War in Korea and its effects on international relations
A)
BACKGROUND TO THE WAR
-
Korea had been under Japanese occupation
since 1910;
-
When japan was defeated, USA and USSR agreed
to divide korea along the 38th parallel.
-
North and south were under control of USSR
and USA respectively.
-
Americans were not intended to be a permanent
division and they agreed the UN wish to conduct elections to the whole country.
-
But the elections were boycotted in north
since 2/3 of the people live in south.
-
Elections were held in south ;supervised by
UN; independent Republic of Korea( south korea) was established with syngman
Rhee as president.
-
Russians created the Democratic People’s
Republic of Korea under communist government of Kim Il Sung; both troops were
withdrawn;
-
Both leaders claimed the right to rule the
whole country. Without warning, north Korean troops invaded South Korea in june
1950
B)
Why did the north Koreans invade in
south?
-
Kim Il Sung
Ø Encouraged
by the statement of USA that it intended to defend areas around pacific; but it
did not mention the korea.
Ø Encouraged
by newly formed communist government in china.
-
Russia
Ø Supplied
the North Koreans with tanks and other equipment; takeover of south could
strengthen their position in Pacific ; retaliation for stalin failure in west
Germany.
-
South Korea
Ø Communists
claimed that south Korea started the war when their troops crossed the 38th
parallel.
C)
The USA takes action
-
Truman convinced that it was Russia plan to
spread the communism.
-
He decided it was essential for the west to take
a stand supporting south korea; US along with her allies sent troops to korea
under command of US general Mac Arthur; Later UN followed them.
-
Seoul was captured and to conduct free
elections to the country , troops advanced further and occupied 2/3 rd of
N.Korea.
-
Chinese government condemned this and asked
to withdraw; it was ignored.
-
Chinese launched a massive counter offensive
with over 3 lakh troops; crossed the 38th parallel and captured
Seoul again.
-
Later the UN forces cleared the communists
out of south Korea again and fortifies the frontier.
-
1953, an agreement was made that the frontier
should be roughly along the 38th parallel.
D)
The results of the war were wide-ranging:
1)
For Korea it was a disaster; division
seemed permanent; both states remained intensely suspicious of each other and
heavily armed; constant ceasefire violations;
2)
Though Truman was satisfied with
containing communism in Korea, he failed in the case of China.
3)
4)
The UN exerted its authority and reversed
an act of aggression; communists denounced it as a tool of capitalists.
5)
China became a super world power by
preventing US influence on Korea; but she was still not allowed a seat in the
UN seemed even more unreasonable.
6)
New dimension to the cold war; American
relations with china and Russia were
permanently strained; both started building up alliances ; china supported Indo
– Chinese communists to get liberation from French; offered friendship and aid
to third world countries ; peaceful co-existence agreements were signed with
India and Burma.
-
Americans tried to encircle china with bases;
Ø 1951
defensive agreements were signed with Australia and new Zealand;
Ø Together
these states and Britain france It setup South East Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATO).
Ø USA
disappointed that no third world countries were interested in it and they
wanted to keep clear of the cold war.
Cuba ;-
a)
Why did Castro came to power:-
-
There was a long standing resentment among
many Cubans at the amount of American influene in the country.
-
1898, America helped cuba to overthrow the
Spanish.
-
Since then American troops were needed from
time to time to maintain stability
-
America gave financial aid and investment
kept the Cuban economy ticking over.
-
In fact, USA controlled the Cuban economy and
industries, owned half of the land, 3/5th of the railways, all
electricity production and telephone system.
-
The USA was the market for cuba’s exports.
-
Though Cuba was prosperous than other Latin
American countries, she was too dependent on the export of sugar, and the
wealth of the country was concentrated in the hands of a few.
-
Unemployment was a serious problem; neither
the government nor trade unions did anything. Consequently social tensions were
high.
-
Since there was no prospect of a peaceful
social revolution, the feeling grew that a violent revolution was necessary.
-
Fidel Castro, a young lawyer was a leading
exponent of this view; though initially he was a liberal nationalist , wanted
to rid Cuba of Batista and corruption and to introduce a limited land reforms
so that all peasants would receive some land.
