Korean War 1950-53

what does decolonisation mean?

Decolonisation - when a territory becomes free from the control of an imperial power (Japan) Decolonisation has often accompanied by violent conflict

what was Korea’s position in 1945?

• Japanese Empire occupied Korea since 1910 - so the collapse of the Japanese power at the end of ww2 left a power vacuum

• Syngman Rhee - South Korea + Kim Il Sung - North Korea (both wanted to govern the whole of Korea)

• Korea split on the 38th parallel

how/why did the USSR get involved with the korean war?

• 1949- Stalin refused Kim Il Sung’s request for support because of the presence of US troops in SK

• 1950- PRC has been formed + USA had not included Korea in their Defensive perimeter strategy so Stalin was in a better position and sent 1600 pieces of artillery and tanks and aircrafts

• Stalin wanted a united korean state because it would be a good ally + would strengthen soviet boarders + put pressure on Japan and provide economic opportunities for the USSR

how/why did China (PRC) get involved with the korean war?

• 1949- Mao wanted to solidify his control in China by regaining control of Taiwan from the nationalists - Mao was not concerned about intervention in the war

• Zhou Enlai (opposition to Mao’s view) said that if the US imperialists won the war the USA would become arrogant + threaten China

• November 1950 - China had to intervene due to pressure from Stalin

how/why did the USA get involved in the korean war?

• 1949 - priority was on Japan and Europe

• North Korean invasion shifted US foreign policy to Korea

• May 1951- Acheson took the view that North Korea wanted wanted to destabilise Japan and South east Asia and the Philippines

how/why did the UN get involved with the Korean war?

• after the invasion the US requested a special session of the security council

• the USSR was not present as they were boycotting the security council for not recognising the PRC under Mao as the legitimate gov - meant that the USSR couldn’t use power of veto so an immediate ceasefire was passed

why did the USA call for UN?

• Truman was able to legitimise intervention into Korea by turning the process into a UN intervention

• removed responsibility of the USA looking like they were trying to implement containment on a global scale whilst ensuring an international response was conducted to get the results they wanted

what are the main interpretations for the causes of the korean war?

• cold war superpower politics

• conflicts rooted in korean society

consequences of the korean war

Korea - costs of war and destruction

costs of war

• 3.5 - 4 million civilian deaths

• 1.2 million combatant deaths from all sides

• National Defence Corps incident (1951) - 50,000 - 90,000 South Korean National Defence corps starved to death

destruction

• significant damage to economic infrastructure in North Korea

• US dropped 635,00 tons of bombs - including 32,557 tons of napalm

consequences of the korean war

consequences for Korea

• official creation of SK +NK

• massive loss of live + economic hardship

• 75% of Pyongyang destroyed

• NK remained a communist camp

• SK established itself as a state in the western camp

consequences of the korean war

USSR

• political disaster because the unification of Korea was not achieved

• relations with China were strained - laid foundations for the Sino- soviet split

• united countries within the capitalist bloc - authority of the USSR grew which showed in its readiness to interfere in developing countries of the third world which most became socialist states

consequences of the korean war

Japan

• major beneficiary of the korean war - gained enormous American spending ( Japanese defense industry had earnt 3 billion American dollar sales to the USA in 1954)

• the korean war was a stimulus to the post-ww2 economic recovery of Japan + helped build a friendly capitalist state

• USA signed a security pact with Japan in 1951 + persuaded the Japanese to begin partial rearmament as a defence against Soviet and Chinese powers

consequences of the korean war

China

• over 150,000 troops killed + many wounded

• prevented the complete defeat of GMD as the PLA (Chinese people’s liberation army) was occupied with Korea and did not destroy Jiang in Taiwan. USA promised to protect Taiwan and KMT (Taiwanese nationalists)

• economic cost of war caused a burden on the nation

• Mao saw it as a success on balance - communist China had stood up to the outside world and had taken on a powerful army + even pushed them back (propaganda win)

consequences of the korean war

USA

• spent $18billion on the Korean war and increased defense spending to produce arms in the war - US government uses defence spending to increase arms production to create jobs - economic growth

• American economy became dependant on huge defence budget - lots of arms sales to regimes around the world (high levels of defence spending) - one of the reasons why USA was committed to solve international problems through war or arms sales

consequences of the korean war

Eisenhower on the consequences of militarisation for the USA

• during farewell speech in January 1961

• warns that if the economy is dominated by military industrial complex (economy is dominated by arms production) the people who produce arms will become influential in government and could cause the USA to get involved in unnecessary wars