The Korean War

38th parallel

The 25^th June in 1950 is the beginning of the Korean War. Korea was divided into two parts: into the communist North and the democratic South. The border between North and South is the 38^th parallel. The Korean War lasted three years and can be seen as a war during the period of the Cold War. Many Americans today already forgot about the Korean War, that’s why it is also called the “Forgotten War”. It was the first real “shooting” war after World War II the Americans were involved in.

Before and during WWII Korea belonged to the Japan Empire. After Japan surrendered in 1945, the Soviets and Americans had to decide what happens with Kora. They divided it into two parts along the 38^th parallel of the globe.

In 1949 China became communist and they started to support North Korea in order to conquer the South. The communist dictator of the North was Kim Il Sung, the “democratic” dictator of the South was Syngman Rhee, both unable to reunite Korea which caused a Civil War. But this war became more than a Civil War when the US started to support the South Korean government. They thought the North was supported by the Soviets. The American president at that time, Truman, did not ask the Congress if he could send troops in order to invade North Korea, he asked the UN for a “UN police action” because of National Emergency. Truman declared his aim to reunite Korea as one non- communist country.

“If we let Korea down,” President Harry Truman (1884-1972) said, “the Soviet[s] will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another.” The fight on the Korean peninsula was a symbol of the global struggle between east and west, good and evil. As the North Korean army pushed into Seoul, the South Korean capital, the United States readied its troops for a war against communism itself.

In November 1950, American troops came close to the Chinese boarder so the Chinese feared an attack by them. That’s when China started to join the Korean War. The war went on for two years, in total America dropped more bombs on Korea than in the whole Pacific Theater during WWII. When the Americans realized they were not going to win that war, they started to look for a way out and elected a new president in 1952: Eisenhower.

In 1953 both sides of Korea signed a treaty: it gave more territory to the South and created a 2-mile- wide demilitarized zone which exists still today.

The most important facts about the Korean War:

1.      It was expensive: in both, money and lives. Nearly four million Chinese and Korean people were wounded or killed, most of them Korean civilians.

2.      Truman went into war without asking the Congress for permission, he gave the position of the President new power and going into war without asking the Congress became quite popular in the last 60 years in US history. The people wanted to see the US doing something and to take South Korea to help them.

3.      The war was the beginning of a bigger intervention of America in Asia: the Vietnam War.

The Domino Theory

Because the Americans believed in the so called “domino theory” they had to eliminate the northern communist state of Korea and to support the democratic South. They were feared that if one state gets communist whole South East Asia would become communist like a row of dominoes. The people at that time were afraid that the Soviet Union had the power over a whole continent.

Personal opinion:

From our point of view, this war was just another occasion to show the world that America is the “police” of the world and helps poor countries to fight against communism. They were so scared of communism and the Soviets that they had to join the war because the whole world expected them to do so. 

We understand that they wanted to follow their interests and to support the South Korean government, but when we take a look at the millions of people who died during this war, we are so shocked. Civilians had to die because America fought for their interest: “eliminating communism”.

Bibliography:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2IcmLkuhG0

http://www.history.com/topics/korean-war