Communism in Asia
(What happens as a cause, WARS) By Morgan Williams
Big Idea
Did Containment Work?
What is Communism?
Communism is a government system that promotes a classless society based on common ownership of property or products.
What is containment?
Containment is the action of preventing the expansion of Communism
Communism In China
- A man named Mao Zedong introduced the idea of communism and made the CCP (China Communist Party) who pushed communist ideas. He later became leader of the CCP in 1927.
- After a while the Long March came along when the Communist Party moved up to Northern China."With defeat imminent, the Communists decided to break out of the encirclement at its weakest points, and the Long March began on October 16, 1934. Secrecy and other tactics confused the Nationalists, and it was several weeks before they realized that the main body of the Red army had fled." (http://www.history.com/topics/long-march)
- In October 1, 1949 Mao Zedong gains control of China
- In 1958 Zedong introduces " The Great Leap Forward"
- The Great Leap Forward's mission was to make China a prosperous country. Zedong planned to accomplish this by taking the farmers and forcing them to work in factories. This led to food shortages and starvation of the Chinese people. It was a complete and utter fail.
- In 1966-1976 Mao Zedong introduces the Cultural Revolution which enforces Communist ideas. He made the people to forget the past traditions and discouraged religious practices. He punished and killed the Chinese who disobeyed.
- Tiananmen Square massacre of 1989 happened to be caused by the teens rallying against communism of China, Zedong did not like the riots so he stared killing the youth of China through military forces.
The people of China were having to give up to things they loved/ practiced.they had absolutely no say in what went o in The Chinese government.
Korean War
- The Korean War started because North Korea wanted to enforce communist ideas on South Korea.
- On June 25,1950 North Korea invaded Seoul, capital of South Korea. " The North wanted to unite all of Korea under communist rule." (The Korean War, article)
- In August 1950 South Korean and US troops were in the Pusan Perimeter.
- The US got involved because they wanted to contain the communism going around Southeast Asia.
- A month later The UN troops invaded Inchon which was 16.74 miles from Seoul (mind you, the North Korean army was still in Seoul.
- A while after gaining control of Inchon The UN's troops took control of Seoul.
- In October 1950 The UN gained control of Pyongyang,the capital of North Korea.
- Although the UN forces" did not need to worry about Soviet forces helping North Korea because the Soviets had just lost millions of people during WWII... The n Chinese army started attacking UN forces in North Korea by the end of October 1950.
- In January 4, 1951 the Chinese captured Seoul.
- Later in March the UN army regained control of Seoul.
- Peace agreements took place.Then on July 27, 1953 an agreement to split Korea on the 38th parallel took place and the North was named North Korea who is communist 'til this day (2015) and the South was named South Korea is a Presidential Democracy
Vietnam War
- The Vietnam War started when the Vietnamese people finally defeated the French. Later on it was decided to split Vietnam on the 17th parallel. The North was home to Ho Chi Minh and his Communist community( Viet Minh) they informed their communist ideas on the North an decided that's how they would run their government. Unlike the North the South of Vietnam took a non-communist approach ( but there were some people who wanted to embrace communism).
- North Vietnam (communist) had support of the Soviet Union and China (also communist countries.
- South Vietnam became allies with the US. The US had a vantage point on the domino effect and did not want other countries taking on the communist way of government.
- The war progressed much easier than the Korean War.
- The North used tactics such as guerrilla warfare (the use of hit-and-run tactics by small, mobile groups of irregular forces operating in territory controlled by a hostile, regular force.)
- Before long the Ho Chi Minh Trail was established . It consisted of paths going through mountains that connected the North to the South.
- After the Tet Offensive ("coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam"), President Richard Nixon began to take the US troops out of South Vietnam and leaving the South Koreans do do the job this idea was called Veitnamization.
- In the end Vietnam became a communist country and still is t'til this day.
In Conclusion
I think containment did work because only 5 countries in the whole world (China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, andVietnam) are communist and there are 196 countries in the world today(http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0932875.html). Less than 10% of the countries in the world are communist( full communist). Most countries are turning away from that aspect of government including China . Most countries who are communist have economic troubles. "North Korea remains a communist-led country that has suffered many economic problems over the years." "South Korea has become a prosperous country embracing democratic ideals." ( The Korean War article) Containment did work because all of the communism in one area with the exception of Cuba. It is a success because communist North Korea wanted communism in South Korea but South Korea is a Republic the opposite of Communism.