...The Korean War: A Brief Overview Brett Cassell Chamberlain College of Nursing The Korean War: A Brief Overview The Korean War is often thought of as “The Forgotten War”, this is the common reference to the war because it was sandwiched between two very large, long-lasting wars. The Korean War is very significant because it was the first time that the animosities between Communist Russia and Democratic United States Surfaced. Both North and South Korea were puppet regimes of their respective partners, so this would be the first time blood would be drawn in the cold war. After World War Two Korea was essentially up for grabs by the superpowers of the time. The two forces in 1945 were working together to rid the peninsula of the Japanese....
Words: 3044 - Pages: 13
...From 1950 to 1953, the Korean War was a short war. Nevertheless, the Korean War carries the same amount of impact as any wars would have. The Korean War was also a tragic, the lost of lives and casualties were big for this country, even if it was a small amount to most of the other countries. During World War II, Korea, at that time, was apart of the Japanese empire. After World War II, the United States Army (U.S. Army) and the Soviet to decide what to do with the enemy's imperial possessions. In August 1945, two young aides at the State Department divided the Korean peninsula in half along the 38th parallel. While the Russians occupied the north of the line and the United States occupied the south. In the South, the Anti-Communist dictator Syngman Rhee enjoyed the reluctant support of the United States government; in the North, the Communist dictator Kim Il Sung enjoyed the slightly more enthusiastic support of the Soviets. However, neither dictators was happy to remain on one side of the 38th parallel and border skirmishes were common. Nearly 10,000 North and South Korean soldiers were killed in battle before the war even began....
Words: 652 - Pages: 3
...Korean War Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 - armistice signed 27 July 1953[1] ) was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China (PRC), with military material aid from the Soviet Union. The war was a result of the physical division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. The Korean peninsula was ruled by Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. Following the surrender of Japan in 1945, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th Parallel, with United States troops occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part.[2] The failure to hold free elections throughout the Korean Peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides, and the North established a Communist government. The 38th Parallel increasingly became a political border between the two Koreas. Although reunification negotiations continued in the months preceding the war, tension intensified. Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel persisted. The situation escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950.[3] It was the first significant armed conflict of the Cold War.[4] The United Nations, particularly the United States, came to the aid of South Korea in repelling the invasion. A...
Words: 23177 - Pages: 93
...the Korean War was a war without winners? I believe to a great extent that the Korean War was a war with winners. While the U.S.A and South Korea gained economic victories, China and the U.S.S.R benefited politically. The fact that not one singular country benefited in all aspects proves that there was no outright winner in this war however. Economically speaking, the U.S.A was victorious, gaining a 10% rise in GDP following the end of the Korean War. This was due to a great amount of military expenditure and employment. Moreover, the U.S.A returned economic prosperity to Japan and successfully gained a buffer state to communism in the form of South Korea. However, we must note that there were also failures, such as the fact that total military expenditure in the war rose from 4% to 14% of their GNP for no apparent reward. While the U.S.A were obvious victors in this aspect, there were also clear losers. These were North Korea and the U.S.S.R. Russia gave North Korea $500 million dollars a year, which resulted in no advance in the spread of communism. Russia was also dependant on North Korea for a positive economic result which it didn’t get. It was a similar situation for North Korea, who had 8,700 industrial plants knocked down and 600 000 homes destroyed. With concern to human cost, it can be argued that Russia were the true victors. They sustained very few casualties in return for a much bigger reward than U.S.A or China as they gained a buffer state in North Korea...
Words: 711 - Pages: 3
...The Korean War was a period of military conflict between North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea) with many casualties when North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25th, 1950. It was foremost a civil war that demonstrated an incomparable battle between North and South Korea and their attempts to reclaim Korea under each own government. North Korea under the leadership of Kim-Il Sung committed to uniting both halves of Korea under communist rule with the intervention and support of the Soviet Union’s prominent leader Joseph Stalin. Meanwhile, South Korea was a nationalist nation, with an anti-communist government under the leadership of President Syngman Rhee and received economic assistance from...
Words: 290 - Pages: 2
...Heartbreak ridge is one of the bloodiest wars of its date, and it all started from the beginning of the Korean war. The Korean war started when forces from North Korea which is communist, attack into South Korea . The United States allies United Nations, went to the defense of South Korea and fought a long bloody three year war. Major General Clovis Byers is commander of the United States, the 2nd Infantry Division commander Brigadier General Thomas Shazo led the US forces. This war was divided into battles. The battle i am talking about, is the battle of heartbreak ridge. The battle lasted from September 13th until October 15th of 1951. Communist North Korea had the Chinese support for the battle.They were on the ground and ready for the attack on South Korea. The United Nations had sent a force of American and French troops that were supported by the South Korean, Filipino, and Dutch forces. The Communists decided set up a very large network of trenches on Heartbreak Ridge. These trenches made it even harder to assault from the really deep inclines that went to the crests on the ridge line....
