To what extent was the Korean War a product of the cold war tensions?
There is two answers to this question one is yes it was a product of the cold war and the other is no it wasn’t a product of the cold war. In this essay we are going to discuss both arguments in much more depth and come to a conclusion to which answer is right. Firstly we will start with the answer yes it was a product of the cold war.
The Korean War was a product of the cold war tensions because the cold war was a conflict between to opposing ideologies, communism and capitalism. By 1949 the cold war tensions were at boiling point because of events such as the Truman doctrine, Marshall plan and Berlin blockade, at these events things happened that caused tension and misunderstanding between the east and south. The Truman Doctrine stated that the US would aid any country under attack by armed minorities, it was made because of the situation in Greece but Stalin knew that it was aimed at preventing the spread of communism and this caused Stalin misunderstandings and anger to why this was made. The Marshall plan was aimed at recovering the war-torn Europe by giving out US financial aid but the conditions attached made it impossible for communist countries to be able to receive this aid. Lastly the Berlin Blockade was a flashpoint of the cold war because it almost mounted to actual war between the east and west. Stalin blocked all routs off to Berlin so America couldn’t reach its part of Berlin; America then decided to organize an airlift to Berlin to deliver aid to the Berliners. If any plains were to be shot down would of certainly led to war, this blockade caused and mounted the tensions that had already been there. By this time, the cold war tensions and misunderstandings had reached such a low point where any thing that America brought to power would be a direct threat to Communism e.g. Truman Doctrine and anything that Stalin done to counter act this would be a direct threat to America and capitalism so the cold war had reached a domino effect. To add to this the United States no longer saw the Soviet Union as its ally, but as an enemy seeking to dominate the world. To now have in 1949 the USA occupying the south of Korea and Russia occupying the north both with armed forces, it was never going to be peaceful. USA by this time feared communist expansion and Korea had been split in to two opposing forces who both feared each other because of the tensions of the cold war and they both had their reasons to occupy the whole of Korea, the USA wanted Korea to stop the spread of communism and Stalin was set on world domination and believed owning the whole of Korea would lead a little bit further towards this goal.
