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Nationalists Escape to Taiwan
The Nationalists and the Communists had fought a long hard battle over dominance in China. Though the Nationalists had the backing of the US, the Communints eventually overpowered them in China. Facing persecution if they stayed, the Nationalists left the Chinese mainland and started their own country on the island of Taiwan. -
The Great Leap Forward
This "Great Leap Forward" was one of Mao's most major policies. But in fact it really was a huge step backward. More collective farms were built, and people who had never planted anything before were put in charge of producing the food. This led to huge starvation and 20 million deaths. -
Cultural Revolution
Mao was loosing his power after the failure of the Great Leap Forward. But he was determined to make China more of a Communist country again. So he encouraged the younger generation to start another revolution. Many students rebelled, and they were called Red Guards. They killed anyone who disagreed with their extreme ideology. -
Khmer Rouge
The Khmer Rouge was an extreme Commumost group in Cambodia that overthrew the government and set up a totalitarian government. Their leader was named Pol Pot, and he killed 2 million people, about a quarter of Cambodia's population at the time. -
Fall of Saigon
Finally, after more than a decade longt war, Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces. This marked the end of the war, and the Comunists had won. Many of the South Vietnamese there escaped in ships to avoid being killed by the incoming North Vietnamese. The city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.
