Causes Flashcards
Red-Scare
Senator Joseph R. Mccartney and his followers created the ‘red scare’. The anti-communist feeling was strong in the US following the second world war and this led to “The Red Scare” where it was feared that the Soviet Union had placed soviet sympathizers in positions of power in the US
Cause: CCP
During the Chinese Civil war the US had given little support to Nationalists under Ching Kai Shek, and the Communist guerilla forces had been victorious however the White Paper produced by American experts in China had stated that more support wouldn’t have likely changed the outcome as the people in china were not enough in support of Chiang Kai Shek.
Cause: Stalin’s Thoughts
Stalin may have been optimistic about a world revolution after Communist china had won, USSR had developed the A-bomb and the West was facing financial difficulty, this may have meant they thought it was time to spread influence more strongly into Asia.
The US role in Japan could have provided an impetus to gain influence in Korea. US influence was causing japan to become strongly anti-communist and Stalin taking Korea could secure his position in NE Asia.
Cause: Mao Zedong
Kim Il Sung visited the PRC and Mao and tried to give the impression that Stalin was more interested than what he was showing. Mao was at the time planning on invading Taiwan and needed soviet backing so he thought if he did not help Sung then he was at risk of not getting soviet help.
Cause: Korea Divide
Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 after WW2 it was still in Japanese control, there were nationalist uprisings (some communist) it was then agreed that it would be divided by the 38th parallel and US would take the south while USSR the north in order to Repatriate Japanese Forces.
It was then agreed the US and USSR would continue to set up independent governments which could eventually become independent of the US and USSR.
This was difficult as:
Cold war meant USSR and US struggled to co-operate
In the south the US set up Syngham Rhee, a rebel who had fought against the Japanese the USSR supported a faction headed by Kim Il Sung, a young Russian-trained Korean communist who had been a guerilla fighter against the Japanese. Both men were very different and each supported the idea of a united Korea under his own rule.
Cause: Sung
There for Sung requested the initially uninterested Stalins help, Stalin did initially decline but eventually Sungs persistence paid off and stalin approved
