Cold War Spreads Far East 1949-54 Flashcards
(57 cards)
Mao establishes People’s Republic of China (communists take over China) in
1949
1) Why did the communists win in China?
- Nationalists = corrupt & out of touch with needs of the majority of Chinese people
- Communists had gained a reputation for addressing the needs of the bulk of the population - raised production, and given peasants control over their land
- Impact of WWII = weakened Nationalists’ hold - Japanese invasion has been geared towards taking control of the coastal areas of China (Nationalist)
In America, the Communist takeover of China was seen as
- evidence of Stalin’s work in spreading world communism
- the result of the failure of the US to send enough support to the Nationalists
China now communist, US government became more concerned about other possible victims of communist aggression - soon realised in
Korea
2)Korean peninsula had been temporarily divided at the end of WWII, but attempts to secure unification peacefully had failed due to deep divisions between
political groups in the north and south of Korea
Communist forces of North Korea invaded capitalist South in
1950
US politicians viewed North invasions of South as further evidence of
Stalin’s attempts to spread communism
Bordering both China and the USSR, North Korea was considered to be under the direction of both
Beijing and Moscow
US intervened in the Korean War in force, under the supervision of the
UN
Although Stalin avoided direct involvement in the war, Communist China sent substantial military aid to
North Korea
3) Vietnam had been part of French Indochina, until it had been seized by the Japanese during WWII. After 1945, French tried to regain control over its former colonies. US strongly opposed to imperialism and had been very critical of the overseas empires ruled by European powers. As a result - in Vietnam, the forces of nationalism and communism were combined by the Vietminh, led by the communist Ho Chi Minh, geographically positioned south of China, it was well placed to
receive assistance from Mao’s communists after 1949
4) The missile gap - Faced with a threat from world communism directed by Stalin and Mao, the USA tried to rely on a measure of security gained through
superiority in military weaponry
4-(Missile gap) - 1945-49, the USA was the only nuclear power, this security was shattered in Aug 1949 when the Soviet Union announced it had developed an atomic bomb. This was much quicker than the west had thought
possible
4-(Missile gap) 1952 - USA developed the hydrogen bomb, but the USSR was able, partly with the help of information gained through its spy networks to
produce its own less than a year later
4-(Missile gap) USSR development of H bomb led to concerns in the US government that the USSR would
match and overtake the West in its nuclear and conventional military capability
4-(Missile gap) China’s fall to communism focused the minds of the US government on how best to meet the threat posed by
world communism
5- Red Scare and McCarthyism - McCarthyism: the wave of anti-communist feeling that spread through the US in the early 1950s. It is sometimes referred to as the
Red Scare
5 - Red Scare and McCarthyism - the anti-communist hysteria was used by Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy to revive his political career. 1950 - accused many who worked for the government of being
communists and therefore disloyal to the US
5 - RS and McC - anti-communist views remained embedded in US society and they were to play a part in adding to the pressure for hardening the stance of
US foreign policy against communism
5-RS and McC - the movement was aimed to remove communist sympathisers from all
sections of American life - including members of Truman’s government who were seen as soft on communism
Evidence to the Americans of forces of communism encroaching into Asia :
- People’s Republic of China
- Korean war
- Spreading of communism into Indochina after 1945
Events of this period were to prompt a more aggressive response from US, showed (by their Korean War response) that they were willing to take
military action against what they perceived as the spread of communism
Spread of communism in the Far East was only in part due to the strengths of communism, the takeover of China by the communists had its roots in:
nationalist sentiment aimed at overthrowing foreigners who had exploited their country
The conflicts in Korea and Indochina were in essence civil wars in which nationalism had played a significant part.
In Korea it was a conflict over the direction of a reunified country that would reclaim its independence after WWII.
In indochina it was a nationalist response to the
old colonial power
