Was the Korean War a Product of the Cold War tensions?
Was the Korean War a Product of the Cold War tensions? A. Plan of Investigation. The aim of this investigation is to asses if the Korean War was a product of the Cold war tensions. This investigation evaluates the long and short term causes of the Korean War. As well as looking at the Cold War as a factor for the Korean war I will also go on to evaluate the importance of internal factors such as Korea wanting to become self determined. I will be looking at the role of the opposing ideologies (communism vs. capitalism) and at the role China took in the Korean War. B. Summary of Evidence. In the long term the conflict occurred as a by-product of the Cold War tensions, this began after WW2. The USA no longer saw the Soviet Union as its ally but now as an enemy seeking to dominate the world. By 1949 the cold war tensions were at boiling point because of such events such as the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Aid, and the Berlin Blockade. These flash points had caused tension and misunderstanding between the USA and the USSR because of the actions they took. But because of the opposing ideologies (communism vs. capitalism) if the USA or USSR brought about any policies they would be a direct threat to each other because their ideologies want to achieve different things. After F.Roosevelt died in April 1945 H.Truman took over as president. He regarded the Soviet Union as an ideological
"How was the Korean War Significant?"
"How was the KoreaWar Significant?" Following World War II both Russiaand the U.S.interested in securing spheres of influence in order to spread their respective ideologies. Already prior to this Koreaand its neighbour Manchuriahad been of great importance to the USSR, and now this interest returned. In August 1945, shortly after Japanhad surrendered to the allies, Russian made an attempt to occupy Korea. The U.S.not wanting to make the same mistake with "appeasement" as they had done with Hitler, moved into southern Koreain order to contain communist spreading. Now, similarly to the situation in Germanyat the time, Koreawas split in two along the 38th parallel. North Korea became Communist and South Korea became anti-Communist and under U.S. control, the scene was set for the first conflict of the Cold War. The Korean War actually broke out on June 25th 1950when North Koreacrossed the 38th parallel invading South Korea. The NKPA (North Korean People's Army) managed to gain quick victories over the South Korea, due to their weaponry and tanks that they had gotten from Russia. Although the U.S.had previously said that they did not consider "South Korea a vital part of [their] defense perimeter in Asia", Truman committed U.S.naval and Air support to South Korea. Although Koreawas clearly not a strategically important to the U.S. it was probably the tense political situation
North Korea and South Korea after the Korean war.
"In our hearts, I think we have already achieved reunification." Kim Bok Young, a clothing retailer in Seoul.1 As a new generation is born and raised that has forgotten the Korean War, the vast majority of Koreans want reunification of the Korean peninsula. The collective group called "Koreans" is a people that were dramatically and carelessly ripped into two states. With families and friends on each side of the border, there is a cry for help on each side. Unfortunately the governments of these two states have differences that separate a common people. Although, there is hope for the spilt nation of Korea. Many are working for the common goal of uniting the people of Korea into a single state. North Korea and South Korea have made significant strides towards unification despite obstacles and set backs. The division of Korea happened in 1945 when single country was split in two and sent on two very different paths. It is important to note that the Korean peninsula has been separated by different kingdoms through history, but the differences were small compared to the recent differences among Korea today. Currently North Korea is a very poor suffering communist state, while the South is a growing economic tiger that has successfully adopted capitalism. The two paths started to unfold late during World War II. While the allies drove the Japanese forces from Korea,
The US intervention in Korean War was solely because of North Korean agression
'The US intervention in the Korean war was caused entirely by the aggressive behaviour of N. Korea.' How far do you agree with this judgement? The true reason as to why the US intervened in the Korean war has created a lot of conflicting answers from many historians. The aggression behaviour of North Korea inherently contributed into US intervention. Historians believed that this was another event in a civil war that had been raging since Korea had been divided. Kim Il Sung was seen by Stalin as someone who is capable to destroy left wing factions in the north and his ability to unite the people under a communist leadership. On 25th of June 1950 North Korean invaded the south in a clear act of invasion which quickly brought the attention to the US. It is arguable that the Americans, keen on human rights and democracy, provided military assistance to Syngman Rhee in the south in order to stop further expansion of communism. One of the reasons why the Americans urged to stop the spread of communism is due to the pressures from home. The 'red-scare' started by McCarthy threatened Truman's popularity as the people's president. He was accused of supporting communism and employing closet communists under his administration. The fact that North Korea invaded the south provided the perfect opportunity for Truman to take action and convince the public that he was no more communist
Korean war - Domestic pressure an devents in asia
Korean War Domestic Pressure rather than events in Asia governed the USA's intervention in, and conduct of the Korean conflict. How far do you agree with these views? There are two views, firstly is that the domestic pressure applied on the US administration and the events of Asia. After the end of the Second World War the war time allies, Russia and America, became bitter enemies in a war that seemed, on the surface, to be about the Capitalist and Communist Ideology. This conflict caused Europe to be split by and "iron curtain" which divided eastern and Western Europe. This war was to be a cold war rather than a "hot war" where the two superpowers, USSR and the USA, never actually fought each other. This conflict spread to Asia where the power gap created by the defeat of the Japanese caused Korea, which was annexed by Japan since 1910, to become split along the 38th parallel, like Europe was split along the iron curtain, with Soviet backed communist North Korea lead by Kim IL Sung and US backed South Korea under the rule of Syngman Rhee who was a hard line anti communist. These two leaders wanted to unify North and South Korea into a unified Korea that was ruled by one of them. The war between North and South Korea started out as a civil war with border skirmishes since 1949. Many of the events in Asia caused domestic pressure on the Truman Administration back home. The
McCarthyism, The Berlin Airlift and The Korean War.
