KQ5 - PAPER 4 Flashcards
korean war: context
korea had been ruled by Japan until 1945 at the end of ww2 when the northern half was liberated by soviet troops and southern half was liberated by the americans
After ww2 ended the north remained communist-controlled iwth USSR-trained leader and the south was anti-communist (not to democtratic)
Hostility between Kil Il Sumg and Syngman Rhee, and reunification did not seem likly. By 1950 this hostility turned into a war where north korean troops overwhelmed south’s forces
korean war: US response
Truman was determied to contain communism and imedietely sent advisors suppliers and warships to seas around korea but decided to wait for UN befre acting
korean war: United Nations Resolution 84 context
Truman out enormous pressure on th SC to condemn the actions of the north koreans and to force them to retrieve their troops.
- The USA was the biggest single contributor ti the UN budget and therefore was in apowerful position to influence decisions
Usually in a situation like this the USSR woul have used its veto to block the call of action but the ussr was boycottingh the UN at the time over another issue (whether comunist china should be allowed to join the UN) so when resolution was passed USSR was not present to b¡stop it, and truman was able to claim it was a UN-sponsored operation even if soviet media claimed the decision was invalid.
korean war: Reolution 84 content
The UN commited to using member’s armies to drive NK troops out of SK. 18 states provided troops or supoort of some kind - mostly allies of the USA and included Britain. However by far the largest was american. The lead commander - general McArthur was also American
korean war: September 1950
by september 1950 all except a small corner of south-east korea was under communist control.
UN forces stormed ashore at Inchon in september 1950 at the same time as other UN forces and SK forces advanced from Pusan. NK were driven back beyond their original border (38th oarallel) in weeks
korean war: October 1950
MacArtur has quickly achieved the original UN aim or removing NK troops from Sk, but the americans did not stop and despite warinigs from Chinas leader that if they pressed they would join war, the Un approved the plan to advance into NK
By october US forces had reached the Yalu river and the boreder with china. The nature of the war had now changed beyond containament. They wanted to remove communism from K entirely and Mao’s warnings were not going to put them off
korean war: November 1950
MacArthur had underestimated the power of the chinese and in late october 200,000 troops (callingthemselves the “peoples volunteers”) joined the NK. Their soldiers were strongly commited to communism and had a vile american hate. They had modern tanks and planes supplied by the Soviet Union and the >UN forces were pushed back into SK.
Conditions were some of the worse americans had known (cold, blinding snowstorms ). Chinese forces were more familiar with fighting in the mountains as the landscape was similar to that of china
korean war:April 1951
truman and macarthur fall out, macA wanted to carry on with the war and was ready to invade china and use nuclear weapons, but truman thought that saving SK was good enough. communism had been contained and war on china and ussr was too risky
mARCH 1951 MacA blantly ignored Un instruction and openly threatened to attack china, so truman removed him from his position as commander . He rejected McA agressive policy and containament was underlined as the american policy
korean war: June 1951
the fighting finaly reached stalemate around the 38th parallel in the middle of 1951. Peace talks began altghough fighting continued for two more years
korean war:July 1953
1952 - truman replaced with eisenhower who wanted to end war
Stalins death in march 1953 made North Koreans and chinese less confident
Armistice was signed july 1953 and the border was left much the same as before the war started in 1950
korean war: consequences
total of 1.4 million deaths
780,000 - NK and Chiese soldiers and civilians
500,000 - SK civilians
70,000 - Sk soldiers
30,000 - american soldiers
4,500 - UN soldiers
korean war: success?
Yes - although cost and casualties were high it showed the US was willing and had the means to contain communism. SK remained anticomunist
No - showed limits of policy. USA had to accept that NK remained communist and highlited tensions between american leaders. Hardline anticomunist leaders wanted to go beyond containament- to push back communisma nd thought that truman was weak for backing down
moderate leaders argued this ws not worth the risk
These tensions would affect US policy over the decades and NK would continue to trouble the USA long after the cold war ended.
Nk eventually became a communist dictatorship with help from china and a nuclear power, a threat to US allies Japan and SK
korean war: alliances with anti-communist countries
The USA created a network of anti-communist alliances around the world SEATO in south east asia and CENTO in central asia and middle east-. THe USA gave money advice and arms to these countries and in return the leadrs of these countries supressed comunist influence in theirt own countries
The ussr saw these alliances as agressive and acused USA of encircling the communist world
1955 - Soviet Un set up the WARSAW treaty organisation which included the USSR and all communist eastern european countries except Yugoslavia
korean war: methods of containament
Korean war showed sending troops to every war was too expensive and not very efficient so they focused on two new methods
1) building alliances
2) building powerful weapons
korean war: building more powerful nuclear weapons
the firsdt atomuic bomb in 1945 on hiroshima and nagasaki killed 70,000 people instantly and made japan surrender within a week. us believed this waxs the weapon of the future to oppose communism
ussr thought so too so a arms race developed
