2.2.1

Causes & Military Action in Korean War

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Causes of the Korean War

On 25th June 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. North Korea was communist and wanted to have a ‘United Korea’. South Korea was anti-communist and favoured a nationalistic but capitalist regime

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The divison of Korea

  • In 1945 the Allied Powers temporarily separated North and South Korea.
  • The United Nations had planned for elections leading to a possible unification yet neither side was willing to submit to the other and elections never took place.
  • Both sides did want a United Korea yet they wanted to rule in their own style of leadership; both of which conflicted with each other. Both sides made use of international tension and used the tension to gain allies.
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International alliances

  • North Korea, led by Kim II Sung had the backing of communist China and the USSR.
  • South Korea, led by Syngman Rhee had the support of the UN and the USA. Both sides, now made it clear that they would use force if necessary to gain power.
  • When the conflict broke out, the UN was quick to secure a commitment from 16 countries to send troops under the UN banner to the aid of South Korea. Britain, Canada, Turkey, Philippines and the USA sent troops. The UN troops were led by the anti-communist American General, Douglas MacArthur.

Military Actions within Korea

When the conflict broke out, the UN was quick to secure a commitment from 16 countries to send troops under the UN banner to the aid of South Korea. The UN troops were led by American General Douglas MacArthur

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Operation Chromite

  • In September 1950, before the American troops arrived in Korea the South Korean troops had been pushed back to Pusan. It looked unlikely that the South Koreans would be able to hold out.
  • Soon after, the UN carried out Operation Chromite which involved 261 UN ships landing troops in Korea. Within days the South Koreans were able to push back North Korea’s troops to the 38th parallel.
  • This success was made easier by the fact Stalin still refused to send troops to Korea, only military supplies
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The second phase of the war

  • Mao sent 300,000 ‘volunteer troops’ to Korea yet Stalin still refused to send troops, which gave Truman (USA) the confidence to advance further into North Korea.
  • Truman decided to change the USA’s policy of containment to the ‘destruction of North Korean armed forces’ and with this sent his troops across the border to North Korea.
  • Truman made it clear that this was a change in policy due to the opportunity to weaken communism in Asia and that it had not been his intention all along to declare war on the communist state of North Korea.
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The third phase of the war

  • China, seeing that the UN troops were close to the Chinese/North Korean border, sent 200,000 troops to join the North Korean troops.
  • This caused the UN forces to make a retreat back to the 38th parallel. General MacArthur wanted to launch atomic bombs on China but Truman feared this would be too harsh and dismissed MacArthur in April 1951.
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Stalemate

  • The USA continued to support at the 38th parallel. It provided some 6 million soldiers to Korea during the war and 33,000 US soldiers were killed in Korea.
  • For the duration of the war, the USA sent military support to South Korea in the form of chemical weapons (napalm), airpower, tanks and artillery.
  • In early 1951, communist troops had reached Seoul and 400,000 Chinese troops were in Korea. The troops were kept in constant supply from the Chinese border 200 miles away.
  • General Matthew Ridgway replaced MacArthur and he tried to break the stalemate by heavily bombing the North.
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Peace talks

  • In July 1951 both sides began peace talks at a teahouse at Kaesong. The peace talks occurred as fighting continued and the peace talks broke down.
  • In March 1953 Stalin died which made peace talks more likely, as did the change in US military leadership under Ridgway.
  • Peace talks commenced again the following year and on 27th July 1953, an armistice was agreed. China, North Korea and the USA signed a ceasefire agreement. South Korea refused to sign the agreement but it was forced to accept it.

Jump to other topics

1Origins of the Cold War, 1945-9

2Widening of the Cold War

3The Global War

4Confrontation & Cooperation

5Brezhnev Era

6Ending of the Cold War

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