BELL RINGER

What is the main difference between the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan?

Problems in China and Korea

COMMUNISM SPREADS IN ASIA

COMMUNISM SPREADS TO ASIA

In China, Communist forces and Nationalist forces had been battling since the late 1920s. The two had stopped their war during World War II in an effort to resist Japanese occupation. With the end of World War II, civil war broke out again. The Nationalists were defeated after poor leadership caused the United States to stop sending aid. In October 1949, Communists set up the People’s Republic of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong.

A DANGEROUS FRIENDSHIP

In early 1950, the People’s Republic of China and the Soviet Union signed a treaty of friendship and alliance.

The United States was able to keep Communist China out of the United Nations while allowing Nationalists from Taiwan to retain their seats.

When the United States lost China as its main ally in Asia, it adopted policies to encourage the quick recovery of Japan’s industrial economy. The U.S. saw Japan as its key in defending Asia.

America’s Forgotten War

The Korean War

ORIGINS OF THE WAR

At the end of World War II, American and Soviet forces entered Korea to disarm Japanese troops stationed there.

The Allies divided Korea at the 38th parallel of latitude. Soviet troops controlled the north and set up a Communist government. American troops controlled the south with an American-backed government.

On June 25, 1950, North Korean troops invaded South Korea.

STANDOFF AT THE 38TH PARALLEL

President Truman was convinced that the north Korean aggressors were repeating what Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese had done in the 1930’s.

South Korea asked the United Nations to intervene. The UN (led by US & Gen. Douglas MacArthur) sent forces to push back communists.

The Soviets boycotted the Security Council to protest the seating of nationalist China (Taiwan) rather than mainland China and thus vetoing its right to appose the UN’s plan of action.

THE KOREAN WAR: 1950-1953 September 1950, the North

Korea had managed to take control of the entire Korean peninsula except for a tiny area around Pusan in the far southeast.

A month later, MacArthur launched a surprise attack and the troops moving north from Pusan met up with forces that had made an amphibious landing at Inchon. About half the North Koreans were surrendered, and the rest retreated.

THE KOREAN WAR: 1950-1953 Late November, UN troops had

pushed the North Koreans almost to the Yalu River at the border with China.

October 1950, The Chinese felt threatened by the American fleet off their coast and sent 300,000 troops to aid North Korea, causing the fight between North and South Korea to become a war between China and America.

January1951, China had pushed all the UN troops as well as the South Korean troops out of North Korea.

THE KOREAN WAR: 1950-1953 General MacArthur then

calls for a nuclear attack against the Chinese cities.

Truman disagreed, viewing Macarthur’s proposals as reckless. “We are trying to prevent a world war, not start one.”

MacArthur instead tried to go over Truman's head and took his case to Congress and the press. Truman fired him for insubordination (the President is Commander in Chief).

THE END OF THE WAR On July 1953, UN forces and North

Korea signed a cease-fire agreement. After 3 years of fighting, the border between North and South Korea still lay close to the 38th parallel, where it was before the war started, and approximately 5 million soldiers and civilians had died.

DMZ (Demilitarized Zone): A narrow strip of that that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea.

Despite its name is the most heavily militarized border in the world.

IMPORTANCE OF THE KOREAN WAR The Korean War was an

important turning point in the Cold War. Instead of just using political pressure and economic aid to contain communism, the United States began a major military buildup. The Korean War expanded the Cold War beyond Europe and into Asia.

SOUTH KOREA AFTER THE WARSouth Korea In 1987, South Korea adopted a democratic

constitution and established free elections. Between the 1980’s and 1990’s South Korea

claimed one of the highest economic growth rates in the world.

The United States has maintained Army and Air Force personnel in South Korea to help South Korea defend itself against external aggression.

NORTH KOREA AFTER THE WAR Kim Il Sung: first Communist dictator

of North Korea; established collective farms, developed heavy industry, and built up the country’s military power.

Kim Jong Il: ascended to power upon the death of his father in 1994; developed nuclear weapons.

Kim Jong Un: ascended to power upon his father’s death in 2011; attended an English-language school in Switzerland; has recently attempted to launch ICBMs and has threatened warfare against South Korea.

The country continues to struggle with shortages of energy and food.

Pyongyang

North Korea at night

DMZ TODAY

“All hail theDear Leader!”

“Heyyyyy,

Sexy lady!”