things.
People were forced to close their stores, as a part of JVP's economical warfare, and schools were closed because the Sri Lankan government was afraid that they would turn into recruitment camps for JVP. Bloody battles and attacks between the government and JVP broke out. In an attempt to defeat JVP the government introduced a new anti-terror law, that the parlament passed, that gave the police and the military the rights to arrest and "interrogate" suspected terrorists, even if they didn't have any evidence that they were actually terrorists. Thousands of people were arrested and "disappeared" around the nation. Though the harshment, the law proved to be efficent against JVP. Slowly JVP died out until their militant strength died out completly. JVP became extremly weakened but they would remain an importent player of the Sri Lankan chessgame, though in the parlamental game instead the militant one.

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It shouldn't be so difficult which alternative they chose, so pretty soon large groups of Muslim refugees walked from north and east to south and west. Those who stayed became pretty roughed up by LTTE. Even in territories controlled by the government didn't went safe. In the city Kattankudy in south an brutal attack on the local mosque took place when 147 civilian muslims were killed by LTTE-militants dressed as praying Muslims. Of course this only made the Muslims into important political allies to the Sinhalese through the rest of the war.

In the year 1991 one of the most important incidents of the war happened. The 21 May 1991 the former prime minister of India, Rajiv 
Gandhi was in the city Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nedu to gain election votes to the parliamentary election. Gandhi had lost his prime minister status 1989, and in 1991 he tried to make a comeback in the parliamentary election in hope that he would win a seat in Lok Sabha. During his political campaign in Tamil Nedu he was embraced by a crowd which wised him good fortunes. One of the people of the crowd was a young woman named Thanmuli Rajaratnam. She also wanted to meet Gandhi in person but Gandhi's bodyguards didn't let her come too close to Gandhi. Gandhi though let her come close. Seconds later blew Rajaratnam herself up to death, taking Gandhi and 16 other people with her.

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In the year 1991 one of the most important incidents of the war happened. The 21 May 1991 the former prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi was in the city Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nedu to gain election votes to the parliamentary election. Gandhi had lost his prime minister status 1989, and in 1991 he tried to make a comeback in the parliamentary election in hope that he would win a seat in Lok Sabha. During his political campaign in Tamil Nedu he was embraced by a crowd which wised him good fortunes. One of the people of the crowd was a young woman named Thanmuli Rajaratnam. She also wanted to meet Gandhi in person but Gandhi's bodyguards didn't let her come too close to Gandhi. Gandhi though let her come close. Seconds later blew Rajaratnam herself up to death, taking Gandhi and 16 other people with her.

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This period went from 1995 to 2002. Under her first years as the president created Kumaratunga the so called "War-for-peace" strategy. It meant that through military offensives the government would force LTTE to follow the truce, and they started with the hard parts immidiately.
In 1995 the military was able to win a historical battle; Jaffna, LTTE's capital city, had been re-conquered and was in the government's hands. LTTE was forced to retreat into the jungle. Though even with the great lose of their capital city, LTTE was anything but defeated and weakened. In fact it was the start of their most successful campaign ever of the war. 
LTTE fought back 31 January 1996 when a truck with explosives inside ramed right into the Central Bank of Colombo and blew up, killing 91 people. Half a year later LTTE started Operation Unceasing Waves, which was a siege of the city Mullaitivu. The city was defended by 1500 soldiers and against them were 4000 LTTE-fighters. After a week of siege warfare LTTE finally conquered Mullaitivu, and the Sea Tigers moved their headquarter there. 
In year 1998 the tigers attacked the city Kilinochchi, which they were able to conquer and declearing it as their new capital city. 
Of course the military weren't so easily defeatable either, and at 15 May 1997 they started Operation Jayasikurui. The strategy was to build a road and supply lines between north and south and at the same time destroy as much of LTTE as possible. Status Quo was infecting the nation again. The war became even more bitter when LTTE blew up World Trade Center in Colombo and tried to assassinate Kumaratunga during the presidental election 1999. She survived but lost one eye as a result.

