• Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

To what extent was the Korean War a product of the cold war tensions?

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

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 ...read more.

Middle

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. Also in 1950 the NSC-68 had been issued by the US national security and was a report by the USA, it blamed the communist expansionism of Stalin for the continuation of the cold war and in it the Soviet Union was considered to be aiming to dominate Europe and Asia as part of the spread of world communism. It recommended much stronger action against communism, which was the policy of rollback because of policies like appeasement being seen as too soft on the Soviet Union. America now saw this as a chance to see if this new more aggressive tactic was going to prove a success in containing the Soviet Union. ...read more.

Conclusion

But this isn't a very strong argument against the matter of it not being a product of the cold war tensions because Kim IL Sung was a communist leader and Syngman Rhee was Capitalist leader that once again led back to the cold war, Communism vs. capitalism. So I believe that the Korean War was almost entirely a product of the Cold War for the reason that the Korean War being once again Russia vs. America. The tensions of the Cold War were so deep that no decisions or agreements could be made between the two countries. Even though Korea wanted to be unified with no global influence the dictators of the north and south were either capitalist or communist which meant that these two dictators wouldn't be able to reach an agreement with each other because of the Cold War tension. Everything that happened during this time was either because of the cold war tensions or linked someway to the cold war and this is why I saw the Korean War as a by-product of the Cold War tensions. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related AS and A Level International History, 1945-1991 essays

  1. Why did the Cold War start

    end the war led to further fears by the Soviet Union as it displayed America's willingness to use nuclear weaponry to secure its aims. Stalin's reaction was expected as the invention of the b**b shifted the balance of power, even Truman was 'aware of the immense strength the possession of

  2. Who was responsible for the start of the Cold war?

    Writing and living in Moscow Truman thought he should be a well informed and a creditable enough source of information to rely upon and therefore in many ways his telegram became a catalyst in developing the way that American foreign policy became over-aggressive towards the Soviet Union as it perhaps

  1. Korean propaganda during the Second World War and the Korean War had a different ...

    This is a great example that depicts the American views on Japan during the World War Two. The bat is shown to represent Japan as a disease-carrying rodent, with pointy ears, fangs and slanted eyes. Also note, this magazine cover is dated, December 7th, 1941; the date of which a surprise-attack on Pearl Harbor took place by the Japanese.

  2. Free essay

    To what extent are Walter Scott(TM)s novels a product of the Scottish Enlightenment? Discuss ...

    Such opponents adduce the fact that Scott was primarily motivated to write Waverley not to disseminate Enlightenment ideas, but because he was in severe debt; this argument being strengthened by the fact that Scott composed two thirds of the book in just three weeks, and, at the time of its

  1. To what extent was the Korean conflict of 1950 to 1953 a 'turning point' ...

    army, as well as contingents from fifteen other countries not including America herself. The expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was also a deviation from American action in post-war Europe. NATO was immediately given a larger secretariat and a more unified command structure.

  2. platoon vs jarhead

    of the whole of the bus indicating that if he does go through a lot of pain and hardship, he is not alone. It then shows a picture of his girlfriend who he will miss. He gets off the bus using close up shots and the sunlight seeping in, in the back round shows the use of natural light.

  1. Account for the tensions between the Islamic World and the West

    Islam belonged to the Orient, the body of knowledge on Islam has been created by the West and in relation to Western interests "most of what the west knew about the non-Western world knew it in the framework of colonialism" (Said/1997:163)

  2. North Korea and South Korea after the Korean war.

    These prime ministerial talks became fruitful and initiated the "Basic Agreement" and the "Joint Declaration"13 The North and South signed this landmark agreement called the Basic Agreement in late 1991. Both the ROC and the DPRK promised "reconciliation, nonaggression, exchanges and cooperation, and the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula"14 The agreement set up four commissions to deal with each issue.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work