China falling to communism caused great fear to spread across America as they worried Japan would be next in line to adopt the communist ideology. Due to the defeat of the US-backed regime in China under Chiang Kai-shek, the most populous nation had passed under the control of Communists, led by Mao Zedong. This event caused a wave of terror over the US as they were worried that due to the domino effect, Japan would be next to fall to communism. This would have caused the US to involve themselves in the war as Japan was under the USA’s control and was a key power to the US due to it being the main production line of US military jeeps and was of huge economic wealth. It was believed by Truman that if Japan fell to communism ideology then America would follow shortly after, which is something that brought great fear to Truman and American citizens.
The change in Chinese policy was to shatter the perception of a bipolar world that existed since the beginning of the cold war. Superpower relations were now best described as a triangular process involving china, the USSR and the USA. Therefore, the deterioration in Sino-soviet relations in the years 1958-69 was due to a change in China’s foreign policy to protect Chinese national security, rather than simply being put down to personal rivalries. The communist takeover of China in 1949 was viewed by the US government as another victory for the forces of world communism. Mao was seen as an instrument of the Soviet Union’s bid to spread worldwide revolution.
James Stewart How far do you agree that the outbreak of a major conflict in Korea in 1950 was caused by Communist aggression? The Korean War broke out in 1950 whilst Harry Truman was at the head of the American Federal Government. There were many reasons for the outbreak such as the ambiguity of the US’ foreign policy, America’s anti-Communistic mind-set, intervention from Communist China and most importantly Communist aggression orchestrated by North Korea itself and its leader, Kim Il Sung. The most significant factor of the 1950 conflict in Korea breaking out was Communist aggression in particular from the North Koreans themselves, but also Joseph Stalin and his USSR. One example of Communist aggression by North Korea, was the act of actually invading South Korea unprovoked which subsequently prompted the reaction from the United Nations and the US in particular.
Therefore, it is possible to argue that the US desire to contain Communism contributed to their involvement in the Korean War due to NSC-68 providing a more aggressive tack and because some Americans were led to believe that Stalin was behind the invasion of South Korea. However some might argue that the invasion of South Korea and the threat to international security was the main reason for their involvement in the Korean
Nixon’s main argument is that he won the war in Vietnam but Congress lost it by cutting off aid to South Vietnam. Nixon says his plan all along was to give South Vietnam the tools to their own victory because American combat troops could not win the conflict for them. This would also enable the withdrawal of American troops already stationed in Vietnam. Soon afterwards once the Paris Peace Accords were signed and all troops were out of Vietnam, Nixon felt confident in his strategy. Soon enough though, the North broke its agreement and the U.S had to determine whether or not to start helping the South once again.
Thus, Stalin placed greater significance on nationalist interests over ideological solidarity. It should be said that Stalin did in fact see China as an important partner in ensuring the victory of world socialism and indeed after 1945 gave active support to the CCP. By 1949 the CCP had solidified its position as the dominating political party in China. Pre-dating this period was a history of animosity between the U.S. and China and by the time the CCP took power the U.S. viewed it as another victory for the forces of world communism, which was
US wanted to focus on itself and the problems they faced within the country, never mind foreign problems. It would be a citizens surprise that the United States became a world superpower at one point and was becoming involved much more in global events and issues. Some believe that the United States shifted from isolationism to being involved in war for self-defense reasons while other say its a combination of economic reasons and self-defense. It began due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and ever since then the US has not been for isolationism. The country then feared the spread of communism which lead into more global involvement.
Therefore when the north invaded the south the US felt as though they needed to intervene because they could not let communism spread. They used the excuse that another country was going to be ‘lost’ to communism just as China was. At the same time the USSR were boycotting the National Security Council meeting because they wanted China to be a part of it. The US used this to their advantage and suggested to the UN that Korea needed military aid. This allowed them to enter Korea despite it not being in the defensive perimeter strategy.
Throughout history, civilizations and empires have faced many of the same challenges. These challenges could have been problems with communication, external threats, internal instabilities, overextension of territory, and so on. These empires also have another thing in common. This is the fact that they all try to deal with these problems in the best way possible, or so they think. King Zheng of Qin succeeded in defeating the remaining Warring States between 230 and 221 BCE, ending one of the most violent periods in Chinese history.
He claims that states wish to maximize their relative power position and this leads to uncertainty about the real intensions of other states. He concludes that the world is condemned to perpetual great power competition and distrust which will ultimately always leave us on the brink of war. In his article he questions whether powerful China would accept US military forces in its backyard. He also expects that the United States would stop at nothing to subdue China’s growth in Asia and stresses that the tragedy of great power politics is the distrust and uncertainty between