The decision made by president Harry S. Truman to send U.S. troops into the Korean War was to prevent communism from spreading from North Korea into South Korea, for the United Nations to come together to call and end to all hostilities, and to stop communism from spreading throughout Asia.
At the end of World War Two, Korea was divided into two sections. These sections were labeled as South Korea and North Korea. The dividing point was at the 38th parallel. Soviets occupied North Korea, and the U.S. troops occupied South Korea. The United States had troops there to keep the peace, so to say. Free elections were held throughout Korea in 1947. The idea was for North Korea and South Korea to elect their own governments, but still be somewhat
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Secretary of State Acheson gave a speech for clarification on military strategy in Asia on January 12, 1950. In this speech, he announced the defensive perimeters of the United States for the Pacific region. These perimeters would be from the Aleutian Islands in Alaska, South to Japan, the Byukyu Islands, and the Philippines. Korea wasn’t specifically in these perimeters. Defending this Acheson said, “So far as the military security of other areas in the Pacific is concerned, it must be clear that no person can guarantee these areas against military attack.”
Along with this statement, the Joint Chiefs of staff (JCS) said, “Korea should receive economic assistance only if America had the resources left after assisting countries of primary importance.” This said, if Korea was under attack, they would rely on the United States for help, and if the United States had the resources to help, it would be our responsibility to help them. 90,000 communist troops of North Korea invaded South Korea across the 38th parallel on January 12, 1950. South Korean forces were caught completely off guard and were forced to
The Korean War was fought between North Korea and South Korea in 1950. North and South Korea clashed ideas because North was communist and the South was democratic. North Korea invaded the South. The U.S. were allies with the South because they were democratic, so we gave them weapons to help support them in the Korean War.These two sides ended up being split by the 38th
B-Summary of Evidence It was just five years before, that World War II had ended and no one was expecting another war to happen. Korea was on its own with no money and government or army. The United States and Soviet Union were allies at that time and they agreed to occupy different parts of Korea. The Soviet Troops occupied the area north of the 38th parallel and the United States occupied the south of the 38th parallel.
In June 1950, 90,000 soldiers from the communist Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th Parallel into South Korea. The most important reason for a military response from the US was the document NSC 68, which stated that they must meet communism wherever it arises. Due to this document, it was the US assumption that the invasion on South Korea was not a Civil War due to the events in Korea, and the permanent divide in 1948. However, there was also US domestic policies, and Truman’s fear of being accused of being ‘soft on communism,’ as well as the US based organisation, the UN, which was a new institution, which Truman had to support. Furthermore, containment in Europe and Asia and the
The Korean war is a conflict between North Korea and South Korea which started on June 25, 1950 until July 27, of 1953, although North Korea and South Korea still have conflicts today. Korea was split into two countries, North Korea and South Korea . This was because of Communists and Anti-Communists in Korea which prevented Korea from creating a consolidated government. Korea was split right in the 38th parallel, a separation similar to the yugoslavian separation. North Korea had attempted to take over the capital of South Korea, Seoul, but North Korea had claimed that South Korea was planning an attack on the North so North korea attacked them to overthrow their plan. Many historians had been persuaded that this Korean counter attack was
In the year 1950, North Korea (communist) led the invasion into South Korea. The Korean War. The two sides had earlier divided their parts of their country. Such as a border. During the Korean War, both sides had invaded land that kept enlarging and mutated to something smaller. But as the war had ended they both had the same exact border as in the beginning. The only reason to this diligent effect is containment.
