US containment in action in Asia Flashcards
When was the loss of the nuclear monopoly?
August 1949
When did Truman approve NSC-68 recommendations?
1950
When was the San Francisco Peace Treaty between USA and Japan signed?
September 1951
When did Eisenhower become president?
January 1953
What was the attitude towards Japan from 1945 onwards?
That it needed to be rebuilt. Including re-education, democratisation, economic reform and demilitarisation
What was introduced in 1947 in Japan?
The ‘reverse course’
Why did the USA want to rebuild Japan?
It was seen as an essential element of it’s power base in Eastern Asia.
Ensured that Japan would remain aligned to USA and less vulnerable to communist influences.
What is SCAP?
Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (General Douglas MacArthur)
How was economic stabilisation achieved in Japan?
- wage controls
- A more efficient taxation system
- Price controls
- Increased regulation of trade and foriegn exchange
What did the USA demand that Japan join?
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
- This strengthened Japan’s access to Western trade by also prevented trade with communist China from late 1950
When did communist China form a military alliance with the USSR?
February 1950
When did China join North Korea in its war against the South?
November 1950
What role did the USA see itself as despite the creation of the UN?
a global policeman
What did the San Francisco Peace Treaty not do?
- place significant restrictions on Japans economy
- Place significant restrictions on it’s future political model
- Identify Japan’s responsibility for the war
- Restrict Japan’s future rearmament
- Impose reparation payments for those Southeast Asian states occupied by Japan during the war
Who didn’t sign the SF treaty?
USSR and China
What did the USA require Japan to sign in response to this treaty?
US-Japan SecurityTreaty (1951)
What did the US- Japan Security Treaty mean for the USA?
- unrestricted use of military bases in Japan
- administrative control of Okinawa
- The right to use military force to intervene in any internal disorder in Japan
- The right to veto Japan offering military bases to other states
What did MacArthur and Dulles request for Japan?
rearmament, particularly with the growing threat of communism in Korea
When did China turn communist?
1949, following a communist victory over Jiang Jieshi’s nationalist forces and the Chinese Communist party announcing it’s allegiance to the USSR
Why didn’t the US intervene in the Chinese Civil war?
Truman felt that China would be isolated from Soviet support and therefore wasn’t a real threat and was much more interested in the situation in Europe
What was the China White Paper
July 1949, document by Acheson attempting to justify it’s withdrawal from direct military support for Jiang Jieshi
When was the Defensive Perimeter Strategy defined? and why was it criticised?
January 1950, because it left out Korea
What was NSC-68 about?
It stressed the urgency of building the USA’s political, economic and military power as well as the globalisation of the Cold War
‘It was China that caused a fundamental shift in US Cold War strategy by 1951’ Assess this statement
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