Cold War Southeast Asia

As World War II ended, a period of distrust settled over the world. Southeast Asia was no different. The spectre of Communism stalked the stage. The threat of a global nuclear war hung thick in the air. The struggle for domination between the Americans and the Soviets clashed with the burgeoning nationalism of the liberated states. In this highly combustible climate, the book reveals country by country how the Cold War shaped the destiny of Southeast Asia. The competition among the USA, USSR, Britain, and China led to dramatically differing fates for the region. Vietnam was heavily affected, effectively destroyed in the clash of superpowers, at tremendous cost to all sides. In Malaya and Singapore, the British fought a long Communist insurgency starting in 1948, seen as part of a Cold War movement inspired by Moscow or Beijing. Many local leaders manipulated Cold War doctrines for their own political advantage, including Indonesia's Suharto, who played the anti-Communist card effectively. This volume provides a panoramic account of this watershed era in SEA history, also illustrating the global ramifications of the Cold War and the formation of the current world order.