8.4 Spread of Communism

Communism in China

After WWII, the Chinese Civil War resumed between Mao Zedong's Communists and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists (GMD). Mao won peasant support through land redistribution, defeating the Nationalists in 1949. Chiang fled to Taiwan, while Mao founded the People's Republic of China (PRC), launching programs like the Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution to enforce communist transformation.

Communism in Cuba

Fidel Castro overthrew dictator Fulgencio Batista in 1959, establishing a communist state allied with the Soviet Union. This alliance alarmed the U.S., leading to the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), when Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba brought the U.S. and USSR to the brink of nuclear war.

Communism in Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh led communist forces (Viet Minh, later Viet Cong) against French colonial rule, winning at Dien Bien Phu (1954). Vietnam split at the 17th parallel; the U.S. backed South Vietnam to contain communism, leading to the Vietnam War. Communist North Vietnam ultimately reunified the country by 1975 under containment's failure.

Key terms

Mao Zedong

Leader of the Chinese Communist Party; won the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and founded the People's Republic of China.

Fidel Castro

Cuban revolutionary who overthrew Batista in 1959, establishing a communist state allied with the USSR.

Ho Chi Minh

Vietnamese communist leader who fought French colonial rule and later led North Vietnam against the U.S.-backed South.

Cuban Missile Crisis

1962 standoff between the U.S. and USSR over Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba; brought the world close to nuclear war.

Containment policy

U.S. Cold War strategy aimed at stopping the spread of communism, driving interventions in Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba.

Try an AP-style question

Mao Zedong's communists won China's civil war in…

1. 1949
2. 1937
3. 1976
4. 1911