Essay
Korean War
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- OCR
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By: madeleineburke103 • 5 months ago
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Topic 2- Korean WarReasons for Outbreak of War
CONTEXT: Following the Yalta and Potsdam conferences after WW2, the USA and
the USSR agreed to occupy Korea under a trusteeship in hope of granting Korea
independence and uniting both Koreas peacefully
Kim Il Sung Syngman Rhee
The peaceful unification was not Syngman Rhee was an equally
possible due to the ambitious, ambitious leader in the South, the only
communist leader of North Korea, Kim Il thing that divided the two leaders was
Sung. their ideologies, Kim was communist,
-August 1948 Soviets proceeded with and Rhee was capitalist. But they both
an election which Kim was involved in wanted the unification of Korea
and in September 1948 North Korea -1946-47 there was unrest in South
was formed known as the Democratic Korea, the US government in Korea
People’s Republic of Korea with Kim as were ignoring peasant’s demands (land
leader. -Now the Koreas were lawfully reform, introducing free trade on rice)-
split the chances of a unification of led to uprisings in 1946. US general
Korea peacefully was impossible and Hodge clamped down on Communists in
would only be possible from military the south which raised hostilities
actions towards communists in the South. Rhee
-Throughout 1949 Kim was eager to was complicit in the US’ anti-
invade South Korea but needed Stalin’s communist actions which instigated
approval and support because Kim saw communist uprisings.
Stalin as the world Communist leader -Summer 1948 frequent border
but also needed military aid (especially skirmishes, most initiated by South
fighter jets)- Stalin gave his approval in Korea as Rhee as their fore fronting
March 1950 to invade South Korea leader. These border skirmishes led to
which triggered the start of the Korean further aggravation of North Korea
War. which led to the inevitable Northern
-North Korea were well prepared for this attack. The skirmishes exacerbated
war (150,000-200,000 civil war Stalin's reasoning to approve Kim to
veterans, 280 tanks) compared to South invade South Korea
Korea who was not prepared (98,000
civil war veterans, 0 tanks)
This clearly shows that Kim is
responsible for outbreak of war since he
was so prepared to go to war as well as
he invaded South Korea which started
the war
Which more important in prolonging the KW beyond Dec 1950
Divisions within the Western Alliance
Intervention of the Chinese
, DIVISIONS CHINA
P= Division of the western alliance P= China’s intervention was more
prolonged the KW important for the prolonging of the KW
E= The Western Alliance consisted of -Chinese had been humiliated by other
the US/UN/RoK- internal divisions within countries during 19th/20th century, the
the US prolonged the war-> General KW offered the Chinese an opportunity
MacArthur & Truman-> disagreed on for China to re-establish its status on
the best way to win the war.
the world stage
-Truman wanted to fight a limited war
- NK sent thousands of soldiers to help
due to WW2 devastation, so he did not
want direct conflict with USSR which in the Chinese civil war so MZ felt
would escalate into global conflict obliged to help NK
-MacArthur wanted to use all means -Security reasons- China needed to
necessary to achieve victory including defend Korean border
the use of nuclear weapons and -Stalin played China and USA against
invading China-> The disagreements of each other to amplify Sino-Soviet-
MacArthur and Truman slowed them as American conflict
they could not agree E= -Course of the war changes- from
-MacArthur’s actions and failure to US/UN advantage + successful gains in
follow orders -> MacArthur publicly North Korea to US/UN retreat to the 38th
threatened to bomb China in defiance parallel-> prior to Chinese intervention
of Truman’s stated war policy->
UN/US forces had success in NK-
impacted peace talks and prolonged the
capturing Pyongyang + pushed NK back
war as Communist nations were notified
of the extent US was prepared to go to to Yalu River-> success seemed
win the war inevitable
-Composition of Western Alliance-> 22 -Prolonged the war a further 18 months
different countries sent forces to Korea because of the Chinese involvement-
under UN leadership-> made making the war more difficult for the US
organization & communication difficult- (300,000 experienced + well equipped
different languages/ strategies/ veterans)-> US/UN lost their advantage
training-> meant coordination was as Chinese were tougher to fight than
difficult- reducing their effectiveness to NK + greater in number + better
win the war quickly trained/equipped
A= However, not more important than -Peace talks prolonged as there were
Chinese intervention because the
now more sides to negotiate with
western divisions did not change the
course of the war. With the divisions the
Western Alliance was able to have an
advantage over NK forces-> pushing
them all the way to the Yalu River but
due to Chinese intervention the
Western Alliance was pushed back to
the 38th parallel and the war was
prolonged a further 18 months
Korean War a war without winners
-KW began June 1950- NK crossed 38th parallel and invaded SK
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