-
After an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow
Batista, he was sent to jail for 2 years.
-
Castro began a campaign of guerrilla warfare;
rebels soon controlled the mountainous area of the east and north and won
popular support there by carrying through Castro’s land reform policy.
-
Batista took savage reprisals against the
guerrillas, torturing and murdering suspects.
-
Morale in Batista’s poorly paid army began to
crumble in 1958
-
USA began to fell embarrassment at Batista’s
behavior and cut off arms supplies;
-
Che Guevara , and Argentinian supporter of
Castro, gained control of the main road across the island and prepared to move
Santa Clara.
-
1959, Batista fled from Cuba, and a liberal
government was setup with Castro at its head.
b)
How were Cuba’s foreign relations
affected?
-
Cuban relations with the USA did not
deteriorated immediately;
-
Castro was thought to be a social democrat,
US prepared to give him a chance.
-
But he outraged the USA by nationalizing
American-owned estates and factories.
-
Eisenhower threatened to stop importing
sugar; Russia promised to buy sugar; Castro confiscate all remaining American
property.
-
Cuban relations with Russia got worsened,
with Russia improved.
-
1961, USA broke off diplomatic relations with
Cuba, but Russians were already supporting with the economic aid.
-
After missile crisis, relations between the
USA and Cuba remained cool.
-
Other Latin American states, run by right
wing governments expelled Cuba from the Organization of American States( OAS),
which only made her more dependent on Russia.
c)
Castro and his problems:
-
Cuba is initially depended on USA and later
on USSR for its exports.
-
Her economy relied too much on sugar industry
and was at the mercy of fluctuations in world sugar prices.
-
Corruption, serious unemployment and poverty
were the major problems before Castro.
-
New government launched itself into tackling
the problems with enthusiasm and dedication.
o Agricultural
land was taken over by the government and acollective farms introduced;
o Factories
and businesses were nationalized;
o Introduced
new industries to reduce Cuban dependence on sugar;
o Social
reforms included attempts to improve education, housing, health, medical
facilities and communications.
o Equality
for black and more rights for women.
o Castro
himself seemed to have boundless energy; he was constantly touring the island ,
making speeches and urging people to greater efforts.
-
Huge success of all attempts came by the end
of 1970.
-
But he failed to diversify the agriculture;
still it was sugar dominated economy.
-
In 1980 the sugar crop and tobacco were
affected by diseases. Plunged the island into an economic crisis, unemployment
rose again, people began to emigrate to USA; food rationing was introduced and
the whole economy was being heavily subsidized by the USSR.
-
1991, after the fall of USSR, Cuba had lost
its most powerful supporter, and the castro regime was left dangerously
isolated.
The wars in Vietnam 1946-54 and 1961-75
-
Indo- china
under French empire- Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia.
a) 1946-
54:
o first
phase struggle was for independence from French.
o Indo-china
was occupied by japan during the world war;
o Resistance
to both Japanese and French was organized by the League for Vietnamese Independence ( Vietminh
) led by Ho chi minh.
o At
the end of the war Ho chin declared independence of Vietnam. But French denied
it; and struggle started.
o Struggle
ended with the French defeat.
o Vietminh
was successful because they were expert in guerilla war tactics and popular
support; china supplied arms
o The
USA also became involved; seeing the struggle as part of the cold war and the
fight against communism, supplied the French with economic and military aid;
but it was not enough.
o 1954,
Geneva agreement – Laos and Cambodia were to be independent;
o Vietnam
was temporarily divide into two states at the 17th parallel; Ho chin
minh government was recognized in North and south was to have a separate
government for the time being.
o But
elections were to be held by 1956 for the whole country.
o The
elections were never held , and a repeat performance of the Korean situation.
o Civil
war gradually developed in south which eventually involved the north and the
USA.
b) What
caused the civil war in south Vietnam and why did the USA become involved?
o south
Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem refused to make preparations for the
elections for fear of communist victory if the elections went ahead.
o US
obsessed with the ‘domino theory’ – if one country in a region fell to
communism, it would quickly ‘knock over ‘ all its neighbours.
