This topic falls under CORE CONTENT: OPTION B. It is topic number 5.
¥ CASE STUDY OF THE KOREAN WAR (1950 – 1953)
Korea was a Japanese colony that was being occupied by the Soviets in the north and by the Americans in the south. The division of North and South Korea was based on the 38th Parallel which was a line of latitude that was 38degrees north.
In 1949, a civil war erupted in China which led to China becoming a Communist nation. Together, Stalin and the leader of China influenced the North Korean leader (Kim II Sung) to attack South Korea. Aid was provided as well as military equipment and the attack went underway in June, 1950. This resulted in the Korean War. It must however be noted that the USSR never directly fought in the war.
With the Americans belief of the “domino theory”, it led to them getting involved. The USA influenced the UN to get involved and the UN did so because the USA was seen to be her “good friend” however the UN allowed the USA to take the lead. USA had all the power to control the military. General MacArthur was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the UN forces by Truman.
Between June and September 1950, the North Koreans were invading South Korean which pushed the South Koreans into the Pusan area. By November the UN and South Korean troops drove the North Koreans back. China sent warnings to MacArthur not to cross the 38th Parallel. MacArthur however disobeyed both China and Truman. As a result, the Chinese entered the war and sent the UN back and once again made their way with the North Korean troops to South Korea in an effort to make them surrender. MacArthur was soon dismissed by Truman because he desired to use an atomic bomb on China but Truman disapproved as he saw this to be a trigger for nuclear war.
In 1951, the UN drove the North Koreans and the Chinese back to the Communist part of Korea but the North Koreans and the Americans remained station at the 38th Parallel. In 1953, an armistice was signed and war was over.
What were the results of the Korean War?
§ Over 30,000 Americans were killed and more than 1.5million South Koreans and 3.5million North Koreans were killed.
§ The UN actually gained some respect because of its firm action unlike the League of Nations.
§ Some believed the Americans were only using the UN.
§ This led to the Cold War being no longer confined to just Europe. It had no spread to Asia.
§ America saw it was a success for them but Korea was still divided.
¥ CASE STUDY OF THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS (1962)
The USA had played a massive role in the development of Cuba up to 1959. They had invested money in Cuban industries and were a major importer of Cuban good. In 1934, the USA aided Cuban military officer Fulgencia Batista to assume power in Cuba. His government was however not popular. It was rather corrupt and it was this that led to the eventual overthrow of him and the takeover of Fidel Castro, a Communist.
This takeover was a severe blow for the USA as a country in her sphere of influence was quickly becoming a Communist one. How would it look for a strong anti-Communist country to have a Communist country just 150km away from them? Moreover, the USA was fearful of the “domino theory” occurring in this part of the world.
The American companies and industries in Cuba were soon chased out of Cuba by Castro.
The USA has to take some action. The following were done:
These actions taken on the part of the USA could be quite severe for Cuba as the USA was the major contributor to Cuba’s economy. It was therefore the hope of the Americans that Castro would give in but this was not achieved. The opposite was in fact achieved. This resulted in Cuba turning to the USSR, the USA’s enemy for help and protection. Castro began to receive aid from the Soviets in the form of weapons.
The CIA in the USA formed a group in Florida which comprised of ex-politicians from Cuba who were exiled. The aim of this group was t take over Cuba from Castro. In 1961, the new President of the USA, Kennedy pushed for the invasion of Cuba by these exiles that were being trained by CIA personnel in Guatemala. They were all so confident that the Cubans in Cuba would support then and praise them. The exiles invaded at the Bay of Pigs but it was a disaster. The Cubans did not support them! They actually liked Castro. The exiles were being challenged by over 20,000 Cuban troops. The operation had failed tremendously and it was none but humiliating for the newly appointed President of the USA.
What were the results of the Bay of Pigs invasion?
§ Cuba was declared a Communist nation by Castro in December 1961.
§ Castro asked Khrushchev to provide arms for Cuba so she can protect herself for future invasions by the USA.
§ Khrushchev agreed to the give arms to Cuba but he secretly hoped to make Cuba a Soviet Missile base because it was in close proximity to the USA and the USA had three missiles facing the USSR while the USSR had none facing the USA.
