Transcript Cold War Conflicts in Asia

– Although the United States and the Soviet
Union did not engage in a war with each other
they did clash through surrogates in proxy
wars fought in Asia, Latin America, and Africa .
– Surrogate, demilitarized zone, Domino theory
– What was the Cold War?
– During the Cold War, the rivalry between the
Soviet Union and the United States led to
struggles for influence in countries around the
world
– Surrogate, demilitarized zone, Domino theory
– What was NATO?
***Castle Learning Regents Review due Friday***
– Although the United States and the Soviet
Union did not engage in a war with each other
they did clash through surrogates in proxy
wars fought in Asia, Latin America, and Africa .
– Surrogate, demilitarized zone, Domino theory
– What was NATO?
***Castle Learning Regents Review due Friday***
• Soviet Union and United
States avoided armed
conflict with each other
during Cold War
– Nuclear weapons meant that
both sides could destroy
each other (MAD)
– Fought indirectly by backing
opposite sides in smaller
conflicts around the world
• Surrogates
• Proxy wars
• Communists defeated
Nationalists in Chinese
civil war (1949)
– Communists led by Mao
Zedong
– Communists setup the
People’s Republic of
China
•The U.S. supported Chiang Kai-shek.
•The communists win the war and mainland
China becomes communist
• Western democracies
feared the spread of
Communism in Asia
– Attempts to contain
communism got U.S.
involved in Asian
conflicts
– The Domino Theory
• If one country fell to
communism the
surrounding countries
would also fall
• Korea had been
divided at the end of
WWII
– Soviets occupied
North Korea
– United States
occupied South Korea
• North Korean forces
invaded South Korea
in 1950
– Wanted to unite
Korea under
communist rule
• United Nations
forces led by U.S.
pushed North
Koreans out of the
South
– Pushed North to the
Chinese border
• China entered the war
in Oct. 1950
– helped North Koreans
push UN forces back to
the South
• Cease fire agreement
signed in 1953
• Korea divided at the
38th parallel
– Demilitarized zone
separates North Korea
and South Korea
• Communist dictator
Kim Il Sung
established
totalitarian state in
North Korea
– Focused on building
strong military
– Limited contact with
outside world
– has faced serious
economic problems
• Democratic South
Korea prospered
by developing
industry and
expanding foreign
trade
• What was the Domino Theory
• What happened to Korea at the end of
the Korean War?
• What is a demilitarized zone?
– Much like its involvement in the Korean war, the
United States involvement in the Vietnam war
came from the Cold War policy of containment .
– Guerilla Tactics
– Why did the superpowers use surrogates to
fight during the Cold War?
• Vietnam had been a
colony of France
– Known as French IndoChina
• Communists began to
fight for independence
from France after
WWII
– Led by Ho Chi Minh
• Communist forces
defeated French at
the Battle of Dien Bien
Phu in 1953
– French forces
surrender to Ho Chi
Minh
• 1954 Peace
conference in Geneva
divides Vietnam into
North Vietnam and
South Vietnam
• Communist North
Vietnam led by Ho Chi
Minh
• Supported by Soviets
• South Vietnam led by
Ngo Dinh Diem
• Anti communist
government
• Supported by United
States and France
• Promised free elections
• Communist Viet Cong in
the South began
attacking South
Vietnamese government
– Were supported by Ho
Chi Minh and N. Vietnam
– Used guerrilla tactics
• United States began
sending troops and
money to help South
Vietnam resist
communist Viet Cong
and North Vietnam
– Domino theory and
containment policy
– 500,000 U.S. troops
by 1968
• American forces were
unable to defeat communist
forces in Vietnam
– Communist use of guerrilla
tactics to fight superior
force
– South Vietnamese
government was unpopular
– Lack of support for the war
by American public
– U.S. bombing of rural
agricultural areas increased
peasant support for
communists
• President Richard
Nixon ordered cease
fire and began
pulling troops out of
Vietnam in 1973
– Vietnamization policy
turned fighting over
to South Vietnamese
troops
• North Vietnamese
captured South
Vietnamese capital
of Saigon in 1975
– Reunited Vietnam
under communist rule
• Who was led the communists in Vietnam
against the French?
• How did the domino theory contribute
to U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War?
– Some of the political and social forces that tore
apart Vietnam were also at a work at other
places in Southeast Asia.
– Genocide, human rights violations
– Who was the communist leader of North
Vietnam?
• Nation in Southeast
Asia
– West of Vietnam
– Had been a colony of
France
• Won independence
from France in 1953
– Prince Norodom
Sihanouk became
Prime Minister of
Cambodia
• Cambodia was used
as a supply route by
the North
Vietnamese and Viet
Cong during Vietnam
War
– Ho Chi Minh Trail
• American military
bombed and
invaded Cambodia
to disrupt
communist supply
lines during
Vietnam War
• Communist rebels known
as the Khmer Rouge
began fighting the
Cambodian government
in 1967
– Cambodian government
led by Gen. Lon Nol who
was supported by the
United States
– American bombing
destabilized Cambodia
and increased peasant
support for Khmer Rouge
peasants
• The Khmer Rouge
took over Cambodia
in 1975
– Were led by Pol Pot
– Wanted to create a
peasant society based
on farming
• Tried to eliminate
western influences
• Destroy urban and
modern influences
• Pol Pot and Khmer
Rouge forced people
to move out of cities
and into countryside
– Began killing
educated Cambodians
or people connected
to former gov’t
– Forced others to
work in fields
• Many died from
starvation or over
work
• Pol Pot’s Khmer
Rouge killed 1.5
million people in
the Cambodian
“Killing Fields”
– Example of human
rights violation
• Vietnam invaded Cambodia
and forced the Khmer
Rouge out of power in 1979
– Civil war continued through
1980’s
• United Nation helped
Cambodia create a new
government in 1983
• Pol Pot died before he
could be put on trial for
human rights violations
• Why did the United States bomb
Cambodia during the Vietnam War?
• Who was the leader of the Khmer
Rouge?
• How did the Khmer Rouge violate the
human rights of Cambodians
– At times throughout history human rights, the
basic political, economic, and social rights to
which all human beings are entitle, have been
violated.
– Who was the leader of the Khmer Rouge in
Cambodia?