While World War II ended all worries and hardships Americans faced, events gradually initiated signs of the Cold War which created an increased state of tension that swept all of America and Korea. During the 1940s, the potential Communist invasion of nations worldwide began to create a frightening reality to the people of the United States. The Soviet Union’s exportation of Communism greatly worried America as they wanted to contain Communism from all nations, especially nations in Asia. The Korean peninsula divided into two territories: a north, Soviet supported government, and a south, American supported government, a separation as a result of World War II. The Soviet Union invaded Korea, which had been under Japanese control since 1900; fearing the Soviet’s intention to seize the entire peninsula, the United States responded by quickly sending in their troops to South Korea. Truman’s decision to become involved in conflicts in Korea grew out of the Soviet Union’s radical actions, events in Asia, and internal criticism in the Truman Administration in America, providing him with an opportunity to defend a nation from a communist invasion.
Throughout the Cold War, two hostile alliances, the United States and the Soviet Union, were involved in the conflict regarding the Korean War. One of the main radical actions the Soviet Union carried out was the 1949 explosion of an atomic bomb, which terminated the monopoly of the bomb in the United States (“Us Enters the Korean
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.
When President Truman authorized the use of two nuclear weapons in 1945 against the Japanese in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II, the nature of international security was changed irreversibly. At that time, the United States had what was said to have a monopoly of atomic bombs. Soon thereafter, the Soviet Union began working on atomic weaponry. In 1949, it had already detonated it first atomic bomb and tensions began to heat up between the two countries. With the information that the Soviets had tested their first bomb, the United States began work on more powerful weapons1, and a fight for nuclear superiority had begun.
In June 1950, 90,000 soldiers from the communist Korean People’s Army crossed the 38th Parallel into South Korea. The most important reason for a military response from the US was the document NSC 68, which stated that they must meet communism wherever it arises. Due to this document, it was the US assumption that the invasion on South Korea was not a Civil War due to the events in Korea, and the permanent divide in 1948. However, there was also US domestic policies, and Truman’s fear of being accused of being ‘soft on communism,’ as well as the US based organisation, the UN, which was a new institution, which Truman had to support. Furthermore, containment in Europe and Asia and the
1949 had been a bad year for the United States. In August 1949 the Soviet Union had successfully detonated its first atomic bomb, effectively destroying the State's monopoly on the atomic bomb (“Politics in the Korean War”). This was years earlier than American scientists had predicted, and the American public was thrown into fear at facing the possibility of atomic annihilation for the first time. Even still the public had no interest in the higher taxes that would come with the militarization of American Society. That is, until North Korea launched its first attack on South Korea. This was thought of by the West as communist aggression with no provocation from South Korea. President Truman earned a substantial increase in public support from his immediate sending of American forces to battle in Korea, and with multiple victories soon following, his approval ratings went up 40%. As said by Secretary of State Dean Acheson, “Korea, came along and saved us” (“Politics in the Korean
Background: Ever since the presidency of Harry Truman, we have been constantly involved in foreign conflicts due to fear of the spread of communism. As a consequence of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, Korea was divided into two governments. During Mr. Truman’s presidency, the spread of communism was increasing in tension due to the North Korean invasion of South Korea. The United States believed that it was not in its best interests to let Korea fall to communist power. As a result, the U.S. joined the war in efforts to stop the downfall of South Korea. The north koreans received aid from communist China and the war went on until the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed. This agreement set up a demilitarized zone
First, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the beginning of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. During World War II, the United States originally used the atomic bomb as a means to end the war with Japan. Many historians, however, believe President Truman had an ulterior motive behind the use of the weapon. The Soviet Union planned to create a series of communist buffer states after the war, but this did not bode well with American interests. Thus, America used the atomic bomb in Japan to deter the Soviet Union and have more influence in post-war decisions (Davis 398). This action would start a period of rivalry and uncertainty for both countries. From this point on, political decisions made were greatly influenced by the opposite
The Korean War, also known as the “Forgotten War” began on June 25, 1950. On that day, about 75,000 soldiers from North Korean, with the help and advice from the Soviet Union, cross the 38th parallel. The 38th parallel is “the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south” (History.com). Within three days, the North Korean People’s Army was able to capture Seoul, the capital of South Korea. This invasion marked the beginning of the Cold War. Fearing the spread of Communism, the United Nations and United States agreed to send troops to South Korea, and on the 1st of July 1950, American troops arrived to South Korea to help the democratic South Korean to fight against the North Korean communist invasion. The Americans goal was to prevent the spread of Communism.
and U.S.S.R. The south was under the influence of the United States, but the Truman administration’s implementation of containment using strong point defense overlooked the defense of the economically insignificant South Korea. This enticed the Soviets to sanction an invasion of the south by the communist North Koreans. Although the Korean peninsula was largely insignificant, its proximity to Japan created a strategic necessity for the U.S. to response militarily to the invasion. Additionally, the American public was fiercely anti-communist, placing intense political pressure on Truman to respond to the invasion.