§ The Americans developed a greater fear of Communism with Kennedy warning the USSR not to set up missiles in Cuba.
Soviet missiles in Cuba
The placing of Soviet missiles in Cuba was done secretly in an effort to not allow the USA to find out. There have been no definite reason(s) to explain why Khrushchev placed missiles in Cuba but the following are possible reasons:
In August of 1962 a US spy plane was flying over Cuba. While doing so, they spotted weapons. By September, Khrushchev was secretly sending nuclear weapons to Cuba. Given the fact that Kennedy was now aware of the weapons in Cuba, he warned to the USSR not to set up missile bases on the Caribbean island. The USSR promised Kennedy that they would not set up any bases but the ironic thing is that they were already setting up the bases.
On the 14th October, U-2 planes took some investigative photographs of the island. The following day, experts noticed a site that was being prepared to host a number of medium range missiles. This scared Kennedy and he called a meeting with high level advisers. A few days later, some more investigative photographs discovered more missile bases on the island.
The missiles had the power to reach as far as Canada. Therefore it could be extremely fatal in the USA.
With all this, Kennedy had to make some fast decisions. He had five options:
Kennedy ended up choosing the latter option. Under this option, all ships that were transporting weapons to Cuba were ordered to be turned around. On the 22nd October, the USA stated that if the USSR launched any missile, the USA would retaliate. The following day, the USSR said that their only motive to placing the missiles in Cuba was to safeguard the island from an American attack. Khrushchev blamed Kennedy for wanting the world to enter a nuclear war. On the 26th October, a letter from Khrushchev was sent to Kennedy stating that he was ready to come to an agreement with Kennedy. It was initially stated that the USSR would consider removing the missiles if the USA promised not to invade Cuba. But then he sent another on canceling his previous term and stated that they would only remove the missiles if the USA removed theirs from Turkey.
On October 27th a U-2 plane was shot down over Cuba and the pilot died. Kennedy was very much angry by this and he believed that Castro was acting on the orders of Khrushchev. Kennedy was urged to attack Cuba by his advisers. Kennedy however was reluctant to adhere to this. He was advised by his brother to reply to the first letter and forget the second one as it was aggressive. He did. He stated that he would not invade Cuba. He also added that he was unable to make a decision about Turkey until he speaks with his NATO allies. The letter was sent.
On the 28th October, Radio Moscow announced that Khrushchev was removing the missiles from Cuba. The USA agreed to remove their missiles from Turkey once it was kept a secret.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was over! It lasted for a mere 13days in October.
What were the results of this crisis?
§ Khrushchev claimed that he had achieved his aim of preventing the invasion of Cuba by America but he was condemned by China for backing down. It is believed that this led to his eventual loss of power two years after the crisis
§ Kennedy was praised for avoiding war both at home and worldwide.
§ Cuba remained a Communist nation and was still dependent on Soviet aid
§ Khrushchev and Kennedy realized
¥ CASE STUDY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1964 – 1975)
Vietnam was once a French colony called Indo-China along with Laos and Cambodia but the French were driven out by the Vietminh in 1954. The Vietminh were a Vietnamese Communist group who were freedom fighters. As a result, Indo-China, by protocol of the Geneva Conference of 1954 was divided into four parts. These four parts were to be Laos and Cambodia which would be independent. North Vietnam would be Communist and South Vietnam would be ruled by a right wing dictator called Diem. This division was made along the 17th Parallel. The Vietcong forces won against France for four factors:
It had been agreed that there would be a general election to reunite the country either under Communist ideals or democratic ideals. Although the US initially supported this, President Diem and the US government was afraid of the results going against them which could lead to what President Eisenhower of the US described as the "Domino Effect". This is whereby one country falls to communism, then the region will follow and fall prey to communism as well. The falling prey to communism is seem to be synonymous of a row of domino's falling. Elections were never held and civil war soon broke out as the people as well as opposition groups were demanding a democratic coalition government so the country could be united. Amongst these opposition groups were the National Liberation Front and the Buddhists w ho were well known for setting themselves afire as a form of protest.
