US containment in action in Asia

Question 1

When does the USSR attain the atomic bomb?

Answer 1

August 1949

Question 2

When does Truman approve NSC-68 recommendations?

Answer 2

September 1949

Question 3

When does Dean Acheson suggest the defensive perimeter?

Answer 3

January 1950

Question 4

What mistake does Dean Acheson make in his defensive perimeter speech?

Answer 4

He leaves South Korea out of the defensive perimeter

Question 5

What was the result of Dean Acheson’s mistake?

Answer 5

The Soviets believe that the US has no interest in South Korea

Question 6

When is NSC-68 is presented?

Answer 6

April 1950

Question 7

When does China form a military alliance with the USSR?

Answer 7

February 1950

Question 8

When does America lose ‘our China’/China falls to communism (The People’s Republic of China)?

Answer 8

October 1949

Question 9

When does China join North Korea in its war against South Korea?

Answer 9

November 1950

Question 10

Why does China join North Korea in its war against South Korea?

Answer 10

Mao was initially reluctant in joining the Korean war, however, his hand is forced when the
UnitedNations forces moved toward the Yalu River, marking the North Korean border with Manchuria in spite of warnings issued by the Chinese Government

Question 11

When is the San Francisco Peace Treaty between the USA and Japan signed?

Answer 11

September 1951

Question 12

When does Eisenhower become US President?

Answer 12

January 1953

Question 13

Why doesn’t Truman run for president during the November 1952 elections?

Answer 13

His political career is ruined by McCarthyism and the loss of the Korean War

Question 14

Why was the USA interested in Japan?

Answer 14

Japan was the only industrialised country in Asia

Question 15

Who was General Douglas MacArthur?

Answer 15

was a career soldier. He was Supreme Commander (SW Pacific) of US forces from 1942. He accepted Japan’s surrender in September 1945 aboard the USS Missouri and moved on to become the Governor of Japan during the period of occupation. He managed a series of political, economic and military reforms that integrated Japan as a firm ally of the USA

Question 16

Who was Hirohito (Emperor Showa)?

Answer 16

was titular head of Japan during its phase of aggressive nationalism and imperial expansion in the Far East and the Pacific during the 1930s and the Second World War. He was allowed to continue as Emperor and became a symbol of reconciliation and political and economic recovery after 1945

Question 17

Why was MacArthur sacked by Truman?

Answer 17

He wanted to bomb China. MacArthur made public statements that contradicted the administration’s policies

Question 18

What was US policy towards Japan before 1947?

Answer 18

After Japan surrendered unconditionally at the end of the Second World War, the USA began sole occupation of the country, according to an agreement among the USA, the UK, the Soviet Union and China, which lasted until 1952. In September 1945, US General Douglas MacArthur was given decisionmaking powers to help rebuild Japan. Rebuilding included re-education, democratisation, economic reform and demilitarisation

Question 19

When was the ‘reverse course’ introduced?

Answer 19

1947

Question 20

What was the ‘reverse course’?

Answer 20

This policy meant the USA was not focused on the punishment of Japan with the seizure of significant levels of reparations. Instead, it wanted the development of firm democratic institutions and practices towards an emphasis on economic reconstruction as the route by which political stability would be achieved

Question 21

How did the US see Japan’s recovery?

Answer 21

Japan’s recovery was seen by the USA as an essential element of its power base in eastern Asia. The USA started to target communists and their sympathisers rather than suspected war criminals in Japan

Question 22

What were the contributing factors to economic stabilisation in Japan?

Answer 22

-Increased regulation of foreign exchange
-A balanced budget
-Wage controls
-Stricter lending criteria
-Price controls
-Increased regulation of trade
-A more efficient taxation system

This was a programme based on control and austerity, but its focus was on accelerated economic recovery in order to align Japan with the USA and its capitalist economic system

Question 23

What was the ‘super balanced budget’ in Japan?

Answer 23

Dodge worked with Japan’s Finance Minister, Hayato Ikeda and together they produced what came to be termed ‘a super balanced budget’. This set a target of a surplus of nearly 157 million yen (just over $4 million). However, Dodge’s budget led, initially, to increased unemployment due to business closures.

In order to establish some form of lasting economic recovery, and so to strengthen Japan against the consequences of slow or very gradual recovery, the USA was keen to ensure that all government income and expenditure was very closely monitored and conformed to strict guidelines. This type of budget was designed not merely to result in a balance between income and expenditure in order to minimise borrowing, but also to ensure a surplus which would act as an additional economic cushion.

Question 24

What impact did joining the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) have on Japan?

Answer 24

Japan wanted to become an active member of world institutions and particularly those linked to the West. The USA demanded that Japan join the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). This strengthened Japan’s access to Western trade but it also prevented trade with communist China from late 1950

Question 25

Who was Joseph Morrell Dodge?

Answer 25

was an economic adviser for US policy in both Germany and Japan after the war. He specialised in drafting plans for economic stabilisation and he succeeded in bringing Japan’s rising post-war inflation under control. He developed the economic strategies that fulfilled the USA’s wider aims and objectives

Question 26

What was the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)?

Answer 26

This was created with the United Nations at the end of the Second World War. It was formed through a multinational agreement to manage international trade and attempted to minimise tariffs and duties in order to maximise international trade

Question 27

Who was Mao Zedong?

Answer 27

was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party and, after victory against the anti-communists, he established the People’s Republic of China in October 1949. Mao was a Marxist-Leninist and a hard-line communist with an uncompromising attitude towards the capitalist West. He ensured that China played a key role in Cold War relations for the next three decades

Question 28

Who was John Foster Dulles?