Throughout the 1950's and 60's both superpowers raced to build an arsenal of nuclear bombs (Intro. to the Cold War (1945-1991)). Seeing that the Soviet Union had been building their own nuclear bombs, the United States had their allies building nuclear weapons ("Nuclear Weapons" Lerney. K Lee) and placing them close to Soviet Russia. With both sides producing a mass of nuclear weapons, a thermonuclear war seemed to be around the corner and in 1961 with The Cuban Missile Crisis it seemed like it was going to happen (Intro. to the Cold War (1941-1991)). The United States military had a big play in the Cold War. The Cold War was never a war that had military battle but military influence in certain nations, when the war began, many United States officials wanted to strengthen their military alliance with other nations so that those counties would not turn to communism and form an alliance with the Soviet Union. With the alliance to China, North Korea, and Vietnam to the Soviet Union, the united States responded with military fortification of neutral Asian nations ("Cold War" Gale Encyclopedia of U.S.
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.
August 6, 1945, the United States dropped a five- ton atomic bomb over the Japanese city, Hiroshima, causing the Arms race. The Arms race was a competition between nations for superiority in the development and accumulation of weapons, especially, between the United States and the former Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Cold War began two years after World War II, and ended forty- four years later in 1991. By this time the Soviet Union had fallen apart due to all the foreign controversy. The Cold War had begun due to the United States attempting to force the Soviet Union to give up land, and the Soviets refusing. Following the Soviets refusing to give up their land, the United States gave European countries a tremendous amount of money in attempt to help them fight off communist forces which caused a threat to the Soviet Union, causing competition between the two. Although the Soviet Union started the Space Race, the United states is to blame for the Cold War because they dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, causing the Arms Race, gave European countries economic aid in an attempt to help
The Korean War begun on the arrival of the North Korean Army troops consisted of 750.000 soldiers at the 38th parallel- the imaginary boundary between South Korea- on une 25, 1950 (History.com Staff,2009). According to (PBS, N.D.), Korean War was the first war to provide the confrontation of nuclear powers and the war also showed how hard was the difficulty of both sides to create the right decision on when to attack using the bomb at the right time. Although it might seemed to be difficult, the attacks from Soviet Union and China on behalf of North Korea was hard to repel so that United Nation was asked to help South Korea repelled those attacks (PBS, n.d.). By the end of the brutal war that lasted 60 years there were two millions victim
Not long ago before the Korean War start, China had become a communist country under the Chinese leader, Mao Zedong. This action had a big impact on international relations. President Truman feared “the Domino effect” or the spread of communism. He was afraid the next target after Korea would be Japan. He not only wanted to prevent the growth of communism in Europe but Asia as well. The fear was that the domino effect would spread communism much more easily and turn a country into a communist nation because its neighboring countries were already communist. The U.S. had to step into the Korean conflict in order to protect Japan from turning communist, which is a very important nation for American trade and as an ally for the region. To oppose
The Soviet’s feared America just as America feared the Soviet’s. This can explain the local war in Korean instead of an altercation between one another, which could have led to another world war. This fear was in the mind of the Soviet’s when displaying their backing of communism in Korea. They displayed themselves as not acting directly with any fighting within the peninsula, possibly a hint that they did not want to set off anything larger. Instead in their backing they wanted to play a different role. With this posed fear in their minds, the Soviet’s strategy would involve a smaller role in the conflict. They supplied China and North Korean forces with Soviet pilots, aircraft, materials, and medical services. The strategy was to not get directly involved, but to act as a covert supplier to their communist allies to avoid larger complications with the United States. This proves that not only did the United States want this to only be a local war, so did the Soviets.
On June 25 1950, the North side invaded the South side for the purpose of unification of the whole country. The North had an advantage over the South in terms of military strength due to the powerful support from the Soviets and the People 's Republic of China. In contrast, the South side countervailed by taking the part in the war with United Nations Forces which was composed the United States, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Turkey, Ethiopia, Thai, Philippine, Columbia, Greece, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Luxembourg and South Korea. Afterward, the Chinese People 's Volunteer Army entered the war and the Soviets supported the north side in terms of weapon supply or military training. Korean War is regarded as a war by proxy between powers in the Western Bloc and powers in the Eastern Bloc. This war was the first hot war on the cold war era. The causality of this war was tremendous; South Korea lost 217,000 servicepersons and 1,000,000 civilians. North Korean lost 406,000 military men and 600,000 civilians. China lost 600,000 military and the United States lost 36,516. (Seth 2010) As the total population of Korean peninsula was about thirty million, indeed one of six people was sacrificed in this war.