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?

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.

Explanation:

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