Long March Dbq

Stephen Baier

Professor Liu

Modern East Asia

Final Exam

10 December 2014

ID’s and Personal Reflection

China

The Long March was a journey made by the Communist party of China during the years of 1934-1935. The journey was over 9000 km and it included going across the Snowy Mountains of China. The reason the Communist Party traveled so far was to evade the Chinese Nationalist Party which Chiang Kai-shek presided over at the time. Mao Zedong was part of the Communist Party that fled and they survived not only the journey, but also from the Nationalists. I believe that this is the most important ID for anyone to understand because if the Communist Party did not survive this time, then China would be a completely different nation than what

it is today.
Korea
The Annexation of Korea to Japan occurred in 1910. The Japanese forced Korea to sign the Annexation Treaty and thus Korea was officially part of the Japanese imperial empire until the end of WWII. The Japanese believed that full annexation would be quicker and easier to integrate Japanese ideas into the Korean society. This event is important in understanding the Korean society because it shows the sphere of influence that comes from Japan and this also indicates how the Korean society was supposed to be run during this time period.
Japan
The Russo-Japanese War was between the Japanese and the Russians from 1904-1905. The war took place in Manchuria and Korea, the areas being fought over by the two nations. The Japanese won the War, which was the first victory by an Asian nation over a major Western power. This is a significant event because it showed that Japan was strong enough to compete with the West and it was the real push for their Imperialism movement.
Personal Reflection
Modern East Asia was like learning a new language to me. I had no idea what to expect from this class other than the few wars that the United States fought in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam; however, I did not learn the same things from this course. I learned everything about those wars from the complete opposite perspective. It was eye opening to learn from the Asian perspective; I did not know anything about the Nanjing incident with regards to WWII. I had no idea that Japan was so ruthless with the Chinese people and that they suffered and endured as much as they did. Lastly, I never knew how Communism trickled down into the countries of East Asia, and with this course I now have a basic understanding of how those countries of Modern East Asia have developed into what they are now.
Essay
The U.S. began involvement with China through the Yalta Conference immediately after the war. They became directly involved with the Nationalists and were on their side to promote anything but communism. This well could have been the beginning of the Cold War especially dealing with the United States and the USSR. The United States did not want Communism to spread into China, so they aided the Nationalists to the best of their abilities. The Nationalists drove out the Communists and they fled with the Long March. The United States had an impact culturally within China as well especially through how men treated women. For instance, in the “Way of Confucius and Modern Life” men and women were not always having social intercourse and in today’s society, or western way, it is a common practice. But, later when the Communists made a comeback in China, they caused more of a disturbance for the United States with the bringing back of Communism into Asia. China did not only bring communism into its own country, but also helped to bring communism into northern Korea as well. China assisted the North Koreans as well as the Russians during the Korean War to help fight off the South Koreans and the United States who aided the South. The Korean War was a major global involvement at the time and it included four nations. Now with Japan, the United States did also have to worry about the spread of Communism, but it had a plan that was similar to that of the likes of the Marshall Plan.
Japan after WWII was in need of a new government and the most eye catching and pleasing kind of government that was readily available to install was that of Communism. The United States installed many restrictions on what the Japanese could and could not do. “First and foremost, Japan needed economic recovery; reformism was transformed into reconstructionism (East Asia, pg. 347).” To start, Japan could not have a standing army of its own. This prohibited the Japanese from being able to have too much power and allow the U.S. to keep a steady hand over the islands of Japan. The next stage of the Reverse course plan was to jumpstart the economy of Japan through new manufacturing and industry; however, a major issue occurred with this idea because of the amount of raw materials Japan possessed. The late 1940’s brought up an issue to help the economy of Japan even more. After the Japanese economy was stable enough to be on its own, the United States would sign an alliance treaty with Japan. The Korean War came to rise and Japan became the prime area for materials to supply for the war in Korea. “Japan’s economy was saved not by the American financiers who became Tokyo’s fiscal advisors but by the Korean War- a ‘gift of the gods,’ in the words of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshida (East Asia, pg.347). Korea was also a major involvement for the United States.
The United States involvement with Korea after World War II was mainly through the preventing of the spread of Communism.