McCarthyism Throughout the 1940s and 1950s America was overwhelmed with concerns about the threat of communism growing in Eastern Europe and China. Capitalizing on those concerns, a young Senator named Joseph McCarthy made a public accusation that more than two hundred "card-carrying" communists had infiltrated the United States government. While the House Un-American Activities Committee had been formed in 1938 as an anti-Communist organ, McCarthy's accusations heightened the political tensions of the times. Known as McCarthyism, the paranoid hunt for infiltrators was notoriously difficult on writers and entertainers, many of whom were labeled communist sympathizers and were unable to continue working. Some had their passports taken away, while others were jailed for refusing to give the names of other communists. The trials, which were well publicized, could often destroy a career with a single unsubstantiated accusation. Among those well-known artists accused of communist sympathies or called before the committee were Dashiell Hammett, Waldo Salt, Lillian Hellman, Lena Horne, Paul Robeson, Arthur Miller, Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin. In all, three hundred and twenty artists were blacklisted, and for many of them this meant the end of exceptional and promising careers. During this time there were few in the press willing to stand up against McCarthy
Was the Korean War successful in either containing Communism or Removing Communism?
Monday, 03 February 2003 Was the Korean War successful in either containing Communism or Removing Communism? In September 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. South Korea, was controlled by Anti - Communist leaders whilst the North was controlled by Communist leaders. The fact that South Korea was Anti - Communist gained it the support of America. The communist half on the other hand was liberated by the soviet troops, and the south by Americans. The south had the support of the UN behind it, which boosted its power. I will now discuss the war in more depth stating the causes and important events during the war. There was one main reason why the Korean War started. This reason was that there was a bitter hostility between the North's communist Leader Kim IL Sung and the South's President Syngman Rhee. The conflict between the two leaders eventually turned into war between the disunited countries. When the War began, the American President Truman began to send warships advisers and supplies to the waters surrounding Korea. The last thing that Truman wanted to see was another country turned communist. This is why he asked for the UN support. The USSR had no say in this as they were boycotting the UN at the time. So, the UN became involved in the war with the Americans contributing the most to the UN forces and in the driving seat. The aim of the UN forces was to drive all
A Study of Air Supremacy in the Korean War.
History 333, The Historical Method-- Arthur Coumbe, Professor A Study of Air Supremacy in the Korean War By Tom Spearman The Korean War was the first major test of the newly formed United States Air Force. It had been in existence for only three years when North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. The North Koreans purpose was to attempt to unite the country under communist rule. When hostilities first broke out the United States war machine was not fully prepared to stop the aggression. War material was in great supply but it had to be brought out of storage. More importantly, most of the experienced military personnel had returned to the civilian sector. The Far East Air Force (FEAF), composed of the Thirteenth in the Philippines, the Twentieth on Guam, and the Fifth in Japan, were responsible for carrying the air war to the enemy.1 The journal, Air Power History, chronicles the stages of the air war and focuses on the integral components that made up the totality of America's response to achieve and maintain air superiority. The aim of the journal was to examine the contributions of each component and demonstrate how their integration as a cohesive force helped achieve their goal, which in turn led to a peaceful settlement. Specifically it looked at the commanders, logistics, combat cargo, strategic interdiction, close air support, aerial combat,
The Korean war and the conflict between North and South.
May 1945 the end of the second world war brought a new era of peace in the world. The United States and the Soviet Union emerged from the ashes as the world's new superpowers. It was up to these new superpowers to make up the new post-war world order. The United States and the Soviet Union were allies during the war, but that quickly ended and a new era of mistrust began between these two different ideological superpowers. The United States and the Soviet Union were vieing for influence in Europe as Europe partitioned between the victors of world war two. Both the United States and Russia were seeking as much control of territories around the world as they could. The Soviet Union who suffered the most in world war two (lost 20 million people) was seeking compensation and control of as many countries in eastern Europe as possible. But, Europe wasn't the only place where these superpowers were trying to gain influence, after the partitioning of Europe these two superpowers began concentrating there influence in Asia and mostly Korea. As Hitler and his army was being defeated on all fronts in Europe, the war in the Pacific was still raging. The United States was fighting Japan who in turn
To what extent was the Korean War a product of the cold war tensions?
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
