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The significance of events in Asia for superpower relations - Coggle…
The significance of events in Asia for superpower relations
CHINA
After the civil war, Mao Tse-tung declared the establishment of the
People's Republic of China on 1 October 1949.
The Nationalists, who previously ruled the country, retreated, and the most populous country in the world became communist.
China and USSR
Stalin immediately recognised Mao and the Communists as the rightful government of China and signed a
Treaty of Friendship
.
The Treaty of Friendship
said:
$300 million in aid would be sent to China. 95 percent of this was to be repaid and most of it had to be spent on Soviet goods.
8000 Chinese students could travel to the USSR to study science and technology.
20,000 Soviet experts were sent to help the development of China. Much of their advice benefitted the USSR more than China.
China agreed to give two of their major ports to the USSR and to give the Soviets the right to mine in its Xinjiang territory.
Although the relationship between the two countries started well, it soon began to break apart, especially after Stalin's death.
China and West
In the West the communist takeover was seen as a disaster, and they refused to recognise the government as legitimate.
In Washington, Mao's victory was seen as:
a failure of the Truman Doctrine and the policy of containment.
a victory of Stalin, who now had influence over the most populated country in the world.
a threat to the rest of Asia, particularly Taiwan and Japan.
In response to Mao's victory,
USA dramatically increased funding to Japan, and other countries in Asia
, to try to combat the threat of communism in those countries.
In
September 1949
, the highly secret
National Security Council Resolution 68
allowed for a major build-up of the American military.
KOREAN WAR
Rising tensions
The divisions of Korea (along the 38th Parallel) had been agreed at the Potsdam conference.
Communist North Korea was led by Kim II Sung, a Soviet-trained politician.
South Korea was led by the American backed Syngman Rhee
, a committed anti-communist.
Both men hoped to unite Korea under their leadership. Rhee called for American support to overthrow Kim and Kim sent raiding parties across the border to try to undermine the southern government.
Invasion
In 1949, Kim asked Stalin to help him invade the South. In 1950, Stalin agreed to provide weapons and equipment, but not troops.
The USA already had 7500 troops stationed in the South.
In
June 1950, North Korean troops invaded the South.
The United Nations
In response, the USA asked for UN to call for a ceasefire.
With the USSR
boycotting
the UN and therefore unable to oppose the motion, the UN voted for the immediate withdrawal of North Korean troops.
The North Korean troops remained, so the
UN sent troops to support Rhee.
Although the vast majority of soldiers were American, because they were officially UN soldiers, the USA could not be accused of acting alone.
The war
In
September 1950,
USA-led forces, under the command of General MacArthur, landed at Inchon and drove the North Koreans back to the 38th Parallel.
In
October
, Chinese troops helped to push the Americans back. They took control of the South Korean capital, Seoul.
By
June
, the war had reached stalemate and,
in July
, a final ceasefire was agreed, with North and South divided in almost exactly the same place.
Consequences
The Korean War showed that the USA was willing to go to war in order to contain communism, and showed the power that the USA had withing the UN.
It became the first proxy war of the Cold War, an indirect fight between the Soviets and the Americans.
The dismissal of MacArthur showed the
USA did not want direct conflict with the USSR or to use nuclear weapons. The USSR was equally keen to avoid direct conflict with the USA.
VIETNAM WAR
Indochina
Indochina was a French colony, but after the war many of those who lived there didn't want the French back to rule them.
The most popular rebels were the
Viet Minh
, led by Ho Chi Minh.
In 1945, he declared independence from France and established the
Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
France resisted but withdrew from Vietnam after the defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in 1954.
The new US president, Dwight Eisenhower, was concerned that Vietnam would fall into communism.
In July 1954, Vietnam was temporarily split in two until elections could be held: the French left the North and the Viet Minh left the South.
American involvement in Vietnam
In the early 1950s, the US devised the
Domino Theory
. It thought that if South Vietnam fell to communism, the ideology would spread to nearby countries - t
he spread would continue until Asia was entirely communis
t- countries would fall like dominoes.
To avoid conflict and growing sticks of nuclear weapons, Eisenhower established the
New Look policy.
He sent money, equipment and military and political experts to South Vietnam to help the country become secure.
Despite the corruption and brutality of South Vietnam's anti-communist leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, the USA supported him.
The Vietcong and increasing US involvement
In
December 1960
, the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam (the Vietcong) was established. Its aim was to overthrow Diem.
The Ho Chi Minh trail was established to get weapons and equipment to the rebels from North Vietnam.
In 1960, the new US president, John F. Kennedy, began sending
over 16,000 advisors and experts to South Vietnam.
The
USA secretly backed the assassination of Diem by his opponents on 2 November 1963. It was hoped that the new leader would improve the situation.
Kennedy himself was assassinated less than a month later. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, ordered
full military involvement in Vietnam
.
The Vietnam war lasted for over a decade and cost thousands of lives.
