The Cold War Cont.
The defeat of Germany and Japan in 1945 did not lead to peace in the world. Within a very short time, the Allies that won the war soon found themselves facing each other in a series of local conflicts, each of which could easily end up into a third world war. The United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union had all joined together to defeat Hitler and his Nazi regime. However, once this has been achieved, the deep suspicion and distrust that had existed before the war reappeared. The era of the Cold War had begun. rrrrrrr
- The United States and Britain believed that the Soviet Leader, Stalin, wanted to spread his communist ideology across Europe. By 1948, Stalin had succeeded in forcing pro-Soviet communist governments controlled.
- The Soviet Union believed that the Western powers were intent on destroying the Soviet communists regime, as it had attempted to do earlier.
Any conflict involving what was thought to be communist or Western aggression could lead to a direct US-Soviet military conflict. By the early 1950s, both sides had nuclear weapons and, year by year, sought to increase the size and effectiveness of their nuclear arsenals.
By the late 1940s, the Cold War had spread to Asia.
- After 1945, Korea had been divided into a communist North and a non-communist South.
- In October 1949, China became a communist country following the victory of Mao Zedong in that country's civil war.
- Between 1950 and 1953, war raged in Korea following the invasion of South Korea by communist North Korea.
- By 1954, communist forces had taken over North Vietnam and had driven the French out of Indochina.
- Communist guerrillas were also active in Malaya and the Philippines.
- The Communist Party in Indonesia was growing rapidly.