Korean+War

"the forgotten war" **
 * KOREAN WAR (1950-1953)

[]

Korea divided at the 38th parallel into a northern and southern territory. The northern territory was occupied by the Soviets and the southern territory was occupied by the U.S.. On June 25, 1950, North Korea's leader attacked South Korea.the North Koreans began the attack on South Korea with the invasion of Seoul. Since the invasion was a surprise attack, the South Koreans were completely unprepared and outnumbered ~ 5-1 and without heavy weapons they could not halt the North Korean advancement into their territory. The important thing to note is that although the Korean War was fought between the North and South Koreans, the U.S. and Russia used it as a way to fight each other without really having to fight each other. By establishing a democratic (South Korea) and communist-type (North Korea) government, the U.S. and Russia were able to channel their hatred for one another and fight maintaining the cold war era and avoiding a hot war.  In response to this crisis, President Truman armed himself with the UN authority allowing him to intervene in this soon to be disaster. He obtained the go ahead to send arms to South Korea and sent Douglas MacArthur to command the UN army of mostly U.S. soldiers. They were pushed back to Pusan but they also pushed back and almost overtook them.  The U.S. interference in the Korean War was labeled as a police action so that Congress would not have to officially declare war on North Korea. It also allowed the UN to commit troops, of which the majority were from U.S., to combat the North Korean threat.  The U.S. and South Korean armies drove the North Korean forces back across the 38th parallel. Then in an effort to get rid of communism in North Korea, General MacArthur took advantage of the situation.  General MacArthur constantly expressed his wishes to expand the Korean war into an all out fight to China. He later changed his view to one of an even more radical position. He stated it was necessary to have total victory in the entire Asian continent.MacArthur was relieved of duty when he disobeyed orders from President Truman.

On July 27, 1953 an agreement was reached at Panmunjom under President Eisenhower's term. The agreement was an armistice which stated that neither side could increase the amount of non-Korean military personnel stationed in Korea and it established the 2.5 mile wide demilitarized zone at the 38th parallel. The South Koreans army was caught completely off guard when the North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) invaded, with about 2 and half times the force of the South Korean army. 

The Korean War ignited a fear in the U.S. of the Domino Effect which was a big part of the U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. It was the theory that if one nation was to fall to the claws of communism, neighboring nations would soon follow suit. The United States feared that the collapse of Korea to the communists would cause the Domino Effect in all of Southeast Asian. The U.S. failure in Korea prompted them to intervene in Vietnam in order to stop the next domino from falling. As a result of our failure in the Korean War, North and South Korea are still in a battle ready state which is shown by the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries at the 38th parallel.
 * Effect** :

When the communist North Korea invaded the democratic Republic of South Korea, the U.S. fear of communism increased. It made citizens think that the Democratic U.S. could be in danger of communism's spread if the democratically established South Korea was taken by the communist North.

[] [] [] [] .http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Domino_theory.png