NATO
Created in April 1949
- in response to the Berlin blockade and airlift.
Membership
: 12 original members- USA, Canada, Britain, France, Denmark, Italy, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Luxembourg, and Iceland. West Germany joined in 1955.
Purpose
: collective defence and military strategy. The principle was that if one member came under attack, it would be seen as an attack on all members.
Capabilities
: Approximately 50 divisions (of which 25 were active). In 1952, it was agreed to dramatically increase the strength of NATO forces.
Nuclear weapons
: help by the USA, Britain (from 1952) and France (from 1960).
Leadership
: a collective leadership of member countries. However, the USA provided the majority of funds and fire power and built bases across Western Europe.
WARSAW PACT
Created in 1955
in response to West Germany being allowed to join NATO.
Membership
: 8 members- USSR, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia.
Purpose
: formed as a counter-balance to the power of NATO and to protect the security and interests of countries behind the Iron Curtain.
Capabilities
: approximately 5.5 million personnel in 175 divisions, 35,000 tanks and at least 100,000 aircraft.
Nuclear weapons
: held by the USSR.
Leadership
: officially a collective organisation like NATO, but in reality all armed forces were controlled by the USSR and all decisions were made in Moscow.
ARMS RACE
Development of nuclear weaponry
:
the use of the atomic bomb against Japan in 1945 led to an increase in tension between the superpowers and started a nuclear arms race between them.
the Soviets successfully detonated their first A-bomb on
29 August 1949
.
the Americans responded by building the
hydrogen bomb
in 1952. The Soviets built their own within a year.
defence budgets rose on both sides as more and more weapons developed.
Mutually Assured Destruction and Brinkmanship
:
within a few years, both the USSR and the USA had the ability to totally obliterate the other.
by 1960, the Americans had nuclear missiles that could be fired from land, sea and air, including Polaris- a missile that could be launched from a submarine.
the knowledge that launching a weapon would lead to retaliation and therefore the destruction of both sides was known as
Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
. This is probably the main reason that no nuclear weapons were ever launched.
MAD didn't mean that nuclear war didn't come close on a number of occasions. From 1950s onwards, any moment of tension brought the fear of nuclear war. Each side would push the other to the brink of using weapons, knowing that they would eventually back down. This was known as
brinkmanship
.
the Berlin Blockade and the Korean War both raised the possibility of nuclear weapons being used, but it was during the
Cuban Missile Crisis
, in 1962, that the world became closest to destruction. After the crisis, the two sides began to discuss reducing their nuclear arsenals and a direct phoneline between the White House and the Kremlin was created.
The impact of the arms race
:
Preparation for nuclear attack
: governments on both sides made preparations for nuclear war. These ranged from construction of huge underground bunkers to campaigns to teach children to 'duck and cover' under their school desks. While the bunkers were a serious measure to ensure the government could continue to operate, many of the public awareness campaigns were simply attempts to reassure people and prevent panic.
The bomb in popular culture
: the nuclear standoff between the East and the West inspired many works of literature, film and television. One of the most famous is the satirical film
Dr. Strangelove
, which tells the story of an accidental nuclear strike by the USA and the automatic retaliation by the USSR's doomsday machine. The film points out the danger and absurdity of the situation.
'Ban the bomb' movement
: from the 1950s, some people questioned whether nuclear weapons were morally right.
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
called for Britain to
unilaterally disarm
. Similar movements grew across the Western world.
SPACE RACE
TIMELINE:
4 October 1957
- the USSR sends the first manmade satellite to orbit Earth:
Sputnik
. The Americans had been working on the same thing and the Soviets victory was seen as a triumph of communism.
3 November 1957
- the USSR sends the first animal into space,
a dog named Laika
. The Americans scramble to catch up.
18 December 1958
- the USA launches the fist communications satellite into space.
12 April 1961
- the USSR wins the race to send a human into space with
Yuri Gagarin
.
5 May 1961
- the first successful American space flight, controlled by the pilot,
Alan Shepard
.
25 May 1961
- President Kennedy announces that, by the end of the decade, an American will land on the moon. His promise seems impossible at the time as technology was a long way from being able to achieve this.
16 June 1963
- first woman in space:
Valentina Tereshkova
from the USSR.
20 July 1969
- Kennedy's promise is fulfilled when
Neil Armstrong becomes the first human being to walk on the moon
.
23 April 1971
- first
human-crewed space station
is launched by the USSR.
15 July 1975
- the first joint space mission between the USA and USSR:
Apollo-Soyuz
. It is seen as a symbol of a new age of cooperation between the superpowers.
Why was there a space race?
The space race between the USSR and the USA developed for two main reasons:
propaganda
: both countries were keen to show that they were superior and wanted to be seen as leading the world into modern age.
weapons development
: the Americans were concerned that nuclear missiles could be launched using the same system as the Soviets used to launch rockets into space. Their concern was justified: intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) could be carried thousands of miles using rockets.