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This period went from 1995 to 2002. Under her first years, the president created Kumaratunga the so called "War-for-peace" strategy. It meant that through military offensives the government would force LTTE to follow the truce, and they started with the hard parts immediately.
In 1995 the military was able to win a historic battle; Jaffna, LTTE's capital city, had been re-conquered and was in the government's hands. LTTE was forced to retreat into the jungle. Though even with the great loss of their capital city, LTTE was anything but defeated and weakened. In fact it was the start of their most successful campaign ever of the war. 
LTTE fought back 31 January 1996 when a truck bomb rammed into the Central Bank of Colombo, killing 91 people. Half a year later LTTE started Operation Unceasing Waves, a siege of the city Mullaitivu. The city was defended by 1500 soldiers and against them were 4000 LTTE-fighters. After a week of siege warfare LTTE finally conquered Mullaitivu, and the Sea Tigers moved their headquarter there.
In year 1998 the tigers attacked the city Kilinochchi, which they were able to conquer and declearing it as their new capital city.
Of course the military weren't so easily defeatable either, and at 15 May 1997 they started Operation Jayasikurui. The strategy was to build a road and supply lines between north and south and at the same time destroy as much of LTTE as possible. Status Quo was infecting the nation again. The war became even more bitter when LTTE blew up World Trade Center in Colombo and tried to assassinate Kumaratunga during the presidental election 1999. She survived but lost one eye as a result.

6th Mar '12 12:13:38 AM SayaAensland

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Three years of peace lasted but in 2004, an internal struggle happened in LTTE. What was happening was that Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, more known as Colonel Karuna Amman, became disillusioned with LTTE, which he though had ignored the eastern Tamils in favor of the northern Tamils and that Prabhakaran had a become tolalitarian ruler and broke out of LTTE along with 5000 men and created his own militia, the Tamil Makkad Viduthalai Pulikal (Tamil People Liberation Tigers), or TMVP. LTTE's intelligence agency claimed that the broke up only happened because they were getting at the colonel's "businesses" behind the scene. Rumors said that the government was behind the broke out but so far no evidence for it have proved it. Armed struggles broke out between LTTE and TMVP and they quickly became bloody. 
Except that, everything else in Sri Lanka was clam for the moment. Though Kumaratunga hasn't forgotten LTTE's attacks and assassination attempt on her life so during a vote of confidence her political alliance allied with JVP, she dissolved the parliament and started a new parliamentary election 2004. Thanks to the alliance between PA and JVP, Wickremasinghe lost the prime minister post and Mahinda Rajapaska, former minister of labour and aquatic resourses and Kumaratunga's personal friend, took over. 
PA got JVP on their side thanks to their promises that the government wouldn't has any future peacetalks with LTTE. Though the tsunami of 2004 temporary stopped their plans for a time until they got their next chance 2006, when the Minister of Forgein Affair Lakshman Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil, was assassinated in his own home by a LTTE-sniper.

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Three years of peace lasted but in 2004, an internal struggle happened in LTTE. What was happening was that Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, more known as Colonel Karuna Amman, became disillusioned with LTTE, which he though had ignored the eastern Tamils in favor of the northern Tamils and that Prabhakaran had a become totalitarian ruler and broke out of LTTE along with 5000 men and created his own militia, the Tamil Makkad Viduthalai Pulikal (Tamil People Liberation Tigers), or TMVP. LTTE's intelligence agency claimed that the break-up only happened because they were getting at the colonel's "businesses" behind the scene. Rumors said that the government was behind the break-up but so far no evidence for it have proven it. Armed struggles broke out between LTTE and TMVP and they quickly became bloody. 
Except for that, everything else in Sri Lanka was calm for the moment. Though Kumaratunga hadn't forgotten LTTE's attacks and assassination attempt on her life, so during a vote of confidence her political alliance allied with JVP, she dissolved the parliament and started a new parliamentary election in 2004. Thanks to the alliance between PA and JVP, Wickremasinghe lost the prime minister post and Mahinda Rajapaska, former minister of labour and aquatic resourses and Kumaratunga's personal friend, took over. 
PA got JVP on their side thanks to their promises that the government wouldn't have any future peacetalks with LTTE. Though the tsunami of 2004 temporarily stopped their plans for a time, they got their next chance in 2006, when the Minister of Foreign Affairs Lakshman Kadirgamar, an ethnic Tamil, was assassinated in his own home by a LTTE-sniper.

