Korean War Flashcards
korea had been divided at the?
38th parallel
leader of north
kim il sung
leader of south
syngman rhee
who had come to power in 1949?
in the chinese revolution of 1949, the communists under mao zedong defeated the us backed nationalists
why did this victory raise fears in washington?
china was a member of the UN security council. it increased the possibility of communism spreading in asia.
from ______ to _____ korea had been ruled as a _______ by _____.
from 1910 to 1945 korea had been ruled as a colony by japan.
what did kim il sung want to do in 1949?
he approached stalin and said he was keen to reunite korea under his leadership. this proposal was rejected at first as the berlin blockade was going on.
a year later, the development of nuclear weapons and the chinese revolution made an invasion of the south much easier.
why was america worried about korea in 1950?
rhee was not popular and ruled as a dictator. the elections of 1950 showed that he was performing poorly in terms of popularity. this was largely due to corruption in his government.
how was the reaction to the chinese revolution another reason for us interest in asia?
mao was now in power in china but the us refused to recognize him as leader. they continued to recognize chiang kai-shek.
what did truman do after the invasion of the south?
-appealed to the UN to come to the aid of rhee. truman sent american forces from japan led by general douglas mcarthur.
another fourteen nations contributed to the UN army and five sent medical support.
what role did macarthur play?
president truman allowed geneal macarthur to invade north korea
in october 1950, china joined the war and captured seoul
macarthur wanted to attack china but this request was denied
what was indochina?
indochina was a french colony that covered a large area of south east asia. in the 1940s and 50s there was a revolt against the french. the resistance fighters were backed by the chinese.
the geneva conference
the geneva conference of 1954 was a meeting of international leaders to sort out problems in asia. under the terms of the geneva accord, france withdrew from indochina. vietnam was partitioned into communist north vietnam and democractic south vietnam. laos and cambodia were made independent states.
truman doctrine and its role in south vietnam
america eas willing to provide aid to south vietnam to stop it falling to communism. president eisenhower supported the choice of diem as leader of SV.
under eisenhower and later kennedy, the usa gave loads of money to SV. 12 000 US soldiers in V by 1962.
why did the USA get involved in the KW?
- wanted to contain communism
- prevent domino effect: if korea fell, japan might fall, which would be devastating for US economy
- many amis believed they had responsibility to intervene because if the truman doctrine.
- believed the USSR was behind invasion
- believed china would not intervene.
- wanted to take advantage of USSRs boycott of UN to get the UN to agree to military help 4 SK
