The USA became involved using the United Nations which was boycotted by the USSR. 15 countries contributed soldiers to the UN army but it was a 90% US force. Almost all the weapons were provided by the USA. The 300,000 soldier army was led by General Douglas MacArthur who was responsible to President Truman. Rhee’s army was on the verge of surrender, so in September 1950 the UN army successfully landed at Inchon behind North Korean lines and by October the North Korean army was pushed back over the 38th Parallel.
The UN army then got ambitious and went against original orders. They decided to pursue a more ambitious policy of ‘roll-back’, or reuniting Korea as one country. They captured Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, and got close the Yalu River along to border with China. General MacArthur and leading US politicians wanted to continue the policy of ‘roll-back’ to use the Korean War to roll back communism and restore Nationalism to China. Truman ultimately sacked MacArthur (who wanted a full-on war with China) and abandoned the risky ‘roll-back’ strategy.
The USSR also got involved with the conflict. Stalin would have benefited from the spread of communism to Korea and other part of Asia, because it would increase the USSR’s sphere of influence and prestige. Kim Il Sung was the North Korean leader who persuaded Stalin to let him invade South Korea. Stalin was reluctant to openly support him for fear of nuclear war with the US. However, he did send in Russian military advisors to help with the invasion planning.
The USSR had boycotted the United Nations and therefore could not use its veto to prevent the USA from using the UN army in South Korea. Stalin wanted to keep public knowledge of the involvement of Russia to a minimum, so when the war took to the skies in 1951 any Russian pilots wore Chinese uniforms and flew Russian planes with Chinese markings. Pilots were forbidden from flying in areas where they may have been captured if shot down and from speaking Russian on the aircraft radio. For reasons of ethnicity, on the ground Soviet pilots 'played' the roles of Soviet commercial travellers rather than Chinese or North Korean soldiers.
China got involved with the conflict because it was alarmed when North Korea was invaded in November 1950. Zedong feared that China could have been next on the USA’s list and that communism would be removed from the government. The USSR and China had signed a Friendship Pact and Stalin encouraged China to resist the USA. China issued a warning to the UN about the consequence of its actions but it was ignored.
In response 250,000 Chinese ‘volunteers’ were sent to drive back the UN army, even capturing Seoul. China’s involvement was decisive but it did not want to be in direct conflict with a superpower that had nuclear weapons. China saw its actions as self-defence.
By 1951 a number of costly offensives and counter attacks had resulted in a stalemate. Peace talks in June of that year had failed to bring an end to the war. 1953 saw a change in leadership for both sides (Eisenhower in USA and Khrushchev in the USSR). The USA launched heavy bombing raids on North Korea, destroying Pyongyang and causing high civilian casualties. This continued until an armistice was signed in 1953.
Both sides suffered substantial losses as well as gains. The USA implemented the Truman Doctrine, showing how serious it was about containing communism. The UN/USA involvement saved South Korea from communist control and in turn had saved its neighbours from also being threatened. Another gain was that they could now build on their past mistakes and become more equipped for tackling communism. John Foster Dulles, the American Secretary of State, said that the USA had to be better prepared for the treat of communist expansion. The USA set up a network of anti-communist alliances, such as SEATO (South Atlantic Treaty Organisation) and the ANZUS (Australia, New Zealand and United States) pact with Australia and New Zealand to give them US protection.
However, the US had saved South Korea at a cost. Over 54,000 American soldiers were killed in the Korean War and a further 100,000 were wounded. The US was also forced to triple its military spending, and they also failed to ‘roll-back’ communism from North Korea and China. The total death toll of all sides combined (including citizens) was over 2 million and the war became known as ‘the century’s nastiest little war’.
China’s gains included saving North Korea from capitalism and increasing its power as a leading Communist nation in Asia. North Korea remained communist which gave China protection from the US. Mao Zedong emerged from the war in a more secure position and the Friendship Pact with the USSR had proved useful, although tensions between the powers would soon reduce its influence.
However, China had lost 550,000 in the war and this was especially costly for a new government. Relations between China and the US remained very tense and the US refused to recognise China as communist. China was represented at the UN by the nationalist controlled island of Taiwan. China was isolated in trade on politics.
China’s actions were condemned by the UN which accused it of being aggressive. After 1953 China began to turn in on itself behind the so-called ‘Bamboo Curtain’.
Overall, the war accomplished little in terms of land. The two Koreas were still divided along the 38th Parallel. However, keeping communism at bay in Korea continues to benefit the west today, as we import mass amounts of Korean cars and electronic goods. The war officially never ended, either. A ceasefire was signed, however the nations are still technically at war.
