domino theory
Sequential ideological collapse
Domino theory is the idea that if one country falls to communism, neighboring countries will follow in succession—like dominoes toppling in a row.
The concept shaped American foreign policy during the Cold War, particularly justifying intervention in Vietnam: The domino theory held that losing Vietnam would mean losing all of Southeast Asia.
- Vietnam WarCold-era Indochina military engagement
- communismCollective ownership system
- containmentPreventing hostile expansion
- Cold WarProlonged East-West standoff
- contagionDisease spread by contact
geopolitics · sphere of influence · NATO · chain reaction · Eisenhower · cascade · escalation · proxy wars · Southeast Asia · hearts and minds · fall · puppet state · bandwagon effect · rollback · regime change · snowball · Truman Doctrine · Truman
- Sixtieshippies, Beatles, Woodstock, Vietnam War, JFK
- Cold WarBerlin Wall, Iron Curtain, arms race, Warsaw Pact, Cuban Missile Crisis
- Eisenhower EraDwight Eisenhower, Ike, Richard Nixon, Nixon, farewell address
- postwar eraMarshall Plan, prosperity, reconstruction, Cold War, iron curtain
- Southeast AsiaVietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia
- strategystrategy, grand strategy, tactics, tactic, tactical
domino theoryisolationism
Policy avoiding foreign alliances
national independence · political autonomy · exceptionalism · self-determination
domino theorynon-interventionism
Avoid foreign entanglements doctrine
isolationism · self-determination · national sovereignty · disengagement · neutrality
domino theoryisolationism
Policy avoiding foreign alliances
political independence · containment failure · sovereign immunity · decoupling · insulation
theory, dominant, dominance, predominant, domino, dominoes, domineer, predominance, predominate