Chiang Kai-shek had become the head of the Chinese government
in 1928, but from the outset his Kuomintang regime was threatened
by two mortal enemies, the Communists within and the Japanese
without. During World War II his position became particularly
difficult. The country was divided into three sections: the east,
controlled by the Japanese and administered through a puppet government
at Nanking; the northwest, controlled by the Communists operating
from their capital at Yenan; and the west and southwest, ruled
by Chiang's Nationalist government from its capital in Chungking.
It was during the war years that Chiang's regime was fatally undermined.
Chiang traditionally had depended on the support of the conservative
landlord class and oft he relatively enlightened big businesspeople.
The latter were largely eliminated when the Japanese overran the
east coast, and Chiang was left with the self-centered and short-sighted
landlords of the interior. His government became increasingly
corrupt and unresponsive to the needs oft he peasants suffering
from years of war and exploitation. In contrast to the decaying
Kuomintang, the Communists carried out land reforms in their territories,
thereby winning the support oft he peasant masses. They also had
a disciplined and efficient organization that brought order out
of political and economic chaos in the areas under their control.
Also their leadership in the anti-Japanese struggle won them popular
support as patriots fighting to rid the country of foreign invaders
and to restore China's unity and pride.
Such was the situation when Japan's surrender in August 1945 set
off a wild scramble by the nationalists and Communists to take
over the Japanese-occupied parts of China. The Communists issued
orders to their troops to take over the areas held by the Japanese.
Chiang Kai-shek promptly canceled these orders and insisted that
the Communists make no move without instructions from him. He
was ignored, and clashes occurred between Communist and Kuomintang
forces. With civil war imminent, the United States sent a mission
under general George Marshall to attempt to negotiate a settlement.
But neither side could overcome its fear and suspicion of the
other, and Marshall's mediation failed. By 1947 the final showdown
was at hand.
The Communists occupied the countryside around the major cities.
They were helped by the Russians, who turned over to them the
arms the Japanese had surrendered in Manchuria. The nationalists,
aided by the transportation services of the U.S. Navy and Air
Force, won all the main cities, including Nanking, and also rushed
troops north to Manchuria. The latter move was a strategic blunder.
the Kuomintang forces found themselves in indefensible positions.
In the fall of 1948 they were forced to surrender to the Chinese
Red army. A chain of comparable military disasters followed in
quick succession. The Communist armies wept down from Manchuria
through the major cities of North China. By April 1949 they were
crossing the Yangtze and fanning out over south China. The Communist
steamroller advanced even more rapidly in the south than in the
north. By the end of 1949 it had overrun all of mainland China.
Chiang fled to the island of Taiwan (Formosa), and on October
1, 1949, in Peking, the Communist leader, Mao Tse-tung, proclaimed
the People's Republic of China.
In the years since 1949 the Communists have transformed China
at an unprecedented rate. In place of the flabby and decentralized
political state of the past, they imposed a monolithic structure,
extending into every city, every village, and every household.
The Communists at the head of this structure were able to reach
down to individual citizens, moving them to new occupations and
forcing them to live and think in new ways. They uprooted the
traditional Confucian culture by changing the old family relationships;
raising the inferior position of women; and ignoring the old classics
in favor of a new literature, art, and educational system. The
communists indeed have left their mark on China, but at a price.
At the outset they enjoyed wide support because of their leadership
in resisting the Japanese invaders and in tackling the many problems
China faced at the end of the war. But the longer they remained
in power, the more opposition they aroused, as shown when students
erected their Statue of Liberty in Tienanmen Square in the summer
of 1989. The aging communist leaders ordered their army to crush
the students, and then hunted them down throughout China as "counterrevolutionaries"
and "ruffians."
By far the most important single event in the colonial revolution
that began after World War II was the winning on independence
by India and Pakistan. In July 1947, the British Parliament passed
the Indian Independence Act, and on August 15, both Pakistan and
the Union of India became free nations in the British Commonwealth.
Southeast Asia, in contrast to India, was occupied by the Japanese
during the war. A common pattern is discernible throughout the
area during this brief occupation period between 1942 and 1945.
