The_Korean_War

﻿ ﻿ The Korean War

Background Info & Cause
During World War II, the Korean Peninsula fell in the hands of the Japanese invasion and became a colony during war. After war, on the decision of how to deal with the colonies of Japan, the Soviets and the US decided to divide the peninsula along the 38th parallel, each occupy one part of the peninsula.

On June 25, 1950, Soldiers of the Soviet occupied North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and attempted to reunite with the U.S. occupied South Korea, to form a communist republic. It was the beginning of the Korean War. The 38th Parallel Divided N&S Korea

Major Groups/Leaders Involved:

 * **The United Nations [UN]( which largely dominated by US troops)**
 * The U.S. never actually declared war on Korea or China, instead they used the UN police action and sent mainly U.S. troops
 * Harry S. Truman: President of the United States at the beginning of the Korean War
 * Douglas MacArthur: General at the war, who suggested the UN should bomb China directly rather fighting on the Korean land
 * Dwight Eisenhower: President of the United States during the time towards the end of the war.




 * **Republic of Korea (Southern)**
 * After the departure of the US occupation, soon the north found it as a chace of invasion




 * **Democratic People's Republic of Korea (Northern)**
 * Began the invasion in order to reunite the divided peninsula




 * **People's Republic Of China [PRC]**
 * Mao ZeDong
 * In fact, China had not declared war on the united nations as well. The troops they sent in were voluntary troops from the northeast

**Major Battles/Events**

 * June 24,1950 : Soviet equipped northern Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel and invaded the southern part of the peninsula.[[image:jspivey:38thParallel.jpg width="193" height="221"]]


 * June 27, 1950: Capital of South Korea, Seoul fell into the communist control within days of the invasion, the government fled the capital.
 * June 30, 1950 : After a brief meeting called together by president Truman, UN decided to sent troops in to Korea as a police action, led by General McArthur
 * October 19, 1950: Pyongyang, Capital of North Korea fell into the hands of UN.
 * November 4, 1950: Eight divisions of Nort Chinese People's Volunteer Army (PVA) had entered the war. They were to resist the Americans and aid Koreans
 * December 1950: With the interverence of the Chinese army, the UN defense collapsed and was pushed back to the 38th parallel, Seoul was captured again
 * March 1951: UN armies gained back most of the lost territories, pushed the communist forces back up north to the 38th parallel.
 * Unhappy that the president trying to avoid another world war by trying to negotiate, McArthur argued that if the Americans are fighting the Chinese, they should be directly bombing the Chinese land as well.
 * However, the president had already warned McArthur multiple times that to keep his opinions to himself.
 * April 11, 1951: President Truman dismissed McArthur from command, being struck by the letter McArthur wrote about his unhapiness that was released.
 * July 1951: Negotiations between the major opposing forces began and took place in Panmunjom



**Outcomes of the War**

 * Armistice:**
 * On July 1951 began the negotiation for an agreement, which lasted two years
 * The first issue to be discussed was the prisoners of war
 * The final agreement was freeing all the war prisoners
 * Both sides agreed on a cease-fire line, roughly along the 38th parallel
 * The new border line drawn gave more territories to South Korea
 * Near the parallel is the 2mile Non-Millitary zone
 * The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953

Note:

- The two Koreas did NOT sign a peace treaty, which means the war could be stilled considered On-Going - In 2009 North Korea abandoned the armistice treaty, could once again be belligerent towards South Korea


 * Casualties:**
 * **United Nation**
 * 778,053 [Including POW,wounded, non-combat deaths, missings and etc.]
 * **South Korea**
 * 373,599 killed
 * 229,625 wounded
 * 387,744 abducted/missing
 * **North Korea**
 * 215,000 dead
 * 303,000 wounded
 * 120,000 MIA or POW
 * **PRC**
 * 183,108 dead (including non-combat deaths)
 * 383,218 wounded
 * 25,621 missing
 * 21,400 POW

Significance & Relevance to the Cold War
The war was one of the few "hot wars" within the cold war. The cold war, the term revealed that as the non-physical competition between the soviets and the U.S. However the Korean War (and later the Vietnam war), each side supporting the opposing sides once again revealed the tensions between the two nations.The invasion of the communist backed North Koreans alarmed the Americans. At the same time was the hysteria in the fear of communism in America that force the people to make the decision of going to war (Even though the war was not officially delcared). One factor of the hysteria, and the intervention of UN was the fear for the spread of communism. President Truman once claimed that if the US let the North Koreans to reunite to form a communist dictatorship government based nation, the Soviets would then have a excuse to spread communism even further, until it takes over the world. Also, in the war, even though the Soviets were engaged into the war, politically; However they did not directly participate in the combat and suffered almost no casualties; While the US was engaged in both ways and suffered great losse; it was another symbolic event for the cold war.



Impacts on Today

 * SInce only a agreement on ceasefire was reach, the war was acutally never ended
 * The Koreas remained divided by the 38th parallel 60 years after the end of fighting
 * Tensions between the countries involved in the war remians