o Diem
lost popularity because- discrimination against Buddhism , corruption,
influenced too much by USA.
o 1960,
various opposition groups including Vietminh formed the National Liberation
Front (NLF) which demanded a democratic national coalition government which
would unite the Vietnam.
o Guerilla
war started ; repressed brutally. Finally Diem was overthrown. Military started
ruling country; but basic situation unchanged and the guerilla war continued.
o The
USA decided to increase its military presence in south Vietnam.
o Having
failed to defeat communism in north Korea and Cuba, the USA felt a strong stand
must be made.
o The
Americans were strengthened in their resolve by the knowledge that the Vietcong
were receiving supplies, equipment and troops from North Vietnam.
o Ho
Chi Minh believed that such aid was justified;
o Given
south Vietnam’s refusal to agree to national elections, only force could unite
the two halves of the country.
c) the
phases of war:
-
corresponds to successive American
presidencie.
1) Kennedy:-
Ø Safe
village policy- local peasants were moved en masse into fortified villages ,
leaving the Vietcong isolated outside.
Ø Failed
because most of the Vietcong were peasants.
2) Johnson:-
Ø Assumed
that Vietcong were controlled by Ho Chi Minh and decide to bomb North Vietnam.
Ø Over
next 7 years a greater tonnage of bombs was dropped on North Vietnam.
Ø Vietcong
still managed to get 80% of all villages and towns.
Ø Great
pressure was put on the government by public in USA to withdraw from Vietnam.
Ø He
suspended the bombing but no intention of withdrawing.
3) Nixon:-
Ø New
idea was known as vietnamization: the amerians would rearm and train the south
Vietnamese army to look after the defence of south which would allow a gradual
withdrawal of American troops.
Ø On
the other hand, bombing on Vietnam was revoked.
Ø Nixon
was under pressure both at home and world. Because:
o The
terrible bombing of north Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia;
o Use
of chemicals to destroy jungle foliage and of inflammable napalm jelly which
burned people alive;
o The
deaths of thousands of innocent civilians;
Ø A
cease fire was arranged in1973;
Ø American
troops were withdrawn; both north and south agreed to respect the frontier
along the 17th parallel;
Ø But
Vietcong continued their campaign occupied the south; both Vietnams were united
under a communist government.
Ø In
the same year communist governments were also established in Laos and Cambodia.
American policy of preventing the spread of communism in south east Asia had
ended in complete failure.
d) why
did the Americans fail?
1) Vietcong
and the NLF had widespread support among ordinary people, who had genuine
grievances against an inefficient government.
2) The
Vietcong, like the Vietminh before them, were experts at guerrilla warfare and
were fighting on familiar territory.
3) The
Vietcong received important help from North Vietnam in the way of troops, and
from china and Russia who supplied arms.
4) The
north Vietnamese were dedicated to eventual victory and the unification of the
country. In spite of American bombings , they responded by evacuating city
populations and rebuilding factories outside the cities.
e) The
effects of the war were wide-reaching:
-
Vietnam was united: but the new government
policies had unpleasant aspects such as concentration camps for opponents and
no freedom of speech.
-
USA- blow to American prestige; involvement
in war was seen in many circles as a terrible mistake;
-
The war was a victory for communist world;
but they wished to relax international tensions , though they now had another
powerful force on their side in the Vietnamese army.
Chile
under Salvador Allende 1970-73
-
1970, Salvador Allende, a Marxist doctor ,
won the presidential election as a leader of left wing coalition of left
parties called Unidad Popular.
a)
How did Allende come to be elected?
Ø Chile,
unlike most other south American states, had a tradition of democracy.
Ø The
election of 1964 was won by Eduardo Frei, leader Christian Democrats, who
believed in social reforms
o Brought
down the inflation
o House
and schools were built.
o Limited
land reforms
o Took
over about half the holdings in the American- owned copper mines, with
compensation.
Ø US
admired his reforms and gave economic aid.
Ø But
the left wanted full nationalization of the copper industry; where as right
thought he had already gone too far.
Ø Followed
by serious drought in 1969, caused the large quantities of food had to be
imported, causing inflation soar again.
Ø The
strikes of copper miners demanding higher wages and several miners were killed
by government troops.
