Grace Fullenkamp Ms. Yane AP Lang March 14, 2018 The Korean War The Korean War was not a conflict in which the United States needed to be involved as to its horrific outcome is testament. Yet, in the 1950s, the U.S. thought it was believed that the only way to stop the spread of communism was to fight back against the potential formation of communist governments. When war broke out in Korea, it became a place for the United States to make a statement against communism on a global front joining with South Korea to combat the communist North. In retrospect, however, the United States should not have entered the war. Not being a part of the war would have saved American lives and money, potentially eliminated PTSD in a generation on soldiers, and would have prevented the animosity that exist between the United States and North Korea that dominates the headlines today. The Korean War was fought between two major wars, Word War II and the Vietnam War. Due to being fought between these major wars, the Korean War is known as “The Forgotten War.” The Korean War started on June 25, 1950 and ended July 23, 1953. At its outset, South Korea had asked the United States to supply …show more content…
The United States stayed in the war the entire time with South Korea. Yet the spread of Communism was slowing down on its own in Korea, so there was no need to be involved in the Korean War. This is evidenced in the book The 2nd Infantry Division Vol. III, which notes that “Chinese Communists that were helping in the North slowed down.” When Truman heard about the Chinese involvement and the slowing of the communist moment through his generals, he was ecstatic. Communism was finally starting to come close to an end on its own, so there was no need for the United States to be involved to stop it, but the United States went to war
Voices from the Korean War describes the background of the war and how events unfolded that brought America into a war that was never expected to last
China had recently become communist and entered the conflict on North Korea’s side. The war dragged on for three more years before ending on July 27th, 1953, close to the original borders at the 38th parallel. It is also stated in document C that, “The war caused more than two million deaths, including over 50,000 Americans.” The Korean War demonstrated the United States’ policy of containment because they had invaded Korea to the try to stop communism from being able to spread. They also were able to arm the people who wanted democracy to fight alongside
The Korean War Chart Somebody ... Wanted ... But ... So ... North Korea Wanted to make sure the Korean peninsula into a Communist nation United states and nation Stopped them The Chinese joined the war on the Korean side and pushed the united states and nation back to the 38th parallel line General MacArthur To win china over before they became communist with the soviet union Wasn’t allowed to be a general anymore and he was ordered to stay the 20 mile mark We stayed away from china for the most part and failed to get them to become democracy President Truman To stop soviet expansion , the war, and the spread of communsim Americans didn’t want to go to war The war ended in a statement China To stay in the “safe zone” that way there were no interruptions in their reconstruction They feared that the united states would break into china if the us and south Korean were allowed into war China planned a surprise attack and defeated American troops
America joined South Korea while China and the Soviet Union joined North Korea. The outcome of the war resulted in no winner. Since there was no victory for either country, Korea returned to the same status before the war, two countries of different beliefs (Cannarella 45). Although the outcome of the war was no victory for either side, Truman’s decision to participate in the war was proper because America’s goal was to prevent the spread of communism. When looking from this perspective, the war was a victory because the spread of communism was
The rising tensions between the United States and North Korea are at an all-time high, it is no news that at any second a full-scale war between these two nations could break out. The consequences of such a war are the endangerment of the lives of millions of people in multiple nations. Nicholas Kristof’s opinion piece “Inside North Korea, and Feeling the Drums of War,” published in the New York Times Sunday Review, serves as an emotional overload purposely written to warn the audience of just how tense the relations between these two Nations have become, as well as the reality of a possible catastrophic conflict between them if concessions are not drawn to ease tensions. Kristof adopts an urgent tone in his article that he uses to stir up
As the Korean war was going on, the US’ presidential election was also coming closer, and before long, it was about time to elect a new president. One of the running candidates was a republican named Dwight D. Eisenhower. During his campaign, Eisenhower often criticized the US government’s handling of the Korean war, especially its inability to end the conflict between North and South Korea. Because of his criticism, on October 24, 1952, US president Truman challenged Eisenhower to find his own alternative solution. And in response, Eisenhower announced that if he were to get elected as president, he would go to Korea and handle the situation himself.
The Korean War began after the end of the Second World War in 1950. Initially, the Korean peninsula was part of the Japanese Empire. After the Empire’s defeat, it forced them to split into North and South Korea. Soviet forces settled in North Korea while American troops moved to the south of the Korean peninsula. The United States on the side of South Korea decided to establish a democratic republic commission that was meant to oversee the election scheduled in 1948.
The biggest challenges faced by America in the Korean War were, Korea not being able to defend itself, tactics Korean communist troops used against America and soldiers thinking the war as useless while questioning “What are we fighting for?” The Korean War lasted from 1950 to 1953, beginning when the North Korean communist army crossed the 38th parallel and invaded non-communist South Korea. As Kim II-sung's North Korean troops armed with soviet tanks, quickly overran South Korea and the United States came to South Korea's aid. If South Korea was not able to carry itself without the Unite States and the Soviet Union getting involved then that would cause another world war, because all of Korea would become communist because of North Korea
The attack comes without warning and President Harry Truman, with the help of the United Nations, vows to defend democratic South Korea. The Containment Policy stated that the US would support any nation that are being oppressed by communism and cannot protect themselves from it. This became America’s major reason to intervene in the Korean War. However, the policy of containment came under attack due casualties and economic issues that the policy created. One of the major effects that over extended the powers of American foreign policy is that it gave the US a reason to interfere with any war they wanted as long as it involved communism.
The Vietnam War was fought to stop the spread of communism that threatened the United States way of life. War strategies that were used were harsh, major battles bloody, and war opposition at home was high. The leaders of our countries decisions caused devastating effects that not only shook our country but the whole world. The United States had fought wars in the past to stop the spread of communism.
The invasion that started the Korean War was the first real action that was taken during the Cold War, which had been going on for three years by 1950 (“Korean War”). Although it started out as a civil war between North Korea and South Korea, the U.S. quickly joined to fight alongside South Korea in efforts to stop the spread of communism. The Korean War was a turning point in U.S history and in the Cold War. The U.S. had been engaged in the Cold War in order to fight and contain communism and took action for the first time in 1950 at the start of the Korean War. The Korean War was also significant because it continues to be relevant even today.
This was important since the Soviets had gotten so much power in such a short time span. They had now the secret of how to make an atomic bomb, the Chinese Civil War came to an end with a communist victory. This was troublesome for the U.S. since if the communist go any further than American could lose the Cold war, and so when the communist invaded South
The Civil War The Civil War was the deadliest war in American history with over 600000 American deaths reported. This war was fought to keep the Confederate States from leaving the Union. The Union won because they had a telegraph system and had more resources. The effect of the Union victory has had a large impact on society.
And analyzing the situation of the Korean War and the Cold War, the main purpose and cause of the war seem to be to make democracy the dominant system and stop the spread of communism. As mentioned before, President Truman and other democratic countries believed that democracy was the right path in running a country. Therefore, securing democracy in the Korean peninsula would allow for democracy to be one step ahead over communism. The role of democracy was truly seen post Korean
Reunification of Korea is still possible although there are some differences in the social and the economic structures of the two countries. There have been various attempts to reunite Korea in the past although the attempts have always failed and some tension still remains in these two countries. The first major attempt which was made in the attempt of reuniting Korea was made in 1972 (Sam, 1972). The governments of both countries made a joint statement which was meant to reunite the two countries. The joint statement was named as the ‘South and North Korea Joint Statement’ and was made in 4TH July 1972.