Question

1a. Who was involved in a “Cold War” after WWII?

1b. What is a “Cold War” and what were the differing political beliefs in the Cold War?

2. Why was Korea divided into two countries?

3. Why did the United States support a free South Korea?

4. What was containment?

5. Was the United States’ policy of Containment successful? Why or Why not?

Answer 1

Soviet Union and the United States along with several smaller countries like Vietnam and North Korea

Political beliefs of the Soviets were that they wanted to spread communism The US wanted to spread capitalism and thus spread democracy (side not by setting up these democracies the country would owe the US and then the US would in most instances set up a military base there)

Korea was divided into two because the north wanted a communist government for the entire country and the south wanted a democratic government for the whole country. The south would have lost if not for the involvement of the US

The US supported a free South Korea because then it would become a democratic republic like the US so the US would have and ally in the region and have a place for a military base all while stopping the spread of communism

Containment was a geopolitical foreign policy designed by the United States to stop the spread of communism

No, containment policy was unsuccessful, although South Korea was saved the US lost Vietnam and smaller countries like Laos and Cambodia to communism. In the end US Troops died and the US people hated that they died for nothing because communism came anyway. Basically they didn’t have the support at home and were vastly outnumbered fighting in an area they were not familiar with. The political side also failed because economically those countries were not at all like the US and relied mainly on agriculture so capitalism/Democracy and a highly industrialized government didn’t make sense

Answer 2

1a. The United States and the Soviet Union

1b. A cold war is a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare. During the Cold War, the United States was based upon capitalism and democracy while the Soviet Union was based upon communism and dictatorship.

2. When the Japanese empire was dismantled at the end of World War Two, Korea fell victim to the Cold War. It was divided into two spheres of influence along the 38th parallel. The Americans controlled south of the line - the Russians installed a communist regime in the north, later ceding influence to China.

3. The attitude of the US government was reflected in The Truman Doctrine which stated that the USA would give any internal and external support to countries threatened by dictatorship (namely communism). When South Korea was attacked by the communist North, Truman felt obliged to intervene. So, the US supported South Korea to help it not fall to communism.

4. Containment is a geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States. It used numerous strategies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. A component of the Cold War, this policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge its communist sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, and Vietnam.

5. The policy of containment was mostly successful. The United States and its allies did confine Communism in Korea north of the 38th parallel. It did not confine Communism to North Vietnam. The end of the Korean War proves the fact that America’s policy of containing Communism was successful.

Step-by-step explanation: