KQ5: How effectively did the USA contain the spread of communism?

Question 1

Context of Korea

Answer 1

• After 1945, Korea was freed from Japan and split at the 38th parallel between North and South
  -1949 Chairman Mao comes in , and allies with USSR (Alarm bells ring for containment)
• Kim Il-Sung wants to Unite Korea for the North, Mao and Stalin didn’t think USA would retaliate
• 25th June 1950: North crosses 38th Parallel, war
• Truman Doctrine kicks in, containment, protect South Korea
• 1950: Syngman Rhee boasts he was about to invade North Korea, so they use that as an excuse to invade first

Question 2

Timeline of Korea:

Answer 2

25th June 1950: North invades
28th June: Seoul falls
15th September: Amphibious landing at Inchon Bay (Seoul) by UN
26th Sept: Seoul taken back by USA
7th Oct: UN crosses 38th parallel
26th Oct: UN arrive at Chinese border
1st Nov: China comes to fight back the UN forces with 200k men
5-15th Dec: Seoul falls again
31st Dec: 500k more Chinese troops sent in to defend
28th Feb 1951: Seoul reclaimed again
June 1951: Stalemate at 38th parallel
1953: Stalin dies
27th July 1953: Armistice (not peace) signed, borders remain identical
1 mill. Chinese casualties, 500k North Koreans, 35k Americans,

Question 3

Why UN and not USA?

Answer 3

• USA couldn’t be seen to directly fight Communist force (WW3!)
• UN needed to prove itself stronger and better than LoN
• USSR was boycotting China not being accepted into UN so wasn’t able to use it’s veto to stop them
• UN force was commanded by USA, it was mostly US troops, USA in all but name 260k/300k troops were US

Question 4

Domino Theory

Answer 4

The idea that if one East Asian country fell to Communism then many would, first Korea, then Vietnam, then India etc etc
Idea of other countries becoming communist Went completely against Truman Doctrine and Containment, needed to be stopped.

Question 5

Why did Korea end in stalemate?

Answer 5

Without the use of the nuke, there would be no beating the Koreans to submission as in Japan, huge casualties would be needed before one side surrendered - neither side was willing to put that much on the line.
UN had shown it’s firepower, but in the process killed 4 million Koreans total and left 5 million homeless

Question 6

Was it successful for anyone?

Answer 6

USA showed their commitment to the Truman Doctrine and their willingness to put their money where their mouth was projected a clear message, however they had lost to a 3rd world country.
UN also managed to prove itself as a more effective organisation than the LoN, however it could also be seen as a US puppet.
China could be seen to be a winner, they proved themselves for the first time on the world stage, repelled the strongest army in the world, and became the 2nd Communist power. However they did lost almost a million men.
Koreans undoubtedly lost, nothing changed in their borders and millions were dead, displaced or homeless.

Question 7

Context of Cuban Missile Crisis

Answer 7

Pre 1959, Cuba was “America’s Playground”, Batista (US Backed) was in charge
Most Cuban businesses owned by USA
Guantanamo Bay on Cuba

Question 8

Cuban Revolution

Answer 8

1959
Fidel Castro declares himself leader, is at first allowed, he is seen as a “moderate social democrat”, before he begins to Nationalise land and businesses, US businesses down the drain.
Castro goes to the UN, is ignored by USA, but welcomed by USSR, makes US nervous to have Communists so close.
Eisenhower refuses to refine oil, so Castro nationalises that too
USA announces a full embargo on Cuba, plans the Bay of Pigs invasion under Eisenhower

Question 9

Bay of Pigs Invasion

Answer 9

17th April 1961:
Kennedy inherits the plan, and is told it will be an easy US win. Sends 1400 Cuban expats into Cuba to overthrow Castro, complete failure, all are captured/killed within 72 hours. America is humiliated on the world stage (days before Kennedy said no such invasion would take place)
Castro draws even closer to Kruschev.

Question 10

Effect for USSR of Bay of Pigs

Answer 10

USSR begins to pump guns into Cuba
July 1962, Cuba is the best-equipped Latin-American army
by September 1962, there are Soviet Patrol boats, tanks, radar vans, missile erectors, jet bombers, fighters and missiles with the help of 5000 Soviet technicians on Cuba

Question 11

American Reaction to Bay of Pigs

Answer 11

Humiliated on World Stage, deeply distrusting of the close bond between USSR and Cuba, Kennedy is worried of having a Communist ally so close to the USA.
Kennedy flies U2 Spy Planes over Cuba in October 1962, and sees nuclear silos under construction.

Question 12

Why did the USSR put missiles on Cuba

Answer 12

Bargain with the USA? Try and gain concessions?
Test the USA? Would Kennedy back down?
Trap the USA into nuclear war?
Get the upper hand in the arms race? On Cuba, the missiles could reach all major US cities other than Seattle
Defend Cuba? Genuinely try to prevent another invasion?

Question 13

What were Kennedy’s Options?

Answer 13

1. Do nothing, would look weak, but the USA had more nukes, so the USSR would know it would be suicide.
2. Air strike to get rid of the nukes before they were ready - risky solution, what if they didn’t work or the missiles were already operational? Risk nuclear war?
3. Invade Cuba? This could remove missiles and Castro, but it could lead to invasions in (eg) Berlin, and lead to nuclear war
4. Apply diplomatic pressure, could work, but would look weak to make the UN resolve it.
5. Impose a Naval Blockade of Cuba, stop ships bringing more missiles to Cuba, call for them to withdraw the weapons - would make the USA look strong and serious, without causing war, and force the USSR to move.

Question 14

Cuban Missile Crisis Timeline

Answer 14

16th October 1962: Kennedy finds out about missiles on Cuba
22nd Oct: Kennedy announces blockade of Cuba, addresses the nation
23rd Oct: Khruschev denies the nukes on Cuba, will not observe blockade
24th Oct: Soviet ships turned back by the blockade
26th Oct: Khruschev says the bases are purely defensive, if the USA lifts the blockade, and remove nukes from Turkey, the USSR would destroy the bases
27th Oct: Spy plane shot down over Cuba, Kennedy says he will accept removal of nukes on Cuba
28th Oct: Khruschev agrees to remove the nukes.

(Public don’t find out about agreement concerning Turkey until well after the fact)

Question 15

Consequences of Cuban Missile Crisis

Answer 15

Missiles were removed, but Cuba was still Communist
Cuba was still armed by USSR
Kennedy had regained image after Bay of Pigs, Khruschev was embarrassed, would later lose his place as leader
Start of a thaw in the Cold War
Permanent Hotline was set up between Kremlin and Whitehouse
1963: USA and USSR signed a nuclear test ban
Kennedy’s success heightened the image that containment worked

Question 16

Who won the crisis?

Answer 16

USA? JFK shown to be capable, looked far better for him than Khruschev. JFK had lived up to his inaugural address promises of protecting Freedom. Made up for Bay of Pigs. However 40k USSR troops were still on Cuba
Khruschev? Lost in the eyes of the world and the USSR, lost his place as leader in 1964. But, Cuba was still Communist, 40k USSR troops were stationed there, and nukes were removed from Turkey.
Cuba? Still Communist, USA would probably leave them alone. Castro’s influence went up, allowed him to fund other Communist revolutions the world over.
But, he lost his nukes, and a major deterrent

Containment? Loss, Cuba remained Communist, although Communism lost in the eyes of the world, as it was made to look weak.

Question 17

Context of Vietnam

Answer 17

• Pre-War Vietnam had been French
  -After war, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam Communist, war between French and Vietnamese
• 1949: Mao comes to power, funds Ho Chi Minh, USA spend $500 mill. on helping the French
• War lasted until 1954, when the French could no longer stand up to Guerilla Warfare

Question 18

Dien Bien Phu

Answer 18

1954, French base loses 3000, 8000 in captivity to the Vietnamese, France decide to pull out of Vietnam.
Peace Conference said North and South would remain divided at 17th parallel with referendum in 1956 (these never happened because 80% of Vietnamese would have voted for Communism and this went against containment)

Question 19

1955-1960 (Eisenhower in Vietnam)

Answer 19

• 1955, USA backs Ngo Dinh Diem as a harsh dictator of South Vietnam. Supplies him with $1.6 billion (Further turns people against the South, and towards Ho Chi Minh)
• 1960 Viet Cong set up, supported by North, they kill 4,000 Southern officials, destroy buildings, make the countryside unsafe for Government forces and attack US bases

Question 20

Kennedy’s Involvement in Vietnam

Answer 20

1962: Kennedy sends “Advisers” into Vietnam and the Green Berets, 11,500 American troops in Vietnam in 1962, 23,000 by 1964
- Helped to equip the ARVN (South Vietnamese Army)
-Began counter insurgency methods:
- tried (and failed) to increase support for USA
- “strategic hamlets” took native Vietnamese, took them from their villages and took them to protected areas in the jungle to stop them falling to the Vietcong, and win them over to the USA (they were little better than concentration camps)
- 1963: November 1st, Diem is assassinated, Nov. 22nd, Kennedy is assassinated.
USA realised they were not doing well, pictures of Buddhists burning themselves were making their way back home, and they had to do something. 35% of SV was in Vietcong hands when LBJ came to power

Question 21

LBJ’s involvement in Vietnam

Answer 21

• 1964 Aug. 2nd, Gulf of Tonkin
• 1965: Rolling Thunder starts, by the end of the year 200k US troops are in Vietnam
• 1968: Tet Offensive Jan-Sept

