The Korean War

Around 1910, Japan conquered the country of Korea and held it until the Allies chased the Japanese out in World War 2, then Korea was reestablished. When the liberation occurred, some of the Allies entered into the country, this included members of the Soviet Union. At this time the government of Korea was in shambles and could not be salvaged, the United Nations, a recently established organization designed to maintain global peace, decided to temporarily split Korea into North and South Korea, the division was at the 38^th parallel. (RPC lesson 128) The plan was for a government to be established and then the country would be united again, the problem was that the 2 sections of Korea could not decide on a government, the North wanted a Communist dictatorship while the South wanted a Democratic Government.

At this time, Communist China and Russia were secretly supporting the North, they wanted Communism to spread all around the world, their plan was to defeat the South and reunite Korea as a Communist country. In 1950, they sprung their plan and attacked, the United Nations obviously supporting South Korea, provided 80 percent of all soldiers along with other aid for the war effort. Despite this support, the North Koreans were so effective that the south was literally cornered in a small costal region called Pusan. The North likely would have won, if it wasn’t for General Douglas MacArthur, a World War 2 veteran, who planned to attack the city of Inchon which was located a little way south of the 38^th parallel. After an ambitious attack, they managed to conquer the small city enabling them to stop the supply lines going into North Korea. The victory at Inchon led to a string of success for South Korea. Before long the tables were turned, and North Korea was cornered up near china. Then the Chinese troops crossed the Yalu, River and forced the U.N. soldiers to retreat back to the South Korean border. Around this time, Jet airplanes were being used, it was a new advancement in aircraft technology and was first invented by the Germans in World War 2, and these new jet planes were used quite a bit during the Korean War. (RPC lession 128) In 1953, there was a ceasefire and Korea was permanently divided into north and south. South Korea became an industrial nation while North Korea remains a slow and primitive Communist country. (RPC lesion 128)

            The Korean War was one of the first times that the U.S. sent troops and aid into a war without actually declaring war, this was because they were afraid to get into a fight with Russia and China, major supporters of North Korea during the war, because it might have resulted in an atomic war. The Korean war was a conflict that literally tore the country in half.

Information gathered from the RPC 8^th grade history class.