Why did the Korean War become an international conflict - Essay Example

?Introduction The Korean War was fought between Republic of Korea and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It was a war between North and South Korea with support from United Nations and China. The overall involvement of major international players in the war and the overall impact it had on the world politics. Fought as a result of disintegration of Korea into two countries due to World War II, Korean War was a result of conflict between USA and USSR as after the World War, one part was occupied by US and other was by USSR. The overall scenario leading to the Korean War is also based upon the rising tension between US and USSR. After the end of World War II though peace started to take its roots in Europe and other developed countries however, the US-USSR conflict started to worsen and both the super powers of the world reached to a point of cold war. The competing ideologies of Communism versus capitalism and dominance of US or USSR on the world political stage set the most part of the War between US supported South Korea and USSR and China supported North Korea. It was also during this war that UN was used for the first time by US as a tool to actually engage into armed conflict with any country. Why this conflict became global in nature and size, why major players including UN and US actually involved in this conflict will be discussed in this area. Political Turmoil and role of US and USSR Korea’s geographical location made it one of the most important regions in post-World War-II scenario and it was increasingly viewed as region which would ultimately become the point of contention between the Western powers and Communist bloc. The conditions for war were created due to keen interests of the two of the largest communist states in the world and the overall indecisiveness of US to conduct its foreign policy in the Far East region. Korea has always remained of interest for Russia and China and it was also because of this reason that USSR tried to occupy the country after World War II. Considering the increase in power of USSR, US also attempted to capture part of the country and hence Korea was divided between South and North Korea with US controlling South Korea whereas North Korea was controlled by USSR. The failure to actually hold free and fair elections increased the political tension in the region with North and South Korea forming two different sets of governments. South Korea adapted democracy whereas North Korea became a communist country. The political tension further escalated when small skirmishes started to occur on what was called 38 Parallel, the line controlled by US which was also virtually dividing both the countries from each other. The Korean War erupted in what was called the middle of the cold war between US and USSR and their bid to take control of the world. It was also increasingly seen as the war to determine which ideological framework world would adapt i.e. capitalism versus communism. The direct involvement of USSR in the war and supplying the arms to North Korea also prompted US, under the banner of UN to engage into the conflict with USSR. It is suggested that it was also the first time when US actually used UN as a foreign policy tool. The overall plan was to actually give Korea under the trusteeship of United Nations which would eventually lead it to full independence over the period of time. It was however subsequently realized that the imposition of any political will from other than Koreans may not be easy to implement and region may drift into turmoil as a result of political conflict between the super powers. It is also important to understand the overall diversity of opinions as well as groupings within Korea which could not help materialize the development of a workable plan to actually make the transition. The overall diversity of political opinions was also due to the Japanese Colonial rule which kept the country divided based upon different ideological basis. The suppression of Korean nationalist movement by the Japan also resulted into the lack of development of a cohesive political ideology which could bind the Koreans and result into formation of one nation. It has also been argued that the presence of Russians as well as Americans also prevented the formation of one nation in Korea. Russia wanted the emergence of political groups based upon the Korean Communist Party whereas on the American side, power rested mostly with the American military which attempted to restore the political order however mostly with the help of old Japanese apparatus in place. The overall support of the different political groups by the two super powers of the world however resulted into the political chaos with no one ready to actually develop consensus on the formation of a unified government. The political tension between different political groups and the inability of US and USSR to develop the consensus made United Nations a new player in the overall scheme of affairs. US referred to United Nations for a development of a workable solution for the unification and complete independence of the country. Under United Nations, it was proposed that elections will be held in the country to mark the beginning towards new era in the history of the region. The overall idea of election however was rejected by the South residents accusing Northern part to actually rig the elections. Though the elections took place in the country however they were restricted to the South and as a result of the elections and rising conflict between the two regions, two different governments were formulated. Russians handed over the governance to Kim II Sung who became the first President of the North Korea. The war therefore was the result of direct and indirect conflict between US and USSR however the governments which were formulated as a result of this political breakdown never been able to come on terms with each other as each side claimed the rightful owners of the entire country and claimed to govern the whole country. The overall goal was the destruction of any of the