The Red Menace: An Expansion of Communism
by The Bolsheviks thought the Russian Revolution of 1917 would spark revolution in other countries. But Lenin soon realized that worldwide revolutions would require careful direction and organization.
In 1946, the Communist leader Ho Chi Minh led a nationalist uprising in the colony of French Indochina. By 1954, Indochina had been divided into Communist North Vietnam, non-Communist South Vietnam, and neutral Cambodia and Laos. Communists in Cambodia, Laos, and South Vietnam continued to fight the new non-Communist or neutral governments. North Vietnam sent troops and supplies to help the Communists, and China and the Soviet Union also sent equipment.
The struggle in South Vietnam developed into a major conflict, the Vietnam War (1957-1975). The United States sent troops to support South Vietnam. A cease-fire agreement ended U.S. participation in 1973, but the war continued until the Communists won full control of South Vietnam in 1975. In 1976, the Communists unified North and South Vietnam into the single nation of Vietnam. Communists also conquered Cambodia in 1975. In Laos, the government came under Communist control in 1975.
In Africa, a left wing military group controlled the government of Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. The military government adopted socialist policies and developed close relations with the Soviet Union. In 1975, leftist guerrilla forces formed Marxist-Leninist governments in Angola and Mozambique. They controlled the governments of these countries until 1990. Other African nations had Marxist-Leninist governments for short periods in the 1970’s and 1980’s. In Central America, an alliance of Marxist-Leninist groups called the Sandinista National Liberation Front held power in Nicaragua from 1979 to 1990. In 1990, however, a candidate backed by 14 anti-Sandinista parties won Nicaragua’s presidential election.
In southwestern Asia in 1978, a Marxist-Leninist party seized power in Afghanistan. However, many Afghans rebelled against the new government. In 1979, the Soviet Union sent troops into Afghanistan to prevent the overthrow of the government. The invasion resulted in a lengthy conflict between Soviet troops and Afghan rebels. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan ended in 1989. The rebels overthrew the government in 1992.
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