After the Second World War, the Cold War embroiled many of the world's nations. Why did the spread of communism after WWII happen? What were the consequences of the spread of communism during the Cold War and what was the American policy to stop the spread of communism?
Here, you'll learn about the spread of communism in Europe, the spread of communism in Asia, and the spread of communism elsewhere and how the spread of communism during the Cold War influenced international relations.
Spread of Communism After WWII - Setting the Stage
The first communist state emerged in Russia at the end of World War I. However, the larger spread of communism came after WWII.
Spread of Communism in Russia
The first country to adopt a communist government was Russia. The communist party led by Vladimir Lenin took power in the Russian Revolution of 1917, and established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, commonly referred to as the Soviet Union.
Fig 1 - In the map above, dark red represents countries that became communist and allies of the Soviet Union, while orange and yellow represents countries that at some point adopted socialist policies but never implemented full communism or joined the Soviet Bloc.
The Spread of Communism in Europe
The spread of communism in Europe occurred in the years immediately following World War II, and was the first major wave of the spread of communism.
The spread of communism in Europe would be limited to the countries of Eastern Europe that the Soviet Union liberated from Nazi rule and occupied at the end of the war. Each country had its own transition to communism, but all occurred to some degree under the influence of the Soviet Union and usually due to non-democratic means.
See in the table below the spread of communism in Europe, including the ways communist parties took power:
| Spread of Communism in Europe |
|---|
| Country | Year | Methods Used |
| Albania | 1945 | Communists had led the resistance to Nazi occupation in World War II and took control of the country afterwards. |
| Yugoslavia | 1945 | Communists led resistance to Nazi occupation and took control after the war. Yugoslavia later broke with the USSR and engaged in friendly relations with the West but maintained a communist government. |
| Bulgaria | 1946 | Communists won a majority in elections held in 1946 and moved to ban other parties to consolidate their rule. |
| East Germany | 1945 | The USSR installed a nondemocratic, communist led government in its zone of occupation of Germany. After the declaration of the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany in the US, French, and British occupied areas of Germany, the Soviet zone followed suit with the declaration of the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, in October 1949. |
| Romania | 1945 | A coalition government led by communists was created after the war. The communists gradually banned other parties and established firm control. |
| Poland | 1947 | Stalin, leader of the USSR, had non-communist politicians murdered in 1945. In 1947, communists won elections characterized by intimidation of their opponents. |
| Czechoslovakia | 1948 | Communists had a large representation in a post war coalition government but not a majority. In February 1948, the communist led military seized power in a coup and set up a communist government. |
| Hungary | 1949 | Non-communists had won a majority in elections in 1945. The communists, supported by the USSR worked to achieve power, becoming the largest party in elections in 1947 but without a majority. They pushed out non-communists and in elections held in 1949, only communist candidates were on the ballot. |
Fig 2 - Map showing the two blocs that emerged in Europe due to the spread of communism after WWII.
American Policy to Stop the Spread of Communism
The spread of communism after WWII in Europe, greatly concerned the United States and other capitalist countries. They feared it would prompt the further spread of communism in Europe and around the world.
The United States policy to stop the spread of communism was known as containment and sought to stop the spread of communism to new countries.
The origin of this policy is the Truman Doctrine, expressed by President Harry Truman in 1947 and calling for the US to take an active role supporting governments against communist rebellions with economic and military aid. Later, the Domino Theory was expressed by President Dwight Eisenhower, and contended that one country falling to communism would lead to its neighbors falling like a row of dominoes.
This mentality prompted intervention in foreign countries, leading to a number of proxy wars.
Proxy War
When two (or more) countries engage in indirect conflict through a third country by, for example, supporting different sides in a civil war or war between two countries.
The Spread of Communism During the Cold War
The spread of communism during the Cold War was both influenced by and further contributed to the ideological conflict and strategic competition between the US and USSR.
Spread of Communism in Asia
The spread of communism in Asia created the largest communist state and led to two wars. In the table below, see how communism spread in Asia:
| Spread of Communism in Asia |
|---|
| Country | Year | Methods Used |
| North Korea | 1945 | Korea had been previously controlled by Japan, and northern Korea was occupied by the USSR at the end of WW2. An independent communist government was declared in North Korea in 1948. A few years later, North Korea invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War. |
| China | 1949 | China had also been occupied by Japan. In the years following the end of the war, communists under Mao Zedong won a civil war and took control of the government in 1949. |
| North Vietnam | 1954 | Vietnamese revolutionaries under the communist Ho Chi Minh had fought the Japanese occupation during WW2. After the war, they fought against French colonial forces for independence. In the 1954 Geneva Accords, Vietnam was divided into a communist led North and capitalist led South. The South's refusal to participate in elections planned in 1956 led to the Vietnam War, with the US intervening in favor of the south. |
| South Vietnam | 1975 | The US withdrew from the Vietnam War in 1973. Renewed fighting between North and South Vietnam resumed shortly thereafter. South Vietnam fell in 1975 and Vietnam was unified as one communist country. |
| Laos | 1975 | The communist group Pathet Lao overthrew the monarchy and established a communist government. |
| Cambodia | 1975 | Communist group called the Khmer Rogue took over the country and established a communist government. |
Impact of Communist China
The spread of communism in China had an immense impact on the Cold War. It established a large new communist state that had not been created by the Soviet Union. In the US, President Truman faced criticism for "losing China," and fears that the spread of communism in Asia would continue were important motivations for US intervention in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Chinese Revolution
Mao and the communists forces had been fighting with the Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek since 1927. The Japanese occupation of China after 1931 contributed to Kai-shek's downfall, and the communists won power in 1949, declaring the People's Republic of China.