USA's presence in Vietnam only made matters worst. Her Policy of Containment was in full force here as she tried to restrict its influence in the region if not kill it off completely. She began to increase the arms and army in Vietnam. Generally USA was somewhere she was not wanted. The Vietnamese just wanted to be united under a Vietnamese government and not another foreign nation.
As the civil war intensified more freedom fighting groups emerged. The Vietcong, the major one was now in both North and South Vietnam.
Bombings began in early 1965 with the US bombing the North on a regular basis however to President Johnson, this was not enough. He approved for some 180 000 US troops to move into Vietnam. Within three years, Vietnam had almost 550 000 US troops. US involvement in the war was widely criticized by US citizens. It should be noted that the atrocities of this war was broadcasted over the Television and radio. It was the first time people could actually see the intensity of the Cold War period and a war on a whole. To top this off, the US was not doing well. She was losing despite her obvious advantage as it related to technology however the Vietcong used guerrilla tactics which the US was not accustomed to. The US used two tactics to try to combat this issue:
These did not work to eliminate the Vietcong presence though but it did have a psychological influence on the citizens. It led the Vietnamese to push further away from the US and give support to the Vietcong and North Vietnam's leader Ho Chi Minh.
Two significant events occurred. The first being the Tet Offensive. This occurred in 1968 whereby the North Vietnamese Communist forces struck the Southern capital, Saigon. What was most significant was that it occurred during Tet. Tet is a Vietnamese religious festival. The attack saw the US embassy being bombed. The aim was to set off a revolution in the South but this was not achieved. Their plan backfired as the US sent in a large force which killed over 50 000 communist troops within three months. This event however is seen to the the turning point of the Vietnam War because it was one of the main reasons that North Vietnam ended up wining the war in the long run. Though the Communists were humiliated, this humiliation did not amount to US humiliation as the US politicians began to rethink the true reason behind their involvement if there existed any. This further intensified US citizens disgust.
The second major event is the My Lai massacre in 1968. US soldiers went into the vilage of My Lai because they thought that a Vietcong force was hiding in the village. They killed almost 500 villagers including the elderly and babies. The soldiers were ordered to shoot and kill "anything that moved". This further angered US citizens.
A policy of Vietnamisation was pursued by President Nixon of the USA. Under this policy, the US would re-arm the South Vietnam army. The soldiers would be trained and little by little, the US would pull out. As Nixon did this, he increased the bombings on North Vietnam. In 1973, peace talks began following the Summer 1972 Offensive by the North Vietnam Communist forces which echoed the Tet Offensive but this time a bit more successful. Following this, it became clear that no end would come as no side could see victory in the horizons. A cease-fire was arranged in 1973 and US troops started going home. Though a cease-fire was arranged, fighting continued. It was only two years after that the war finally ended after the North launched an attack on the South. By this time the US was all gone and the South had no help. The Saigon government could not resist leading to the fall of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese captured Saigon on the 29th April, 1975 bringing the Vietnam War to an end.
The end of the Vietnam War was however a big blow to the US who felt even more humiliated now. The leaders of the US following the end of the Vietnam War however decided to engage in a policy of 'detente' and so they set up peaceful relations with the Communist superpowers - the USSR and China. US self confidence was restored in the 1980s to some extent with Ronald Regan who ended this peaceful period of relations known as detente and aggressively challenged the USSR leading to a new arms race known as the Star Wars.
¥ CASE STUDY OF THE KOREAN WAR (1950 – 1953)
Korea was a Japanese colony that was being occupied by the Soviets in the north and by the Americans in the south. The division of North and South Korea was based on the 38th Parallel which was a line of latitude that was 38degrees north.
In 1949, a civil war erupted in China which led to China becoming a Communist nation. Together, Stalin and the leader of China influenced the North Korean leader (Kim II Sung) to attack South Korea. Aid was provided as well as military equipment and the attack went underway in June, 1950. This resulted in the Korean War. It must however be noted that the USSR never directly fought in the war.
With the Americans belief of the “domino theory”, it led to them getting involved. The USA influenced the UN to get involved and the UN did so because the USA was seen to be her “good friend” however the UN allowed the USA to take the lead. USA had all the power to control the military. General MacArthur was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the UN forces by Truman.