Words: 612 - Pages: 3
...The Korean War was a brief but tragic war lasting a three year span from 1950 through 1953. Nearly 10 thousand soldiers from North and South Korea were killed before the battle even began. During the war almost 40 thousand Americans died in action as well as over 100 thousand more being wounded. Nearly 5 million died with about 10 percent being civilians. World War II and Vietnam had less civilian casualties then Korea. This war involved North Korea fighting against South Korea. The communist party of North Korea was trying to take over South Korean Democrats and become one combined communist country. Russian Soviets teamed up with North Koreans to strengthen their chances of a win for communism. This in turn forced the United States to side with South Korea in fear that the communist would take over Korea in whole and push to take over the rest of the world. After the war ended in 1953, and still today, the Korean Peninsula is still divided. The United States did not stop involving in other countries wars there. The Vietnam War was a longer, more expensive battle. It officially lasted from 1954 through 1975 however, disputes dated back to the 1940s. Over 3 million people died during this war. More than half that number was Vietnamese civilians. 58 thousand Americans were also killed in the Vietnam War. A lot like the Korean War, the Vietnam War was the North battling the South. The North Vietnamese communists had the backing of the Soviet Union to spread communism...
Words: 810 - Pages: 4
...Was the Korea War a civil war or an international conflict? Name University Course Tutor Date Was the Korea War a civil war or an international conflict? Background of the Korea War The Korean War which took place between 1950 and 1953 involved the most powerful countries in the world at the time who engaged in one of most important wars on the Korean Peninsula. In the Korean War almost led to eruption of a third world war. This is the only war that brought together the military forces of the United States, the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China and the Korean forces in a combat (Malkasian, 2009). The Korean War involved two major issues; that is, political control of Korea and power struggle between the East Asia versus the rest of the world. The war changed affected and consequently changed how the East and the west interacted with one another (Malkasian, 2009). After Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule following the end of the Second World War, it got divided and occupied by the Soviet Union and the United States of America. The two countries were the major superpowers at the time. They occupied the north and the south respectively (Jang, 2010). The two great nations had conspicuously differing ideologies and this factor led to formation of two different governments in Korea in the year 1948. The south formed the government of the Republic of Korea (ROK), with the support of the United States under the leadership of Syngman Rhee. The northern...
Words: 2162 - Pages: 9
...essay on cold war ‘Account for the phenomenon, known as the cold war, which dominated world politics between 1945 - 1989. Evaluate the extent to which the principal nations involved fought proxy wars as a substitute for armed conflict with each other. In this essay I will discuss the extent to which the principal nations, mainly the USA and the Soviet Union fought proxy wars as a substitute for armed conflict with each other during the Cold War between 1945 – 1989. As the Second World War ended in 1945 with the victory of the allies, a new war was launched. It was a battle predominantly between the USA and the Soviet Union, between two conflicting ideologies: America’s capitalism versus and the Soviet Union’s communism. Ranging from two of the most devastating wars; the Korean War (1950) and the Vietnam war in the 60s, to the smaller conflicts in the Middle East and Africa in terms of the scale of the battle, every corner of the globe was involved in the Cold War. (Dunbabin 1994) The USA and the Soviet Union were the sole super powers at the end of the Second World War. There are a number of views regarding why the Cold war was unavoidable, and one of the reasons is that both countries were expansionist. The USA in particular was afraid of the Soviet sphere of influence over Europe in particular, believing that it needed to be contained. (Mowry, 1962) But on the part of the Soviet Union, it was also afraid of the USA’s power and its ideology which it believed to...
Words: 1538 - Pages: 7
...In this research paper I will take you through the Korean War. This war was a war that showed how two sides of an issue or country could fight so fiercely and for so long and never see a clear or determined winner between the two of them. Before you move onto the next portion of this paper, let me warn you that some of the scenes that will be described, may be disturbing to you or any other readers. [i]The one and only cause of this gruesome and everlasting war was the invasion of South Korea by the United Nations. The North had been pushed out of the South with the help of the United Nations. This help that was given by The United Nations resulted in an occurrence or happening. This was the attempts by The United Nations to invade the North so that they would cease all forces going into the South and also so that the situation seemed to be somewhat under control. This invasion failed, simply due to the fact of the North’s great command under [ii]Kim Sung lll and his very well trained troops. Now onto the actual fighting that took place. Under the impression that no attack was to be launched because no word had come from Washington, none were aware that one of the biggest blind side attacks ever was about to occur and that they were going to be on the bad end of the deal. It was a foggy and dark morning on [iii]June 25th, 1950 and the conditions were merely perfect for the type of attack that was about to take place.. President Truman...
