Korean war

north korea

• communist

• controlled by Kim il sung

• supported by USSR

south Korea

• anticommunist

• controlled by Syngman Rhee

• supported by USA

why did it start (1950 - 1953)

• tension between N + S korean leaders

• this lead to war

• N invaded S

how many troops did north Korea have

• 200,000 troops

• 10,000 were specifically trained by USSr

• T-34 tanks from USSR

what happened by september 1950

by september 1950 all but a small corner of Korea was under communist control

what was the USA response to the Korean war?

• Truman immediately sent advisers, supplies and warships to the sea around Korea

• Truman pressurised the United Nations to get involved in the conflict and to pass resolution 84

why did the USA want UN support

• if he was to take military action it would look better to the rest of the world if he had the support of other countries, especially the UN

why was Truman able to influence the UN’s decisions?

• biggest contributors to UN’s budget

why did USSR not block resolution 84?

• USSR = boycotting UN - so China could join

• USSR was not in the meeting so couldn’t veto

what was resolution 84

• the UN comitted itself to driving N Korean troops out of S korea

• 18 states provided troops or support of some kind

• comitted to ‘restoring international peace and security’

describe the UN forces that were sent to Korea

• 18 states contributed an army of some sorts

• mostly allies of USA

• largest force was USA - lead by general MacArthur

stages of Korean war

(1) september 1950 UN forces advance

• stormed ashore at Inchon

• at the same time UN + south Korea advanced in Pusan

• N Koreans driven back beyond og border (38 parallel)

(2) october 1950 UN forces press on

UN actions in Korea

• achieved aim to push NK back

• didn’t stop despite warning from China - saying if they didn’t stop China would join war

• UN approved plans to press on

• reached yalu river bordering China

why were trumans actions in Korea suprising

• going after a bigger prise beyond containment

• saw an oppertunity to remove communism entirely

why were UN’s actions in October 1950 unwise

they didn’t listen to Chinas warnings

(3) November 1950 UN forces retreated back to south Korea

• Mac Arthur underestimated power of Chinese troops 200,000

• they were taught to hate americans

• they had modern tanks, planes supplied by USSR

• trecherous conditions for US soldiers

• not used to fighting on that terain

(4) April 1950 Mac Arthur is sacked

• MacArthur wanted to continue war

  invade China + use nuclear weapons

• Truman only wanted to save SK and contain communism

why was he sacked

• ignored UN instructions and openly threatened to invade China

• so Truman removed him

why did Truman return to containment?

• he accepted he c

why was he sacked

• ignored UN instructions and openly threatened to invade China

• so Truman removed him

why did Truman return to containment?

he accepted he couldn’t drive communism out of North Korea

(5) June 1951 peace talks began

• fighting began to stop

• peace talks began between NK+SK

• fighting continued for 2 years

(6) July 1953 armistice

• borders were basically the same as in 1950

truman replaced by…..

Stanlin march 1953…

eisenhower

dead

US was successful at containing communism in Korea

• trumans use of UN

• showed US was willing and had the means to contain communism

• S korea remained out of communist hands

US was not successful at containing communism in korea

• border basically stayed the same

• showed the limits of the policy

• USA had to accept that NK would remain communist

• hightened tensions amoungst US leaders

• hardline anti-communists wanted to go above containment

• thought Truman had shown weakness when not going for out-right victory

• NK continued to trouble US

• with support from China NK became a hardline communist

what were the consequences of the Korean war

what did it teach America about the effectiveness of send soldier to fight

that they couldn’t just send soldiers to fight a war whenever they saw a problem, too expensive

what were the two other methods of containment

• alliences with anit-communist countries

• building more powerful nuclear weapons