Just to further elaborate, the Dirty War of the 60s, 70s, and 80s was active in Mexico as well.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirty_War_(Mexico)
It seems that the leftist guerrilla groups in Mexico weren't as strong as in other countries, hence the lack of a truly open conflict along the lines...
We have to define "worked" in this scenario. The US routinely bombed the trail (on an average of every 7 minutes at peak times or so I think I've read) and continually impeded the free movement of goods/supplies from the north to the south, true. However, US strategy wasn't just harassment, but...
Well, Mexico packed all the excitement any nation could handle into the first three decades of the 20th century.
Also, this happened, basically the North American equal to Tiananmen Square : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlatelolco_massacre
Anyway, a communist insurgency/takeover in Mexico is...
Oftentimes, the KMT would use just those tactics for forced conscription and then, when you get to the army, the training is poor and your superior officer is a corrupt incompetent. There was plenty of motivation for the average Chinese to resist the Japanese, but the KMT government also...
Even that was somewhat due to the speed of early Chinese victories in the Korean War. After their surprise entrance, the PVA captured Seoul on that initial wave of momentum, but found themselves overstretched, starving, and unable to consolidate their gains. Had a few variables been different...
It's actually not true that the Chinese were ever on the verge of being totally conquered by the Japanese in WWII. True, they lost a slew of major battles in the beginning (not all of them throughout the war, however) and never succeeded in beating the Japanese decisively. They more or less...
It could potential devolve into Korean War 2.0.
What the result of that would be, who knows? Especially if the mistakes of Korea are repeated. A USA that doesn't get involved in Vietnam would have to be pretty different than OTL.
By '63, the Viet Cong guerrillas without northern support were defeating parts of the South Vietnamese military.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Ap_Bac
By '65, the VPA had mobilized to the point where they could attempt to cut RVN territory in half. The Battle of Ia Drang prevented...
Lenin was most definitely a totalitarian and a megalomaniac. I don't see how that contradicts his beliefs in (his authoritarian version of) communism though. If anything, he's the logical extension of his own philosophy. Why should a professional revolutionary cede any power when he knows his...
This is an interesting argument because the orthodox viewpoint is usually the opposite with Lenin as the well-intentioned extremist and true believer and Stalin as the cynical usurper. I can understand (and mostly support) the argument of Stalin being a true believer, in his own megalomaniac...
I would say continued stagnation and propagation of Cultural Revolution ideals are more likely than any reattempt at the Great Leap or similar schemes. Basically a lot of waste and inefficiency until reforms happen. Maybe a social catastrophe or two. Think rot and decay instead of something...
TBH, I could see the Khmer Rouge fracturing into different factions, driving the country into another civil war. That's basically what happened IRL except Hun Sen and co. went to the Vietnamese for help and offered to be sane neighbors. Without Pol Pot invading Vietnam, he still purges his ranks...
The impression that I get from reading about the invasion (and, tbh, the definitive book on it has not yet been written), the Vietnamese didn't have much of a clue of how far the Pol Pot regime had taken things. Footage of the PAVN liberating Phnom Penh, rounding up child soldiers, etc... pretty...