Unit 6 Lesson 2 Korea and Other Postwar Conflicts

Question 1

What was the 38th parallel who was there and why?

Answer 1

As World War II ended, the United States and the Soviet Union agreed to a temporary division of Korea at the 38th parallel of latitude. Both nations agreed that Korea would soon be reunited.

Question 2

Why didnt Korea get reunited?

Answer 2

As the Cold War deepened, however, Korea remained divided. The United States backed a noncommunist government in South Korea. The Soviet Union supported the Communist government of North Korea. There was no agreement on when, or how, to reunite Korea.

Question 3

What happened in June 1950 in Korea?

Answer 3

n June 1950, North Korean troops swept across the 38th parallel into South Korea. This marked the beginning of the Korean War. The South Korean army was quickly overwhelmed. Within days, North Korean forces occupied Seoul (SOLE), the capital of South Korea.

Question 4

What was PResident Tryman response to Koreas invasion?

Answer 4

President Truman responded forcefully to the attack. He asked the United Nations to send a military force to Korea. The UN Security Council voted to set up a force to be commanded by a general chosen by Truman. The President chose General Douglas MacArthur, who had commanded Allied forces in the Pacific during World War II. Although 16 nations joined the UN action in Korea, about 80 percent of the troops were American.

Question 5

How was the battle looking for the UN?

Answer 5

At first, UN forces were outnumbered and poorly supplied. Armed with new Soviet tanks, the North Koreans pushed steadily southward. They soon occupied almost all of South Korea. MacArthur then launched a daring counterattack by sea. He landed United Nations forces at Inchon behind North Korean lines. Caught by surprise, the North Koreans were forced back across the 38th parallel.

Question 6

How did MacArthur win approval to cross to North Korea?

Answer 6

MacArthur’s original orders called for him only to drive the invaders out of South Korea. Truman and his advisers, however, wanted to punish North Korea for its aggression. They also wanted to unite Korea. With these goals in mind, they won UN approval for MacArthur to cross into North Korea.

Question 7

What was Chinas role in the korean war?

Answer 7

While MacArthur advanced northward, the Chinese government warned that it would not “sit back with folded hands” if the United States invaded North Korea. As UN forces neared the Chinese border, masses of Chinese troops crossed the Yalu River into North Korea. Communist China perceived the approach of Western forces, presumably there to contain communism, as a threat to its own security. The Chinese were determined to fight off that threat.

Question 8

What happened during the war by March 1951?

Answer 8

Then, the UN forces regrouped and pushed the Chinese back into North Korea. By March 1951, UN troops had regained control of the south. The war then turned into a bloody deadlock.

Question 9

During the deadlock, a serious disagreement arose between General MacArthur and President Truman, why?

Answer 9

MacArthur felt that to win the war, UN forces must attack China. Truman feared that an attack on China might lead to a world war. He hoped to limit the war and restore the border between North Korea and South Korea at the 38th parallel.

Question 10

Angry that MacArthur was defying orders, Truman fired the popular general.
Truman’s action outraged many Americans. What was Truman’s reasoning behind this?

Answer 10

Truman, however, defended his decision. Under the Constitution, he pointed out, the President is commander in chief, responsible for key decisions about war and peace. MacArthur’s statements, said Truman, undermined attempts to reach a peace settlement.

Question 11

Who was Dwight Eisenhower?

Answer 11

Republicans nominated Dwight Eisenhower, the popular World War II general, as their presidential candidate in 1952. During the campaign, Eisenhower pledged that if he were elected, he would personally go to Korea. At the same time, he would work to get the stalled peace talks going again.

Question 12

Eisenhower won the election and visited Korea within a few weeks of his victory. What was the sitiuation in Korea by then?

Answer 12

By then, both sides were eager for a cease-fire. The only remaining problem was the return of prisoners of war. After long negotiations, the two sides finally agreed to turn this issue over to an international commission.

Question 13

How did the war end and what was a demillitarized zone?

Answer 13

Finally, in July 1953, the two sides signed an armistice to end the fighting. It redrew the border between North Korea and South Korea near the 38th parallel, where it had been before the war.

Along the border, it also set up a demilitarized zone (DMZ), an area with no military forces. On either side of the DMZ, however, heavily armed troops dug in. They remain there today.

Question 14

What were the human costs of the Korean War?