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Same year as Kadirgamar was assassinated, presidental election was starting again. That time, Rajapaska was nominated as SLFP's presidental candidate. His strongest slogan was he would put to an end of the war as quick as possible. LTTE of course didn't liked the promise and in their territories people were forbidden to vote in purpose to boycott the election. This would prove to the start of the end for LTTE.
Rajapaska won the election and became the new president of Sri Lanka. He almost as quickly as he became president prepared the nation for total war. 
The first thing he did was to buy as much of Chinese and Israeli weaponary as possible. Then he introduced harsher discipline within the military with help of American military advisors. The result became successful. After had been an military of undisciplined and halfhearted motivated slacks and theives the Sri Lankan military became quickly a strong force made up of disciplined, welltrained and motivated troops. 
After this reformation the new force pulled their first moves in year 2006 against east. The Government allied with the near-defeated TMVP and together they, after a year of hard combat, forced LTTE out of the eastern provinces. Then they just had to win the same victory in north, in LTTE's "backyard", but just to make sure they wouldn't lose their control of the eastern parts to LTTE the government pardon colonel Amman and his troops of their past deeds and made Amman the temporary governor of those provinces. By that way the government was able to gain TMVP's forever loyalty. With that end of matter the military pushed to north.
Slowly the military fought through LTTE's grounds and won the first battle after the next one. The casulties became extremly high for LTTE. Under Novemeber 2008-January 2009 the Second Battle of Kilinochchi was fought on the city which was LTTE's capital city since 1998. The military won the battle and LTTE was forced to retreat from the city when military tanks pushed through their defences. LTTE fled to Mullaitivu, with the military right behind their backs. After twenty days of figthing, the city fell to the military as well. The Sea Tigers was annihilated as a militiant force and LTTE had only control of 5% of the territories they once owned. The military quickly attacked this territory and at April 2009, LTTE's control of their last city, Puthukkudiyirippu, fell to the surperior force. At May, LTTE's leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, the man who had led the most strongest terrorist organization ever existed, feld when he tried to retreat inside an ambulance. When his body was later identified by Colonel Amman, President Rajapaska officially conformed the tiger leader's death through live television, and decleared that the war has been won. Soon LTTE accepted defeat and the last remnants of them laid down their weapons and surrendered. The 26 year long war was over.

to:

Same year as Kadirgamar was assassinated, presidental election was starting again. That time, Rajapaska was nominated as SLFP's presidential candidate. His strongest slogan was he would put to an end of the war as quickly as possible. LTTE of course didn't like the promise and in their territories people were forbidden to vote in order to boycott the election. This would prove to be the beginning of the end for LTTE.
Rajapaska won the election and became the new president of Sri Lanka. As soon as he was sworn in as president he prepared the nation for total war. 
The first thing he did was to buy as much of Chinese and Israeli weaponary as possible. Then he introduced harsher discipline within the military with help of American military advisors. The result was successful. The Sri Lankan military, which had once been a military of undisciplined and halfheartedly motivated slackers and thieves, quickly became a strong force made up of disciplined, well-trained and motivated troops. 
After this reformation the new force pulled their first moves in year 2006 against east. The Government allied with the near-defeated TMVP and together they, after a year of hard combat, forced LTTE out of the eastern provinces. Then they just had to win the same victory in north, in LTTE's "backyard", but just to make sure they wouldn't lose their control of the eastern parts to LTTE the government pardoned colonel Amman and his troops of their past deeds and made Amman the temporary governor of those provinces. By that way the government was able to gain TMVP's eternal loyalty. With that end of matter the military pushed to north.
Slowly the military fought through LTTE's grounds and won the first battle after the next one. The casulties became extremly high for LTTE. In November 2008-January 2009 the Second Battle of Kilinochchi was fought on the city which was LTTE's capital city since 1998. The military won the battle and LTTE was forced to retreat from the city when military tanks pushed through their defences. LTTE fled to Mullaitivu, with the military right behind their backs. After twenty days of fighting, the city fell to the military as well. The Sea Tigers were annihilated as a militant force and LTTE had control of only 5% of the territories they once owned. The military quickly attacked this territory and at April 2009, LTTE's control of their last city, Puthukkudiyirippu, fell to the superior force. At May, LTTE's leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, the man who had led the most strongest terrorist organization to ever exist, fell when he tried to retreat inside an ambulance. When his body was later identified by Colonel Amman, President Rajapaska officially confirmed the tiger leader's death through live television, and declared that the war had been won. Soon LTTE accepted defeat and their last remnants laid down their weapons and surrendered. The 26 year long war was over.

