NATIONALIST CHINA 1911=CHINESE REVOLUTION; LED BY SUN YAT SEN; OVERTHROW THE EMPEROR CREATE A REPUBLIC (E.G. THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA) CHINESE NATIONALISTS WERE ALSO REFERRED TO AS THE KUOMINTANG (KMT) CHIANG KAI SHEK=THE SUCCESSOR TO SUN YAT SEN. HE WAS A RIGHT-WING MEMBER OF THE KMT AND TOOK AN ANTI-COMMUNIST, ANTI-SOVIET STANCE. THIS INSTIGATES THE CHINESE CIVIL WAR IN THE LATE 1920S. HE BECOMES GENERALISSMO (DICTATOR) HIS GOVERNMENT IS VERY UNSTABLE AND CORRUPT AND DOES NOT HAVE MUCH CONTROL OVER INDIVIDUAL REGIONS OF CHINA THE FIRST FEW YEARS OF HIS RULE IS CONSIDERED THE WARLORD PERIOD
COMMUNISTS IN CHINA THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY (CCP) COMMUNIST FORCES WERE LED BY MAO ZEDONG, A POLITICAL MOVEMENT; MAO INVENTED A NEW FORM OF COMMUNISM CALLED MAOISM A MILITARY MOVEMENT; MAO S GUERILLA ARMY FOCUSED ON TAKING OVER RURAL REGIONS OF CHINA AND THEN URBAN AREAS. THE LONG MARCH; MAO S INITIALLY WEAKENED ARMY RETREATS AND REGROUPS THIS REFLECTED BOTH MAO S POLITICAL IDEOLOGY AND MILITARY STRATEGY; HE BELIEVED THAT THE COMMUNIST REVOLUTION WOULD BEGIN IN THE COUNTRYSIDE AND THEN CONTINUE IN CITIES (MARXISTS AND LENINISTS SUPPORTED STARTING REVOLUTIONS IN CITIES FIRST.)
TENSIONS IN THE REGION NATIONALIST CHINA & COMMUNIST FORCES: MUTUAL SUSPICION, DISTRUST, AND FEAR; FROM WWII ALLIES TO POST-WAR ENEMIES. EXAMPLE: THE WANNAN INCIDENT. SOVIET UNION AND CCP: STALIN S INITIAL FOREIGN POLICY IS MORE FAVORABLE TO THE KMT AND NOT THE CCP; AN EXAMPLE IS THE SINO-SOVIET TREATY OF FRIENDSHIP AND ALLIANCE (THE USSR LATER VIOLATES THE TREATY) THE FAILED MARSHALL MISSION; GEORGE C. MARSHALL TRIED TO MEDIATE NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE CCP AND KMT. THE TALKS ACCOMPLISHED NOTHING US AND CCP: THE US SUPPORTED THE KMT BY AIRLIFTING KMT TROOPS TO ZONES OF CHINA AT RISK OF FALLING TO THE CCP; CONTAINMENT. ALSO, THE US REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE THE CCP-LED PEOPLE S REPUBLIC OF CHINA UNTIL THE 1970S.
DEFEAT OF NATIONALISTS AND AFTERMATH THE OUTNUMBERED, UNDERSUPPLIED, AND LESS DISCIPLINED MILITARILY KMT FORCES ARE DEFEATED BY THE CCP S GUERILLA ARMY. CHIANG KAI-SHEK, OTHER KMT OFFICIALS, AND SOLDIERS FLEE TO THE ISLAND OF TAIWAN. THEY ESTABLISH A GOVERNMENT-IN- EXILE AND CLAIM MAINLAND CHINA (TAIWAN=THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA, ROC) MAO TAKES OVER MAINLAND CHINA, AND CLAIMS THAT TAIWAN IS PART OF THE PEOPLE S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (PRC); THIS LEADS TO THE CREATION OF TWO CHINAS. MANY COUNTRIES RECOGNIZE THE PRC; THE US DOES NOT CHINA IS ALSO A PERMANENT MEMBER OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL; TWO CHINAS AND ONE SEAT=PROBLEMS; THE ROC MAINTAINS ITS SEAT ON THE SECURITY COUNCIL WITH US SUPPORT; INCREASES US-PRC TENSIONS MAO CONTEMPLATES INVADING TAIWAN TO END THE PRC-ROC DISPUTE ONCE AND FOR ALL BUT THEN AN IMPORTANT CONFLICT BREAK OUTS.
