Containing Communism

General MacArthur was the leader of the allied forces in the pacific southwest during the duration of WWII. When the Korean War broke out and North Korea invaded South Korea he was assigned commander of the United States Forces. While he was in charge during the war some say he was a genius for his defeats. “As U.S. and United Nations forces turned the tide of battle in Korea, MacArthur argued for a policy of pushing into North Korea to completely defeat the communist forces. Truman went along with this plan, but worried that the communist government of the People’s Republic of China might take the invasion as a hostile act and intervene in the conflict ("Truman Relieves MacArthur,")”. However, his victories were short lived once China entered the war, causing him to withdraw his troops from North Korea. By April 1951 the military was stable but General MacArthur could not keep his opinions to

Since the beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s, American national strategy has been dedicated to the containment of the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (Soviet Union) and its soviet-inspired communism. Following the end of World War II, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were strained. The distinct differences in the political systems between these two countries facilitated animosity and mistrust, often to the brink of war. The Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, spread communism throughout Eurasia in an attempt to establish Soviet hegemony and secure his power domestically. President Harry S. Truman embraced the framework of George F. Kennan’s controversial containment policy to limit the Soviet’s influence, often at the expense of the United States.

Once an ally the United States fought together with in World War II from 1941 to 1945, the Soviet Union became an enemy of the U.S. after Stalin broke his promise of free elections in Eastern Europe. With nothing to stop invasions on its west, the USSR installed Communist governments in countries bordering its west to make them buffer states. The U.S. was afraid that the Communist takeover of one country would cause a chain reaction of neighboring countries falling to Communism, so it enacted a policy called ‟containment,” whose objective was to prevent the spread of Communism and encourage the USSR to stop its aggressions. U.S. Cold War policies embodied the ideals of democracy because it gave financial aid to countries that opposed Communism

This resulted an invasion of DPRK Forces into US influenced Republic of Korea. The DPRK forces smashed through Seoul and almost took the whole Peninsula until the US came storming in. The US and the UN saw this as a threat to peace in the area. The United Nations Security Council voted in favor for military action in North Korea if the North Koreans refused to move their forces out from the 38th parallel (United Nations Security Council Resolution 82-84). Additionally, the UN instituted a directive to the Commander of UN Forces to use ground troops to push the invaders back and asked for the US to change their policy on Korea. (Directive to the Commander of the United Nations Forces in Korea ). The US appointed MacArthur as the commander and he quickly got to work on the Koreans (“Korean War”). Since the South Koreans and the rest of the UN Command were at a stalemate at the end of the peninsula, Macarthur decided to have a naval landing near the 38th parallel (“KhanAcademy- Korean War Overview”). The US and UN forces were quick to repel the DPRK military back over the border and almost to the Chinese border (“KhanAcademy- Korean War Overview”). Sadly, much of the UN forces did not know that the Chinese would enter the war, and the Chinese entering the war quickly resulted with the UN forces being drawn back. Macarthur then ramped up power and did another naval landing along with

The United States has been fighting these wars for good and bad reasons. The United States, when fighting the Cold War, was not focused on containing Communism rather it was more focused on destroying the idea of Communism because of what it stood for. Communism is the idea that there should be no private property, everything is shared, and there is no such thing as rich or poor. The United States, when they realized that many of the people that they did business with, the people who bought our stuff, were now Communist, and couldn’t do business with us anymore, we got upset and tried to destroy Communism. The United States does sometimes fight wars for good reasons. During World War II, though we tried to remain neutral, we eventually gave in and helped defeat the Nazi party from succeeding in their quest for world

The Korean War was part of the U.S. policy of containment. America's containment policy is very simple, represents a rare instance of politicians to do what they said they would do. The United States said they would in their power to use any means to prevent the spread of communism. Communist country has said publicly that they were interested in the communist world in every country. In the Korean war, Truman (UN) officially support rollback policies destroy communist north Korea's government and the United Nations forces in Korea the 38th parallel to take over the rollback strategy, however, caused the Chinese intervention, they pushed the UN forces back to the 38th parallel. Rollback failed policies, despite the general Douglas MacArthur

