Chapter 7 – East and West in the Grip of the Cold War
Eastern Communist Alliance.
30. Regarding the origins of the Cold War, the text notes that
in the 1950s most historians blamed an inexperienced Harry Truman.
the new revisionists of the 1960’s argued that both sides were equally responsible.
Stalin’s antagonisms to the West long predated the policy of containment.
Winston Churchill’s angry “Iron Curtain” speech initiated the conflict.
it did not begin until after Stalin’s death and with the coming to power of Nikita Khrushchev.
31. Concerning China, at Yalta, Stalin
urged support for the Chinese Communist Party.
indicated that he would sign a treaty of alliance with Chiang Kai-shek’s Republic of China.
promised to stay out of Chinese affairs in exchange for the island of Formosa.
agreed to divide China at the 38th parallel.
stated that in reality Mao Zedong was not a true communist.
32. During World War II, in China
Chiang Kai-Shek made full use of his Nationalist army in the effort to expel the Japanese.
Mao Zedong reduced the size of the People’s Liberation Army, devoting himself to land reform and land
redistribution.
Chiang and Mao engaged in a bloody civil war with each other.
Chiang withheld his troops from the war against Japan and Mao increased the size of the PLA.
the Japanese army took over all of China and had to be driven out by the Americans in the battle of Nanjing.
33. Mao Zedong’s “mass line”
reduced rents on land and seized land from wealthy landlords.
confiscated the banks and industrial facilities from the bourgeoisie elite.
militarily defeated the Nationalists in the Chinese Civil War.