Korean War : The Cold War

One of the major conflicts in the 20th century was the Cold War. One of the key events of the Cold War was the Korean War (1949-1953). Essentially, the Korean War was a conflict between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and the Republic of Korea (ROK). However, the DPRK was backed by Stalin’s Communist regime. While the ROK, was backed by US and UN forces. The support that the divided Koreas received demonstrates that this war was the direct result of Cold War tensions between the USA and the USSR. Therefore making this war a proxy war between the two superpowers.

The Korean War changed the face of American Cold War diplomacy forever. In the midst of all the political conflict and speculation worldwide, the nation had to choose between two proposed solutions, each one hoping to ensure that communism didn?t sweep across the globe and destroy American ideals of capitalism and democracy. General Douglas MacArthur takes the pro-active stance and says that, assuming it has the capability, the U.S. should attack communism everywhere. President Harry Truman, on the other hand, believed that containing the Soviet communists from Western Europe was the best and most important course of action, and that eliminating communism in Asia was not a priority.

Efforts to unify Korea resulted in more than 100,000 deaths due to guerilla warfare. In April 1950, North Korean leader Kim II Sung persuaded Joseph Stalin to back an invasion of South Korea, convincing Stalin that the United States would not intervene. Stalin agreed to provide arms, equipment, and advisors to the North Koreans (“Korean War”). Kim II Sung did not stop there as he also persuaded the newly communist Chinese to aid the North Koreans. The Korean War, (June 25,1950 – July 27, 1953), occurred when over 75,000 North Korean Army invaded the land across of the 38th parallel. American president Harry Truman was feeling heat after “letting China fall”, so Truman ordered American troops into action on South July, the United Sates entered the conflict on South Korea’s behalf. The next three years would be the darkest and most horrific in Korean history. As seen in American reporter Bill Shinn’s account, “the North Koreans were gruesome…during the occupation of South Korea, they killed over 165,000 civilians. Also, I witnessed a South Korean mass execution of civilians suspected of having helped the communists. Korea was a mess” (“The Forgotten War Remembered: Korea, 1950-1953). This shows the depths of the horror that was perpetrated in Korea for three years.

One Million deaths, 36,516 American casualties and 8,00 captured by Korean soldiers. Ironically named nicknamed "the Forgotten War", the Korean war is engraved in memories of those who lived through it and forever leaving its mark in history. Thus, Veterans Roger Hill, Paul Wurzer, Francis Stefano, Richard Kenn, John Noto and Frank Nicalazzo are a few of the many soldiers that live to tell and share the virtuousness and debauchedness of the war.

“The Coldest Winter: America and The Korean War,” written by journalist and historian David Halberstam, sheds light on the Korean War, which has been referred to as The “back hole of modern American history” (Halberstam, D). Halberstam, a graduate from Harvard University and Pulitzer Prize winner for his coverage on the Vietnam War, wrote “The Coldest Winter,” due to his desire “to resurrect a war ‘orphaned by history,’ a war that was cruel and inconclusive and claimed the lives of 33,000 American soldiers, 415,000 South Koreans, and about 1.5 million North Korean and Chinese troops’ ”(Frankel, 2007).

The Korean war began on June 25th 1950 immediately upon North Korea’s attempt to invade South Korea. Soon after in June 27th 1950, the United nations intervened to stop this from happening, this had both a positive and negative aspect to it. The war began as a civil war between both the North and South of Korea, but it soon became international. This war proved how the United States would do anything to prevent the spread of communism. Not only was it the first war of the Cold war to have machinery which made it all the more deadlier but it was also the first war in which whites and African Americans fought side by side.

The Korean War is a forgotten conflict in American history in which this conflict was followed by World War II in 1950. The United States didn’t enter World War II until the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. World War II has ended resulting in the United States defeating Nazi Germany, in support of allies of the United States in coordination with the United Nations. The citizens of America have peace and prosperity now that their G.I.s are home. However, there is still tension between the United States and the communist Soviet Union. During the mid 1940s countries that had conflicts with each other have now been resolved. North and South Korea, one country, only divided by its regions, do not like

into many international conflicts, such as the Korean and Vietnam War. The American people developed a growing fear of internal communist subversion—a fear that by the early 1950s reached the point of hysteria. This Red Scare led to McCarthyism, which was a “period of repression that recklessly destroyed lives, shattered the left, and narrowed the terms of political debate.” The U.S. adhered to its containment policy, so the Korean War came to be seen as a test of American resolve and ultimately hardened American foreign policy into a much more rigidly anti-communist form. The frustration over the continuing tensions of the Cold War, produced by the late 1950s a growing sense of impatience with the “calm, placid public culture of the time.”

The Korean War, started in 1950, is commonly referred to as “the Forgotten War.” The war was essentially a Korean Civil War that other countries participated in under the United Nations in an effort to delay the growth of communism. The war is commonly described with the quote, “The wrong war, in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong enemy,” by Omar Bradley, although he originally said so about World War II. The Korean War can be defined by the impact of World War II on Korea, the perceived invisibility of the conflict, and long-lasting effects of the Korean War. While technically the Korean War didn’t begin until 1950, the events that set the whole situation in motion actually took place a few years earlier, during the settlement

June 25, 1950, The Korean war begins, it was the first battle of the Cold War, and the first proxy war that was fought with America. On June 27, 1950, President Truman orders the U.S air and naval forces to South Korea to help South Korea. July 7th came around and President Truman decided to send U.S ground forces to Korea. About 150,000 troops from South Korea, The United States, and participating U.N. Nations were killed in the Korean War. This was a failure. We got involved with this war for it to go the way things were before the

Several factors influenced the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States, such as the Yalta Conference and the Korean War. These events played a role in diminishing the former allies relationship.

After teaming up to defeat the Axis powers in World War Ⅱ, the United States and the USSR were left as the two superpowers of the world. With their conflicting ideals, they became great enemies. One of the main roots of the opposition, was the conflicting communism in the Soviet Union and capitalism in America. Following World War Ⅱ, the Korean War broke out. This war incited the fear of the spread of communism throughout America. Even though the United States had reasons to be worried, especially after the Korean War and Sputnik, much of the conflict was highly exaggerated and overcompensated by America and justified the use of fear tactics throughout the United States, like HUAC, to create alarm and panic.

On June 25th, 1950, the Korean war began. About 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean army crossed the 38th parallel, the border separating North and South Korea. Undivided, Korea was a Japanese colony, until the end of World War II in 1945. But after WWII, Korea was poured into the hesitant hands of the United States, and the exhilarated hands of the Soviet Union. It was then divided into North, occupied by the Soviets, and South, occupied by the United States.

According to Robert, without Korean War there would be a huge difference in the world’s history. In addition to that Robert also stated “the Korean war shaped the course of the cold war by both resolving the incoherence which characterized U.S. foreign and defense efforts in the period 1946-1950 and establishing important new lines of policy”(1980). The Korean War led to the changes of policy through three processes in changes on the domestic political situation, defense budget and NATO. The domestic policy changes let the leader of the country to do whatever they wanted to do before (Robert,

“Men joined the Marine Corps for many reasons . . . I’d joined up to dodge the draft and ended up being sent to war” (Brady 8-9). This brief yet poignant statement begins the story of how James Brady ended up serving in the Korean War. As a young adult the draft was being reinstated and Brady did not feel the desire to fight in a war. He and a few of his friends decided instead to join the Platoon Leaders Class with the Marines, which had students spend two summers at the marine Corps Schools in Quantico, Virginia. After these two summers, graduates would become Lieutenants, but they could not be drafted. Shortly after Brady graduated, the war began in Korea and his class learned they