Words: 1065 - Pages: 5
...Interdependence and cooperation are generally what is needed when a war of some sort breaks out. I am going to explore whether there was any signs of these in the Korean War and the Rwandan genocide, and to what extent these took place. The Korean War is an example of interdependence because of the alliances formed between certain countries and organisations. Korea is divided up at the 38th parallel which for North Korea seemingly wasn’t enough land. They wanted to make it a wholly communist state, and to then move over to japan and take that also. They formed up with China (also a wholly communist state) to give them more of a driving force. South Korea couldn’t fight this battle on their own so the UN sent in troops from Britain, America and Australia to aid them. This battle was an end-to-end battle with both sides taking large chunks of the other side and vice versa. By the end of this nothing much had been changed except from the fact that 2.5 million civilians were killed or wounded; 990, 968 approx. South Korean’s (including Britain, Australia and America) were killed or wounded and 1,550,000 North Koreans were killed or wounded (Including The Soviet Union and China). The Rwandan Genocide is an example when interdependence was not present within a conflict. It was Generally the Tutsi tribe slaughtering 800,000 people from the Hutu tribe in retaliation to the shooting down of the Tutsi’s leader’s plane. President Habyarimana (the Tutsi’s leader who got shot down)...
Words: 432 - Pages: 2
...The Canadian army during World War II played a huge role that allowed the Allied forces to be victorious. The Canadian armed forces are known but often go unrecognized for their successes during the Korean War. In many vigorous attacks, the Canadian military fended off the Chinese and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) soldiers. The 38th parallel was at stake and without the help of the Canadian armed forces, Korea as a whole would not be the same. The Canadian victories at the Battle of Kapyong, Battle of Hill 335, Koje-Do Incident, and the Battle of Kowang-San were the reasons the D.P.R.K. did not infiltrate into the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and break that 38th parallel for good. The First battle the Canadian armed forces were involved in was the Battle of Kapyong. This...
Words: 1169 - Pages: 5
...That cruel reality of a country called North Korea and the one man who is the absolute leader. Declare by his son as a god with over 34,000 statues. Even after death his ideology lives on with unimaginable living conditions at the cost of unrealistic human life. That brings the unanswerable question why the entire world is sitting down and watching what's happening for the past 65 years generation after generation without even coming up for one solution or action. To answer the question we need to understand what North Korea is. It came into existence as an inhuman country with a cruel history and grim future. Korea was an independent united country for much of its history. In 1910, Japan occupied the Korean peninsula. Korea spends 35...
Words: 936 - Pages: 4
...University of Phoenix Material Modern America Matrix Week One: 1950s The Korean War From the following list, choose five and identify their significance during the Korean War. Japanese occupation; Soviet position after war; 38th parallel, Truman; Syngman Rhee, NSC-68; Soviet support of North; UN position; Chinese involvement; Inchon; Talks at Panmunjom; Martin Letter; General MacArthur; Stalemate; POWs, Armistice agreement |Event |Significance in Korean War | |38th parallel |The 38th parallel was the prewar border between North and South Korea. It became the struggle point of the | | |Korean war. North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and captured Seoul twice. At one time North Korea controlled | | |most of South Korea; U.N. forces always pushed them back north of the 38th parallel. | |Truman |Truman made the decision to aid South Korea. He also fired MacArthur for insubordination. | |NSC-68 |The National Council Report 68. A study done by the National Security Council that influenced foreign policy. | |Inchon |The location of a surprise American invasion that pushed North Korea back across the 38th parallel. | |Martin letter |The letter that MacArthur wrote to Joseph Martin that lead to his dismissal. ...
Words: 363 - Pages: 2
...Chinese involvement in the Korean War was merely an instrument of Stalin’s foreign policy rather than as a force for spreading communist revolution. How far do you accept this interpretation? Chinese involvement in the Korean War was largely due to Stalin’s use of manipulation and encouragement towards Mao, convincing him to join the war. To a large extent, Stalin’s motivation behind encouraging Mao to join the war could be due to the possibility of increasing communist influence in Asia. China is a large and, in comparison to other Asian countries, powerful place. With their help, North Korea’s chances of winning the war and therefore increasing communism in Asia was much more likely. The other possibility is that Stalin encouraged China’s involvement due to his foreign policy which meant that communist countries such as China and the USSR should help other communist countries (i.e. North Korea) in disputes whereby Nationalists and Communists are fighting. The idea of Chinese involvement in the war seems possible, to a small extent, to be due to Stalin’s policy when we look at his involvement in the decision. The military campaign against South Korea was agreed between Stalin and Kim Il-Sung, showing Stalin’s genuine interest in helping North Korea in the dispute. Stalin’s enthusiasm in Chinese involvement also suggests that he was motivated by his foreign policy and helping a fellow communist state as he was aware of China’s power in Asia. He knew that China were much larger...
Words: 1049 - Pages: 5
