Korea Flashcards
What was the Cold War?
- The conflict between USA and USSR which was fought through other wars.
- They were never directly fighting
Why did USA and USSR not want a direct war?
- They were both superpowers
- No one wanted another all-out war again
- Nuclear war was a very prominent threat (Still is,Thanks Putin.)
What was the Truman Doctrine?
- A policy which stated that the USA would do whatever it takes to stop the spread of Communism
Why did the USA give 2 billion dollars of aid to China and why did this backfire?
- It was sent to help the anticommunist government of China
- China became Communist in 1949
What was the 38th parallel and what did it divide?
- The line between North and South Korea after the war ended with Japan
- The communist North and the anti communist south
Who was in charge of North Korea?
-Kim Il Sung who had been trained in the USSR
Who was in charge of South Korea?
- Syngman Rhee who wasnt very democratic but very anti communist so had USA support
When did North Korea invade the South and was it a success initially?
- 1950
- Supplied and supported by the USSR and China
- Yes because in four months they had taken the majority of the country besides a small amount in the South East
Why did the USA intervene to support South Korea and what did they do?
- The Truman Doctrine
- Appealed to the UN to send troops
- USA had blocked China from joining the UN in 1949 so USSR was boycotting and could veto the suggestion
- The UN agreed to send troops to Korea from a number of countries lead by General Macarthur
Where did troops advance from in Korea?
- UN forces came from Inchon
- South Korean forced advanced from the Pusan Pocket
Who was the leader of Communist China?
-Mao Zedong
What happened once UN troops arrived in Korea?
-They regained most of the country back to the 38th parallel quickly but continued into North Korea with UN backing
What did the Chinese leader threaten when the UN forces began to take North Korea.
-That China would get involved if the UN did not retreat
What was the extent the UN forces reached?
-The Yalu river on the Chinese border
What happened in October 1950 in reference to the Korean War?
- 200,000 Chinese troops called ‘Peoples Volunteers’ joined the war and launched an attack on the UN forces at the border
- They were supplied by the USSR so had tanks
How did it reach a stalemate?
- The Chinese had taken Seoul initially and eventually UN forces took it back
- They kept pushing and managed to get back to the 38th Parallel
Why did Truman sack MacArthur?
- Truman felt they had controlled Communism enough (an was worried about USSR deciding to fight directly)
- UN wanted it over
- MacArthur wanted to take out China even considering Nuclear attacks
- March 1951 MacArthur ignored everyone and openly threatened China
- April 1951 he was sacked (And made that awful speech about just ‘fading away’)
What parts of the Truman doctrine did Truman clarify?
-That it was about containment and not straight up attacking Communist countries
How long did it take to conclude Peace talks?
-Two years
What was the timeline of peace talks in Korea?
June 1951-Failed agreement over prisoner exchanges
1952- Failed to make progress and fighting continued
November 1952-Truman was replaced by Eisenhower who wanted to end the conflict
March 1953-Stalin died with no obvious successor which meant that future policies were uncertain. Made North Korea and China unsure
July 1953- Uncertainty meant peace treaty was signed
Who won the Korean war?
-No clear winners
UN: (:
-Proved it was actually useful
-Only was useful because USSR boycotted it
USA: /:
-Stopped Communism from spreading
-Lost 30,000 troops and spending was at $60 billion
China: (:
-Closer with USSR
-Gained respect of other Asian Communist supporters
-Secured Korea as a buffer state
Korea: :(
-1.3 million dead
-Industry and Agriculture was decimated
-The country was still divided
How did the Korean war extend the Cold War in Asia?
- The USA and UN supported the nationalist Chinese government which was the opposer to Maos government
- Relationships between USA, USSR and China got more complicated
- SEATO was founded which was an alliance of anti-communist states in Asia which increased problems between the USA and the USSR
