Cold War in Asia
■ Essential Questions:
–What impact did the spread of
communism into Asia have on the
Cold War?
–What impact did the spread of
communism into Asia impact the
Cold War?
The Cold War was a conflict Early in the Cold War
of rival ideologies between
from 1945 to 1949,
the USA & USSR that lasted
the focus of the
from 1945 to 1991
conflict was on Europe
The United
States used
the Truman
Doctrine,
Marshall
Plan, & NATO
to successfully
contain
communism
in Europe
Beginning in 1949, however, containment
seemed to fail as communism spread to
China, Korea, & Vietnam in Asia
For almost 2,000
years, China was
the world’s
most dominant
empire because
of trade along
the silk road &
the power of the
ruling dynasties
In the 1600 &
1700s, European
nations became
powerful, began
exploring, &
claiming
colonies
The Industrial
Revolution in the
1700s & 1800s
made Europe the
center of power
in the world
Europeans used
imperialism to
control Africa & Asia
Britain used the
Opium Wars to claim
trade rights in China
By 1900, China was
weak & divided into
spheres of influence
A group of reformers
called nationalists
called for changes
In 1912, Sun Yat-sen
ended the Chinese
dynastic system &
created a democracy
called the
Republic of China
But, the republic
did not modernize China
& led to an era of chaos
In the 1920s, nationalist
leader Chiang Kai-shek
took over & ran China
as a dictatorship
Meanwhile, communism
was growing in China
under the leadership of
Mao Zedong
Mao’ s Communist Party
gained popularity among
poor peasants by offering
to redistribute land from
wealthy warlords
From 1930 to 1949, Nationalists & Communists
fought in a bloody civil war for control of China
When WWII began,
Chiang & Mao agreed to
a truce from 1937 to 1945
After WWII, Communists
gained support & began
to win control of China
In 1949, the Communists won the Civil War &
Mao created the Peoples’ Republic of China
Chiang’s gov’t
fled China &
set up in Taiwan
The USA was
shocked when
China fell to
communism &
only recognized
the Nationalists as
the gov’t of China
The three “revolutionary” Communists
Karl Marx Vladimir Lenin Mao Zedong
Based upon this propaganda poster,
what changes will Mao propose for China?
Mao was determined to reshape China’s
economy based on Marxist socialism
He seized land from
the rich & divided
the land among the
poor peasants
Mao followed Stalin’s example
by creating collective farms
& a Five Year Plan to improve
Chinese industry
Based upon this
propaganda poster,
what two things
will Mao’s
“Great Leap Forward”
focus on?
In 1958, Mao began a
massive program to
create agriculture &
industry called the
“Great Leap Forward”
Millions of Chinese
citizens were sent to
work on large collective
farms to grow food
Other citizens were
required to work on
massive industrial
projects like making
iron & steel or building
dams & railroads
Image of a “People’s Commune”
“Backyard furnaces” to make iron
“Struggle hard for 3 years. Change the face of China.
Catch up with Britain & America.” --Mao, 1958
Mao’s Great Leap
Forward started well…
…but, the it required forced labor & led to lots
of suffering by millions of Chinese citizens
The Great Leap Forward was a failure & led severe
food shortages, famine, & poor quality industry
Mao ended the Great Leap Forward after three years
Chinese peasants
Based upon this
image, what was
purpose of Mao’s
“Cultural Revolution”?
After the failure of the Great Leap Forward,
Mao began the Cultural Revolution (1966 -1976)
The goal of the Cultural
Revolution was to
emphasize Mao’s strict
socialist ideas & attack
traditional Chinese ideas
Mao distributed to all
Chinese citizens the
“Little Red Book,”
a book of his quotes
that reinforced what
was acceptable for
Chinese communists
After the failure of the Great Leap Forward,
Mao began the Cultural Revolution (1966 -1976)
Mao targeted young
people & many joined
the Red Guards, a group
to protected the culture
of the revolution
Red Guards closed
schools & universities;
burned books; &
humiliated, beat, killed
people who opposed
Mao’s ideas
Parades united citizens
The Cultural Revolution
unified the Chinese
people but also led to
the deaths or
imprisonment of
thousands of citizens
Executing teachers, politicians, critics
In 1976, Mao Zedong
died & was followed
by more moderate
Communist officials
Even without Mao,
China remains a
Communist nation
today
The fall of China to communism had a major
impact on the Cold War between the USA & USSR
The U.S. response to
the fall of China was
to more aggressively
confront communism
the world
The USA was afraid of
a “domino theory” in
which communist
nations turn their
neighbors communist
As a result, the USA
vowed to contain the
spread of communism
anywhere in the world
The USA acted when communism threatened Korea
In 1950, North Korea
(using Soviet supplied
weapons) crossed the 38°
& attacked South Korea
When South Korea
appealed to the United
Nations, the USA sent
troops to Korea to
But,
whencommunism
the USA pushed
contain
too close to China, the
Chinese Army entered the
war & helped North Korea
During World War II,
Korea was liberated
from Japanese control
by the U.S. army in the
South & the Soviet
army in the North
After WWII, Korea
was divided along the
38° with a communist
gov’t in North Korea
& a democracy in
South Korea
The USA successfully
stopped communism
from spreading into
South Korea & showed
that it was willing to fight
to contain communism
Today, Korea remains
divided between a
communist North & a
democratic South
After 3 years of fighting, a ceasefire was agreed to in
1953, the fighting stopped, & the 38° was restored
as the boundary between North & South Koreas
The fighting in Korea
These “neutral” countries
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