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5th Mar '12 11:31:23 PM SayaAensland

Send SayaAensland a PM notification explaining the badness of natter: natter-fy

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However, unfortance would come when King Raja Raja Chola I of Chola Emprie invaded the kingdom 993 and in 1017, his son, Rajendra Chola I, sacked and destroyed the city of Anuradhapura, forcing the exiled Sinhalese to the south. 
After the Chola victory, war between the Tamil superpower and the new Sinhalese kingdom of Polonnaruwa was fought in some hundreds years. In the 14th century, the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was replaced by the Kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy as the main Sinhalese players. The Tamils inturn created the Kingdom of Jaffna in 1215, after the Chola Empire lost their grips on the island. 
The compitition was then fought for some more centuries until the Portugese came to island and conquered all the three nations. In 1815, the British came and took over the island, naming it Ceylon. The British were quick to reform the whole system; The political power was centralized and moved to capital city Colombo, former capital city of Kotte, Christianity was brought in and plenty of Christian schools of British model were built everywhere on the island. Also plenty of the rainforest was cut down in order to give ground to the tea-plantages. Because the demand for tea was strong in the homeland, the British recruited Tamils from the very India as plantage-workers and transported them to Ceylon. 
To make sure that they would remain having control of the island in the future, The British did as the Romans did and many other great conquerors does; they allied with the weaker fraction of the population, in this case the Tamils. To make sure that the Tamils would be loyal and productive workers and allies the British granted them all the privileges they could offer, like better and higher education, influence of the local politics, better homes, and so on. With these the Tamils became quickly the Britons' allies.
The Sinhalese however didn't got any of those privileges as the Tamils enjoyed so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Sinhalese nationalism started to grow.
This Sinhalese nationalistic moment was for the most part peaceful and non-violent but in some periods it became violent; during the revolutionyear 1848 the Matale Rebellion broke out against the British Empire. Though it was bloodily beaten down, the Sinhaleses' will became all stronger through the next hundred years.

to:

However, misfortune would come when King Raja Raja Chola I of Chola Empire invaded the kingdom 993 and in 1017, his son, Rajendra Chola I, sacked and destroyed the city of Anuradhapura, forcing the exiled Sinhalese to the south. 
After the Chola victory, war between the Tamil superpower and the new Sinhalese kingdom of Polonnaruwa was fought in some hundreds years. In the 14th century, the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa was replaced by the Kingdoms of Kotte and Kandy as the main Sinhalese players. The Tamils in turn created the Kingdom of Jaffna in 1215, after the Chola Empire lost their grips on the island. 
The competition was then fought for some more centuries until the Portugese came to island and conquered all the three nations. In 1815, the British came and took over the island, naming it Ceylon. The British were quick to reform the whole system; The political power was centralized and moved to capital city Colombo, former capital city of Kotte, Christianity was brought in and plenty of Christian schools of British model were built everywhere on the island. Also plenty of the rainforest was cut down in order to give ground to the tea-plantations. Because the demand for tea was strong in the homeland, the British recruited Tamils from India proper as plantation-workers and transported them to Ceylon. 
To make sure that they would remain in control of the island in the future, The British did as the Romans and many other great conquerors  did; they allied with the weaker fraction of the population, in this case the Tamils. To make sure that the Tamils would be loyal and productive workers and allies the British granted them all the privileges they could offer, like better and higher education, influence of the local politics, better homes, and so on. With these the Tamils became quickly the Britons' allies.
The Sinhalese, however, didn't get any of the privileges the Tamils enjoyed, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Sinhalese nationalism started to grow.
This Sinhalese nationalistic moment was for the most part peaceful and non-violent but in some periods it became violent; during the revolution of 1848 the Matale Rebellion broke out against the British Empire. Though it was bloodily beaten down, the Sinhaleses' will became all stronger through the next hundred years.