Question 22

Gulf of Tonkin

Answer 22

Aug 2 1964
USS Maddox fired at in NV waters, LBJ warns any further action will have consequences.
2 days later, US fakes attack on the Maddox, and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is signed, LBJ can escalate without Congress’ approval. He begins huge scale attacks, such as rolling Thunder

Question 23

US Tactics

Answer 23

Rolling Thunder: Constant bombing of the Vietnamese jungle to kill any Vietcong, USA dropped more bombs than in all of WW2. Killed 50k civilians, only strengthened resolve against USA and turned people against them $400k per VC soldier

Agent Orange: Toxic Chemicals were sprayed across the jungle, killed more civillians

Search and Destroy: heavily defended bases, where helicopters flew out for raids, to known VC hideouts to destroy them. Completely failed, it relied on good information and the USA had turned the Vietnamese against them

Question 24

Vietcong Tactics

Answer 24

Guerilla Tactics: retreat when the enemy attacks; raid when the enemy camps; attack when the enemy tires; pursue when the enemy retreats; wear down morale. VC didn’t care much about casualties, so this worked at breaking the US soldiers

Befriending the South Vietnamese: stopped the USA getting any good information, SV were friendly and respectful,

Didn’t wear uniforms, so difficult to distinguish

Fear: POW’s were tortured, to scare US soldiers, and over 27,000 civilians were killed between 1966 and 1971 by the VC

Question 25

Tet Offensive

Answer 25

Jan-Sept 1968: Surprise attack across Vietnam, hitting over 100 towns/cities, 36 of 44 provincial capitals
VC lost 100k men
Raised difficult questions in the USA - up until this point, they thought they’d been winning, they came to the realisation that the war wasn’t winnable.

Led to a public distaste for the war - it wasn’t good before 1968 but afterwards the majority of people wanted out of Vietnam. Anti-war protests occurred over the USA, in reaction to shocking images of Napalm etc

Question 26

My Lai

Answer 26

Comes out in 1969 that US troops were ordered to kill 504 civilians under false information
Exposed by Seymour Hirsch
Covered up by the Government, who said only 20 men died.

Led to 700,000 anti-war protesters in DC in Nov 1969, largest political protest in US History

Question 27

How successful was LBJ’s Vietnam?

Answer 27

Not very, things got worse when he was there.
He escalated the war, 16,000 troops when he came into office, 500,000 when he left.
Still weren’t winning.
None of the tactics really worked, and he didn’t stand for re-election in 1968.

HOWEVER: He didn’t start the mess, was only stuck with it, was at a similar scale to Presidents before him, only following the norm up to that point, following the Truman Doctrine. He trusted his Generals, he wasn’t a military man, when they told him the USA was winning he believed them.

Question 28

Nixon in Vietnam (1969-73)

Answer 28

Elected in 1968 on the promise of getting out of Vietnam.
“Vietnamisation”
Nixon Doctrine`
Peace Talks
Cambodia/Laos
Withdrawal of forces

Question 29

Vietnamisation

Answer 29

Idea that, as US withdraws it’s troops, build South Vietnam up to be able to defend itself “Peace with Honour” was Nixon’s slogan, save face, leave without making it look terrible, so train up SV before he goes.

Between 1969 and 1971, 400,000 US troops leave Vietnam, and in 1972, there is another major offensive from the VietCong, which is highly successful. So Nixon is forced to up bombing raids even more, doing the opposite of getting out of Vietnam

Question 30

Nixon Doctrine

Answer 30

Change to the Truman Doctrine, USA would assist in defending countries, with money and not troops.

Only led to Nixon being forced to up bombing campaigns to prove to the East he wasn’t imminently pulling out, leading to stalls in Peace Talks

Question 31

Cambodia/Laos

Answer 31

Vietnamisation and the Nixon Doctrine made it look like Nixon wanted an easy out of Vietnam, which meant that Vietnam could demand whatever it wanted in peace negotiations. Nixon saw this, and then invaded Cambodia and Laos, to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail and make it look like he was still strong on Communism.

Caused outrage in the USA, made the war even more unpopular.

Question 32

Withdrawal of US Forces in Vietnam

Answer 32

After the 1972 offensive was crushed, a peace agreement was signed in March 1973 between North and South Vietnam, allowing Nixon to remove more troops

Question 33

Post 1973 Vietnam?

Answer 33

North renew their offensive and capture Saigon in April 1975, South Vietnam is powerless to stop them.
US doesn’t step in to protect, so Saigon falls.

Question 34

Effect of Vietnam on Containment?

Answer 34

US failed, damaged the idea of containment.
In fact assisted the spread of Communism, as now Laos and Cambodia were Communist
The war was a propaganda disaster
USA entered a thaw in the cold war with China and the USSR

Question 35

Consequences of Vietnam?