Between June and September 1950, the North Koreans were invading South Korean which pushed the South Koreans into the Pusan area. By November the UN and South Korean troops drove the North Koreans back. China sent warnings to MacArthur not to cross the 38th Parallel. MacArthur however disobeyed both China and Truman. As a result, the Chinese entered the war and sent the UN back and once again made their way with the North Korean troops to South Korea in an effort to make them surrender. MacArthur was soon dismissed by Truman because he desired to use an atomic bomb on China but Truman disapproved as he saw this to be a trigger for nuclear war.
In 1951, the UN drove the North Koreans and the Chinese back to the Communist part of Korea but the North Koreans and the Americans remained station at the 38th Parallel. In 1953, an armistice was signed and war was over.
What were the results of the Korean War?
§ Over 30,000 Americans were killed and more than 1.5million South Koreans and 3.5million North Koreans were killed.
§ The UN actually gained some respect because of its firm action unlike the League of Nations.
§ Some believed the Americans were only using the UN.
§ This led to the Cold War being no longer confined to just Europe. It had no spread to Asia.
§ America saw it was a success for them but Korea was still divided.
¥ CASE STUDY OF THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS (1962)
The USA had played a massive role in the development of Cuba up to 1959. They had invested money in Cuban industries and were a major importer of Cuban good. In 1934, the USA aided Cuban military officer Fulgencia Batista to assume power in Cuba. His government was however not popular. It was rather corrupt and it was this that led to the eventual overthrow of him and the takeover of Fidel Castro, a Communist.
This takeover was a severe blow for the USA as a country in her sphere of influence was quickly becoming a Communist one. How would it look for a strong anti-Communist country to have a Communist country just 150km away from them? Moreover, the USA was fearful of the “domino theory” occurring in this part of the world.
The American companies and industries in Cuba were soon chased out of Cuba by Castro.
The USA has to take some action. The following were done:
- They seized all imports of Cuban sugar staring from 1960.
- They ended all trade with Cuba in October 1960.
- All diplomatic relations were ended with Cuba in January 1961.
These actions taken on the part of the USA could be quite severe for Cuba as the USA was the major contributor to Cuba’s economy. It was therefore the hope of the Americans that Castro would give in but this was not achieved. The opposite was in fact achieved. This resulted in Cuba turning to the USSR, the USA’s enemy for help and protection. Castro began to receive aid from the Soviets in the form of weapons.
The CIA in the USA formed a group in Florida which comprised of ex-politicians from Cuba who were exiled. The aim of this group was t take over Cuba from Castro. In 1961, the new President of the USA, Kennedy pushed for the invasion of Cuba by these exiles that were being trained by CIA personnel in Guatemala. They were all so confident that the Cubans in Cuba would support then and praise them. The exiles invaded at the Bay of Pigs but it was a disaster. The Cubans did not support them! They actually liked Castro. The exiles were being challenged by over 20,000 Cuban troops. The operation had failed tremendously and it was none but humiliating for the newly appointed President of the USA.
What were the results of the Bay of Pigs invasion?
§ Cuba was declared a Communist nation by Castro in December 1961.
§ Castro asked Khrushchev to provide arms for Cuba so she can protect herself for future invasions by the USA.
§ Khrushchev agreed to the give arms to Cuba but he secretly hoped to make Cuba a Soviet Missile base because it was in close proximity to the USA and the USA had three missiles facing the USSR while the USSR had none facing the USA.
§ The Americans developed a greater fear of Communism with Kennedy warning the USSR not to set up missiles in Cuba.
Soviet missiles in Cuba
The placing of Soviet missiles in Cuba was done secretly in an effort to not allow the USA to find out. There have been no definite reason(s) to explain why Khrushchev placed missiles in Cuba but the following are possible reasons:
- To defend Cuba due to the Bay of Pigs invasion
- To force the USA to remove their missiles in Turkey
- To catch up with the USA in the arms race
- To prove that the USSR was in fact powerful
In August of 1962 a US spy plane was flying over Cuba. While doing so, they spotted weapons. By September, Khrushchev was secretly sending nuclear weapons to Cuba. Given the fact that Kennedy was now aware of the weapons in Cuba, he warned to the USSR not to set up missile bases on the Caribbean island. The USSR promised Kennedy that they would not set up any bases but the ironic thing is that they were already setting up the bases.