opponent and as a result of this, North Korea continued to make attempts to destabilize South Korea while South Korea, in order to win American support continued with the small armed skirmishes in order to keep other part destabilized. It is critical to note that for years; both the countries were actually able to contain the war and did not engage into full scale war. However, things started to change during 1950 when full scale war between the two countries erupted. This was also the beginning of the new era in which US and USSR re-engaged each other in a relatively different mode and the Korean War proved as the beginning point for this. The initial role of United Nations was limited to the working under the umbrella of US and authorized US and its executive agent to actually prosecute the war. The initial objectives of the war to contain it and let it not spread into other parts of Asia and Japan. Secondly, US also purposefully followed the policy of restraining Russia from entering into the war. Cold War and Korean War It is suggested that the outbreak of Korean War was one of the defining moments in the history of Cold War. For the first time, America actually took a new approach towards Korea and reconsidered its foreign policy options to re-include Korea in its perimeter for foreign policy. There are three important reasons which actually compelled United States to actually reconsider Korea and enter into a proxy war with USSR. Firstly, it was the domino effect because North Korea became a communist country. In order to prevent other neighboring countries from not falling into communist trap and become part of the domino effect, US entered into the war by helping South Korea. Though the war was apparently fought with the help of United Nations, however, majority of the forces comprised of American Army. American administration assessed that if South Korea fell to communists, the next domino will be Japan and hence US may not be able to gain strong In Eastern Europe many countries was coming directly under the influence of Communist ideology. In Asia, China was the biggest new threat having communist ideology. US therefore, in order to reduce the impact of the domino effect and block the growth of Communism in Asian block, entered into Korean War. It has also been suggested that the Korean War an abrupt change in the overall assessment of Stalin towards America. Stalin believe to have assess that North Korean forces will be able to capture South Korea and that US will have no time to actually react back and hence Russia will be able to dominate the Region. Korean War therefore was also considered as an opportunity to actually contain the spread of Communism generally in Asia and other parts of the world. It was suggested that if Communism become successful in Asian countries, it will spread to other countries also. Following the policy of containment, President Truman actually carefully followed the policy of not providing communist countries a free ride in the world. US therefore carefully pursued all the policy options and used Korean War as one of the early means to ensure that Communism remains in check. Cold War was also an era when both the Super Powers, without actually engaging into hot war, continued to ensure that dominance of opposite power remains in check. The reason both US and USSR actually entered into this war was based upon the assumption of containing the dominance of each other on the World Politics. It was believed that by engaging Russia at Korea, US can actually fulfill its strategic purpose without actually engaging with Russia directly. One of the key impacts of Korean War on the Cold War that it helped US to refocus its strategy and foreign policy. It drastically changed the domestic political landscape in US and actually cleared lot of misconceptions as well as misperceptions of American Statesmen. It also resulted into a huge increase in the defense budget of US as well as that of Nato and for the first time, US seriously considered to strengthen its military strength as it was relatively less strong as compared to Russia and even China. Korean War therefore actually served as an eye opener for US to seriously look into the possibility of achieving military invincibility and make itself stronger to the point to seriously challenge the military might of USSR. NATO was also militarized as a result of this war and it was for the first time that Nato started to become a real organization. Before the Korean War, Nato was mostly considered as a paper organization and US and other world forces started to actually materialize this organization into one of the most important military forces in the world. Korean War also outlined that limited wars are possibility and by engaging the local as well as international forces, such limited conflicts can be managed. Korea War therefore provided US an example of how it should move forward in order to actually manage such limited level war. Without actually engaging into the war both US and USSR attempted to obtain their objectives. Public Opinion about Korea War When the Korean conflict started to emerge, US was going through difficult economic situation. It was fresh from fighting World War II and was experiencing difficult fiscal challenges. Despite the fact that most of the public was not happy with President Truman’s policy of pleasing China however most of the public did actually supported the American intervention in Korea. Research has suggested that the public opinion about the war and conflict has been based upon perceived risks to the American interests. Over the period of time, American public has supported their troops when they believed that there is a real perceived risk to the overall interests of the America. However one critical aspect of this support was based upon the critically vital nature of American interests. The support was conditional to the extent the use of military force can be justified by real vital interests. What is however important to note that this public opinion drastically changed after just five months of the conflict suggesting that American public wanted their