Answer 14

The human costs of the Korean War were staggering. Well over 30,000 Americans lost their lives in the war zone. Nearly 2 million Koreans and Chinese were also killed.

Question 15

What was the outcome of the Korean War?

Answer 15

Politically, the Korean War changed nothing. Korea remained divided. On the other hand, UN forces did push back North Korean forces during the war and kept communism out of South Korea. Through this action, the United States and its allies showed that they were ready to fight to prevent Communist expansion.

Question 16

In September 1959, the Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev (KROOSH chawf), arrived in New York to address the United Nations. What did his trip tell us?

Answer 16

Khrushchev’s trip to the UN symbolized the fact that the Cold War had become global. Although the Cold War had started in Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union now competed for allies and influence among the members of the United Nations.

Question 17

After World War II, many colonial people demanded and won independence. Some achieved independence peacefully. Others had to fight for it. How did the Soviet union react to this?

Answer 17

In the colonies, Communists often joined other groups to fight foreign control. Khrushchev called these struggles “wars of national liberation.” Both openly and secretly, the Soviets gave economic and military aid to rebel forces.

The West tried to prevent the Soviets from expanding their influence. In their efforts, American leaders faced difficult choices.

Question 18

The United States also had to deal with its own colony. In 1946, it withdrew from the Philippines, which it had acquired during the Spanish-American War. What was the Philipines like after the US left?

Answer 18

Since then, the Philippines has struggled to preserve a democratic government. It has suffered from poverty, local uprisings, and dictatorships. Under the rule of Ferdinand Marcos, who was in power from 1965 to 1986, opposition parties were repressed. In the years that followed, the Philippines struggled to find a stable and honest government.

Question 19

During the 1950s and 1960s, more than 30 African nations won freedom from European rule. Thus US and the Soviet Union sought..

Answer 19

Both the United States and the Soviet Union sought allies among these new nations.

Question 20

US and the Soviet Union in India?

Answer 20

In 1947, India won independence from Britain. The Indian subcontinent was divided into two nations: India and Pakistan. Both the United States and the Soviet Union tried to win the support of these new nations.
Feeling threatened by the Soviet Union to its north, Pakistan became an ally of the United States. India accepted both American and Soviet aid but remained neutral in the Cold War.

Question 21

Whow were Ethel and Julius Rosenberg ?

Answer 21

Still, some remained avid Communists. Between 1946 and 1950, several people in the United States, Canada, and Britain were arrested as Soviet spies. In the United States, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were sentenced to death for passing atomic secrets to the Soviets. Despite protests, both were executed in 1953. The Rosenberg case made many Americans wonder if other Soviet spies were living among them as ordinary citizens.

Question 22

Who was Alger Hiss?

Answer 22

. In 1950, Alger Hiss, a State Department official, was imprisoned for perjury, or lying under oath. Hiss had denied that he was part of a Soviet spy ring. Later evidence would suggest that Hiss and several other high government officials were passing secrets to the Soviet Union

Question 23

What did Truman do becasue of the fear of conunisim in the US?

Answer 23

In 1947, President Truman ordered investigations of government workers to determine if they were loyal to the United States. Thousands of government employees were questioned. Some people were forced to resign. Many of those had done nothing disloyal to the United States.

Question 24

The McCarthy Era

Answer 24

In 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin made a shocking announcement. He claimed to have a list of 205 State Department employees who were Communist party members. McCarthy was never able to prove his claims. Yet, McCarthy’s dramatic charges won him national attention.

Question 25

What was McCarthyism?

Answer 25

During the next four years, McCarthy’s campaign spread suspicion across the nation. Businesses and colleges questioned employees. Many people were fired. The term McCarthyism came to be known as the use of reckless charges of disloyalty.

Question 26

When did McCarthys popularity drop?

Answer 26

In 1954, the Senate held televised hearings to investigate a new McCarthy charge. He insisted that there were Communists in the United States Army. This time, McCarthy had gone too far. On national television, he came across as a bully, not a hero. His popularity plunged.

Question 27

What happened to McCarthy in 1954?

Answer 27

In December 1954, the Senate passed a resolution to censure, or officially condemn, McCarthy for “conduct unbecoming a member.” As a result, McCarthy lost much of his support. By the time he died three years later, the Communist scare was mostly over.