On the 14th October, U-2 planes took some investigative photographs of the island. The following day, experts noticed a site that was being prepared to host a number of medium range missiles. This scared Kennedy and he called a meeting with high level advisers. A few days later, some more investigative photographs discovered more missile bases on the island.
The missiles had the power to reach as far as Canada. Therefore it could be extremely fatal in the USA.
With all this, Kennedy had to make some fast decisions. He had five options:
- He could do absolutely nothing because the USA had much more missiles than the USSR and so they were well capable of destroying the USSR so it would mean the USSR would not use their missiles. However, on the flipside, it would show extreme weakness on the USA’s part as they did in fact issue a warning to the USSR.
- Destroy the missile bases by the use of air attacks. This would actually destroy the bases but there would be a very high likely hood of Soviet retaliation.
- They could invade through the air and sea. This would get rid of two obstacles seen as bad by the USA – the missile bases and Castro. However this would result in the Soviets responding, probably in the same way.
- They could simply be diplomatic and sort their issue. This would avoid any conflict but it would be seen to be weak on the part of the USA.
- Form a blockade of Cuba so as to prevent the USSR from transporting any more missiles etc into Cuba. This would show boldness for the USA but it would not solve the main problem – the missiles would still be in Cuba. As a result, the Soviets could launch it at any time.
Kennedy ended up choosing the latter option. Under this option, all ships that were transporting weapons to Cuba were ordered to be turned around. On the 22nd October, the USA stated that if the USSR launched any missile, the USA would retaliate. The following day, the USSR said that their only motive to placing the missiles in Cuba was to safeguard the island from an American attack. Khrushchev blamed Kennedy for wanting the world to enter a nuclear war. On the 26th October, a letter from Khrushchev was sent to Kennedy stating that he was ready to come to an agreement with Kennedy. It was initially stated that the USSR would consider removing the missiles if the USA promised not to invade Cuba. But then he sent another on canceling his previous term and stated that they would only remove the missiles if the USA removed theirs from Turkey.
On October 27th a U-2 plane was shot down over Cuba and the pilot died. Kennedy was very much angry by this and he believed that Castro was acting on the orders of Khrushchev. Kennedy was urged to attack Cuba by his advisers. Kennedy however was reluctant to adhere to this. He was advised by his brother to reply to the first letter and forget the second one as it was aggressive. He did. He stated that he would not invade Cuba. He also added that he was unable to make a decision about Turkey until he speaks with his NATO allies. The letter was sent.
On the 28th October, Radio Moscow announced that Khrushchev was removing the missiles from Cuba. The USA agreed to remove their missiles from Turkey once it was kept a secret.
The Cuban Missile Crisis was over! It lasted for a mere 13days in October.
What were the results of this crisis?
§ Khrushchev claimed that he had achieved his aim of preventing the invasion of Cuba by America but he was condemned by China for backing down. It is believed that this led to his eventual loss of power two years after the crisis
§ Kennedy was praised for avoiding war both at home and worldwide.
§ Cuba remained a Communist nation and was still dependent on Soviet aid
§ Khrushchev and Kennedy realized
¥ CASE STUDY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1964 – 1975)
Vietnam was once a French colony called Indo-China along with Laos and Cambodia but the French were driven out by the Vietminh in 1954. The Vietminh were a Vietnamese Communist group who were freedom fighters. As a result, Indo-China, by protocol of the Geneva Conference of 1954 was divided into four parts. These four parts were to be Laos and Cambodia which would be independent. North Vietnam would be Communist and South Vietnam would be ruled by a right wing dictator called Diem. This division was made along the 17th Parallel. The Vietcong forces won against France for four factors:
- The Vietminh made use of guerrilla warfare which was new to the French.
- The Vietnamese people supported the Vietminh
- France was still suffering from WWII. She did not have a large enough army to send, nor enough funds.