forces to be pulled out from the conflict. This drastic change in the overall attitude of the public speaks volumes about the overall acceptability of post-war scenario. It seems that the American public soon realized that the overall conflict may not be vital to the interests of the America in long run and the change in perception of the general public could be mostly attributed to the overall long term importance of Korea to America. The Role of China Evidence from Russian documents also indicates that Stalin was concerned about the role of China in the region. Russia was also concerned about how China might emerge at the center of communist world and overall power shift in Communist world may shift towards China. China became a communist country in 1949 and based upon its overall size and population, Russia initially assessed that China may be able to dominate the Communist World in future as it gains more economic freedom and develop itself economically. It is also critical to note that as the War started to spread, General MacArthur, in-charge of 38 parallel went on to bomb different areas which were strategically important for China. Increasingly, there emerged a general feeling within China that US may want to attack it and hence it also became part of the overall world fought. It is also interesting to note that despite clear instruction from Truman, MacArthur continued to bomb different areas and even also suggested for the use of Nuclear power. The overall involvement of China in the war was mainly due to the intentions of the USSR to establish an strong presence in the region and to actually discourage the growth of China as stronger communist country in the world. The overall fear of USSR was not based upon the might of US but that of China as the potential threat to dominance of USSR in the region. One of the key reasons for USSR to enter into this war therefore to tame China and achieve a level of presence which can actually discourage the future prospects of China to dominate the region. For China, the engagement in Korea was more related with the overall political opportunities it aspired to achieve. Apart from this, China also actually aspired to exploit the long held belief that West has actually exploited China historically and by engaging into South Korea, it can actually further take advantage of these sentiments. The decision of China to enter into the war therefore was mostly guided by the actions of US. Why it has become an international conflict The above discussion indicates that interest of three large political and military powers in Korea as a region. Russia constantly viewed it as a place to further cement its place in the communist world whereas US attempted to reduce the domino effect in order to reduce the impact of communism in the world. China at that time was emerging and also viewed this as a strategic step towards ensuring that its interests are safeguarded in the region. For United States, Korea War was an opportunity to actually see through one of the most important threat of USSR. It was also the beginning of serious Cold War conflict between USSR and US and it’s from this point that the overall conflict between US and USSR started to aggravate. For America, this was also important in order to ensure that Japan, one of the most important players in the region during that era, do not fall into the hands of communism. The Vietnam War was also the continuation of the same policy to ensure that spillover effects of communist spread can be controlled in the region. For USSR, this war was important because it was not only meant to consolidate the power of USSR on the communist world but could also allow it to become a force in the region. USSR also wanted to ensure that through this war, it can put an effective check on the rise of China as the next emerging power in the Communist world. For aspiring China, this war was important too because it could provide China political opportunities to become a dominating force in the region. Above all, this war became international in nature because it was fought based on two ideologies because on one hand USSR and China wanted communism to be the dominating ideology in the world however, for US, it was the war to make capitalism and free markets as the dominating political, social as well as economic ideology of the world. The war was effectively fought between three bigger powers of the world and had an impact on the international politics. Conclusion Korean War was fought as a result of conflict between North and South Korea however it soon involved three major superpowers of the world. The war also involved United Nations which was used by US, for the first time, as a foreign policy tool. Under the umbrella of UN, US provided most of the army personnel to fight this war along with other countries. While US was involved through UN, USSR directly provided all the support and arms directly to the North Korea. China also intervened into the war too and soon it became an international conflict. This conflict became international in nature because it served the interests of US, USSR and China. Due to involvement of all three countries in the War, this conflict was not just limited to North and South Korea but also involved these countries. Above all, this war was also considered as a war of conflicting ideologies. References 1. Best, A. (2008). International History Of The Twentieth Century And Beyond. London, Routledge. 2. Gaddis, J. L. (1982). Strategies Of Containment: A Critical Appraisal Of Postwar American National Security Policy. New York, Oxford University Press. 3. Gaddis, J. L. (1997). We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 4. Goncharov, S. N., Lewis, J. W., & Xue, L. (1993). Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao, And The Korean War. Stanford (Calif.), Stanford University Press. 5. Jervis, R. (1980) The Impact Of The Korean War On The Cold War. The Journal Of Conflict Resolution, 24 (4), P.. 563-592. 6. Milliken, J. (2001). The Social Construction Of The Korean War: Conflict And Its Possibilities. Manchester, Manchester University Press. Read More