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On the day of the declaration of independence, UNP became the ruling party and their first act was to kick out thousands of Tamils from the island back to India and denied the rest who stayed citizenships. The Sinhalese havn't forgotten the Tamils' alliance with the British so during the election 1956, SLFP, under the leadership of Solomin Bandaranaike, became the new ruling party through their political slogan "Sinhala Only", meaning that Sinhala would replace English as the offical language of Sri Lanka, and only Sinhala. Tamil would be ignored, if not discouraged, in the society. Of course, the Tamils wouldn't have any of it so they rioted and protested on several parts of the island, and as usual they were surpressed by the new leadership. 
In 1959 Bandaranaike was assassinated by, ironically, a buddhist monk and his widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, took over the party and the government. She became the World's first female prime minister, and during her leadership Ceylon was led into a more socialistic way.
In 1972, Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka and the head of state was no longer the Queen of United Kingdom but the President of Sri Lanka. After the JVP-Rebellion the year before the government became more hardhearted toward those they didn't like, especially the Tamils. In 1974, they introduced an invoked affirmative action on higher education, ment to make it very difficult for Tamils to seek it, as a way of revenge of the educational privileges the Tamils enjoyed during the British rule.
This was the "thats it" for the Tamils. Through the independent rule the Tamils have used non-violent ways, inspired of those used by Mathatma Gandhi, to protest against what they though to be Sinhalese discriminations toward them and their culture but when the invoked affirmative action came many Tamil youths started to found militant groups as well change demands of political influence to those of an independent nation entirely for the Tamils. The demand for an independent Tamil nation, Tamil Eelam, came first time 1976 by one of the Tamil groups, Tamil United Liberation Front, or TULF. Many other Tamil militias demanded the same thing, one of them LTTE.

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On the day of the declaration of independence, UNP became the ruling party and their first act was to kick out thousands of Tamils from the island back to India and denied the rest who stayed citizenships. The Sinhalese havn't forgotten the Tamils' alliance with the British so during the election 1956, SLFP, under the leadership of Solomin Bandaranaike, became the new ruling party through their political slogan "Sinhala Only", meaning that Sinhala would replace English as the offical language of Sri Lanka, and only Sinhala. Tamil would be ignored, if not discouraged, in the society. Of course, the Tamils wouldn't have any of it so they rioted and protested on several parts of the island, and as usual they were suppressed by the new leadership. 
In 1959 Bandaranaike was assassinated by, ironically, a Buddhist monk. His widow, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, took over the party and the government. She became the World's first female prime minister, and during her leadership Ceylon was led into a more socialistic way.
In 1972, Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka and the head of state was no longer the Queen of United Kingdom but the President of Sri Lanka. After the JVP-Rebellion the year before the government became more hardhearted toward those they didn't like, especially the Tamils. In 1974, they introduced an invoked affirmative action on higher education, meant to make it very difficult for Tamils to seek it, as a way of revenge of the educational privileges the Tamils enjoyed during the British rule.
This was the "that's it" for the Tamils. Through the independent rule the Tamils have used non-violent ways, inspired by those used by Mathatma Gandhi, to protest against what they though to be Sinhalese discriminations toward them and their culture but when the invoked affirmative action came many Tamil youths started to found militant groups as well as change demands of political influence to those of an independent nation entirely for the Tamils. The demand for an independent Tamil nation, Tamil Eelam, came first time 1976 by one of the Tamil groups, Tamil United Liberation Front, or TULF. Many other Tamil militias demanded the same thing, one of them LTTE.