Answer 28

saw the USSR as both strategically and ideologically expansionist. Dulles went on to develop a new strategy called ‘rollback’. This was a policy aimed at taking the offensive against communism rather than simply containing it. He was a major contributor to Dwight D. Eisenhower’s New Look Cold War foreign policy from 1953

Question 29

Who was Shigeru Yoshida?

Answer 29

was a keen supporter of Japanese imperialism during the 1930s, but was ‘rehabilitated’ after the Second World War. He focused on Japan’s economic recovery and his acceptance of US protection for Japan became known as the Yoshida Doctrine. This became a highly significant influence on Japan’s Cold War policies in the long term

Question 30

Why did Japan’s geopolitical significance become more important to the USA?

Answer 30

February 1950, communist China’s leader, Mao Zedong, formed a military alliance with the USSR

Question 31

What did China’s involvement in the USA lead to?

Answer 31

this involvement led to the globalisation of containment and an increasing commitment on the USA’s part to see its role as a global policeman, despite the existence of the United Nations. Suddenly Japan became a crucial component in the USA’s quest to contain communism in the Far East. Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Yoshida saw an opportunity to negotiate a Second World War peace treaty with the USA that would restore Japan’s sovereignty and provide security for Japan, in return for its acceptance of US troops on Japanese territory. The USA’s chief negotiator was John Foster Dulles

Question 32

What was The San Francisco peace Treaty, September 1951?

Answer 32

This treaty, between Japan and the Allied Powers, drawn up in September 1951, was remarkable by its brevity and its limitations. The treaty did not:
* place significant restrictions on Japan’s economy
* place significant restrictions on its 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
Of the Allied Powers, only the USSR refused to sign this agreement. In addition to this, the USSR’s ally since February 1950, the People’s Republic of China, did not sign the treaty. However, the treaty did:
* recognise the full sovereignty of the Japanese people
* force Japan to renounce any claims to a wide range of neighbouring territories, including Korea, Formosa (Taiwan), the Kurile Islands, the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands

Question 33

What was the US–Japan Security Treaty (1951)?

Answer 33

a bilateral security
agreement that the USA required Japan to sign in return for the San Francisco Peace Treaty. This gave the USA:
* unrestricted use of military bases in Japan
* administrative control of Owkinawa (a Japanese island separate from the four main islands that made up mainland Japan)
* 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

Question 34

Who was Jiang Jieshi?

Answer 34

He was China’s nationalist, anti-communist leader. After defeat in the Chinese Civil War in 1949, he was effectively exiled to become leader of the Republic of China based on the island of Taiwan

Question 35

What was the relationship between Jiang Jieshi and Mao Zedong?

Answer 35

A power vacuum had erupted in China after the end of Japanese occupation (September 1945). A civil war in China erupted between the communists (CCP) led by Mao and the nationalists (KMT) led by Jiang. The US wanted Jiang to become Mao’s co partner however, there was too much ‘bad blood’ between the two

Question 36

What was the Century of Humiliation?

Answer 36

The century of humiliation was a period in Chinese history beginning with the First Opium War (1839–1842), and ending in 1945

Question 37

Japan’s rearmament

Answer 37

After WWII, the U.S. helped Japan form a defensive military, initially with a 75,000-strong National Police Reserve. By 1954, Japan had a 140,000-strong Self-Defence Force, supported by U.S. funding. U.S. policy shifted from responding to the Korean War threat to managing Japan’s rearmament to avoid internal instability, while ensuring Japan’s role in the Cold War strategy.

Question 38

Why did the CCP announce its allegiance to the USSR?

Answer 38

In June 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced its allegiance to the USSR. Mao’s concern was that the USA would support an exiled Jiang Jieshi from Taiwan. This would undermine Mao’s aim of ensuring a united and intact communist China

Question 39

When was the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance signed?

Answer 39

February 1950

Question 40

What was the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship?

Answer 40

The treaty laid the groundwork for Sino-Soviet cooperation and partnership. It provided China with security guarantees, and increased the scope for economic cooperation between the two countries

Question 41

What was the Defensive Perimeter Strategy?

Answer 41

Put forward by Dean Acheson. His thinking was focused on the military security of the Pacific and the policy the USA should develop to ensure this. He argued that the military defence of Japan was the responsibility of the USA. This would be achieved in the first instance by defining what Acheson described as a ‘defensive perimeter’. This concept was defined in January 1950, in advance of the Sino–Soviet Treaty of Friendship, which followed in February.

‘This defensive perimeter runs along the Aleutians to Japan and then goes to the Ryukyu Islands. These islands are essential parts of the defensive perimeter of the Pacific, and they must and will be held. The defensive perimeter runs from the Ryukyu to the Philippine Islands. So far as the military security of other areas in the Pacific is concerned, it must be clear that no person can guarantee these areas against military attack.’

Question 42

Why was Acheson’s Defensive Perimeter Strategy was criticised?

Answer 42

Acheson’s Defensive Perimeter Strategy was criticised for omitting Korea in the defensive cordon

Question 43

What did NSC-68 emphasise?

Answer 43

a move from passive containment to active containment

Question 44

When and why did the US’ nuclear monopoly end?

Answer 44

In September 1949, the USA’s nuclear monopoly ended as the USSR tested its own atomic bomb

Question 45

What triggered NSC-68?

Answer 45

Truman’s so called ‘loss of our China’ (October 1948) and the USSR’s testing of the atomic bomb (September 1949), triggered a fundamental review of the USA’s strategic objectives and priorities. This review emerged in the form of the National Security Council Resolution 68 (NSC-68)

Question 46

What did NSC-68 stress?

Answer 46

NSC-68 stressed the urgency of building the USA’s political, economic and military power. It was focused on the globalisation of the Cold War and there was a powerful military emphasis on the application of containment

Question 47

When did North Korea invade South Korea?

Answer 47

June 1950