Korean War

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  • In 1945, Korea was freed from Japan, and US troops stayed in Korea until 1946. The country was split at the 38th Parallel: North Korea (led by Kim Il Sung) was communist and South Korea (led by Syngman Rhee) was capitalist. The two countries hated each other.

Causes

Domino Theory: Eisenhower's theory that since the Soviets were getting powerful, and since China had turned communist in 1949, he believed that one country fell to communism, the others would follow. The US had to stop this.

Undermine Communism: In April 1950, the American National Security Council issued a report recommending that America abandon "containment" and start "rolling back" communism.

Cold War: Truman thought they were fighting the USSR for world domination. By supporting South Korea, the US was able to fight Communism without directly attacking the USSR.

 Kim Il Sung: He visited Stalin and convinced him to invade South Korea. Stalin didn't think the US would get involved, so he said yes.

 Syngman Rhee: In 1950, Rhee boasted he was going to invade North Korea. It was a good enough excuse - North Koreans invaded South Korea. Also, he was a horrible person and wasn't falling into line with what the US wanted.

1950:

  • In June the NKPA (North Korea People's Army) easily defeated by the ROK (Republic of Korea's Army) and by September most of South Korean was captured.
  • Under UN banners, US troops were sent to reinforce ROK.
  • In September General MacArthur led an amphibious landing at Inchon behind the NKPA, driving them back and recapturing South Korea, moving the way up to the Chinese border.
  • In November, Chinese troops attacked MacArthur.

1951

  • In March, the Chinese and the NKPA pushed back MacArthur to the 38th parallel.
  • MacArthur was fired for doing "rollback" instead of containment. as Truman's policy was simply to contain communism, not to push it back.

1953

  • Eisenhower became president, and he threatened to use an atomic bomb if China didn't stop fighting.
  • Chinese agreed to a truce, which was signed on July 27th, 1953.

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