Ø Allende
made skilful use of this ammunition during the 1970 election campaign and he
believed that communism could succeed without a violent revolution.
b)
Allende’s problems and policies:-
Ø Inflation,
unemployment, industry was stagnating, poverty, malnutrition.
Ø He
believed that redistribution of income enable the poor to buy more and thereby
stimulate the economy.
Ø All-round
wage increases of about 40%. Firms were not allowed to increase prices.
Ø Copper
industry, textiles, and banks were nationalized.
Ø The
army was awarded an even bigger pay rise than anybody else to make sure of
keeping its support.
Ø He
restored diplomatic relations with Castro’s Cuba, china and east Germany.
c)
Why was he overthrown?
Ø Land
redistribution cause a fall in agricultural production as happened in Russia.
Ø Private
investors were frightened off and the government became short of funds to carry
out social reforms.
Ø Copper
nationalization was disappointing – due to strikes and fall in price.
Ø Some
communists wanted a more drastic Castro style approach to chile’s problems grew
impatient with allende’s caution.
Ø The
USA disapproved strongly of Allende’s policies and other South American
governments were nervous in case the Chileans tried to export their revolution.
o As
per the constitution Allende would not be elected as a president again.
o The
opposition, feared that Allende was trying to change the constitution.
o With
the support of military they staged a military coup;
o A
military dictatorship was setup; general Pinochet came to the fore;The whole
left leaders were murdered.
o American
CIA , helped by the Brazilian government ,played a vital role in the
preparations for the coup, as part of its policy of preventing the spread of
communism.
o Again
Chile got stability with the revival of US aid.
o Pinochet
was in no hurry to return the country to civilian rule.
o He
eventually allowed presidential elections in 1989 when the civilian candidate
he supported was heavily defeated; Christian democrat leader Patrico Aylwin ,
became the president.
Détente: international relations from the 1970s to the 1990s
Détente- Permanent relaxation of tensions between east
and west.
a)
Reasons for détente:
-
Countries had their own individual motives
for wanting détente.
Ø USSR
was finding the expense of keeping up with the US crippling. It eas essential
to reduce defence spending so that they could devote more resources to bringing
living standards up to western levels.
Ø The
americans were beginning to realize that there must be a better way of coping
with communism than the one which was having so little success in Vietnam.
Ø Chinese
were anxious about their isolation, did not want to deteriorate its relations
with both US and USSR.
Ø The
nations of western Europe were worried because they would ne in the front line
if nuclear war broke out.
b)
The USSR and the USA
-
Already hot-line telephone link and agreement
to carry out only under ground tests were made.
-
Strategic arms limitation treaty (SALT 1)-
decided how many ABMs, ICBMs and SLBMs each side could have; MIRVs were not
included; this slowed down the arms race.
-
Helsinki agreement:: USA , Canada, USSR and
most of the European states accepted the recognition of frontiers drawn
immediately after the world war ( germanies were recognized)
-
1979- Russia again started missile building.
Détente was dragged to the corner.
-
Détente gathered momentum again thanks to the
determination of the new soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev. Proposed a 15 year
time table for disposal of nuclear weapons. As a result INF( intermediate
nuclear force) Treaty was signed.
o All
land base intermediate range nuclear weapons were to be scrapped over the next
13 years.
o Strict
verification process.
-
INF treaty was and important turning point in
the nuclear arms race, since it was the first time any weapons had been
destroyed.
-
By 1985 USSR was seriously embarrassed by its
involvement in Afghanistan; they found it impossible to subdue the ferocious
Islamic guerrillas; it was a drain on their resources;
-
Finally USSR pulled out the troops; USA
stopped sending military aid to the Afghan resistance movement.
c)
China and the USA:
-
Chinese invited USA table tennis team to
visit china - USA responded by calling
off her veto of Chinese entry into the UN.
-
There was still the problem of Taiwan;
relations improved further in 1978 when US decided to withdraw recognition of
Nationalist of Taiwan.
-
1979, US gave formal recognition of the
Peoples Republic of china; china needed a détente with US because it had
conflict with Vietnam began.