The war ended in 1953 with an armistice that established the Korean Demilitarized Zone along the 38th parallel. The US continued to maintain a military presence in South Korea to prevent further aggression from North Korea and to contain the spread of communism in the
According to Document C, on June 25, 1950, North Korea suddenly invaded South Korea. North Korea was supported by the Soviet Union, while South Korea was being supported by the U.S. president, Harry Truman, and the United Nations promised to defend South Korea. After World War 2, on September 14, 1950, the U.S. and the U.N. were officially sent to protect South Korea, but the U.S. and the United Nation’s forces were almost pushed off the Korean peninsula. The leader of the Americans, was General Douglass MacArthur. On November 25, 1950, General MacArthur organized a dangerous, yet victorious retaliation at the port of Inchon. The Americans pushed the North Korean forces all the way back to the border of North Korea and communist China, but this battle got difficult again because China got involved and pushed the Americans back to South Korea. Over two million people died in this war as well as more than fifty thousand American soldiers. This act of containment in a way made the U.S. look kind of weak, because there were a lot of deaths and suffering before it ended therefore making their system look
The war began on June 25, 1950, with communist North Korea’s invasion of South Korea. (Document C) With support from the Soviet Union, North Korea attacked democratic South Korea without warning. Since, South Korea was US supported, president Truman vowed to help defend it along with the United Nations. On September 14, 1950, America sent its forces in Japan to defend South Korea, though this resulted in the forces nearly being pushed off the Korean peninsula. The commander of the American forces at the time was General Douglas Macarthur, who planned a counterattack of the port of Inchon, on November 25, 1950. The attack was successful, it pushed back the North Korean forces to its border between it and China; the Yalu River. In November of 1950, China decided to enter the war to support North Korea's spread of communism. Chinese forces are able to push the UN and the US back into South Korea. This resulted in the border between North and South Korea to move back to where it was originally. The war finally ended three years later on July 27, 1953. The Korean War is a good example of containment because the United States was successful in preventing North Korea from expanding communism into South
The United States joined the South Korean side of the war due to the Soviet Union’s push for communism and the United States’ opposition against it. Furthermore, imagine what would happen if North Korea was a capitalistic country instead. The Soviet Union would not support North Korea in their conquest and there wouldn’t have been any war considering there would have been no conflict to fight
President Truman’s desire to stop communism in the Korean Peninsula resulted in the decision to join the Korean War. The catalyst for the United States’ involvement in the Korean War is mostly due to the fear of the spread of communism, which was caused by North Korea’s encroachment and intimidation of South Korea, as well as the desire to silence the Soviet Union. Other factors attributed to US involvement such as the Truman Doctrine, the Domino Theory, and McCarthyism.
Under Yi Sŏng-Gye’s son King Sejong, considered Korea’s greatest ruler, inventions like the rain gauge, the use of a movable type, and the birth of Korean alphabet called Hangeul, still in use today, surfaced. (Piddock, 27-28) They ruled the entire peninsula for 500 years. Then Korea was annexed by neighbors Japan in 1910. Korea continued to be under Japan until 1945 when it was liberated at the end of World War II. (“North Korea”, Culturegrams) “With the defeat of Japan in 1945, the Allies agreed to divide the Korean Peninsula between the Soviet Union and the United States at the thirty-eighth parallel as a temporary measure.” (Piddock, 30) The Soviet Union received the Northern part of Korea, and the United States the South. “.. Soviet forces closed off northern Korea at the thirty-eighth parallel and placed Korean communists in power there.” Evidently, North Korea was bound to turn communist.
Korea, like Germany, had been occupied by Soviet and United States forces at the end of World War II. Korea was split in half via the 38th parallel after the Japanese Empire fell near the end of the conflict. The soviets occupied the north side of the line and the Americans occupied the south. “By the end of the decade, two new states had formed on the peninsula. In the south, the anti- communist dictator Syngman Rhee (1875-1965) enjoyed the reluctant support of the American
Efforts to unify Korea resulted in more than 100,000 deaths due to guerilla warfare. In April 1950, North Korean leader Kim II Sung persuaded Joseph Stalin to back an invasion of South Korea, convincing Stalin that the United States would not intervene. Stalin agreed to provide arms, equipment, and advisors to the North Koreans (“Korean War”). Kim II Sung did not stop there as he also persuaded the newly communist Chinese to aid the North Koreans. The Korean War, (June 25,1950 – July 27, 1953), occurred when over 75,000 North Korean Army invaded the land across of the 38th parallel. American president Harry Truman was feeling heat after “letting China fall”, so Truman ordered American troops into action on South July, the United Sates entered the conflict on South Korea’s behalf. The next three years would be the darkest and most horrific in Korean history. As seen in American reporter Bill Shinn’s account, “the North Koreans were gruesome…during the occupation of South Korea, they killed over 165,000 civilians. Also, I witnessed a South Korean mass execution of civilians suspected of having helped the communists. Korea was a mess” (“The Forgotten War Remembered: Korea, 1950-1953). This shows the depths of the horror that was perpetrated in Korea for three years.
The Korean War also illustrated that the United States would stand up to communism. The United States was against the foreign policy of containment. The Korean War was the first military stand against communism. This war proved that the United States would do anything to
The Korean War broke out shortly after the Germany’s surrender in World War 2 after the fall of Nazis. Before the war began, Korea was under Japan’s protectorate since 1905. In this assignment, we are going to discuss on several matters that occurred before, after the war and also the aftermath of the war. After the World War 2, Korea was divided into two, the South and the North Korea. 1 country divided into 2 countries bring along 2 different ideologies. These ideologies that made one country divided into two.