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In India lives 50 milion Tamils, many of them refugees who had fled the violence in Sri Lanka. They live in a big place in southern India named Tamil Nedu. There, LTTE got military training and political protection of the Indian government, who was sympathetic toward the Tamils. The Indian support to LTTE caused the international relation between Sri Lanka and India to be icy. 
The war wasn't all peaceful and calm either; year 1987 the first suicidebombing against the Sri Lankan Army was done. A 21-22 years old Tamil man named Vallipurarn Vasantham drove a truck filled with explosives inside right at an armybase in Jaffna-province and detonated everything. He and dussins of soldiers died in the attack, and so the legend of LTTE's "Black Tigers" was born.
Same year some time after the suicide-attack, the prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, forced both parties to a truce of peace, something both parties weren't enthusiastic about, especially the Sri Lankan government under the hardhearted UNP-president/prime minister J R Jayawardena. After the truce, Indian troops came to the island nation to make sure both parties followed the truce. Ironically it became the other way around; when Indian troops were patrolling in LTTE's territories, it was seen as "treason" in LTTE's eyes, that India was occupied their territories for their own profit's sake, and pretty soon open battles between LTTE and IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) were fought.

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Now, 50 million Tamils live in India, many of them refugees who had fled the violence in Sri Lanka. They live in a large settlement in southern India named Tamil Nedu. There, LTTE got military training and political protection of the Indian government, who was sympathetic toward the Tamils. The Indian support to LTTE caused the international relation between Sri Lanka and India to be icy. 
The war wasn't all peaceful and calm either; year 1987 the first suicidebombing against the Sri Lankan Army was done. A 21-22 years old Tamil man named Vallipurarn Vasantham drove a truck filled with explosives inside right at an armybase in Jaffna-province and detonated everything. He and dozens of soldiers died in the attack, and so the legend of LTTE's "Black Tigers" was born.
Same year some time after the suicide-attack, the prime minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, forced both parties to a truce of peace, something both parties weren't enthusiastic about, especially the Sri Lankan government under the hardhearted UNP-president/prime minister J R Jayawardena. After the truce, Indian troops came to the island nation to make sure both parties followed the truce. Ironically it became the other way around; when Indian troops were patrolling in LTTE's territories, it was seen as "treason" in LTTE's eyes, that India was occupying their territories for their own profit's sake, and pretty soon open battles between LTTE and IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) were fought.

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The assassination of Gandhi was the incident that made LTTE international well-known. Before it, the global world had little knowledge of the war since it was an local conflict that didn't affected the global world itself but when the former leader of one of the most powerful nations in modern time could be assassinated by a jungle woman, even when he was surrounded by bodyguards, you can see why all the importent global players realized what a dangerous enemy LTTE actually was. This suicide attack also became a source of insperation for future terrorist organizations, like Al-Quida, since it proved that not even politicans of superpowers didn't walked safe during a conflict.
The assassination was accordering to LTTE revenge for India's "treason" against them. The result was that India became the first nation to classify LTTE as a terrorist organization, and India would through the rest of the war support their former enemy Sri Lanka with political and economical resources.

After the assassination the war went on three more years. LTTE and the government shoot each other there and there, none of them able to break the status quo that had taken its hold on the island. LTTE managed though to assassinate president Premadasa during the may day 1993 but it didn't started any internal struggles for the president-title like LTTE probably had hoped for, and election could be made 1994.

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The assassination of Gandhi was the incident that made LTTE internationally well-known. Before it, the global world had little knowledge of the war since it was a local conflict that didn't affect the global world itself, but when the former leader of one of the most powerful nations in modern time could be assassinated by a jungle woman, even when he was surrounded by bodyguards, you can see why all the importent global players realized what a dangerous enemy LTTE actually was. This suicide attack also became a source of inspiration for future terrorist organizations, like Al-Qaida, since it proved that not even politicans of superpowers didn't walk safe during a conflict.
The assassination was according to LTTE revenge for India's "treason" against them. The result was that India became the first nation to classify LTTE as a terrorist organization, and for the rest of the war India would throw their support behind their former enemy Sri Lanka with political and economical resources.

After the assassination the war went on for three more years. LTTE and the government shot each other here and there, none of them able to break the status quo that had taken its hold on the island. LTTE managed though to assassinate president Premadasa during the may day 1993 but it didn't started any internal struggles for the president-title like LTTE probably had hoped for, and election could be made 1994.

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