Vietnam:

 

Vietnam was occupied by Japan during WWII and after their defeat rebel leader Ho-Chi Minh proclaimed the republic of Vietnam. Vietnam defeated the French in 1954, Vietnam was divided in two at the 17th longitude. The regime in N-Vietnam was supported by the liberation front of Vietnam and the S-Vietnamese regime was supported by the USA. The communist north was to some extent supported by other communist states such as China and the Soviet Union. The north supported Vietcong tried to take the whole country.

 

The US feared that a communist takeover would create tensions with Russia and China and communism was greatly feared in the US at that time. Although the United States had pushed a great number of troops into Vietnam since the 1950s, they could not overpower the North Vietnamese guerrilla soldiers who were great tacticians and fought fiercely against the less motivated American soldiers who were faced with an alien environment. The lack of a clear front also made it difficult for the well-organized American army to fight the Vietnamese that could hide in the jungles and tiny villages around the countryside. The Americans suffered one of their greatest military losses in a war they had not lost but had failed to win. The created difficulties for the Americans as few at home supported the American involvement. The US made great efforts to withdraw and in 1973 the Americans left Vietnam for good. 2.5 million had been killed on both sides and millions more were affected by injuries. In 1976 Vietnam was officially joined together as one communist state.

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Afghanistan:

 

Afghanistan had for many years been acting as a buffer zone between British India and Russia. It became a monarchy in 1926 and in 1964 parliamentic democracy was introduced, much like the Norwegian one. General Daud seized power in a velvet coup and introduced civil rule in 1977, but was killed in another coup the following year. After several other coups the USSR entered the country in 1979. They instated a Soviet friendly dictator and remained with military forces to protect him. Soviet rule kept until 1988-89 when they were forced to withdraw. Militant Islamic forces led a guerrilla war against the dictatorship up to 1996. The US supplied the guerrillas with weapons and training. This would more or less come back to bite the US in the ass as the same Afghani soldiers have used their weapons and training against the United States in terrorist actions.

 

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Korea:

 

Divided between communist North and capitalist south in 1945 and both countries became independent states in 1948. 26/5 1950 Chinese supported North Korean forces entered US and UN supported South Korea. The UN, without the USSR representative, decided to support South Korea and demand the drawback of North Korean forces. They refused and the same day US forces entered Korea with marine and air forces. The same year the first Chinese supporters entered the battlefield. The frontline moved up and down and in the end it settled at about the old border. Korea has remained a closed communist regime ever since. 

 

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Related documents:

The Cold War: Important People
The Cold War: Communism vs. Capitalism
The Cold War: Timeline