Soon after the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe, China became Communist in 1949. The Americans had always regarded China as their outpost in the East. A massive Communist stronghold had appeared. Furthermore, spies informed Truman that Stalin was using Cominform to help Communists win power in other parts of the world. Many believed the Domino Effect, where Communism spread from one country to another like wildfire. When South Korea was invaded in 1950, many thought that only …showed first 75 words of 798 total…

…showed last 75 words of 798 total…Another major reason behind the resilience of the Communists at this time was the backing of China and Russia. However, when Stalin died in 1953, they had less confidence in the Russian's backing, and so an armistice was signed in July 1953. Therefore, the course of the Korean War was very similar to that of a yo-yo, and after a stalemate was reached, the position of 10,000 prisoners meant that some fighting carried on for another two years.