Post-war+Asia+3rd+Period

=Post-war Asia=

__**Introduction**__ Asia changed drastically after the devastation of world war two. The countries of China, Korea and Japan were all changed by the war. These countries changed there government and some of their social beliefs based on what happened during this war. Japan was mostly destroyed after the war and this caused a lot of social change. The US then took over and put into place a new constitution, changing there government completely. China underwent a civil war and lost control of Beijing. They were now under communist rule and the U.S. was not happy because they do not like communism.The intervention of the US in Korea led to friction between the US and japan because Korea was under the new imperial movement of japan.General MacArthur was dismissed for taking military control over troops without the consent of Washington.after the atomic bombing of japan in 1945 the soviet union took over Japanese territories(Korea being one of them)but only managed to gain control of the north while the US controlled the south leading to the division of the country. After WWII, the U.S. and the Soviets forced Korea to split up into North and South. The South was weak, so the North invaded and the U.S. had to defend South Korea.

__**Japan Reconstruction **__ After the end of world war two the island country of Japan was destroyed. About 40 percent of Japans infrastructure was destroyed, it took more than 15 years to totally rebuild. Japan’s immediate economic improvement was not achieved on its own. The American government, under the help of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Power (SCAP), played a crucial role in Japan’s initial economic recovery. The government changes started in August 1945 and ended in April of 1952. During this time the United States army and also some of the Allied powers (lead by General MacArthur) occupied Japan keeping it under there control. The first thing the US did was punish all the Japanese war crinimals. Next they put into place a new constitution. This constitution took all political and military power away from the emperor. Universal suffrage was introduced and human rights were guaranteed. Japan was then forbidden to ever lead a war again or maintain an army.

__**Communist China and The Reaction of the U.S.**__ Mao Tse-tung was a communist leader in China after WWII.During World War II, the United States was trying to fight with China's Nationalist government to get rid of occupying Japanese forces. However, in 1949 the Chinese government lost control of Beijing in its civil war with Communist forces. A few months later the Communists established the People’s Republic of China under the leadership of Mao. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek and thousands of his troops fled to Taiwan. "Certain members in the U. S. government/leadership felt the U. S. "lost" China, and claimed that others were to blame for "the loss" of China, as if the fate of the nation of hundreds of millions were theirs to decide. What was missing in their reaction was the Chinese people themselves, who had legitimate reasons to fight and defeat the inept dictator, Chiang Kai-shek ( Jiang Jie-shi) and the Nationalist government. This type of mentality pervaded throughout the Cold War years (and would be seen again in Korea, and especially Vietnam ) until today." [|yahoo answers]

**__Korean War __** After the war, Japan actually had control of Korea already. The U.S. and the Soviets decided that they would take that from Japan. The U.S. and Soviets decided to split Korea up into North and South Korea. They sort of left South Korea out when it came to a military. North Korea sort of saw that as an opening to invade South Korea. The U.S. had to help South Korea push the north all the way back, almost to China. The Chinese thought that the U.S. was trying to push the troops into their country and thats when China entered the war. The war actually never technically ended because there wasn't an actual peace treaty signed. They do have a truce for now though. Some long term effects are that now South Korea is an important military base for the U.S. and has become a major economic and technological power. North Korea is in poverty and is heavily militarized.

__** Douglass MacArthur vs. Truman on Military Policy in Korea **__ General MacArthur was commander in chief of the far east command,President Truman had a containment philosophy that MacArthur defied,he took over the military control and started a march which led to china's intervention. MacArthur was one of the finest generals to ever command American troops, but this defiance and questioning of authority and of Trumann policy on the Korean war made Truman be dismissed by the president from his command in Korea. The US was concerned about nuclear weapons in Asia being used in the war. The US bombed Korea with napalm to maintain control and military advantage over the country. This is one of the forgotten events of world war 2 that caused much pain and destruction. Japan had occupied Korea since 1915 up until 1945 as part of a new imperialism movement. Korea later joined the Chinese against the Japanese. The attack by the Japanese on the us fleet at pearl harbor brought the US in to the war in 1941.After the bombing of the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki,the soviet union took over north Korea and other Japanese conquered territories and the US took over south Korea,this event made things tense and the north tried to recover the south in a three year war(1950-1953) witch failed and only led to the formation of two countries,North Korea and South Korea.

__**Conclusion**__ So in conclusion, the United States reaction to all these different thing were with power and force. They thought during this time that they were a supreme nation and needed to control and help these struggling Asian nations. For example, for Japans reconstruction they basically took over the government/army and changed it completely. In China, certain members in the U. S. government/leadership felt the U. S. "lost" China, and claimed that others were to blame for "the loss" of China, as if the fate of the nation of hundreds of millions were theirs to decide. In the Korean war, North Korea Invaded South Korea. The U.S. reacted to this by immediately defending South Korea and pushing North Korea back. In the Douglass MacArthur vs. Truman, the US was concerned about nuclear weapons in Asia being used in the war, so they bombed Korea with napalm to maintain control.

__** Work Cited: **__ __**www.historycentral.com/ **korea**/**causes__ __**www.buzzle.com/.../ **cause**-and-effects-of-**korean**-**war__ __http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090216061349AAxAn2h__ __http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2124.html__ __http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAmacarthur.htm__