KQ5- How Effectively Did USA Contain The Spread Of Communism (The Korean War 1950-53) Flashcards
What was the significance of the Korean War?
- 1st hotspot of the Cold War
- 1st real test for the new United Nations
- 1st time the Cold War had spread outside of Europe, previous conflicts in Eastern Europe and Berlin
What was the 38th parallel in relation to the Korean War?
-The line that separates North Korea and South Korea, boundary of the communist north with the capitalist south
- Chosen as the frontier between American and Soviet sectors of Korea in 1945, intended as a temporary dividing line, marks the approximate start of the two sides in the Korean War, crossing this boundary which resulted in United Nations actions
- finishing position of two sides at the end of the Korean War
Why did North Korea invade South Korea in June 1950?
- South: Democratic, Syngman Rhee, Seoul
- North: Communist, Kim II Sung, Pyongyang
- 1949: USA/USSR pull out troops (created instability)
- 1949 China falls to communism under Mao Zedong
- Kim II- Sung wanted to unite Korea under communist rule he thought this was possible because he had support of fellow communist leaders Stalin and Mao Zedong and and Kim thought it was unlikely that the USA would respond
- North Korea thought it was the legitimate government of Korea
- North Korea‘s armed forces were stronger than South Korea’s
- 1950: Syngman Rhee threatens North Korea, North invades south
Why did the UN become involved in the Korean War?
- UN had been involved in establishment of new anti-communist government of South Korea
- both north and South Korea governments claim to be the legitimate government of the whole of Korea
- Kim II Sung wanted to unite Korea under communist rule. If UN failed to oppose Americans would have.
- truman put enormous pressure on the UN security council to condemn North Korean actions and call for withdrawal
- when the resolution was passed, USSR was not represented at the meeting to use its veto, UN committed itself to using members armies
What was the response of the United Nations organisation to events in Korea in June 1950?
- Meeting of security council was organised immediately. Council decided that North Koreans had broken world peace, passed a resolution calling on North Korea to withdraw their armed forces.
- UN called on North Korea to withdraw to the 38th parallel
- 2nd resolution in June asked UN members to help South Korea, US was to take command of the UN operation , the UN organised troops from US and 15 other countries
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Why did the USA oppose the North Korean invasion of South Korea?
- US believed that a successful conquest of South Korea would encourage a Chinese attack on Formosa, if South Korea and Formosa both fell to the communism then Japan would be threatened. US believed it would represent a major shift in the power balance between the communist and capitalist world.
- President Truman was interested in the far east as they too were getting powerful. Truman believe that if one country fell to communism then others would follow.
- undermine communism: April 1950 American national security Council recommended American abandoned containment and start rolling back communism (NSC 68)
- truman realised that USA was in a competition for world domination with the USSR by supporting South Korea America was able to fight communism without directly attacking Russia.
How was the USSR involved?
- Also involved in the far East: Kim II Sung visited Stalin
- 1949 Kim II Sung convinced Stalin he could conquer South Korea
- Stalin saw a chance to continue the Cold War, discomfort America but at arms length without directly confronting the Americans, Kim II Sung went to see Mao Zedong to get his agreement
What was the trigger for war?
1950 Syngman Rhee boasted that he was going to attack North Korea therefore the North invaded the South
Why did the US provide most of the forces that resisted North Korea’s invasion of the south?
- US followed a policy of containment, wanted to stop any further communist expansion. They were worried that if South Korea fell to communism Japan and other non-communist countries in the far east would be under threat.
- US had been closely involved in the establishment of the Republic of Korea, invasion of South Korea challenged to US’s internationally accepted position as South Korea‘s protector. US thought actions of North Korea were a part of Soviet plan to test the US.
- as US had appealed to UN to use military force to stop North Korea they felt they should provide large numbers of forces to help
How did the war unfold?
June- September 1950: 25th of June 1950 North Koreans attacked (successful) the North Korean people‘s army (NKPA) defeated Republic of Korea’s army (ROK’s) easily, captured most of Korea, 27th of June UN passed a resolution supporting South Korea, American sent troops to Korea to reinforce the South Korean army.
- Sept-Nov 1950: 15th of September American general MacArthur led a UN amphibious landing at Inchon behind NKPA. 300,000 troops 260,000 were Americans. NKPA had to retreat. Americans drove them back and recaptured South Korea .125,000 NKPA prisoners were taken. 7th of October 1950 MacArthur invaded North Korea he advanced as far as the Chinese border.
- Nov 1950- Feb 1951- 25th of November 200,000 Chinese troops attacked MacArthur, they had weapons supplied by Russia. 31st of December half 1 million more Chinese troops, they drove the Americans back recaptured North Korea and advanced into South Korea
- Feb- March 1951- Americans landed more troops, they used bombers, million Chinese and half million North Koreans dead. Americans drove the Chinese back losing 35,000 American soldiers. MacArthur reached the 38th parallel in March 1951.
March 1951- 1953- Truman told MacArthur to stop. MacArthur was sacked when he publicly criticised Truman‘s order. 1953 Eisenhower became American president. Americans threatened to use atomic bomb if China did not stop fighting. the Chinese agreed to a truce signed 27th of July 1953.
Why did the Korean War end in a stalemate?
-MacArthur shocked at strength of Chinese forces, if USA was unwilling to use atomic bomb likely to be heavy casualties to defeat North Koreans and China.
-UN shown it could reverse an act of aggression but concerned that by the time of the ceasefire 4 million Koreans were dead and 5 million were homeless
How successful was the USA’s policy of containment in Korea?
-Showed that US had the will and means to contain communism
-The USA had contributed 50% ground forces 90% air forces and 85% of naval forces
- USA used UN to contain communism. US determined to end aggression of North Korea in 1950 although Korea wasn’t united under Syngman Rhee it pushed back the communists to the 38th parallel.
- highlighted tensions among American leaders they thought Truman had shown weakness in not going for outright victory
- A unified independent Korea was not achieved around 4 million Koreans lost their lives
- The US needed to use the UN to reinforce its containment policy over care suggesting failure
-america was accused of being expansionist missing an opportunity to destroy communism in China
Did events in Korea demonstrate that the UNO was effective in peacekeeping?
-UN took decisive action to stop the attack on South Korea, after bitter fighting UN was able to preserve the frontier between the two.
-UN‘s policy was that Korea should become one country with free elections supervised by the UN. The war did not achieve this as Korea remained divided. peace was achieved but both sides remained hostile towards each other.
How great a threat was the Korean War world peace?
- November 1950 American units reached the Yalu river. The Chinese launched a large scale counter offence, if the war did not move to the mainland then the Sino Soviet mutual alliance would mean that the Soviets would enter the war on China’s behalf threatening US.
- USSR gave arms to North Korea general MacArthur thought nuclear weapons should be used
- the Korean War was not a threat to world peace as the UN stood up to an act of aggression by North Korea.many members gave troops, military, medical equipment and assistance.
-truman did not want the war to move to mainland China and MacArthur was dismissed
- 1950 US USSR and China started negotiations to end the war
What was the response of the United Nations organisation to events in Korea in June 1950?
