Pt. 2 Korean War Flashcards
Domino Effect
It is a US theory that if one country fall to communism, so too will countries around it. It mostly applied to Asia and was a justification for involvement in Korea and Vietnam.
Moscow Agreement
The US and USSR agreed to divide Korea into North and South at the 38th parallel. Korea had been under Japanese control since 1910; Japan’s surrender in 1945 led to the loss of its territories. The US and USSR would be the “trustees” of Korea for a 5 year period (similar to the British mandate in Palestine), after which they would consider creating an independent Korea. By 1947, the UN assumed control of North and South Korea, in part because of increasing tension between North and South. Eventually, both sides declared independence and eventually created the circumstance for the US and USSR to get involved.
Synghman Rhee
He was a powerful leader south of the 38th parallel in Korea. In 1948, he declared independence from foreign control, saying that South Korea would now be democratic and capitalist, with the new name of the Republic of Korea. Despite the call for total independence, he pleads for US support when the North invades South Korea in 1950. He is in power from 1948-1960 and was quite corrupt.
Kim Il Sung
He was a powerful leader north of the 38th parallel in Korea, who declared in 1948 that North Korea would be communist and free from foreign control. He renamed North Korea the Democratic Republic of Korea (North Korea. He called for an invasion of South Korea in 1950 in an attempt to unite Korea under communism. He was in power from 1948-1994.
38th Parallel
The US and USSR agreed to divide Korea into North and South at the 38th parallel.
“Rollback”
The US decided AGAINST a policy of “Rollback” in the Korean War. Rollback would take US anti-communist policies a step further than containment. Containment was an attempt to not allow communism to spread farther than it already had. Rollback would be an attempt to turn communist countries back into democratic countries. Had the US pursued rollback in the Korean War in full force (MacArthur briefly , they would have tried to convert North Korea to democracy.
Douglas MacArthur
He advocated a policy of “roll back” – meaning turning communist countries into democratic countries (in opposition to containment. Truman fired him for pursuing roll back in Korea and bringing Chinese into the conflict, despite assuring President Truman that China would not get involved.