In almost every country, widespread disaffection against Western
rule had contributed substantially to the swift conquests of the
Japanese. The latter then proclaimed, like the Germans, that their
conquests inaugurated the beginning of a "New Order."
The watchwords of this New Order were "Asia fort he Asians,"
"Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere," and "no
conquests, no oppression and no exploitation."
If these principles had been applied, the Japanese could have
mobilized solid popular support in most of Southeast Asia. The
Japanese military, however, had other plans, so that the principles
remained propagandist slogans that soon sounded hollow and unconvincing.
These military leaders viewed Greater East Asia not as a "Co-Prosperity
Sphere" but as a region consisting of satellite states under
varying degrees of control. The Japanese armed forces everywhere
lived off the land as much as possible, frequently creating severe
local shortages of food and supplies. Also, they ruthlessly expropriated
whatever foodstuffs and industrial raw materials were needed for
the home islands. In return, the Japanese were able to offer little,
since their economy was not strong enough to produce war materials
and consumer goods.
After the initial honeymoon period, relations between the Japanese
and the local nationalists rapidly deteriorated. If the occupation
had been prolonged, the Japanese undoubtedly would have been faced
with serious uprisings. Fortunately for them, they were forced
to pull out during 1945. In doing so, they did everything possible
to create obstacles in the way of a restoration of Western rule.
In Indochina they overthrew the Vichy regime and recognized Ho
Chi Minh's provisional government; in Indonesia they handed over
the administration tot he nationalist leader Sukarno; and in many
regions they distributed arms to local revolutionary groups.
It is not surprising that within ten years of the Japanese withdrawal,
all Southeast Asia was independent. The manner in which the various
countries won their freedom varied, depending on the imperial
rulers involved. The British, having been forced to face facts
in India, were the most realistic in coping with Southeast Asian
nationalism. In January 1948 they recognized Burma as an independent
republic outside the Commonwealth, and in the next month they
granted Ceylon full dominion status within the Commonwealth. Malayan
independence, however, was delayed until February 1957.
One reason for the delay was the country's moaiclike ethnic composition.
It included Malayans and Chinese-each a little over 40 percent
of the total population-as well as Indians, Pakistanies, and a
few Europeans. The Chinese were the prime movers behind a Communist
uprising that began in 1948. The ensuing jungle warfare was very
costly and dragged on until 1955. In 1963, Malaya combined with
Singapore, Sarawak, and Sabah (British North Borneo) to constitute
the new state of Malaysia. Tension between Malaya and the predominantly
Chinese Singapore led in 1965 to the secession of Singapore, which
became an independent state in the Commonwealth.
The French and Dutch, whose subjects also demanded independence,
were less adjustable and fared much worse. The Dutch were willing
to grant Sukarno's nationalists some measure of self-government
but not enough to satisfy their demand. The negotiations broke
down, and the Dutch resorted to armed force to reassert their
authority. The war dragged on until 1947 when the Dutch finally
recognized the independent United States of Indonesia. This legacy
of armed conflict embittered the future relations between the
two countries. Although a Dutch-Indonesian Union with a common
crown existed for a few years, it ended when Sukarno withdrew
in 1954. Relations became more strained in the following years
because the Dutch refused to yield Netherlands New Guinea to the
new republic. In 1957, in retaliation, Indonesia seized more than
$1 billion worth of Dutch assets, and, in 1960, it severed diplomatic
relations with The Hague. Three years later Sukarno gained control
over West Irian, thus liquidating the last remnant of an empire
older than most of the British Empire.
In the Far East, as in Europe, World War II was followed by
the cold war. Russia backed Mao Tse-tung, although belatedly,
whereas the United States vainly attempted to maintain Chiang
Kai-shek as master of China. Conversely, in Japan the United States
dominate the occupation and utilized it to further its interest,
while the Soviet representative impotently protested. Once the
outcome had apparently been settled in both countries, there was
hope, as expressed by Secretary of State Dean Acheson, for "the
dust to settle" and for a balance to be reached, as in Europe.
The hope was shattered when in 1950 fighting broke out in Korea,
and the cold war became hot.
