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A level history: Cold War > The Korean War -> Causes, Position and Aims of Kim il Sung and Syngman Rhee > Flashcards

The Korean War -> Causes, Position and Aims of Kim il Sung and Syngman Rhee Flashcards

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1
Q

what was one way violent conflict came about in the Third World following decolonisation?

A

The imperial/ colonial power refused to give up possession of the territory so that those living in the territory had to fight the imperial power for their national liberation

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2
Q

what was another way violent conflict came about in the Third World following decolonisation?

A

The imperial power left, leaving a power vacuum where different groups fought with each other to fill the vacuum

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3
Q

when was the age of decolonisation?

A

1945-1980

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4
Q

which one of these processes occurred in Korea?

A

The Japanese Empire that had occupied Korea since 1910 ended after the sudden collapse of Japanese power at the end of WWII and left a power vacuum

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5
Q

why did Japan occupy Korea?

A

Japan didnt have raw materials so imposed a brutal, exploitative form of colonialism in Korea from 1910
- opposition movement couldn’t emerge in Korea until 1930s in Manchuria where some Koreans forcibly sent to work and joined Mao’s communist party

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6
Q

Who controlled South Korea?

A

In South Korea, the authoritarian, pro-capitalist and virulent anti-communist Syngman Rhee - who had spent decades living in the USA - claimed legitimacy to govern the whole of Korea

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7
Q

What was Syngman Rhee against?

A
  • against land reform and nationalisation
  • wanted to be lenient to those who profited from the Japanese so had backing of wealthy and officials
  • was exiled in US or Jiang’s China and not been in Korea since 1910s
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8
Q

Who controlled North Korea?

A

In North Korea, the communist but authoritarian Kim Il Sung also claimed legitimacy to govern the whole of Korea

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9
Q

What did Kim Il Sung want for Korea?

A

Kim Il Sung wanted self-determination and land reform for Korea
- as well as nationalisation and economic development
- wanted Korea to be its own place rather than the interest of a Japanese sharehold

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10
Q

How was Korea split at the end of WWII?

A
  • At Potsdam in August 1945
  • Korea taken from Japanese control and divided into two zones of occupation temporarily for ministration
  • Occupied by USA (south) and USSR (north)
  • Separated at 38th parallel
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11
Q

When were two separate Korean states established?

A
  • August 1948
    USA created the Republic of Korea
  • September 1948
    USSR created the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
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12
Q

How did the USA and USSR arrange their provisional governments in Korea?

A
  • Installed leaders they thought they could control
  • USSR avoided coalitions with non-communist groups
  • USA picked anti-communist representatives from political right and centre
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13
Q

What were Sung and Rhee’s ultimate aim?

A

To restore Korea’s sovereignty under one leader

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14
Q

What was Rhee’s position with regard to uniting Korea?

A
  • Wanted a united Korea without communism
  • Wanted to remove communism from North and strengthen Korea to resist threats from USSR
  • Favoured defending a border with Manchuria rather than defending one at 38th parallel
  • In late 1949, Rhee was confident that a major assault against the North could be successfully mounted
  • A reunited Korea would be easier to defend from USSR
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15
Q

What did Rhee want from the USA?

A
  • Wanted USA to protect South Korea from an attack from North
  • Provide military aid to South Korean Army
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16
Q

What was Sung’s position with regard to uniting Korea?

A

Also wanted to use force to reunite Korea
- Used guerilla action to destablise South

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17
Q

How did Sung try convincing USSR and China to support the North?

A
  • Invasion would be a rapid and decisive victory
  • There was a hard core of 200,000 communist supporters already in the South
  • There was a well-organised communist guerrilla force operating in
    the South
  • The USA would not have time to intervene
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18
Q

What is one cause for why the Korean War came about (superpower..)

A

Cold War superpower politics caused the war

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19
Q

how did Cold War superpower politics cause the war?

A
  • It was the USSR’s support of Kim Il Sung in the North that encouraged the North to invade the South, triggering the war
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20
Q

how did the USSR support Kim Il Sung ?

A
  • Kim was trained for leadership by Soviets in China and had a strong nucleus for army with soldiers that fought Japanese and Jiang Jieshi (experienced)
  • Stalin willing to supply with air cover, ammunition, medicine
21
Q

How did Stalin believe the situation had changed by spring 1950?

A
  • Whilst initially resistant to the idea of war, by spring 1950, Stalin believed the situation had changed
  • the Soviets detonated their first nuclear bomb in September 1949
  • The Americans had not directly intervened to stop the Communist victory in China
  • Stalin calculated that the Americans would be even less willing to fight in Korea, which had seemingly much less significance than China
22
Q

what did ethnic Korean units in the PLA do after the Communist victory?

A
  • After the Communist victory in the Chinese Civil War, ethnic Korean units in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army were sent to North Korea
  • Taken together, the combat veterans from China, the tanks, artillery and aircraft supplied by the Soviets, and rigorous training increased North Korea’s military superiority over the South
23
Q

what did Stalin give Kim Il Sung permission for in April 1950?