- China aided Vietnam. China had recently became Communist and she supplied Vietnam with ammunition, arms and equipment.
It had been agreed that there would be a general election to reunite the country either under Communist ideals or democratic ideals. Although the US initially supported this, President Diem and the US government was afraid of the results going against them which could lead to what President Eisenhower of the US described as the "Domino Effect". This is whereby one country falls to communism, then the region will follow and fall prey to communism as well. The falling prey to communism is seem to be synonymous of a row of domino's falling. Elections were never held and civil war soon broke out as the people as well as opposition groups were demanding a democratic coalition government so the country could be united. Amongst these opposition groups were the National Liberation Front and the Buddhists w ho were well known for setting themselves afire as a form of protest.
USA's presence in Vietnam only made matters worst. Her Policy of Containment was in full force here as she tried to restrict its influence in the region if not kill it off completely. She began to increase the arms and army in Vietnam. Generally USA was somewhere she was not wanted. The Vietnamese just wanted to be united under a Vietnamese government and not another foreign nation.
As the civil war intensified more freedom fighting groups emerged. The Vietcong, the major one was now in both North and South Vietnam.
Bombings began in early 1965 with the US bombing the North on a regular basis however to President Johnson, this was not enough. He approved for some 180 000 US troops to move into Vietnam. Within three years, Vietnam had almost 550 000 US troops. US involvement in the war was widely criticized by US citizens. It should be noted that the atrocities of this war was broadcasted over the Television and radio. It was the first time people could actually see the intensity of the Cold War period and a war on a whole. To top this off, the US was not doing well. She was losing despite her obvious advantage as it related to technology however the Vietcong used guerrilla tactics which the US was not accustomed to. The US used two tactics to try to combat this issue:
- massive airpower
- chemical defoliants (eg. Agent Orange incident)
These did not work to eliminate the Vietcong presence though but it did have a psychological influence on the citizens. It led the Vietnamese to push further away from the US and give support to the Vietcong and North Vietnam's leader Ho Chi Minh.
Two significant events occurred. The first being the Tet Offensive. This occurred in 1968 whereby the North Vietnamese Communist forces struck the Southern capital, Saigon. What was most significant was that it occurred during Tet. Tet is a Vietnamese religious festival. The attack saw the US embassy being bombed. The aim was to set off a revolution in the South but this was not achieved. Their plan backfired as the US sent in a large force which killed over 50 000 communist troops within three months. This event however is seen to the the turning point of the Vietnam War because it was one of the main reasons that North Vietnam ended up wining the war in the long run. Though the Communists were humiliated, this humiliation did not amount to US humiliation as the US politicians began to rethink the true reason behind their involvement if there existed any. This further intensified US citizens disgust.
The second major event is the My Lai massacre in 1968. US soldiers went into the vilage of My Lai because they thought that a Vietcong force was hiding in the village. They killed almost 500 villagers including the elderly and babies. The soldiers were ordered to shoot and kill "anything that moved". This further angered US citizens.
A policy of Vietnamisation was pursued by President Nixon of the USA. Under this policy, the US would re-arm the South Vietnam army. The soldiers would be trained and little by little, the US would pull out. As Nixon did this, he increased the bombings on North Vietnam. In 1973, peace talks began following the Summer 1972 Offensive by the North Vietnam Communist forces which echoed the Tet Offensive but this time a bit more successful. Following this, it became clear that no end would come as no side could see victory in the horizons. A cease-fire was arranged in 1973 and US troops started going home. Though a cease-fire was arranged, fighting continued. It was only two years after that the war finally ended after the North launched an attack on the South. By this time the US was all gone and the South had no help. The Saigon government could not resist leading to the fall of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese captured Saigon on the 29th April, 1975 bringing the Vietnam War to an end.
The end of the Vietnam War was however a big blow to the US who felt even more humiliated now. The leaders of the US following the end of the Vietnam War however decided to engage in a policy of 'detente' and so they set up peaceful relations with the Communist superpowers - the USSR and China. US self confidence was restored in the 1980s to some extent with Ronald Regan who ended this peaceful period of relations known as detente and aggressively challenged the USSR leading to a new arms race known as the Star Wars.