Domino Theory, American_History, College Term Papers.com


		Data Bases
		• Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism?

		Links
		• Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com

		Free Essays
		• Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers

Search Lots of Essays

Back to Subjects - American History

Domino Theory

Domino Theory The Domino Theory Here is my report on the Domino Theory The ?Domino Theory? is a complex and interesting theory. It is based on a simple rule of physics. That rule is inertia. Inertia is defined in the dictionary as, ?the tendency of matter to remain at rest or to continue in a fixed direction unless affected by some outside force.?1 This can be seen by making a line of dominoes, one right after the other and pushing the first domino over. The rest of the dominoes will fall over until the last one is down. They gain speed and power as the process is carried out. This analogy can be used to show what could happen to the political make-up of a specific geographical area in the world. The analogy, though, uses domino?s instead of countries. That is to say that if one country in a region practiced one particular type of government this might influence neighboring or bordering to adopt this type of government, for example the underlying principle behind the domino theory. Although the domino theory has physically been occurring since the beginning of time, it was only given a specific name and meaning 44 years ago by president Dwight D. Eisenhower. He used this theory to refer to the potential spread of communism in Southeast-Asia. He specifically said that,?You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences.?2 The influences that he was talking about were the influences of communism. He believed as many others did that if one country in Southeast-Asia fell to communism then all of the surrounding countries would also. President Eisenhower had led the allied coalition against Hitler in Europe during WWII. He was deeply disturbed by the way that Communism had taken hold of Eastern Europe after the war. He was also concerned by the way that Asia had been taken over by Japan so easily in WWII. This build-up can be shown in the maps below. As you can see the size of Japan?s power at the end of its rule is about twice as large as its power at the beginning. The countries which bordered Japan fell over to Japan very quickly as the war went on and giving Japan more power while doing so. Eisenhower saw the potential for the same type of action in Southeast-Asia, in the late 50?s through the 70?s. An example of a situation that the Domino Theory could be applied to is the Soviet Union from 1917 to the 1980?s. The Soviet Union during this period of time, gained power by militarily taking land from other countries. It not only showed a situation that the Domino Theory could be applied to, but also showed communism?s natural inclination of world domination. This signs of this inclination can be found in many places including ?Nations and Men,?2 an International Politics and Relations collegient textbook, which says, ?In the abundant communist writings of that period (the time of the beginnings of communism, around 1917) very little is found on the subject of future communist foreign policies beyond the hope that one worldwide communist commonwealth could emerge from intercapitalist world wars transformed into socialist revolutions.?3 For that very reason communism is a very important concept in understanding the Domino Theory. That ?inclination of world domination? is the reason why the communists take over other countries. When they gain control over these other countries they get larger and more powerful and its all the more easier to take over more bordering countries, which produces the a situation which can be described as the domino theory. The there are two reasons for this thinking of world domination by the communists. The first is because communists view capitalists as,?imperialist and forever trying to impose themselves on others.? And as long as capitalists are present in the world the communists feel that they must be wary of the capitalists trying to impose themselves on them by waging war. War is a natural result of the capitalist system according to Communism. Lenin in 1916, wrote a book called, ?Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism.? In this book he says capitalists will always seek control over others as a way of expanding their markets and the control of the masses. Communists saw themselves as the protection of the masses against this terrible threat of capitalism. Secondly it is the only way that communism can work perfectly. The definition of communism in the dictionary is,?any theory or system of common ownership of property.?1 Along with owning everything together, the citizens of communist countries produce all of their supplies, themselves. Weather, seasons, famines, and land space make this very hard to do, and the communists are always wary of a capitalist trying to wage war. They will always have to try to be ready for a capitalist attack, according to their beliefs. So, their military will have to be very strong and prepared. For communism to work the people of one communist country will have to make any type of material or supplies their country needs plus any missiles, guns, bullets, and anything else for that matter that their armed forces need. Without a lot of manpower and property, this is a very hard and most likely an impossible task. So to get the manpower and land that communism needs, they take over other countries. When the communists took over these countries they felt that besides helping their own countries, they were in the long run helping the people that they made prisoners. They felt that the people they killed they were helping by helping those people?s grandchildren. The reason they thought that they were helping these people is because communism was supposed to be ?everyone shares,? and ?everyone?s equal so that no one works harder than anyone else.? People thought that would be better in the long run. So, many soldiers had no problem with much of this work that they were doing. An example of this is the book ?One Day in the Life of Ivan Dinosovich.? This book is a biography of Ivan Dinosovich?s life inside of a Russian Gulag (a Russian Prison camp), while Russia was under a communist rule. {Written by Alexander Solscinisky, an actual political prisoner} Inside the Gulag the conditions were horrible. Millions of people died inside of the camps. In the book it states that people were sentenced to those camps for speaking out against the government, being thought to be a spy or for any number or reasons, disobeying any law. The soldiers and camp wardens could justify carrying out these horrible acts because they thought that communism was a noble cause and the people just didn?t understand that it was the best for them. The communists believed in the beginning (1917) that other countries would have the same revolutions and ideas that they had or that countries would see this greatness of communism. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said this in 1954. ?The Communists are attempting to prevent the orderly development of independence and to confuse the issue before the world. The Communists have, in these matters, a regular line which Stalin laid down in 1924. The scheme is to whip up the spirit of nationalism so that it becomes violent. That is done by professional agitators. Then the violence is enlarged by communist military and technical leadership and the provision of military supplies.?4 Two examples of this ?spirit of violent nationalism,? were Germany in the mid to late 1930?s and Russia in the 1910?s. In Germany there was a great depression. Most of the country was unemployed and poor because of sanctions for being an instigator of WW I. There was a lot of hate. Then a man by the name of Adolf Hitler became head of the Nazi party. He started making speeches which stated a lot of self pride for Germans and that they were the supreme race. Yet it also vocalized a lot of hatred for other races and countries. The Germans loved to hear this and gave Hitler a lot of power. Then Hitler capitalized on this power and took over the government and began WW II. During W.W.II Germany acted in a situation which could also be labeled as the domino theory. Everytime that Germany gain control of another country it became easier to just take over the next. And suddenly almost all of Europe was under German control. That example goes almost identically with John Foster Dulles?s statement about the spirit of nationalism. The other example I mentioned was Russia in the 1910?s. The Tzar?s of Russia had the rule of Russia and the were very rich. And just like Germany almost everyone else was very poor. There was also a revolution and that got the Tzar?s out of power and Lenin in power just like Hitler in Germany. That was the beginning of communism in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a communist threat to the rest of the world for the next 70 years. The event for which I previously stated that the domino theory was named for, communism in Southeast Asia, took place in the 1950?s-1970?s. In both cases China was supporting the aggressor. The cases were North Korea attacking South Korea, and North Vietnam attacking South Vietnam. In both cases America intervened with military action. We were not the only country though that saw this action as very dangerous, Australia did too. In September of 1954, Minister of Defense, Sir Philip McBride, said, ?It is a matter of vital importance to maintain the gap between Australia and the present high-water mark of the southward flow of communism. Should this gap narrow, the nature and scale of attack on Australia would become intensified as distance shortened. Finally, should the tide of communism lap on our shores, we would face an intolerable defense burden and a scale of attack which would be beyond our capacity to repel alone. There is, therefore, every reason strategically and economically why Australia should co-operate to keep aggressive Communism within its present boundaries, and to stem its onward flow.?5 In April of the same year, Prime Minister of Australia, Robert Menzies, said, ?If communist forces again come on the march and a great war ensue, the farther north the lines of defense are drawn, the better for those communities of Viet Nam, and Laos, and Cambodia, and Thailand, and Burma, and Malaya, and the Philippines, and Indonesia and all the rest of us who wish to retain control of our own future and govern ourselves in our own way.?5 Many people said and still say today that the conflict in Vietnam was an internal conflict or a ?civil war,? and that the United States had no right to be there. I believe the United States had every reason and right in the world to be there. There are two major reason for this, communism and the Domino Theory. The North Vietnamese, or the ?Viet Cong,? (Vietnamese Communists) under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, were communist. And they were acting in the manner which I have mentioned earlier as?communism?s natural inclination for world domination.? Not only were they trying to impose themselves on South Vietnam, they were also funded by the Communist Chinese. As our former Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles said, ?Those fighting under the banner of Ho Chi Minh have largely been trained and equipped in Communist China. They are supplied with artillery and ammunition through the Soviet-Chinese Communist block. Captured material shows that much it was fabricated by the Skoda Munition Works in Czechoslovakia and transported across Russia and Siberia and then sent through China into Vietnam. Military supplies for the Communist armies have been pouring into Vietnam at a steadily increasing rate. Military and technical guidance is supplied by an estimated 2,000 Communist Chinese. They function with the forces of Ho Chi Minh in key positions-in staff sections of the higher command, at the division level and in specialized units...? As it says in that quote, the two largest communist countries ever were funding and teaching the Viet Cong. Had we not intervened and the communists succeeded, an action would have occurred which can be labeled as the Domino Theory and it would have fulfilled the Australians fears of a fully Communist Asia. It would have happened very easily and very quickly just like dominoes falling over. When we finally left, thousands and millions of people died as a result of not helping the Viet Cong. We were very afraid and we should have been afraid. If we are confronted today with the same situation I think that we should be afraid again. Everything that we thought would happen the first time did, and everything that could happen in the future probably will. Communism is one of the worst evils in the world and if not demolished, will someday conquer us. That is why we went to Vietnam. I think that in the future if the domino theory in terms of communism were to occur anywhere in the world that it would probably be occur in Southeast-Asia where it happened the first time. This could happen for several reasons. The first is that China is now the largest nation in the world, out numbering the us 4 to 1. China also has the largest military in the world. Secondly, history repeats itself. Thirdly, the weak and unstable Asian economies. All of these small countries surrounding china have very weak markets and are themselves weak as a nation. All of these facts along with the fact that China is communist, makes a very strong case in my mind that if we as a planet were to every see the communistic domino theory occur again in the near future, it would again be in Southeast-Asia. Bibliography:

Word Count: 2337