The Korean War

22.2

Chinese Revolution

• Before WWII, Communists struggled to overthrow Nationalist government

• During WWII, they put aside their differences to resist Japanese invasion

• After WWII, civil war broke out

U.S. Intervenes

• U.S. gave Nationalists $2 billion in an effort to defeat the Communists

• By 1949, Nationalists squander the funds and fall to the Communists

• U.S. discontinued funding to Nationalists and they fled to Taiwan

• Communists created the People’s Republic of China in Oct. 1949

The World Falls Apart

• The Communists take China

• U.S.S.R. tests first atomic bomb (1949)

• 1950: China and the Soviets sign a treaty of friendship and alliance

Discussion Slide

• What would be a parallel of this happening to us today?

An Old Enemy Becomes a New Ally

• With the Communists’ takeover in China, the U.S. needed a new ally in Asia

• U.S. promoted democracy in Japan; it also helped recover its economy

Map of Korea

Occupation

• In 1945 Korea was occupied by Soviet forces in the north and American forces in the south.

• They were present to disarm the Japanese stationed there

• The line that was chosen to separate the two was the same one that Japan and Russia used in the early part of the 20th century.

• It was called the 38th parallel.

Korea After WWII

• When WWII ended, talks of reunification failed

• The North remained communist and had support from the U.S.S.R.

• The South had continued support from the U.S.

• Both sides wanted the Korean Peninsula • On July 25, 1950, the North Koreans

attacked– This ignites the conflict

At The U.S. Responds

• Truman sees the invasion as a test of containment

• Truman gets the U.N. on the U.S.’s side and sends in MacArthur

• At first, U.S. and S. Korean troops pushed all the way back to the Pusan Perimeter

• They were able to hold out until MacArthur arrived

U.S. Response (Continued)

• When MacArthur arrived at the port of Inchon he took Koreans by surprise

• He pushed them all the way back to the Yalu River

• This threatened China and they pushed the U.N. forces all the way back to the 38th parallel

• MacArthur wanted to expand the war against China but Truman did not allow it

Discussion Slide

• Do you support MacArthur’s offensive move?

Truman Fires MacArthur

• Truman did not want to commit to war with China and MacArthur saw this as a for of appeasement

• MacArthur publicly criticized Truman, leading the him to fire the general in 1951

• Limited War-a war fought to achieve a limited objective; this became the main policy during the Cold War

• Truman feared all-out war would lead to nuclear war

The War Winds Down

• By November 1951, the North and South were only fighting small, local battles

• An armistice was signed on July 27, 1953

• 33,600 American soldiers died in the conflict

The Significance of the War

• The conflict encouraged the U.S. to begin a major military buildup

• Began revealed the spread of the Cold War into non-European areas

• Caused the formation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (1954)

• Set the 38th parallel which still exists today

• Korea is still split up into North Korea (communist) and South Korea (non-communist)

• The border between the two countries has remained one of the most heavily-armed stretches of land on Earth