The Cold War Begins

25.4 The Korean War

“Our nation honors her sons and

daughters who answered the call to

defend a country they never knew, and a people they never

met.”

Focus Your Thoughts . . .

Where is Korea?

What countries neighbor Korea?

Knowing what you know about the Cold War, Korea’s neighbors, and Korea as it exists today, what do you think the Korean War might be about?

Korea’s Significant LocationEast AsiaKorea is a peninsula which

is bordered on the west by the Yellow Sea and on the east by the Sea of Japan

Korea shares a border with China, which shares a border with Russia

Korea is also a close neighbor of Japan

Korea before the WarIn 1905, Korea came under Japanese control,

however, after Japan was defeated in WWII, Korea was made a free country by the Allied Powers

In order to protect this new country, we divided Korea in two at the 38th parallelThe Soviet Union controlled North Korea The Americans controlled South Korea

What is the ‘38th’ parallel referred to as today?

The DMZThe De-Militarized Zone

North and South Korean army personnel at the DMZ

The Split

Soviet & American OccupationThe presence of the Soviets in the North and the Americans in the

South was meant to be temporary, but the Cold War led to problems

Stalin tried to set up a communist government in North Korea (shocking!)

South Korea had a democratic government, led by President Syngman Rhee He hoped to unify North and South Korea once again

North Korea then named itself the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea The first leader was Kim Il Sung

He hoped to unify North and South Korea once again as well, disagreed about how to do this . . . this led to war

The Start of the Korean WarJune 25, 1950

100,000 N. Korean soldiers invaded S. Korea

The troops carried Soviet weapons and drove Soviet tanks; the future of S. Korea was at stake

The attack came as a complete surprise to the Truman administration, which had already begun to withdraw U.S. troops from S. Korea

The decision to fight was made quickly . . .Why??

The Role of the United StatesS. Korea was a small country, incapable of

defending itself against the N. Korean advance

Truman felt we had to send a signal to the world proving that we would not tolerate communist aggression

General Dwight D. Eisenhower agreed“We’ll have a dozen Koreas soon if we don’t take a firm stand.”

The Capture of SeoulWithin days, N. Korea had

pushed back S. Korean forces and captured the capital of Seoul

Truman knew he had to act quickly1. He sent naval and air forces

to defend S. Korea2. He then asked the U.N. to

approve the use of force to stop the North Korean invasion

What would the U.N. do?? Would it fail as the League of

Nations had?

The Role of the U.N.The United Nations Security Council voted

unanimously in favor of the use of force

Under the U.N. rules, five key nations held the power to veto security council decisions . . . one of those nations was the Soviet Union (crap!)

As luck would have it, the Soviet representative was not present to veto the use of force against N. KoreaHe was absent because the Soviets were protesting

the admission of Nationalist China

June 30, 1950It became clear to Truman that air and naval support

were not going to be enough

Although he feared putting troops on the ground, he realized it was the only way he could save S. Korea from communist takeover

The military force sent into Korea was a U.N. force; the whole effort was referred to as a U.N. police actionSome 40,000 other troops were provided by fifteen

other member nationsThe U.S. never declared war

Fighting ConditionsTroops entered the battle in South Korea

N. Korean troops greatly outnumbered and outgunned S. Korean troops

Summer heat and heavy rains sapped what little strength the soldiers had

By the end of the month, N. Koreans had pushed U.N. forces to the southeast tip of S. KoreaU.N. troops formed a 130-mile-long line around the port city

of Pusan which they were told they had to hold on to at all costs

The Inchon LandingWith more and more troops landing every day, the N.

Korean advance stalled

General MacArthur saw this as an opportunity to go on the offensive, and he called for a landing behind N. Korean lines at the port city of Inchon

Inchon was a very risky place to launch an attack from because of high tides; the N. Koreans would never expect itThe September 15th invasion was a complete success, in

less than twenty-four hours the U.N. forces had regained some ground.

The Inchon Landing

North Korea on the RunThe N. Koreans had stretched themselves too thin, and

the capital city of Seoul soon fell to the U.N. forces

The U.N. forces launched another attack from Pusan, this attack broke the N. Korean line; huge numbers of N. Korean troops died or were forced to surrender

By October 1st, all of S. Korea was back under U.N. control, now the question became whether or not we should stop at the 38th parallel or invade N. Korea, knowing the Soviets and the Chinese may back them . . . What do you think?

Will we invade North Korea?

The Invasion of North KoreaBoth Truman and General MacArthur supported the

invasion

Steady progress was made through October and November but then – as promised – the Chinese came to the rescue of N. Korea, just as MacArthur’s final push to end the war was getting under way

With the promise of a quick end to the war dissolving before their eyes, the U.N. forces, faced with the harsh Korean winter and an impossible number of Chinese forces, were forced to retreat

Conflicting ViewpointsGeneral MacArthur General Ridgeway &

TrumanCalled for the expansion

of the war

Wanted to bomb mainland China with atomic weapons

Wanted to pull Taiwan (where the Nationalist government of China had re-located to) into the war

Felt MacArthur’s plan was too hasty and wanted to stay the course

Ridgeway was successful, and succeeded in pushing the Chinese back to the 38th parallel again

Truman fires MacArthur, a WWII hero, and enrages the American people

July 1951The United States enters into peace talks; at this

point 80,000 Americans have been wounded; 14,000 were dead

Talks were delayed and largely unsuccessful:1. N. and S. Korea bickered over where their dividing

line should be; fighting continued alone the 38th parallel and U.N. casualties reached 40,000, this area became known as Heartbreak Ridge

2. Syngman Rhee refused to send prisoners of war back to their communist countries

1952 - 19531952: Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected President

Eisenhower had campaigned promising an end to the fighting in Korea; Communist China and N. Korea also seemed interested in ending the fighting Despite this, the U.N. suffered another 57,000 casualties in the last two

months of the conflict; the communists lost 100,000

Finally, on July 27, 1953, the guns fell silent, yet the borders of North and South Korea were pretty much the same . . . nothing of any significance had been accomplished, but the costs were great:

37,000 Americans 60,000 U.N. troops 2 million communists 3 million Korean civilians

The Korean War MemorialWashington, D.C.

Originally the plan was to include thirty-eight statues to represent the thirty-eighth parallel . . .

The Korean War MemorialWashington, D.C.

Money ran out so, instead, they built nineteen and a wall that has the names of the dead lazered in, along with pictures . . .

The Korean War MemorialWashington, D.C.

The wall also reflects the nineteen statues so, when combined, the nineteen physical statues and the nineteen reflections equal thirty-eight.