The Korean War was a battle of whose government would come out on top. After the annexation of Japan, Korea was split into two areas. North Korea was under the influence of China with the help of Russia. North Korea was involved with two Communist nations and as a result they were devoted to having a Communist government. On the other hand, South Korea was under the influence of the United States. At this time Communism and the United States with the help of the UN did not mesh well together, especially in one country. The war was mostly a standstill with nothing much happening on either side with pushing back and forth across the 38th parallel where many of the battles took place and casualties as well. “In the North the estimated killed, wounded, and missing totaled 15 million…In the South the toll was estimated at 1.3 million (East Asia, pg.375).” When the war ended, South Korea especially hit a bottom with their economy and it was not until the Vietnam War where the U.S. helped out again. “But in the end, economic isolation became an obstacle and to industrial growth as the country (the North) was closed to more highly developed economies (The U.S.) (East Asia, pg.381).” This showed that South Korea was still able to grow because of their connections with the United States compared to that of North Korea. Then, during the Vietnam War, the United States deployed Korean troops and gave South Korea money which finally allowed for the South Korean government to modernize and industrialize. This was the biggest jump for Korea in becoming a modern nation and was assisted by the United States and the Vietnam

War.
Vietnam was yet another country through which the United States tried to stop the spread of Communism. First, with the struggle of independence, the United States aided the French so as to stop Ho Chi Minh and his communism that he would bring to Vietnam. China and Russia supported Ho Chi Minh and the struggle for independence was the beginning of conflict in Vietnam after WWII. However the U.S. was not successful with aiding the French supplying them with munitions and other supplies. So the war for independence was not successful. Then after Ho Chi Minh was successful in driving out the French, the persuasion of turning the whole country red was the next goal for him to achieve. It was also split between North and South Vietnam where the North was a communist regime supplied and supported by the Soviet Union while South Vietnam was supported by the United States. This war, however, was significantly longer than the Korean War. The Vietnam War left a substantial impact as it lasted for 20 years. The war ended with the entire nation of Vietnam becoming the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. The physical state of Vietnam was torn from the many air battles and air warfare with missiles and various bombs and even some chemical warfare. “The Bombing was devastating to the North. Even U.S. government officials admitted that there were likely a thousand civilian casualties each month (East Asia, pg.404).” Agent Orange was yet another part of the war that also devastated the people of Vietnam leaving an everlasting impact with many secondary complications with the chemicals that caused so many injuries even after the war ended.
Common Pattern
With all of these different countries and nations that the United States has dealt with since WWII, each country has one thing in common. Each involvement came with an ideological conflict. The main conflict was that of Communism with three out of the four countries that the United States dealt with. China, Korea, and Vietnam all dealt with the Marxism idea of Communism where it began with a war and the United States intervening to help stop the catalyst of Communism and hopefully to end the red terror. But what about Japan? Japan is a different animal in which the United States aided after WWII. Since the Japanese were an enemy, the United States was directly involved and they ended the Japanese ideology of Imperialist Japan, and created a new ideology of a new modernized Japan where they would become a major trading partner, internationally and worldwide. So as a result, the United States did all with the power it had to change the ideologies in modern East Asia.
The Future
My personal prediction for what the United States will achieve with the East is that we will continue to trade and benefit from the East and all it has to offer the United States. The trade has always been there and the U.S. has always been one of the major trading countries with the nations of East Asia. In addition, the United States already uses the labor force of China and this allows for products in the United States to be cheaper which allows for more growth in the economy. The past history between all the countries and the United States allows the nations to move on with the already evolving war and allow each country to be familiar with and enjoy the benefits of international trade. The international trade allows for the nations of East Asia to benefit from other countries and selling and trading their major exporters which gives a new name for the nations. With the help of the United States these nations have adjusted to the new modern world and also the U.S. has adjusted as well. The U.S. now must realize that these nations are important to keep the world trade in check and learning as much as possible about East Asia is just as important as anything else. Keeping those countries feeling respected and in good relationships allows for major mutual benefits that will only increase economies in the U.S. and also in East Asia. The United States is already in good standing with East Asia and really does not have to change or adjust to East Asia but rather keep up with the relationship and keep it in good standing.