Domino Theory :: essays papers

Domino Theory The Domino Theory Here is my report on the Domino Theory The ?Domino Theory? is a complex and interesting theory. It is based on a simple rule of physics. That rule is inertia. Inertia is defined in the dictionary as, ?the tendency of matter to remain at rest or to continue in a fixed direction unless affected by some outside force.?1 This can be seen by making a line of dominoes, one right after the other and pushing the first domino over. The rest of the dominoes will fall over until the last one is down. They gain speed and power as the process is carried out. This analogy can be used to show what could happen to the political make-up of a specific geographical area in the world. The analogy, though, uses domino?s instead of countries. That is to say that if one country in a region practiced one particular type of government this might influence neighboring or bordering to adopt this type of government, for example the underlying principle behind the domino theory. Although the domino theory has physically been occurring since the beginning of time, it was only given a specific name and meaning 44 years ago by president Dwight D. Eisenhower. He used this theory to refer to the potential spread of communism in Southeast-Asia. He specifically said that,?You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profoun d influences.?2 The influences that he was talking about were the influences of communism. He believed as many others did that if one country in Southeast-Asia fell to communism then all of the surrounding countries would also. President Eisenhower had led the allied coalition against Hitler in Europe during WWII. He was deeply disturbed by the way that Communism had taken hold of Eastern Europe after the war. He was also concerned by the way that Asia had been taken over by Japan so easily in WWII. This build-up can be shown in the maps below. As you can see the size of Japan?s power at the end of its rule is about twice as large as its power at the beginning. The countries which bordered Japan fell over to Japan very quickly as the war went on and giving Japan more power while doing so.