Name: _______________________
Cold War in Asia – Study Guide
Cold War (in general)
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How does historiography impact interpretations of the Cold War?
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Chronological development of rivalries, new states, phases of Cold War
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Development of international institutions and organizations
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Key Concepts:
o Containment, Collective security, Communism/Communist bloc, Democracy, Domino Theory, Marxism, Nonalignment,
(Nuclear) Proliferation/Non-Proliferation, Reprisal, SEATO, Socialism, United Nations, UNSC…
Cold War Geography:
Label:
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China
Cambodia
Burma
India
Indonesia
Japan (‘45-’52 US occupation)
Korea (North & South)
Laos
Malaya/Malay Peninsula
Manchuria/Manchukuo
Philippines
Tibet
USSR
Vietnam
Identify:
Communist countries
Democratic Countries
US or Soviet occupied territories
Areas of Cold War Conflict
China
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Key People: Sun Yat-sen (Sun Yixian), Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-Shek), Mao Zedong
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Key Concepts/Terms: Nationalists vs. Communists, Republic of China (ROC) vs. People’s Republic of China (PRC),
Formosa/Taiwan vs. Mainland China, Maoism, Communist Party of China (CPC), People’s Liberation Army (PLA), National
People’s Congress (NPC), Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC)
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Key Events: World War II, Civil War, Communist Revolution 1949
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Mao’s China (PRC): Collectivization of Agriculture & Land Reform, Five-Year Plans, Great Leap Forward, Four
Modernizations, Industrialization, Little Red Book, Hundred Flowers Campaign, Cultural Revolution
Authoritarian States (PAPER 2-Topic 3)
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Theme 1: Origins and nature of authoritarian and single-party states
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Theme 2: Establishment of authoritarian and single party states
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Theme 3: Domestic policies and impact
Historiography:
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Marxism: 1920s
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PRC Institutionalized Party Historiography: Mao-centrism (40s & 50s), Cultural Revolution Propaganda (60s & 70s) Post
Cultural Revolution/post-death of Mao
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Western Sympathetic: 1937 Red Star over China by an American journalist, Edgar Snow
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Revisionism/Post-Revisionism: John King Fairbank and Merle Goldman, Jonathan Spence, Chang and Halliday (critical)
War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.
-Mao Zedong
Korean War:
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Key People: Syngman Rhee, Kim Il Sung, Mao Zedong, Stalin,
Truman, IKE, General Douglas MacArthur
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Key Concepts/Terms: 38th parallel, Stalemate, Armistice,
Demilitarized Zone/DMZ, POWs, Republic of Korea, Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea
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Key Events: Japanese defeat in World War II, Yalta Conference, US –
USSR Joint Commission, Parliamentary elections, North Korean People’s
Army (NKPA) invades
Historiography:
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Western Traditional/Orthodox view: Truman intervened to protect
Koreans from Communist aggression, domino theory *David Rees
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Revisionist view: Stalin was a facilitator rather than originator of war:
Kathryn Weathersby, Local war which drew in superpowers: Bruce
Cumings, USA needed a crisis abroad to implement their plans for
rearmament at home: I. F. Stone & Bruce Cumings
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Chang and Halliday  Blame Mao & Stalin
Vietnam War:
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Key People: Ho Chi Minh,
Nixon
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Key Concepts/Terms: French Indochina, Geneva Accords of 1954,
17th parallel, SEATO, Vietminh, National Liberation Front/Vietcong/VC,
Great Society Program, Napalm, Agent Orange, Republic of Vietnam,
Saigon, Hanoi
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Key Events: Battle of Dien Bien Phu, Gulf of Tonkin incident,
Assassination of Diem brothers, Operation "Rolling Thunder," Tet
Offensive, My Lai Massacre, Secret Bombing of Cambodia (Nixon),
Pentagon Papers
Bao Dai, Ngo Dinh Diem, IKE, JFK, LBJ,
Historiography:
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Orthodox interpretations: Critical of US intervention, Vietnam =
“bad” war, doubt US aims in S. Vietnam, Arthur Schlesinger Jr.,
Frances FitzGerald
o "Quagmire" thesis vs. “Stalemate machine" explanation /
Pentagon Papers: 1971
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Radical historians: US sought to establish a new capitalist world
order, Gabriel Kolko
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Reagan Era Revisionism/conservative revisionism: “noble
cause,” communism = strategic threat to USA, Ralph Smith, “the war
in Vietnam was lost in Washington, D.C”
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New evidence from USSR Archives & Vietnamese language
sources
“We fought a military war; our opponents fought a political one. We sought physical attrition; our opponents aimed for our psychological exhaustion. In
the process we lost sight of one of the cardinal maxims of guerrilla war: the guerrilla wins if he does not lose. The conventional army loses if it does not
win. The North Vietnamese used their armed forces the way a bull-fighter uses his cape — to keep us lunging in areas of marginal political importance.”
-Henry Kissinger in Foreign Affairs, 1969