-
1985, an agreement was signed on nuclear
cooperation.
-
Things took turn for the worse in 1989 when
the Chinese government used troops to disperse a student demonstration in
Tiananmen Square, Beijing. At least 1000 were killed which brought world wide
condemnation.
d)
Relations between the USSR and China:
-
Earlier they signed a treaty of mutual
assistance and friendship
-
Ideological conflict- Khrushchev believed
that communism can be achieved through means other than revolution; Chinese
accused the Russians of ‘revisionism’- interpreting Marx’s and lenin’s
teachings to their need and their soft line towards china. In retaliation the
Russians reduced their economic aid to china.
-
Frontier dispute- Chinese demanding the
Vladivostok and Sinkiang provinces back to them from Russia. No success
achieved.
-
China herself was following a softer policy
towards the USA. It seemed that both Russia and china were vying for American
support against each other for the leadership of world communism.
-
Vietnam supported Russia; china attacked
Vietnam for the cause of its invasion in Cambodia; but withdrawn their troops.
-
In 1984 Chinese set out their grievance
against the USSR;
o The
presence of Russian troops in Afghanistan;
o Soviet
backing of the Vietnamese troops in Cambodia;
o The
soviet troop build-up along the Chinese frontiers of Mongolia and Manchuria.
-
Mikhail Gorbachev begin a new era in
sino-russain relations .five year agreement on trade and economic co-operation
were signed.
-
Vietnam withdrawn its troops from Cambodia ;
relations were resumed with china.
the
collapse of communism in Eastern Europe: international relations transformed:
a)
1988 to 1991:-
Ø Began
in Poland ,1988 when the ‘solidarity; trade union organized huge
anti-government strike, forced the government to allow free elections where
communists were defeated. Same happened in the Hungary.
Ø In
east Germany the government was resigned ; soon the berlin wall was breached;
Germany was united.
Ø Czechoslovakia,
Bulgaria and Romania had thrown out their communist governments; multiparty
elections were held in Yugoslavia.
Ø By
the end of December 1991 the USSR itself had split up into separate republics.
b)
How were international relations affected?
a.
The cold war was over:-
i.
Former USSR and its allies were no longer
seen by the west as the enemy.
ii.
1990 November the countries of NATO and
the Warsaw Pact signed a treaty agreeing that they were ‘no longer adversaries’
iii.
None of their weapons would ever be used
except in self-defence.
b.
New conflicts soon arose:-
These were often caused by nationalism. Nationalism which has been
suppressed by communism, soon re-emerged in some of the former states of USSR
and eastern Europe states.
§ Czechoslovakia,
where Slovak nationalists insisted on breaking away to form a separate state of
Slovakia. This was settled peacefully.
§ War
broken out between Azerbaijan and Armenia over a disputed territory.
§ There
was fighting in Georgia where the people of north wanted to from a separate
state.
§ Yugoslavia,
was broken up into five separate states- Serbia ( with Montenegro), Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia.
§ Soon
a civil war broke out in which Serbia tried to grab as much territory as
possible from Croatia.
§ In
Bosnia, serbs, croats and muslims fought each other in an attempt to set up
states of their own.
c.
Nuclear weapons supervision:
i.
One of the needs of the 1990s was for
better international supervision and control of nuclear weapons, and also of
biological and chemical weapons.
ii.
But both USA and Russia were less willing
to act as policemen.
d.
Economic problems
i.
All the former communist states faced
another problem that how to change from command economy to the free market
economy.
ii.
They needed a carefully planned and
generous program of financial help from the west.
e.
The unification of Germany created some
problems:
i.
The poles were very suspicious of a
united and powerful Germany, fearing that it might try to take back the former
german territory given to Poland after the second world war.
ii.
Germany also found itself providing
refuge for people fleeing from disturbances in other states of Europe; this
gave rise to violent protests from right-wing neo- nazi groups who believed
that Germany had problems enough of its own- like development of east Germany.
f.
Relation between the western allies:
i.
Disappearance of communism affected
relations between the western allies , USA , western Europe and japan.
ii.
Difference emerged over trade and the
extent to which the USA and japan were prepared to help solve the problems of
eastern Europe.
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