How far was the decision to rollback past the 38th parallel a military and political blunder by the USA?

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How far was the decision to rollback past the 38th parallel a military and political blunder by the USA?

In the beginning, the USA planned to contain S.Korea, but when the opportunity arose to capture N.Korea they could not turn it down; as it would be a significant step to stopping communism in Asia. Although, the Chinese had stated that they would help defend N.Korea if any attacks commenced. The USA called this theory “rollback”, as they where trying to undo all of the recent communist uprisings in Asia. I will investigate whether or not the decision to rollback over the 38th parallel was a successful political and military decision.

First of all I will look to see whether the decision to rollback was beneficial towards the military. One reason for this was because the USA wanted a foothold in Asia. This was clear, as after China fell to communism in 1949 the USA needed a country in Asia to influence other countries. If the USA had Korea as foothold in Asia they could exert their influence by making capitalism look superior over communism. They could make it look superior by helping to rebuild Korea and by increasing their economic status through Asia. This made the decision to rollback beneficial as they could therefore prevent more communist uprisings in Asia, thus stopping the domino theory

A further reason why the decision appeared to be first-rate was because it protected S.Korea even further. Although pushing forward is actually not considered protecting, in this case it was. It is stated that in some terms the best form of defence is offense, this is correct in this instance. This is because if the Chinese and N.Korean’s are defending the USA attacks they will not be able to attack S.Korea, also if the USA takes N.Korea they would have a bigger military and more land. This made the decision to rollback first-rate as if they attacked it would be harder for the N.Koreans/China to attack S.Korea.

Another reason why the decision to rollback made logical sense was because the USA was already prepared. The USA already had a lot of military based in and around S.Korea after the battle to retake S.Korea after the N.Koreans attacked, so they would therefore not have to bring any extra troops over. Also as the USA had pushed the N.Koreans back over the 38th parallel they had the upper-hand and the momentum to push them back even further. This made the decision a logical one as they were already prepared with troops and equipment as they had just pushed the N. Korean back, this also meant they had the upper hand as well as added momentum.

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One positive reason for undergoing “rollback” was because of the Berlin Blockade. This was where the Russians tried to take control of Berlin by blocking all routes into the city from West Germany to West Berlin. The blockade was eventually broken by the USA resulting in the USA controlling their area of Berlin, this demonstrated their power, in particular their economic power. America wanted to rollback for the same reason as the Berlin Blockade, to demonstrate their power to the communists.

Another reason why the decision to rollback was effective for the military was due to the possibility ...

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