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China Becomes a Communist Country. Part 11. Opposing Forces. During the 1930s and 1940s, a communist army led by Mao Zedong fought against China ’ s government army led by Chiang Kai-shek , head of the Nationalist party. Mao Zedong. Chiang Kai-shek.
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Opposing Forces During the 1930s and 1940s, a communist army led by Mao Zedong fought against China’s government army led by Chiang Kai-shek, head of the Nationalist party. Mao Zedong Chiang Kai-shek
The United States supported Chiang and sent him aid because he opposed communism.
The fighting ceased when Japan attacked China during World War II but continued after the war ended.
U.S. Aid to China The United States again gave economic and military aid to the Nationalists, and the Soviet Union did likewise for Mao’s Communist forces.
But U.S. officials knew that Chiang’s government was inefficient and corrupt. He overtaxed the Chinese people even during times of famine.
Mao, on the other hand, attracted peasant recruits by the millions.
President Truman refused to send American troops to help the Nationalists fight communism.
Chinese mechanics reassemble a lend-lease jeep under the direction of an American liaison soldier. (U.S. Army Military History Institute) But he did send aid.
As a result of these factors, Chiang Kai-shek and his nationalistswere defeated in 1949. Chiang and his forces had to flee to Taiwan, an island off the coast of China. China’s mainland was now Communist.
American conservatives said that the United States had “lost” China because not enough had been done to help the Nationalists. Truman’s followers said that the Communist success was because Chiang could not win the support of the Chinese people.
Through the 1960s the United States recognized only Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist government. In the same period, the Nationalists continued to represent China in the United Nations, despite attempts by the Soviet Union to unseat them in favor of Mao’s Communists.
The Korean War Part 12
Japan had ruled Korea since 1910. At the end of World War II, the Japanese fled from Korea as Soviet armies arrived from the north and American armies from the south. The two forces agreed on the 38th parallel of latitude as a temporary dividing line between their zones of occupation.
After the cold war began, the 38th parallel became a permanent border between North Korea with its Soviet backed Communist government and South Korea with its U.S. supported government.
In September of 1948, the Soviet Union declared the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to be the legitimate government of all of Korea, with Kim Il-sung as Prime Minister.
In June 1950, North Korea started the Korean War by invading South Korea.
Truman was afraid another nation was about to fall to communism. Exhausted South Korean infantry stretch during a lull in the fighting, July 7, 1950. Photo: U.S. Army.Source: D.M. Giangreco, War in Korea: 1950-1953 (Presidio Press).
Truman’s objective in Korea was not to defeat North Korea and take over its territory. Nor did he want to face the Soviet Union and China in an Asian war. Truman’s goal was containment - to save South Korea from Communist control. He called on the UN to defend its government.
Many nations participated in the UN defense of South Korea, but the largest number came from the United States and South Korea. (The Soviet Union had temporarily withdrawn its representatives from the UN and thus lost its veto power in the Security Council.)
In addition to troops, Truman ordered air and naval support for South Korea. The United Nations also agreed to help South Korea.
Truman used his power as commander and chief to conduct an undeclared war in Korea; he called it a “police action.”
Troops from 16 nations- most of them American - were sent to South Korea. They were led by General Douglas MacArthur.
North Korean troops moved steadily South. They conquered the South Korean capital of Seoul.
Then MacArthur launched a counter attack. His forces trapped about half the North Korean Army, which surrendered. MacArthur's success in North Korea made him a national hero.