The communist Chinese government attempted to quickly rebuild and industrialize the country with its policies known as the Great Leap Forward. These policies were often repressive. Later, the Cultural Revolution caused widespread upheaval in China. The Chinese also split with the Soviet Union in the 1960s in the Sino-Soviet Split paving the way for the United States to establish trade relations with China after 1972.
Fig 3 - Mao declaring the People's Republic of China in 1949.
Korean and Vietnam Wars
The American policy to stop the spread of communism was carried to its extremes to stop the spread of communism in Asia, most notably with participation in the Korean and Vietnam Wars. In Korea, US backed UN forces prevented a takeover of South Korea by communist North Korea. However, in Vietnam, the US withdrew after a bloody war leading to the fall of South Vietnam to communism in 1975.
Vietnam is a good example of how the spread of communism was intertwined with decolonization. The US saw itself fighting to stop the spread of communism, while the Vietnamese communists saw their fight more as one for independence, and many Vietnamese civilians saw the US troops as nothing but a foreign occupier. Ironically, the destabilization of Vietnam's neighbors, Laos and Cambodia, caused by the war helped lead to their fall to communism.
Despite that, the domino theory largely was disproven and the spread of communism in Asia was limited to China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
Fig 4 - US combat troops in Vietnam.
Spread of Communism in Latin America and Africa
The spread of communism also occurred in Latin America and Africa. See below some of the countries in this region that were involved in the spread of communism during the Cold War:
| Spread of Communism in Latin America and Africa |
|---|
| Country | Year | Methods Used |
| Cuba | 1959 | Fidel Castro came to power in a rebellion against dictator Fulgencio Batista. He adopted a policy of economic nationalism, nationalizing US property, and eventually aligned himself with the USSR and declared Cuba a communist state in 1961. |
| Congo | 1960 | Leftist Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba of the newly independent nation asked for Soviet help in defeating a separatists movement. He was assassinated and an anti-communist military government took power shortly afterward, leading to civil war. |
| Chile | 1970 | Marxist Salvador Allende was elected president in 1970. He was ousted and killed during a US backed coup that brought right wing dictator Augusto Pinochet to power in 1973. |
| Ethiopia | 1974 | A military coup overthrew the emperor Haile Selassie and installed a communist military government known as the Derg. |
| Angola | 1975 | After independence, the Cuban and Soviet supported communist government defeated right wing rebel groups supported by the US and South Africa. |
| Nicaragua | 1979 | The Sandinista National Liberation Front, a socialist party, took power in 1979. The US backed a group called the Contras who fought them in a civil war. Sandinistas won the elections of 1984 but lost in 1990. |
| Grenada | 1979 | A communist group took control of the small island nation in 1979. The United States invaded and removed it from power in 1983. |
The America policy to stop the spread of communism often led it to support repressive noncommunist governments or military coups against left leaning governments or guerrilla rebel movements in Latin America and Africa.
Cuba: Communism at the US's Doorstep
The most important country in the Americas during the Cold War was undoubtedly the island of Cuba. The US tried to remove Fidel Castro from power with the 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion. It was after this failed attempt to remove him that Castro declared the communist nature of the Cuban Revolution and joined the Soviet Bloc. In 1962, the Soviets placed nuclear missiles on the island, sparking the Cuban Missile Crisis, one of the most important events of the Cold War.
Fear of a second Cuba informed US support for nondemocratic but anticommunist governments and the overthrow of left leaning leaders in Nicaragua, Chile, and Grenada.
Fig 6 - Fidel Castro with fellow Cuban revolutionary Camilo Cienfuegos.
Spread of Communism - Key takeaways
- The spread of communism after WW2 took place in Eastern Europe under the influence of the Soviet Union and helped spark the Cold War.
- The spread of communism during the Cold War took place around the world, but especially the spread of communism in Asia in China, Korea, and Vietnam had important impacts.
- The American policy to stop the spread of communism known as containment informed intervention in the Korean and Vietnam Wars as well as other proxy wars and support for noncommunist governments around the world.
- In Latin America, Cuba turned communist after 1959, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Proxy wars and decolonization helped bring communist governments to power in some African countries.
References
- Fig 1 - Communist aligned map (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Communist_Block.svg) by NuclearVacuum licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:CC-BY-SA-4.0)
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