tension in Asia (Korea, Vietnam and China)

• Tensions that had developed in Europe after the Second World War soon led to the superpowers supporting opposite sides in various conflicts in Asia
• Korea was divided into North and South in 1948
• China became communist after the revolution in 1949
• The Soviet Union signed a treaty with China in 1950
• Vietnam was originally under French control but they withdrew in 1954 when communist forces gained control of North Vietnam
• China became a communist state in 1949, which led to an increase in tension between the superpowers
• The Chinese occupation of China ended in 1945, and the civil war restarted between the communists and nationalists
• The USA supported the nationalists in China, even though they were unpopular and had poor leadership
• By 1949, the communist leader Mao succeeded, and the most populous country in the world was now under communist rule
• In February 1950, the USSR signed a treaty of friendship with China
• In the United States, communism was now feared even more, and Truman's policy of containment had failed in Asia
• In the UN, the USA influenced and refused to recognize the new communist leadership, and the USSR protested by boycotting the U.S. security control
• In 1948, Korea was divided into two different countries, with South Korea being an anti-communist state supported by American forces, and North Korea being a communist dictatorship closely supported by the Soviet Union and China
• In June 1950, North Korea invaded the South, and the UN got involved, with the USA suggesting that the UN should intervene to help the South
• The UN forces were made mostly of American troops, but there were also other countries such as Britain who were sent over to fight against the communist North, and they were led by American General MacArthur
• The Korean War was the first example where the invasion between East and West were played out in physical conflict, and both superpowers used the conflict to experiment with their new weapons
• The war quickly became a stalemate, and a peace treaty was eventually signed in 1953
• The UN had proved that it could take effective action, although it could only do this since the USSR was boycotting the UN
• Between 1945 and 1954, Vietnam was under control by France, but the group of communist fighters known as the Vietcong rebelled against the French rule
• The United States provided financial aid to France to fight the communists, and in 1954 the French removed their control in Vietnam, which was temporarily divided into North and South
• America continued to send aid to the anti-communist South Vietnam, while the North was supported by the Soviet Union and China