Restructuring the Postwar World
Main Idea: In Asia, the Cold War flared into actual wars
supported mainly by the superpowers.
III. Korea & Vietnam
War in Korea
w USA fights bloody wars to prevent
Communist takeovers in Korea and Vietnam.
w Korea remains split into communist
and non-Communist nations
w Vietnam becomes Communist
War in Korea
Standoff
w 38th parallel
– Communist industrial north
– Non-Communist rural south
w June 25, 1950
– Surprise attack
w UN peacekeeping forces sent
– Douglas MacArthur
Standoff
w Chinese vs. USA
w MacArthur calls for nuclear attack
– Truman vetoes proposal
– Truman fires MacArthur
w July 1953
– Cease-fire agreement
– 38th parallel
– 5 million dead
Aftermath
North - Communist
w
Kim Il Sung – Kim Jong Il
w
Collective farms
w
Heavy industry
w
Military power built
w
Serious economic problems
South – dictatorship-free elections
w
Prospered, free-market economy
w
80-90s: highest economic growth rates in world
w
1987: democratic constitution
Tension
w
1996: North Korea sent troops into the demilitarized
zone
w
1997: South Korea (& others) sent FOOD to the
north
w
North do not want reunification
w
Issue: North nuclear capabilities have brought
attention to them
War in Vietnam
Background
w 1900s: French control
– Indochina
w Nationalist independence movements
w Ho Chi Minh
– Received communist support
– Led though exiled
– 1941: returned
– Vietminh League (support Ho Chi Minh)
The War
w Nationalists & Communists fight
French
w 1954: Dien Bien Phu
– French major military defeat
w Domino Theory
– Eisenhower saw threat rising
w Vietnam divided, French left
US Involvement
w Trade embargo
w Sent “advisors” in the beginning
w Escalated involvement
w Gulf of Tonkin
w Difficulties: 1) fighting a
guerilla war 2)gov’t they were defending was unpopular
Aftermath
w US withdraws: begins 1969
w Vietnamization: gradual pullout
while South Vietnam increase combat role
w Bombing of Cambodia and Laos
w Last forces left: 1973
w Last personnel left: 1975
w Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City
Postwar Vietnam
w North Vietnam takeover
w Thousands sent to “reeducation
camps”
w 1.5 million flee
– More than 200,000 “boat people” died at sea
w Opened foreign investment
w US ended embargo 1994