Chapter 9: Asia in Turmoil: Nationalism, Revolution and the Rise of the Cold War, 1945–53
The encroachment of the Cold War and its attendant reductionist logic had a profound effect on Asia. The volatility of the Cold War in Asia came about because it coincided with the first major wave of decolonization. This led to increasing regional instability within which local nationalist aspirations both manipulated and were taken advantage of by the major players in the Cold War, such as the United States, the Soviet Union and communist China (from 1949) to mould the region to suit their own interests. As a result, while the Cold War in Europe settled into a political stalemate, in Asia it led to several dangerous conflicts arising, most notably the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 and the Vietnamese struggle against French colonialism that culminated in the Geneva Conference of 1954. At the same time some newly independent states, such as India, Burma and Indonesia, sought to protect their national interests by adopting neutralism.
Multiple Choice Questions
Exam Questions
Discussion Questions
How did Indian independence influence Asian regional politics in the late 1940s and early 1950s?
Compare and contrast the British, French, and Dutch experiences in restoring empire in Southeast Asia after 1945.
Why did America respond differently to conflict in Indochina and Indonesia after 1945?
Why did the CCP win the Chinese Civil War?
What role did the superpowers play in the course of the Chinese Civil War?
Could the US have built a relationship with Communist China in the early 1950s?
How did American policy towards Japan shift, 1948-1950?
What role did Japan play in American plans for Asian stability?
What missteps did the superpowers make in their handling of the Korean War?
How did American policy towards East Asia change with the Korean War?
Exam Questions
How did the upheaval at the end of the Second World War contribute to the Cold War in Asia?
How did the CCP victory in the Chinese Civil War influence American foreign policy in Asia?
What were the interests of the United States, Soviet Union, and China in the Korean War?
Weblinks
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1950-korea-un1.asp – text of UN report on Korean situation 1950
https://www.vassar.edu/vietnam/documents/doc5.html – text of Eisenhower correspondence with Diem 1954
http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/The-Korean-War-1950-1953-Clipreel-Part-4/09e562f5ea77d590026cfecf76ec2ddd?searchfilter=Compilations%2fUniversal+Newsreels%2fUniversal+Archives%3a+The+Korean+War+1950+%E2%80%93+1953%2f19621 – video of Korean War newsreel footage
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1949-acheson-china.html – text of Dean Acheson memo on US position on China 1949
http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/documents/episode-5/05.pdf – text of NSC document on US policy after Korean War armistice 1953
https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/special-message-the-congress-the-need-for-assistance-china – presidential message on assistance to China 1948
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/situation-korea-office-reports-and-estimates-51?documentid=NA&pagenumber=1 – Text of 1947 US report on South Korean situation
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/research-files/united-states-courses-action-respect-korea-report-812-james-s-lay-jr – US Report on Courses of Action in Korea, November 1950
http://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/118343 – text of 1949 proposal for anti-Communist union of Asian peoples
http://filestore.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pdfs/small/cab-129-34-cp-93.pdf – Memorandum on situation in China
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