A

In April 1950, Stalin gave Kim Il Sung permission to invade the South (he had asked 48 times)

24
Q

Did Americans give Rhee indication that he would support him in case of invasion?

A

The Americans had not given Rhee much indication that the USA would militarily support him in the case of a northern invasion

25
Q

How do many historians support this interpretation of superpower politics?

A
  • Many historians argue that Soviet aggression caused the war
  • the aggressive Soviets told their allies in the North to invade
26
Q

How were the Soviets seeking to expand?

A

The USSR was looking to expand, and it was Stalin’s belief that the USA wouldn’t support the South, which made the USSR try to establish a totalitarian dictatorship over the whole nation

27
Q

what are the strengths + limitations of the superpower politics causing the Korean war?

A
  • True that the North’s perception that the USA wouldn’t help the South encouraged them to invade the South in 1950
  • this interpretation exaggerates the influence of the superpowers and ignores what was happening within Korea itself at the time
  • doesn’t show the full picture
28
Q

what is another reason for why the Korean war came about (Korea) ?

A

The intense political conflicts rooted in Korean society caused the war

29
Q

how did conflicts rooted in Korean society cause the war?

A
  • the division of Korea was deeply unpopular and made it inevitable that one side would try to reunite it through war
30
Q

how did people feel about the regime in South Korea?

A

The regime in the South was deeply unpopular, and only managed to cling onto power through direct American military support

31
Q

what evidence made Syngman Rhee deeply hated?

A

Rhee had 100,000-200,000 executed
- South Korea was on the road to Civil War so when the North invades, the South Korean army disappears with no desire to back Syngman Rhee

32
Q

how did hatred for the Southern regime cause the war?

A

the widespread hatred for the regime in the South meant that the North invaded to help their Southern compatriots overthrow the unpopular Syngman Rhee regime and reunite Korea, which everyone desired

33
Q

How did Stalin instigate the conflict in Korea

A

The reliance on Kim Il Sung’s regime on Soviet aid made it unlikely that the invasion could have taken place without Stalin’s support
- HOWEVER, to see the war as simply the result of Soviet Communist expansionism does little justice to the genuine grievances of the Korean people at the division of their country

34
Q

who were held responsible for the situation in the North?

A

In the North, it was the Americans who were held responsible for the situation, since they initially put forward the idea of dividing the country into North and South

35
Q

what did the US organise in Korea in April 1948?

A

In 1948, the US organised elections that were to take place only in the South; seen as legitimising the division of the nation into North and South

36
Q

how did people react to the April 1948 election?

A

Popular anger towards the election was demonstrated by many Southern politicians refusing to take part in the elections
- voting itself saw widespread sabotage and violence, resulting in 600 deaths
- Syngman Rhee’s party achieved only 13.5% of the vote

37
Q

Who had the US reinstalled collaboration with?

A

The USA had reinstalled former collaborators with the Japanese into positions of power in the South
- Rhee’s reliance on American backing only reinforced the widespread hostility towards his government

38
Q

How was conflict inevitable by the time North Korea invaded?

A
  • When the North Koreans invaded the South, the South was on the verge of civil war
  • Uprisings and guerilla activity in the South against the Rhee regime took place deliberately to coincide with the North’s entry into the South and aid the Communist takeover
39
Q

What were the names of the three uprisings in South Korea?

A
  • The Autumn Uprising
  • The Jeju Uprising
  • The Yeosu-Suncheon rebellion
40
Q

When was the Autumn Uprising?

A

1946

41
Q

What happened in the Autumn Uprising?

A

8,000 strong railroad worker strike began in the southern city of Pusan
- calling for an end to American presence

42
Q

How did the US get involved in the Autumn Uprising?

A

American military helped suppress the rebellion, sending in US troops and tanks and declaring martial law and succeeded in putting down the uprising

43
Q

What were the casualties of the Autumn Uprising?

A

38 policemen, 163 civil workers and 73 civilians were killed

44
Q

When was the Jeju Uprising?

A

In April 1948

45
Q

What was the Jeju Uprising?

A

13 month anti-government rebellion rising in favour of land reform and self-determination (end to American presence)
- signified that South Korea was on the brink of Civil War

46
Q

When was the Yeosu-Suncheon rebellion?

A

October 1948

47
Q

How did American military forces play a role in suppressing the rebellion?

A
  • American commanders planned and carried out the military operations
  • American military advisers accompanied all South Korean units and American aircraft were used to transport troops
48
Q

What did these uprisings demonstrate?

A

Showed the widespread hostility and resistance to Rhee’s government
- in this context that the North invaded the South, intervening on the side of the mas movement resisting Rhee’s regime
- the Northern invasion can be understood not as Soviet expansionism, but as an attempt to overthrow the increasingly unpopular Rhee regime

A level history: Cold War (26 decks)

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