Did Containment of Communism Work?
By: Amariah Andrews
What is Communism?
Communism is a form of government where the government makes everyone equal. It is a class less society and no one is above or below anyone else.
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong is the founder of the whole idea of Communism. He grew up as a peasant farmer, but had enough money to go to school. He studied Communism at Beijing University. He became leader of CCP, Chinese Communist Party, and the Red Army. Is Red Army had over 100,000 troops.
What Mao Zedong Did.
Long March Foward
In the Long March Foward, Mao Zedong and the Red Army escaped from the Nationalist Party because they were anti-communist. Mao and his army marched 6,000 miles to NorthWestern China. Although Mao lost over 90,000 troops, he met some people on the way that supported his idea of Communism.
The Great Leap Foward
Mao wanted China to become the most powerful and successful country in the world. Mao made China become more of an industrialized country. In order to this he made all peasant workers and farmers become industry workers. But this Great Leap Foward didn't turn out to be so "great" after all. As they became industrial workers, people began to suffer starvation and death. The reason for this happening is because the farmers became industrial workers and weren't produce food for the people. At this point people were questioning is leadership. Is Mao Zedong's leadership not such a good thing? Is he only thinking about his self?
The Cultural Revolution
The word "revolution" means change. At this point, Mao wanted the people of China to agree and celebrate the idea of a communist government. He didn't want them to focus on traditions or foreign ideas to Communism. To do this he banned religions and self expression. He confiscated anything that didn't have anything to do with Communism. One important thing was that he made teachers teach the Little Red Book which was based on the teaching of Communism. Anyone who mocked the government were killed if not severely punished.
Tiananmen Square
Tianamen Square is a large city that is shaped like square centered in the middle of Beijing, China. It is very significant to Chinas history because it's where college students gathered and began their protest against Communism.In 1989, after several weeks of protest, Chinese troops began to enteer in and fired on civilians. People had been executed and arrested for the protest. On June 5th 1989, something very intresting happened. An undintified man who is known as Tankman stood in front of a column of military tanks blocking their way through the streets of China. It is a common thought that he was protesting in a very dangerous way. Troops began to shoot at the unidentified man but he just stood there. He even went as far as climbing on top of one of the military tanks. At this point things became seriously dangerous.
The Korean War
When North Korea became Communist, they had this idea of making all of Korea become Communist. South Korea liked the idea of a Democracy. The U.S. believed in the domino theory. They believed if one nation or country became Communist then other nations and countries would follow along. They did to Communism to come in America. The U.S. decided to help South Korea because they they were both a Democracy. When Seoul, the capital of South China, fell into North Korean forces, that's when the U.S. officially teamed up with South Korea. In September 1950, U.S. captured Ichon. Everyone wanted Ichon because it was on the coast of South Korea and west of Seoul. Once the U.S. took Ichon, they then got a hold of Seoul. By October, the UN captured Pyongyang which was the capital of North Korea. At this point the U.S. and UN captured three pieces of land. The U.S. didn't really worry about anything other than China because they were Communist and helping North Korea. China began to attack UN forces by the end of October 1950. There were 14,000 UN soldiers being attacked by 120,000 Chinese soldiers. On January 4, 1951, China got control of Seoul. In March, the UN got control of Seoul again. This is why the war is also called the Seesaw War because they kept going back and forth of who captured the land. By June 1951, there was artillery and physical war that happened around the 38th parallel. From July to August 1952, the U.S. almost destroyed Pyongyang from air strikes. On July 27,1953, an agreement was signed saying Korea was still divided at the 38th parallel. After all the war, it ended in s stalemate. In 1953 an armistice was declared. Today North Korea is still a Communist country.
The Vietnam War
When Vietnam was divided, Ho Chi Minh and his force, Viet Minh, ran the Northern part while President Ngo Dinh Diem controlled the South. Ho Chi Minh wanted to unite all of Vietnam after they were divided. South Vietnam were not Communist so they didn't want to come together with the Communist side. The U.S. teamed up with South Vietnam because once again the domino theory. President Eisenhower felt the U.S. needed to help so Communism wouldn't overtake all of Vietnam. Viet Cong, Communist force in the south, used guerillas instead of of using regular fighting methods. Communism began to increase more and more in Vietnam which meant U.S. had to increase its presence. In 1964 the Gulf of Tokin incident happened.
My Opinion
I personally believe and think containment of Communism did not work. Today Vietnam and North Korea are still Communist countries plus 3 others which are Cuba, Laos, and China. Also I believe containment of Communism didn't work because the point of the U.S. getting involved was to stop the spread of Communism. That was not achieved because countries are still Communist.