cold war proxy wars - mrmanankichian.com · 3 proxy wars • definition wars between opposing...

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The Cold War Proxy Wars

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Why did the United States fear the spread of Communism?

• TheunitedStatesandotherWesterndemocraticcountriesfearedthatifonecountrytofelltoCommunism,thenthesurroundingcountrieswouldfallaswell.

• Thisbecameknownasthedominotheory.

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Definition

Warsbetweenopposingsuperpowerswheretheyusethirdparties(othercountries)assubstitutesforfightingeachotherdirectly.ThiswasAmerica’swayof“fighting”againsttheSovietUnionandCommunismwithoutactuallystartingawar.

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Korea after WWII

• AfterKoreawasfinallyfreedfromJapanesecontrolithadtobedecidedwhatkindofgovernmentitwouldhave.Communistordemocracy?

• ItwasagreeduponthatKoreawillbesplitinhalfbythe38th parallel.TheNorthernhalfwouldbecommunistandtheSouthernhavewouldbedemocratic.

• Theonceunifiedcountrywasultimatelysplitintotwoseparatecountries:NorthandSouthKorea.

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The Korean War

• On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces swept across the 38th parallel in a surprise attack on South Korea

• With only 500 U.S. troops in South Korea, the Soviets figured the Americans would not fight to save South Korea

• Instead, America sent troops, planes and ships to South Korea to prevent it from falling under Communism

The North Attacks the South June 1950 – July 1953

Whydid theU.ScaretosenditsownsoldierstodefendSouth

Korea?

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Korean War

• Just as it looked like the Americans were going to score a victory in the North, 300,000 Chinese communist soldiers joined the war on the side of the North Koreans

• The fight between North and South Korea had turned into a war in which the main opponents were Chinese Communists vs. American soldiers

• The war lasted 3 years and tt was declared a stalemate (tie). The line dividing North and South Korea (38th parallel) is called the DMZ. Technically, the war has still not ended.

CHINA JOINS THE WAR

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KOREAN WAR

• Vietnam had been a colony of France – Known as French Indo-

China • Communists began to

fight for independence from France after WWII– Led by 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

• Viet Cong were Southern Vietnamese who disliked Ngo DinhDiem. They began attacking the 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

Soviets Respond• The Soviet union provides

money and weapons to North Vietnam and the Viet Cong.

• Why didn’t the Soviet Union send soldiers of their own to help turn Vietnam communist?

• 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- A

policy turned fighting over to South Vietnamese troops

• North Vietnamese captured South Vietnamese capital of Saigon in 1975– Reunited Vietnam

under complete communist rule

– Renamed the capital city of Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City