Korean War Flashcards
Explain the issue of partial knowability.
There are issues when studying Cold War and Korean War history due to the challenge of partial knowability because of the limited materials coming from the two sides that make studies speculative and theoretical at times. Whiting 1960 - argues only CN government documents can offer solid evidence about CN intentions, especially when it comes to the Korean War. The use of post Cold War materials sheds light on familiar themes through the conduct of elite interviews or availability of archival data which is becoming available.
Detail the major developments of the KW.
1945 - Korean peninsular divides into half with SU and US occupying each half as trustees, zone of control demarcated along 38th parallel until the establishment of a provisional Korean government.
1948 - UN held elections in the south but SU refused to allow them in the north and backed Kim.
Late 1948 - SU troops had left the peninsular, and US troops out by mid 1949.
January 1950 - Acheson’s speech excluded the Korean peninsula and TW from the US defensive perimeter in the Western Pacific, implying that the two regions weren’t of strategic importance for US military involvement. Encouraged Kim to take military action against the South.
May 1950 - Kim consults with Stalin who gave him the green light to reunify the country, but he asked him to have Mao’s consent first.
25 June - war broke out and NK went over the 38th parallel.
27 June - US naval blockade of the TWS put in place to prevent military attack that Mao might have taken, seeing KW as an opportunity to take TW by force.
8 July - UN forces under command of US military.
Late September - Mao concludes that CN would become a US target if UN forces went over the 38th parallel.
27 September - Truman gives conditional order to Commander MacArthur to proceed north, condition being that there wouldn’t be major CN intervention.
1 October - MacArthur calls for NK surrender while Stalin urged CN to send troops to defend 38th parallel. Beijing tries to urge US troops not to cross or they would take part in the war, but these efforts failed.
2 October - Mao makes initial decision to enter the KR.
4-5 October - expanded sessions of the Politburo looking at the pros and cons of CN entering the war.
5 October - Stalin sends telegram ephasising the Windows logic.
7 October - US crosses 38th parallel despite CN warning.
13 October - Mao sends telegram to Zhou on final decision to take part in the war even without initial air support from SU.
19 October - CN officially intervenes.
The initial CN military operations involved lots of guerrilla warfare and secretive operations which took the UN by surprise, but the war dragged on and in late July 1953 there was an Armistice Agreement signed to end the fighting.
Describe Mao’s readings of US intentions in the TWS June 1950.
US 7th Fleet patrolled TS to prevent primarily Mao taking action against TW, but also preventing the KMT regime from taking military action to try and claim mainland CN as they were telling their population. The US would have a two-end war to deal with. Us military action was a clear reversal of Truman’s 5 January statement of non-interference in the CN civil war, and this sent a clear signal to both parties that they were actually trying to play a part.
Mao saw US action as a way to protect TW militarily which was an act of US expansionism which increased US hostility to the PRC. The fear was that the US may actually fight for TW, threatening Mao with a two-front war.