Since 1895-and formally since 1910-Korea had passed under Japanese
rule. During World War II, at the 1943 Cairo Conference, the United
States, Britain, and China declared that "in due course"
Korea should once more be free and independent. But a generation
of Japanese rule had left Korea without the necessary experience
for self-government. The victorious Allies decided, therefore,
that for a period of not more than five years Korea, though independent,
should be under the trusteeship of the United States, Russia,
Britain, and China.
With the surrender of Japan, American and Russian troops poured
into Korea. For purposes of military convenience the thirty-eighth
parallel was set as the dividing line in their operations. The
coming of the cold war froze this temporary division in Korea
as it did in Germany. The Russians set up in their zone a regime
dominated by the communist New People's party. In the south, the
Americans depended on English-speaking Koreans, who usually were
members of the conservative upper class. In August 1948, a Republic
of Korea was proclaimed in the south, with Dr. Syngman Rhee as
president. A month later the North Koreans formed their People's
Democratic Republic under Kim Il-sung. A UN commission attempted
without success to mediate between the regimes headed by these
two men. So strong were the feelings that he commission warned
in September 1949 of the danger of civil war.
On June 24, 1950, civil war did begin when North Korean troops
suddenly crossed the thirty-eighth parallel to "liberate"
South Korea. Within a few hours the UN commission reported that
South Korea was the victim of aggression. On June 27 the Security
Council asked UN members to "furnish such assistance to the
Republic of Korea as may be necessary to repel the armed attack
and to restore international peace and security in the area."
The Security Council's decision was made possible only because
of Russia's temporary boycott of its meetings in protest against
the refusal to admit Communist China in place of nationalist China.
Forty UN member states responded to the Security Council's appeal
and provided supplies, transport, hospital units, and, in some
cases, combat forces. But the main contribution, aside from that
of South Korea, came from the United States, and General MacArthur
served as commander in chief.
The course of the Korean War fell into two phases-the first before,
and the second after, the Chinese intervention. The first phase
began with the headlong rush of the North Korean forces down the
length of the peninsula to within fifty miles of the port of Pusan
at the southern tip. Then on September 14, 1950, an American army
landed at Inchon, far up the coast near the thirty-eighth parallel,
and in twelve days retook the South Korean capital, Seoul. The
North Koreans, their communications severed, fell back as precipitously
as they had advanced. By the end of September the UN forces had
reached the thirty-eighth parallel.
The question now was whether to cross or not to cross. The issue
transferred to the General Assembly, because the Soviet Union,
with its veto power, had returned to the Security Council. On
October 7, 1950, the assembly resolved that "all constituent
acts be taken . . . for the establishment of a unified, independent
and democratic government in the sovereign state of Korea."
The next day American forces crossed the thirty-eight parallel
and quickly occupied Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. By November
22 they reached the Yalu River, the boundary line between Korea
and the Chinese province of Manchuria.
At this point the second phase of the Korean War began with a
massive attack by Chinese "volunteers" supported by
Russian-made jets. The Chinese drove southward rapidly in what
looked like a repetition of the first phase of thew ar. Early
in January 1951 they retook Seoul, but the UN forces now recovered
and held their ground. In March, Seoul once more changed hands,
and by June the battle line ran roughly along the thirty-eighth
parallel.
By mid-1951 it was apparent that a stalemate prevailed at the
front. After two years of stormy and often-interrupted negotiations,
an armistice agreement was concluded on July 27, 1953. The terms
reflected the military stalemate. The line of partition between
North and South Korea remained roughly where it had been before
the war. The Western powers had successfully contained communism
in Korea and had vindicated the authority of the United Nations.
The Chinese had secured North Korea as a Communist buffer state
between Manchuria and Western influences. And meanwhile, most
of the Korean countryside had been laid waste and about 10 percent
of the Korean people had been killed.
