Cold War Heats up in Asia

1. Who was Chiang Kai-shek?         
 Chiang Kai-shek was a nationalist who ruled Eastern and Southern China in 1945. He relied heavily on aid from the United States. He also struggled inflation and a failing economy and suffered from weak leadership and poor morale.  

2. Who was Mao Zedong?      
  Mao Zedong was a communist who ruled northern China in 1945. He relied heavily on aid from the Soviet Union and also attracted peasants with promises of land reform. Also he benefited from experienced guerrilla army and a highly motivated leadership. 


3. How were the Communist able to take over China?     
  The communist were able to take over China by the nationalists collected a grain tax from farmers even during the the famine of 1944. When city dwellers demonstrated against a 10,000 percent increase in the price of rice, Chiang's secret police opened fire on them. Which then allowed Mao Zedong to gain strength throughout the country by working to win peasant support. They encouraged peasants by encouraged them to learn how to read and write and they also helped to improve food production.  


4. How did the State Department respond to critics that Truman's "Containment" policy didn't extend to Asia?               
 The State Department responded by saying that what happened in China was a result of internal forces and that the United States had failed in it's attempts to influence these forces, such as Chiang's inability to retain the support of his people. 


5. How did Korea become a divided nation after World War II?      
 Korea became a divided nation after World War two by Japan was originally taken over by the Japanese  from 1910 until 1945 and when World War Two ended the top half of Korea surrendered to the Soviets while the bottom half surrendered to America. Which caused the two nation to divided into communists and democrats.


6. What is the importance of the Yalu River and what prompted the Chinese to enter the Korean War?     
 The importance of the Yalu River was that it was the "border" in the war and the Chinese were prompted to enter the Korean War by the fact that they wanted North Korea as a communist buffer state to protect their northeastern provinces that made up Manchuria. 

7. Who is General Douglas MacArthur and what did he want to do against China?     
 General Douglas MacArthur was an American general and he wanted an extension of the war into China being convinced that Korea was the place "where the communist conspirators have elected to make their play for global conquest." Also MacArthur called for the use of nuclear weapons against Chinese cities.


8. Why did Truman relieve MacArthur from duty?       
  Truman relieved MacArthur from duty because he spoke and wrote privately about the idea to newspapers , magazine publishers and especially Republican Leaders and he also continued to criticize the president.


9. How did the war end?       
 The war ended by the opposing sides reached agreement on two points: the location of the cease fire line at the existing battle line and the establishment of a demilitarized zone between the two opposing sides. Negotiators spent another year wrangling over the exchange of prisoners and finally in July 1953 the two sides signed an armistice ending the war.
10. He is the current leader of North Korea and was also named the "Sexiest Man Alive" in 2012.