After the World War II in East Asia 

The countries of East Asia continued their historical path after the World War II. The emergence of the Cold War shaped the global politics, and this rivalry between the super powers affected the East Asia countries course too. China as one of the communist countries internally went through a change. The Occupation in Japan tried to demilitarize and democratize society and system, the Cold War forced them to make Japan an ally against communist rulers in the region. Korea and Vietnam totally faced the challenges of Cold War between communism and west; both countries became a playground for the rivalry of super powers.

Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist movement was recognized as the legitimate power in China by Allies. Allies issued Japanese Army to submit occupied Chinese territory to nationalists. However Manchuria had been occupied by Soviets to get the industrial assets of Japan, and Soviets let communists to control the region. The nationalists and the communists  did not fight to each other since they were fighting against Japanese Army under the umbrella of united front, but the civil war that raged between the nationalists and CCP picked up again as soon as the war ended.

Nationalist at first was successful in capturing the cities until the July 1947 when the CCP attacked from north. Nationalist government’s inefficiency and autocracy, corruption, the harshness of the army and rivalry between commanders caused oppositions against nationalists. Meanwhile CCP were better in establishing a well-organized government structure and showing a credible leadership in the places that were under their control. CCP mobilized millions of peasants in the north who swept down and gained success. Ultimately they drove the nationalists out of power in 1949. The nationalist government fled to Taiwan and continued resistance while CCP declared the establishment of People’s Republic of China in China mainland.

After seizing power in 1949, Mao set out reforming China with his version of the Soviet Five Year Plan. Then in the late 1950s Mao implemented his Great Leap Forward, a plan to create huge collective communes, which would be truly class-free. However the result was far from a leap forward. Agricultural production dropped; communes could not meet the ridiculously high quotas and there was much corruption at the local level. Too many peasants died of starvation. The failure was in part due to the Soviet withdrawal of aid to China after the Sino-Soviet split became apparent. The split was occurred over some issues between the Soviets and China. The Chinese north and west boundaries with the Soviets, the leadership of communism in the world after the death of Stalin, and the Soviets’ policy towards some countries against China were the reasons for split. Without Soviet military aid, Mao turned his attention to building up his military. In 1964, China developed its first atomic bomb. Feeling the nation was straying from the pure communist path, Mao initiated the Cultural Revolution in 1966.

The path that China went through was sui generis to China. The Cold War had the minimum effect in China. Mao and CCP members played according view of communism.

After World War II had ended, Japan was devastated. All the large cities, the industries and the transportation networks were severely damaged. A severe shortage of food continued for several years. After the total surrender of Japan, the United States led the Allies in the occupation and rehabilitation of the Japanese state. The Occupation led by General Douglas A. MacArthur, enacted widespread military, political, economic, and social reforms. The aim was demilitarization of Japan and turning the country into a democratic state.

In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur took charge of the Supreme Command of Allied Powers (SCAP) and began the work of rebuilding Japan. SCAP dismantled the Japanese army and banned former military officers from taking roles of political leadership in the new government, and convened war crimes trials to punish the responsible military elites. In 1947 a new constitution went into effect in Japan. Some of the most profound changes in the document included downgrading the emperor’s status to that of a figurehead without political control and placing more power in the parliamentary system, promoting greater rights and privileges for women, and renouncing the right to wage war, which involved eliminating all non-defensive armed forces.

In the economic field, SCAP introduced land reform to reduce the power of rich landowners, many of whom had advocated for war and supported Japanese authoritarianism. The Allies also tried to break up the large Japanese business conglomerates, as part of the effort to transform the economy into a free market capitalist system. By late 1947 and early 1948, the emergence of an economic crisis in Japan alongside concerns about the spread of communism sparked a reconsideration of occupation policies. The emerging Cold War shifted the consideration of Allies about Japan; the economic rehabilitation of Japan took center in this time. SCAP became concerned that a weak Japanese economy would increase the influence of the domestic communist movement, and with a communist victory in China’s civil war increasingly likely, the future of East Asia appeared to be at stake. Occupation policies to address the weakening economy ranged from tax reforms to measures aimed at controlling inflation.

The Occupation was ended in the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. Political program, the land reform, liberalism, woman rights were the most successful issues of the occupation. Western influence in the society was the other effects of this time period.

The Cold War and the Korean War, which was playground of the super powers changed the Allies viewpoint towards Japan, so the occupation ended and the idea of a re-armed and militant Japan no longer alarmed U.S.; the real threat appeared to be communism particularly in Asia.

The incidents after the end of the war in Korea were early

signs of the Cold War, and the Cold War had great effect on Korea and what happened in Korea. The Soviets entered north of the Korea just before the total surrender of Japan. The United States hold the south of Korea. The United States and the Soviet Union had collaborated during the war, but differences prevented the two countries from agreeing on a single system of governance for all of Korea. In 1948, the United States set up a pro-American, democratic administration in Seoul under the leadership of Syngman Rhee. The Soviet Union responded by installing Kim Il-Sung as the head of a communist regime in Pyongyang. Both governments asserted their legitimacy and refused to acknowledge the other. By 1949, the United States and the Soviet Union had removed their forces from Korea. In an attempt to reunify the peninsula under communist rule North Korea launched an assault on South Korea. In July 1950, a U.N. coalition consisting mostly of American forces entered the conflict on the side of South Korea. The Soviets and Chinese backed the communist north in this war. In July 1953 an armistice put an end to the fighting, but the peninsula remained divided. In the south, the Republic of Korea came into being through the UN-supervised elections. In the north the Communists, under party leader Kim II Sung, established the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

Vietnam the same as Korea was the place that two rival ideology of Cold War face each other just after the war. During the World War II, Japan occupied French Indochina in 1940 and collaborated with French officials loyal to France’s Vichy regime. Ho Chi Minh, meanwhile, made contact with the Allies and aided operations against the Japanese in South China. In early 1945, Japan ousted the French administration in Vietnam. In the end of the war when Japan formally surrendered to the Allies, communist Ho Chi Minh declared the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam. French forces seized southern Vietnam. In response, the communists Ho’s forces started to attack to the French and the war between two forces started. During the war, Chinese communists supported the Viet Minh, while the United States aided the French and anti-communist Vietnamese forces. In 1954, the French suffered a major defeat, prompting peace negotiations and the division of Vietnam at a conference in Geneva. Vietnam was divided into northern and southern regions, with Ho in command of North Vietnam and Emperor Bao Dai in control of South Vietnam.