The French in Indochina fought longer to retain their colony
than the Dutch did to keep Indonesia (recognized as independent
in 1947). But, in the end the French, too, were forced out. Indochina
consisted of three nations: Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Resistance
against the restoration of French rule was led by the Viet Minh,
or League for the Independence of Vietnam. Though comprising many
elements, the Viet Minh was led by a Communist, Ho Chi Minh, who
had lived in Paris, Moscow, and China. In 1945, after war's end,
Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the provisional Republic of Vietnam. The
French refused to recognize the new regime, and war ensued. Laos
and Cambodia were easily reoccupied by the French, but an exhausting
struggle dragged on in Vietnam.
With the advent of the cold war, the United States backed up the
French financially as a part of the policy of "containment."
By 1954, most of northern Vietnam was in the hands of the Viet
Minh, and in the same year, the French suffered a major defeat
at Dien Bien Phu. the ensuing Geneva settlement recognized the
independence of all Vietnam, divided the country temporarily at
the seventeenth parallel, and called for supervised elections
to be held in 1956 to reunify the country. This settlement in
effect gave Ho Chi Minh half the country and the expectation of
the other half within two years since his resistance record had
made him a national hero.
To avert this outcome the United States supported in the south
the anti-Communist Catholic Leader Ngo Dinh Diem. His policies
aroused such fierce opposition among the peasants and the powerful
Buddhist monks that in 1963 his regime was overthrown and a succession
of coups followed until the rise to power with Washington's support,
of Nguyen Cao Ky and then of Nguyen Van Thieu. They were able
to hold out in Saigon only because of accelerating American intervention,
beginning with money and arms and progressing to "advisers,"
combat troops, and after the Tonkin Bay incident (August 1964),
the bombing of North Vietnam. The bombing was designed to coerce
Hanoi, which had been sending troops southward, to disengage and
to recognize South Vietnam as a separate state. although the bombing
far surpassed World War II levels, and although over a half million
American troops were committed, victory remained elusive. The
enemy's January 1968 Tet offensive strengthened the growing antiwar
movement in the United States-hence President Johnson's decision
to end the bombing of North Vietnam and to begin peace talks in
Paris.
His successor, President Nixon, had been elected on a promise
of a plan to end the war. This plan involved withdrawal of American
troops, a move that in any case had become unavoidable because
oft he growing disaffection of the troops and of the home population.
But the Nixon plan also involved continued support to President
Thieu, whose regime was thought to be essential for American interests.
Accordingly it was buttressed with U.S. funds, arms, non-combative
military personnel, and supportive bombing on a scale surpassing
that of the Johnson administration. Despite the magnitude of the
American assistance, the position of the Thieu government remained
so precarious that Nixon felt it necessary to launch incursions,
supported by American troops and airpower into Cambodia (April-June
1970) and Laos (February-March 1971).
These moves provoked intense dissension and mass demonstrations
in the United States. but at the same time Nixon was conducting
secret diplomacy with China and the Soviet Union, culminating
in his well-publicized visit to Peking (February 1972) and to
Moscow (May 1972). In October 1972, on the eve of the presidential
election, Nixon announced an American-North Vietnamese agreement
for cease-fire. But the announcement proved premature, as Nixon
ordered the heaviest bombing of the entire war directed against
North Vietnam's industrial heartland on December 18-30, 1972.
Finally, a ceasefire was signed in Paris on January 27, 1973,
with terms essentially similar to those of the 1954 Geneva accords.
Both agreements called for a temporary partition of Vietnam into
a Communist North and a non-Communist South, for the determination
oft he future of South Vietnam by an election, for the neutralization
of Laos and Cambodia, for the withdrawal from all Indochina of
all foreign troops-French in 1954, American in 1973-and for the
supervision of both settlements by a small and largely powerless
international committee.
The cost of obtaining in 1973 what the Untied States had opposed
in 1954 was the longest war in American history, 46,000 American
deaths, 600,000 civilian and military deaths in South Vietnam,
and and an estimated 900,000 deaths in North Vietnam. Also, there
was incalculable damage to the American social fabric, including
G.I. drug addiction, bitter domestic discord, and festering national
problems neglected with the financial drain of war expenditures
totaling $146 billion. Nor did the 1973 Paris agreement finally
end the fighting. The war dragged on until April 1975 when the
demoralized Thieu regime collapsed like a house of cards before
a North Vietnamese offensive.