The Korean War began June 25th, 1950 when North Korea sent about 75,000 troops over the 38th parallel to invade South Korea. Korea had initially been divided into zones of occupation, but “temporary” soon became permanent. The army surged through the 38th parallel, and was the first military action of the Cold War. “When South Korea was invaded the United States became their military and financial crutch” says Adam Richards of Study.gov. By July 1950 the United States was aiding South Korea in the war to halt the international spread of communism. The United States stressed the importance of containment to prevent the ramification of communism any further. General Douglas MacArthur, who had been overseeing the post-WWII occupation of Japan, commanded the US forces

The Cold War is the closest the world has ever come to complete destruction. In this period of time, two world super powers were in a stalemate economically and militarily and were constantly competing to be the superior. The Cold War started as result of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had some differences on their perspectives of the world. United States being the richest country in the world promoted democracy and capitalism in the world. The newly formed Soviet Union thought that communism was a better political system because it transformed their economy and status in the world from nothing but a declining empire to a super power once again. The Cold War was a long series of events in which the communist tried to

The North, communist and Soviet ally, decided to attack the South region, democratic and US ally. In consequence, United States decided to intervene and help the South to throw the North’s military forces out of South Korean territory. This conflict could be ended there with the military forces of the North out of the South region, but president Truman decided to “unify the peninsula” (Zaimer p 257) and invaded the North. As a result, China, an ally of North Korea, intervened with a superior military force, and stopped the attempts of unification. This can be an example of how the intervention of America into foreign conflicts, scaled to a major conflict as a result of the competition for the power and control over foreign countries. This may call into question the true intentions of the United States to help its

Although it wasn’t a war fought on land, the Cold War produced an immense amount of tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States. In general, the topic of concern between the two countries was Communism; the Soviet Union was clothed heavily in communist red under the control of Joseph Stalin, while the United States thrived in a democracy led by Harry S. Truman. The two countries strongly united during World War II to take down Nazi Germany, but the loss twenty-five million Soviets put Stalin and the rest of the country on edge. Through the Soviet Union’s strong push to spread Communism, the United States’ attempt to contain it, and the mistrust between the two countries, a war began between the philosophies of democracy and communism erupted.

     The Korean War caused much frustration in the home fronts, where people wondered why 54,000 US men had died and many more were wounded for virtually no gains. Many people also questioned the country’s determination in enforcing containment. This led to a much larger defense budget, as NSC-68 had outlined. Just as the Korean War was coming to an end, another was brewing 2,000 miles to the south.

war hero Douglas MacArthur as leader of the United Nations command in Korea. With MacArthur in charge, the U.S. prepared for a counter offensive which is launched at Inchon, South Korea and leads to South Korea taking back Seoul from the North Korean army. General MacArthur leads the military to continued success including crossing the 38th parallel into North Korea territory where they continue moving North toward the Yalu River coming face to face with an invading force of troops from China. Although the Chinese force started small, the troop levels of the U.S. that had gone down significantly since the end of World War II as discussed above, was going to take time to be fully replenished. At this point, the United States was in no position to take on the Chinese army that was growing by the day to a total of more than 300,000 troops.

The Korean War was a conflict between North Korea and South Korea- the first conflict in history between two nuclear powers. On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces surprised the South Korean army and the small U.S. force stationed in the country, and quickly headed toward the capital city of Seoul. The Russian government, under Joseph Stalin, agreed to help North Korea when he knew that the U.S would not be involved. Two days later, the United States responded by pushing a resolution through the U.N.’s Security Council calling for military assistance to South Korea. Russia was not present to veto the action as it was boycotting the Security Council at the time. With this resolution in hand, President Harry S. Truman rapidly dispatched U.S. land, air, and sea forces to Korea to engage in what he termed a “police action.” The American intervention turned the tide, and U.S. and South Korean forces marched into North Korea. This action, however, prompted the massive intervention of communist Chinese forces in late 1950. The war in Korea subsequently bogged down into a bloody stalemate. This was the first battle to be fought in the air.

A Social Economic System in which all property and resources are collectively owned by a society not by individual citizens.

Communism was a disease, a plague, which the Americans feared more than war itself. Communism was spreading all throughout Europe and Asia between the years 1945 and 1975 with no stop in sight. Americans felt they needed to preserve other societies and prevent any further expansion of communism, so they got involved. The United States was effective in preventing the spread of communism with peace treaties, military strength, and their fear of a communist global power.