THE KOREAN WAR
DECOLONIZATION OF KOREA, 1945-9 KOREA HAD BEEN ANNEXED BY THE JAPANESE EMPIRE IN 1910, JAPAN S DEFEAT IN WWII; LED TO DECOLONIZATION AND REPARATIONS TO BE PAID TO KOREA BY JAPAN. KIM IL-SUNG, WAS THE MAJOR LEADER OF THE COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN KOREA; HIS FAMILY STILL RUNS NORTH KOREA TODAY. SYNGMAN RHEE WAS THE LEADER OF A KOREAN NATIONALIST MOVEMENT, HE SPENT MUCH OF HIS LIFE IN THE US BEFORE RETURNING TO A DECOLONIZED KOREA.
CREATION OF TWO KOREAS BOTH KIM IL-SUNG AND SYNGMAN RHEE CREATE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENTS FOR KOREA; BOTH CLAIM THAT THEIR GOVERNMENT IS THE OFFICIAL PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. RHEE S GOV T=THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA (ROK) AND KIM S GOV T=THE DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE S REPUBLIC OF KOREA (DPRK) [KIM IL-SUNG S FAMILY NAME (AKA LAST NAME ) IS ACTUALLY KIM NOT IL-SUNG] BOTH THE US AND SOVIET UNION BEGIN TO WITHDRAW THEIR FORCES IN KOREA, BUT THEY AND THE PRC MAINTAIN INVOLVEMENT IN THE REGION. THE US INITIALLY VIEWED INVOLVEMENT AND A CONTINUED OCCUPATION OF JAPAN AS TOO COSTLY; ALL TROOPS ARE WITHDRAWN BY JUNE 1949 STALIN SEES THE REGION AS HIGHLY STRATEGIC MILITARILY, POLITICALLY, AND ECONOMICALLY. THE USSR OFFICIALLY WITHDRAWS TROOPS BUT CONTINUES TO SEND IN LARGE AMOUNTS OF WEAPONS AND DISGUISED MILITARY ADVISORS TO GIVE NK AN EDGE OVER SK. NORTH KOREA INVADES THE SOUTH ON JUNE 25, 1950; THIS SURPRISED THE US AND SK.
US INTERVENTION GIVEN THE FIGHTING THAT BREAKS OUT BETWEEN THE TWO KOREAS, US DECIDES TO INTERVENE. THE PRESENCE OF THE US NAVY IN THE REGION PREVENTS CHINA FROM INVADING TAIWAN; TAIWAN IS A STRATEGIC LOCATION AS IT IS NEAR BOTH THE NEWLY INDEPENDENT PHILIPPINES AND OCCUPIED JAPAN. MAO ASSEMBLES THE NORTHEAST BORDER DEFENCE ARMY. STALIN SUPPLEMENTED THIS FORCE WITH 122 FIGHTER AIRCRAFT (SOVIET AIRPLANES HAD INCREASED TREMENDOUSLY IN QUALITY SINCE WORLD WAR II) THE KOREAN WAR IS DIFFERENT FROM RECENT WARS SUCH AS WWI AND WWII CONGRESS NEVER OFFICIALLY DECLARED WAR, ACCORDING TO US LAW, THEN IT WAS NOT A WAR. THE US DOES SUPPORT AN INTERVENTION IN THE CONFLICT, A POLICING ACTION. THEY CONVINCE THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL TO SUPPORT THE USE OF A UN MILITARY FORCE TO FIGHT ON THE SIDE OF THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA. NORMALLY THE SOVIET UNION, AS A PERMANENT MEMBER OF THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL COULD HAVE VETOED THE MEASURE, BUT THEY REFUSED TO SIT ON THE VOTE IN PROTEST, ENABLING RESOLUTION 83 TO PASS AND FOR UN TROOPS TO ENTER THE CONFLICT; THE USSR WAS PROTESTING THE EXCLUSION OF THE PRC FROM THE SECURITY COUNCIL.
