America Opposing Global Communism

At one time in the 20th century, more than 60 countries were ruled by communists. “The Free World,” led by the United States, took action to stop communism from spreading. Whether they succeeded or not, whether they were popular or not, several conflicts were fought by American soldiers, with the stated purpose of opposing communist rule and ideology, and the nation opposed communism in other ways as well.

Following are some highlights.

1918–1919 The Polar Bear Expedition

At the end of World War I, more than 5,000 American soldiers fought the communist Bolsheviks in Russia during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. In this little-remembered conflict, some 235 Americans gave their lives.

ABOVE Polar bear memorial in

Troy, Michigan. Bolandera/license CC BY-SA 3.0 TOP RIGHT Medical corpsmen assist in helping wounded infantrymen after the fight for Hill 598 in Kumhwa, Korea, on

Oct. 14, 1952. Sylvester/U.S. Army MIDDLE RIGHT In Operation "MacArthur,” soldiers assemble on top of Hill 742, near Dak To, South Vietnam, prior to moving out in November 1967. A purple smoke bomb is ignited in the background to guide in a helicopter. U.S. Army BOTTOM RIGHT The fall of the Berlin Wall, 1989. GNU Free

Documentation License

1950–1953 Korean War 1947–1991 The Cold War

American “containment” policy was to stop the spread of communism and counter the USSR. Nuclear arms buildups on both sides made the prospect of a “hot war” unthinkable, so the two sides faced off in proxy wars, propaganda, the space race (essentially won by the United States when men walked on the moon in 1969), and other shows of prowess.

• 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis

American leaders contended with the Soviets, resulting in the USSR removing nuclear missiles from Cuba.

North Korea, backed by the USSR and China, attacked South Korea, which was supported by UN forces (mainly the United States). After some back and forth, Korea remains divided to this day. Out of the roughly 1.8 million Americans who served, about 54,000 gave their lives.

• 1983 Invasion of Grenada

American soldiers landed in response to a formal appeal for help, and in the interest of protecting over 600 American nationals on the Caribbean island, leading to the overthrow of a Marxist regime.

1955–1973 Vietnam War

Similar to the war in Korea, North Vietnam was backed by the USSR and China, while South Vietnam was backed by the United States and other non-communist countries. Unlike the more decisive Korean war, this war dragged on, and ultimately South Vietnam was absorbed into the communist north, while neighboring Laos and Cambodia also turned communist. About 2.7 million American soldiers served in this conflict, which lasted nearly two decades, and about 58,000 of them perished (of which about 1,600 are still listed as missing in action).

• 1989 Berlin Wall Falls

The symbolic zenith of the falling of communist regimes in Europe was perhaps foreshadowed by President Reagan’s 1987

Berlin Wall Speech, in which he said, “Mr.

Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” European nations ending communism at that time were Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Romania.

The Cold War effectively ended when the USSR formally dissolved on Dec. 26, 1991. By the early 90s, all other communist and Marxist regimes worldwide also dissolved, leaving only five communist countries in the world: Cuba, North Korea, Laos, Vietnam, and China.

History

‟Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us therefore study the incidents in this as philosophy to learn wisdom from and none of them as wrongs to be avenged.”

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, STATESMAN