CONTAINMENT & COLD WAR IN ASIA

APRIL 30, 2014 NOTE PACKET C

• In the 1930s two political parties existed in China

• Mao Zedong & Communist Party• Chiang Kai-shek & Nationalist Party

• Civil War broke out & Communist Party defeated Nationalists

• China renamed People’s Republic of China• Nationalists fled to Taiwan

• Fear of communist spreading

• Post WW2 Japan est. a constitutional democracy now in communist threat

• US support for Japan became another way to contain

• Korea was divided at the end of WW2

• Japan had annexed Korea prior to WW1• After Japanese surrender, Allies agreed to divide Korea

at the 38th parallel (line of latitude running through middle of Korea)

• Soviets occupied north est. a communist gov’t, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

• US occupied the south and est. The Republic of Korea

• The Korean War begins in 1950

• N. Korean troops invaded S. Korea in hopes to unify country by force

• US fear action driven by Soviet Union spread of communism

• US responds with heavily military involvement

• US & UN actions during the Korean War

• General MacArthur in command of US troops • UN est. the United Nations command

• Contributed troops & arms from 16 member nations

• By mid 1951 a stalemate was reached• Figured continued, neither side able to advance

• Truman & MacArthur begin to disagree over objectives & strategies

• MacArthur pushed for second front while Truman feared a 3rd world war

• Truman dismissed MacArthur from command

• End of the Korean War

• Peace talks began in 1951• Eisenhower won election of 1952 promising to bring peace• When peace talks stalled, “Ike” threatened to use atomic

weapons • Korea remained divided at the 38th parallel

• Effect of the Korean War

• Policy of containment before Korean War focused on economic aid programs, after Korean War US showed willingness to take military action

• Truman ordered integrated units in armed forces • Permanent US military mobilization

• Military-industrial complex