The Spread of Communsim
And how did the U.S. contain it?
What is communism and how did it spread in China?
Mao Zedong was the person who sparked communism is China. Mao was the leader of the communist Red Army. And he was a member and later became the leader of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party). He also lead the following events that helped to establish communism in China.
In 1934, a nationalist party leader named Chiang Kai Shek and his 700,000 troops forced Mao Zedong and his Red Army out of southern China. So Mao and his troops marched 6,000 miles to get away. Throughout the march he gained many followers and supporters of communism. This helped to spread the idea of communism and Mao Zedong's leadership across China.
Later on October 1st, 1949, communism was established in China. Mao Zedong became the chairman of the people's republic of China. This was now the country with the most communist supporters in the world. Now that Mao Zedong had control over a communist China, he could rule it however he wanted to.
In 1958, Mao Zedong decided that he wanted China to become more of a world power. He did so by making China more industrialized. So he made the farmers become factory and steel workers, which created a major shortage of food that was needed to feed the population. This event lead many people to question Mao's leadership.
Then in 1966, Mao created the cultural revolution. He already changed China by bringing communism into the society, but now he was going to change their culture,customs and overall way of life, because he had the power to. He wanted people to forget about their old ways and to ignore foreign influences, and embrace the new communist ideals and his leadership. He banned religions, self expression, art, and if anyone disobeyed the government they were to be punished. During this time, many forms of propaganda were used to ''encourage'' the people to embrace the cultural revolution and communism. And Mao also had high school students to form Red Guards and enforce the cultural revolution. This time was basically when the people were forced to get on board with communism and support Mao Zedong.
Lastly there was the Tienanmen Square protests and massacre of 1989. This was when pro-democratic protesters gathered at Tienanmen Square. Many people were in the square holding signs of protest,and chanting for the end of communism in China, and the start of a new democratic government. The people stayed and protested for many weeks, until one day on June 4th, Chinese troops stormed the square with tanks, turmoil and guns. Hundreds of the protesters were killed and thousands were arrested. This was an important event because it tells us that even though Mao Zedong had control over China and it's people and it seems like everyone was happy with this new communist government, that not everyone was. Some, in fact many people wanted a democracy and were willing to risk their lives trying to get it.
Korean War
This war is known as a see-saw war because neither side gained or lost much land during the duration of the war, it just kept going back and forth.
On June 25,1950 North Korea invaded South Korea, trying to unite all of Korea under communist rule. Then in September the U.S. and south Korea gained control over Inchon, this helped them to gain control over Seoul. And later that year China stepped in to help North Korea in the war. From January 4,1951 to June 1951, nothing was really gained on either side because,again, it kept going back and forth. So on July 27,1953, there was an agreement signed that continued the division of Korea at the 38th parallel.
The war then ended in a stalemate because neither side gained much in territory, and in 1953 there was an armistice to end the war. The U.S. was successful in containing communism in Korea, because they managed to keep it in the North. Today only North Korea is communist and South Korea is a successful and prosperous democracy.
Vietnam War
U.S Involvement
Containing communism, was it a success?
So for that reason I think it was successful because the U.S. managed to keep communism in North Korea and prevent it from spreading to South Korea. For Example from an article we read in class'' South Korea has become a prosperous country embracing democratic ideals.'' And even though Vietnam became communist, it stayed in that one specific area and didn't spread much further. And before the U.S. efforts of containing communism there were 23 communist countries but today there are only five. And most of those five countries are all in the same area of the world.