“We were at the brink of war with the USA and the Western states”. Soviet Union and Armed Conflict Resolution in the Far East, 1953–1954. Part II

The final stage of the Far Eastern conflict was marked by a division in the British-American alliance. D. Eisenhower was concerned that if a Chinese-backed communist regime comes to power in Vietnam, communists would spread their control over the governments in other countries of Indochina, subsequently threatening Australia and New Zealand, and Japan for its part would lose the resources for its industry and shift under the Soviet sphere of influence. In order to prevent this, he tried to create a Western coalition for intervention in Vietnam. However, the American president’s plans were disrupted, when the UK refused to join this coalition, which was seen as a betrayal in the USA. Firstly, the British government was not willing to become a subordinate partner to the States; moreover, they viewed Eisenhower’s actions as unreasonable bluff, as they were afraid that China would not back away. In this case, the Western coalition would have to invade Vietnam, inciting World War III, which would be the most disastrous for Europe. In this period, the USSR also tried to get closer to the UK, aiming to split the British-American alliance.At the Geneva Conference (April – July 1954), Americans sabotaged the peace treaty ending the Korean War. However, the sides managed to conclude a ceasefire in the First Indochina War, as the socialist bloc was pushed towards compromise by the belligerent rhetoric of the USA, and France, weakened by World War II and the catastrophic defeat in Dien Bien Phu, was unwilling to spend its limited resources on a remote colony

Belligerent · Betrayal · China · Communism · Compromise · Government (linguistics) · Power (physics) · Soviet union · Treaty · Historical Geopolitical and Social Dynamics · Soviet and Russian History · Vietnamese History and Culture Studies