Did Containment of Communism Work
By Uriel Abrego
Communism
Communism is something that a lot of people don't like. It is an economic system where everyone is equal. It might not sound bad but a lot of people don't like this. People who work hard to earn more money don't get more money, they get the same amount as everyone else does. As for the people who don't work, they get the same amount of money as everyone else. Not only that but the government has all the power, so they can give the people the amount of money that they want to give them.
Mao Zedong
He has a big connection to communism. The connection between him and communism is that he is the father of communism. He was the person who helped communism spread throughout the world but it mostly spread in Southern and Eastern Asia. He was the man who made the country of China, a communist country.
The Long March
The Long March was a March that really helped the spread of communism. It was more of a a retreat than a march. It included Mao Zedong and the Red Army. They had to retreat because the China Nationalist Party had overthrown him so he and his group had to retreat. This helps with the spread of communism because he would want to come back and get revenge on the Party for what they have done to him.
The Great Leap Forward
This was the first thing that Mao did that showed the people how communism was like. It was when Mao made all the farmers work in industrial plants. While this was happening their farms were not being harvested and delivered to the people. In the result of this, many people died of starvation. Mao saw what had happened and sent the framers back to work. This has a connection to communism by Mao showing the people how communism is like.
The Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution was when Mao Zedong took away the people's beliefs and changed them to what he thinks they should believe in. The people then revolted over his commands and protested against his commands as well. They protested against communism and they wanted to become a democratic country. This really connects to communism because it shows how unfair communism is. It also shows how much power the leader has against the people.
Tiananmen Square
This was the biggest point that Mao gave out to everyone to know what communism is about. This was the place where thousands of college students protested and were eventually murdered. This happened because they were beating soldiers and when Mao had enough of it, he sent soldiers to kill all of the protesters. Not only were there college students but also elderly and other adults were there to protests. Some of them were shot as well as the others. This has a the biggest connection to communism than the other points happened. It showed that nobody can break down the communist government because they will fight back and always win.
Korean War
The Korean War was a civil war between North and South Korea. The reason that they had war was because of land and because of the better government. This happened after WWII when Japan had to give up the land where Korea is located. There were 2 governments that wanted to be in Korea. Communism North and Democratic South. North Korea wanted all of Korea to be communist so he started taking land from the Southern part of Korea. The U.S. saw this and didn't like this. They wanted all of Korea to be Democratic so they came in and helped South Korea. The U.S. helped the land distribution go all the way up to China's border. The Chinese didn't like this, so they helped North Korea with the land distribution. This was was known as the Seesaw War because neither side would gain any land. At the end it was a stalemate. The 2 sides signed an armistice to stop fighting. The 2 countries were split at the 38th parallel and there are still U.S. soldiers in South Korea just in case.
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was also a civil war between North and South Vietnam. The North was Communist and the South was Democratic. It started long ago when France had control of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lagos. Vietnam wanted its country to be free, so they sent troops from Vietnam to fight off the French troops. The man who sent them was called Ho Chi Minh and his army was called the Viet Minh. They overthrew the French's rule and got part of Vietnam (North). The South part was controlled by the U.S. and its allies. it was decided that Vietnam was to be split at the 17th parallel. The U.S. was afraid that the domino effect would happen so they tried to stop the spread of communism by taking it out of the picture. Some people in the South didn't like the Democratic government, these people were called the Viet Cong. They helped the North by taking out the people the South. These people would use traditional fighting methods that we call guerilla warfare. The U.S. helped by sending troops to help out with the war because the Northern Vietnamese attaccked one of our navy ships. The Viet Minh and Viet Cong had won the war. They won because they had one thing that we didn't have and it was Guerilla warfare.