PRC ENTERS THE WAR FOR THE US AND THE USSR, THE KOREAN WAR WAS A PROXY WAR; THE US AND THE SOVIET UNION DID NOT DIRECTLY FIGHT ONE ANOTHER; THE SOVIET UNION PROVIDED MILITARY AID TO THE DPRK. IT DID SHIFT FROM A PROXY WAR BETWEEN THE US AND THE PRC TO AN OUTRIGHT CONFLICT. THE PRC FELT THAT THE BALANCE OF POWER IN THE REGION WAS SHIFTING AWAY FROM THEM AND THAT THEIR SPHERES OF INFLUENCE WERE SHRINKING. THEY ENTER THE WAR AFTER A DRAMATIC UN COUNTERATTACK AGAINST NK. THE ORIGINAL DISPUTED BORDER WAS ALONG THE 38 TH PARALLEL; INITIALLY THE DPRK WAS BEATING THE ROK FORCES; THIS IS WHEN THE US FORCES/UN MILITARY FORCE INTERVENES. THE US MILITARY FORCES UNDER MACARTHUR ARE ABLE TO PUSH THE DPRK FORCES FAR BEHIND THE 38 TH PARALLEL. TRUMAN ORDERS MACARTHUR TO STOP PUSHING THE DPRK SO FAR BACK THAT IT WOULD POSSIBLY LEAD TO CHINA S ENTRANCE IN THE CONFLICT. MACARTHUR DISRESPECTS TRUMAN S AUTHORITY AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF; TRUMAN FIRES MACARTHUR. NEVERTHELESS, THE PRC ENTERS THE WAR AND PUSHES BACK ROK/UN FORCES TO NEAR THE 38 TH PARALLEL AND THE FIGHTING BECOMES A STALEMATE. ATTEMPTS TO END THE WAR BEGIN AS EARLY AS DECEMBER 1950 BUT SERIOUS PROGRESS DID NOT OCCUR UNTIL 1953.
ENDING THE WAR INDIA CREATES A CEASE-FIRE PROPOSAL (1950); IT GAINED SUPPORT FROM THE US WHO THOUGHT IT WOULD IMPROVE ITS POSITION IN THE UN AND BECAUSE THEY WERE LARGELY HOPING THAT MAO WOULD OUTRIGHT REJECT IT; THE PROPOSAL CALLED FOR THE PRC TO STOP ADVANCING. MAO REJECTED THE PROPOSAL AS MILITARY SUCCESS SUCH AS THE CAPTURE OF SEOUL ON JANUARY 4 1951. AN ARMISTICE AGREEMENT (NOT A PEACE TREATY) WAS SIGNED BY DPRK AND ROK AND A DEMILITARIZED ZONE IS CREATED (SIMILAR TO THE LINE OF CONTROL IN KASHMIR). IT ENDED THE FIGHTING BUT NOT THE WAR; TECHNICALLY BOTH COUNTRIES ARE STILL AT WAR WITH ONE ANOTHER. KIM-IL SUNG S FAMILY STILL RULES DPRK (NORTH KOREA) THE KOREAN WAR IS OFTEN REFERRED TO AS THE FORGOTTEN WAR. MANY WWII VETERANS FOUGHT IN THE KOREAN WAR. BY 1953 NEITHER STALIN NOR TRUMAN IS IN OFFICE, EISENHOWER IS THE NEW PRESIDENT. BOTH HE AND THE NEW HEAD OF THE USSR WANT TO BRING A QUICK END TO THE WAR.