The Korean War

With the end of World War Two drawing close, the seemingly friendly alliances between America and the Soviet Union began to dissipate. With America following capitalism and the Soviet Union following communism, differences between the countries became more apparent. Fear of the spread of communism was ubiquitous in the United States. To buffer this dissemination, the U.S government tried to instill capitalism in foreign countries such as Korea. This was the basis of containment. The Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine were main examples of containment but the Korean War was a prime example of how far America would go to implement containment.

Korea was previously under control of Japan until 1945, after the World War, when Japanese troops surrendered. Troops north of the 38^th parallel surrendered to the Soviets and southern troops relinquished to the Americans. Simultaneously, two contrasting governments were set up in the North and South, those being communism and capitalism respectively. Kim Il Sung was the leader of the northern Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and Syngman Rhee led the Republic of Korea in the south.

This separation of the nation, along with the US reduction of troops in the south instigated the Soviets to support the North in an attack to unify Korea. The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 when North Korean troops, along with Soviet planes and tanks, unexpectedly attacked South Korea. With the north advancing further south, South Korea resorted to the United Nations for help.

The UN drew up a plan of military action which was passed because the Soviet Union boycotted the council meeting and could not veto the plan. As a result, President Truman and 16 other nations sent 520,000 troops to help the South Koreans. An American fleet between Taiwan and China accompanied these troops. In order to lead the UN forces to victory, hero General Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the forces.

Though the situation seemed bleak with the southern forces cornered in Pusan, General MacArthur launched a counterattack. With fresh troops from US and a surprise amphibious attack, the UN forces pushed back enemy troops back to Inchon. Half of the troops surrendered and were chased across the 38^th parallel. However, when the UN troops approached the Yalu River on the border of North Korea and China, they had literally crossed the line. The Chinese, who happened to be communist, felt that they could not allow American forces come at such proximity to China.

The 300,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans with the hope that they will obtain North Korea as a buffer state to protect Manchuria. The large Chinese troops drove the smaller and exhausted UN troops south and even captured Seoul. The war became a stalemate with either side advancing and retreating.

MacArthur was anxious to end the stalemate and proposed extending the war to China by the use of nuclear weapons. Truman, just as obstinate as MacArthur, continually rejected his requests. However, when MacArthur went so far as to speak to Republican leaders about his plans of a war with China and criticized the president, he got himself fired.

Even after the commotion of the fall of MacArthur and the continuous war, there was hope when the Soviets suggested a cease fire on June 23, 1951. Both sides agreed to place the location of the cease fire lines at existing battle lines and establish demilitarized zones on both sides. After two years, an armistice that ended the war was signed in 1953. While containment had worked in the Korean War, 54,000 Americans died, $67 billion was expended and the Democratic Party declined in popularity. Also, the fear of communism remained prevalent and led to further atrocities.

Ashima and Ketki

Period C April 7,09