Cold War

• South East Asia is now part of the cold war.
• Soviet and US ideologies cannot coexist and there has been a long-term animosity through to the 1917 Russian revolution and early red scare.
• The Czechoslovakian coup and Berlin presented the Soviets as offensive in spreading ideologies.
• The Marshall plan was seen as offensive from the West and is often referred to as dollar imperialism.
• The open market and Bretton woods created disputes in the USSR.
• The early years of the cold war saw the Soviet Union and the US trying to expand and have greater influence in vulnerable Europe.
• The belief that communism must be contained led to fears and suspicions.
• Communism was viewed as growing through cominform and cominterm.
• The Soviet Union was accused of not keeping the promise of free and fair elections.
• Soviet forces stayed in Iran after the war.
• The Berlin Blockade was aggressive.
• Cominform was used to grow and expand, leading to continued influence in East Europe.
• The US was responsible for the Marshall plan, which is often seen as an attempt to control Europe economically.
• COMECON in Eastern Europe was the Soviet Union's version of economic control.
• Stalin’s reluctance to support Mao any more led to a disconnect between Mao and Stalin during the Korean war.
• The USSR boycotted the UNSC when the UN went to them for help.
• South Korea ultimately became a model of capitalist success after the Korean war.
• All communist movements were traced back to Moscow, forming a monolithic block, according to the US.
• The US did not recognise the legitimacy of the new Chinese government after the Chinese revolution.
• The Korean war began with 90,000 North Korean soldiers invading South Korea, seen by the US as Soviet aggression.
• There was a red scare in the US and a wave of anti-communism, led by McCarthy and McCarthyism.
• The US maintained military forces in Japan to defend against communism there during the Korean war.
• NATO became strengthened during the Korean war.
• Mao Zedong was bolstered via war propaganda during the Korean war.
• The defence budget tripled during the Korean war.
• In 1949, the US felt it was containing communism through NATO, the Truman doctrine, and the Marshall plan.
• UN forces arrived under US leadership during the Korean war.
• The US reverted back to a containment policy after the Korean war.
• SEATO was formed during the Korean war to fight communism in South East Asia.
• The US supported other governments against communism during the Korean war.
• Mccarthy claimed that Truman’s administration was soft on communism and China.
• North Koreans were pushed into South Korea during the Korean war.
• The USSR boycotted decisions of the UNSC.
• NSC-68 and total commitment outlined the US outlook on the situation of communism.
• Peace talks began but the war continued during the Korean war.
• The US was supremely focussed on Europe.
• Failure to respond to this aggression was seen as a sign of weakness by the US.
• The Soviet union experienced an increase in US military tension during the Korean war.
• Mao Zedong marked a new rise in communism in China, initially seen as independent from Moscow.
• An armistice was finally signed in 1953 during the Korean war.