1. Communism offered a method of organizing a state under independent rule which proved to be a powerful rallying call to the Asian people. The alternatives included a return to the rigid hierarchies of the past or authoritarian rule. Communism in Asia Why Communism?

2. Karl Marx is considered to be the founder of Communism and he is the co-author of the Communist Manifesto. Marx believed that Communism would only work if there was some sort of revolution, and reactionaries of the revolution were “dealt with”. Karl Marx

3. Korea Firm believers in freedom of choice, America feared the “Domino Effect” of Communism in Southeast Asia. America believed that if one country fell to Communism they would all fall to Communism.

4. Korea Japan was ousted from Korea after WWII By 1950 a civil war ensued The Soviet Union and China sided with the North The United States sided with the South

5. Korea Kim Jong-un is the leader of North Korea which is a communist state and one- man dictatorship Park Geun-hye is leader of South Korea which is a republic.

6. Vietnam United States and British supported the French. Russia and China supported the Communists.

7. Vietnam Large economic problems today as they are in heavy debt Vietnam War: Couldn’t identify the enemy.

8. Cambodia

9. Khmer Rouge, which means "Red Khmers" was given to a left-wing Cambodian faction in the 1950s Led by Pol Pot, it gained control of Cambodia in 1975 Then began one of the century's worst massacres and an attempted genocide Cambodia

10. Pol Pot declared "Year Zero" and began a radical program to create an idealized agrarian communist society He crushed social institutions such as banking and religion and emptied cities of their inhabitants Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge attempted genocide of the Cambodian people Cambodia

11. Intellectuals and anyone seen as standing in the way of the new social order were mercilessly killed Among the first evidence of the horror was a "killing field“ uncovered in 1980 The death toll: certainly more than a million perhaps two million Cambodia

12. The Khmer Rouge was ousted from power by a Vietnamese invasion in 1979 Cambodia

13. Afghanistan In 1979, The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan The United States supported native Afghan rebels and Middle Eastern supporters and was successful in supplying weapons to the rebels By 1989 the Soviets pulled out of Afghanistan

14. Afghanistan With the Soviets gone, a power vacuum was left to be filled The Taliban, and extreme form of Islam took over in 1996 The Taliban was backed by Pakistan and funded by Saudi Arabia