Causes of the Korean War - Term Paper Example

 «Causes of the Korean War» Introduction The Korean War has a long history and number of factors that caused it. Even though the Korean War was a civil war in Korea, many countries from all over the world participated and played an important role in accelerating the war. The war between North Korea and South Korea was mainly aided by the United States and the Soviet. Neither sides of Korea had enough resources to fight the war the way it was fought for three years. There were other political interest involved in it, the most important of them being the expansion and contraction of communism. Many nations used their political, economical, diplomatic, and military power to influence the war. The war ended where it began i.e. with a settlement. Because of the heavy loss of lives and resources on both the sides, neither of the sides came out of the war as a winner. Background The Korean War of 1950-53 has a long history. It was a chain reaction to many the events that occurred long before anyone even thought of the Korean War. Korea existed as a single entity until the war between China and Japan which gave Japan control over some parts of Korea in 1895, and by August 1910, Japan had completely occupied Korea (Jones 2009). In the 1930’s America was getting desired results from foreign countries as a result of its Good Neighbor Policy, but was having trouble dealing with the Asia. In 1931, Japan organized its army in Manchuria and took control of the whole province by February 1932, killing many Chinese soldiers and civilians (Greenfield History 2010). An appeal was made to the United Nations to look into the matter as the whole even received much contempt and as a result the United Nations decided to hold elections in Korea to solve the issue (Greenfield History 2010). The elections were not allowed by the communists in North Korea and were also boycotted by the communists in South Korea (Pillai 2010). Japan faced strong opposition from all over the world in the League of United Nations and was blamed for the war in Manchuria by 40 nations who demanded that Japan withdraw from the region (Greenfield History 2010). Japan, however, did not pay any attention to any of the opposition and kept moving forward with the war seizing control of the neighbouring areas. World War II Once the United States decided to join the Allies in the War, their victory was eminent. The allies included countries like the Soviet Union, United States, United Kingdom, France, and China while the main countries in the Axis were Germany, Japan, and Italy. The first victory in war came from the Battle of the Coral Sea on May 8, 1942, when the American aircraft carriers, the Lexington and Yorktown, were able to stop the Japanese invasion (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). The Japanese invasion was further weakened by the Battle of Midway in June, 1942 (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). The attacks kept increasing against Japan by the Allied forces, destroying and isolating Japan from the rest of the world, leaving it incapable of waging any kind of war (Coakley 1989). It was decided that Germany would enter the war against Japan three month after Germany is defeated in the Potsdam Declaration and called upon Japan to surrender (Coakley 1989). Japan did not accept the declaration even though it was welcomed by many in Japan and an atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, by America followed by a second atomic bomb which was dropped on Nagasaki August 9 (Coakley 1989). With these attacks, the Second World War came to an end leaving 50 million people dead and a massive destruction worldwide (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). After the surrender of Japan, its future was decided at the Allied summit meetings and it was decided that the north of the 38th parallel will be occupied by the Soviet Union while the South of the parallel will be controlled by the United States (Hickey 2009). Post-War World The immediate post-war era was full of tension since the two main countries that emerged after the end of the war, i.e. the United States and Soviet Union, had very different ideologies. The Soviet Union wanted to continue the “Big Three” relationship that was developed during the war between Britain, United States, and Soviet Union but they felt that government of Truman was not as friendly as that of Roosevelt (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). Since the government of North Korea was established by the Soviets, it was a communist government while the government established by the United States in South Korea was anti-communists. This later turned out to be the root cause of the Korean War. Both the countries were growing suspicious of each other and the Soviet even accused America of poisoning the Soviet-American relationship forcing the government to send George Kennan, a Russian expert, to analyze the Soviet policy (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). He wrote a long telegram on the conduct of the Soviet Union to the president in which he concluded that communism was deeply rooted in their ideology, their aim was expansion of their empire, and that the capitalism in the country would destroy it (Kreis 2000). He also concluded that even though they were expansionists, they were not looking for a war and suggested that America adopt a “policy of containment, meeting head-on any attempted expansion of Soviet power” (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002 p.833). This policy of containment was later used by the United States to enter the Korean War and provide it with full financial and military assistance. Cold War A cold war had begun between the Soviet Union and the United States soon after the end of World War II. Neither of these countries wanted to engage in a physical war because they were both aware of the consequences and the destruction it would bring. And a period of Cold War began in which both the countries indirectly attacked and words were often used as weapons (Global Security 2010). The main cause of this war was that both the countries feared that the other might attack and because of this fear both the countries invested in building huge weapons of mass destruction (Pillai 2010). The relationship between the United States and Soviet Union was further weakened when the Soviet Union did not withdraw its troops from Iran in March 1946, as was decided by the Big Three (Samii 2010). When the Soviet troops started moving toward Tehran instead of withdrawing from the country, Americans were convinced that a new strategy was needed to deal with the changing ideologies of the world even though the Soviet withdrew its troops following the United Nations decision. As the pressure increased on Turkey and Greece to allow the Soviet to takeover Dardanelles, a war broke out in Greece between rebels, that had the support of communists, and conservative government, which was backed by Britain (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). Britain was in need of help of the United States since did not have enough aid to keep supporting the war but there was much opposition in United States and the public did not want the country to enter another war. It was this favour that the United States did Britain that would later force Britain to enter Korean War with the United States to defend South Korea from communists. The conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States led them to support their respective sides of Korea. Truman’s Doctrine The telegram of Kennan suggested that there might be a domino effect of rising communism in East Europe. This gave birth to the Truman doctrine. Since most of the population was against getting involved in another war, Truman introduced this doctrine to gain more public support so that more help can be given to Britain. After the British government officially announced that it could no longer afford to be involved in the war in Greece, Truman began insisting that help should be given. Truman suggested that if Greece is allowed to be defeated by communists, soon communism will spread in the areas surrounding it (Greenfield History 2010). He suggested that soon America will be the victim as communism will not stop but keep spreading and it is necessary that that the United States get involved and stop communism right where it began. This theory of Truman was later called the “Domino Theory” because of the domino effect he suggested (Greenfield History 2010). Soon after this a program was launched in 1948, by the U.S. government to help Western Europe recover from its post-war injuries through massive financial aid, which was named the Marshall Plan (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). With the help of financial aid given by the United States, the Greek government was able to fight the Greek civil war from 1944 to 1949 (United States History 2010). According to the doctrine, the United States was to provide aid to every nation fighting against communism to preserve its sovereignty. This meant that the aid was not limited to East Europe, but any state in future that is attacked by the communists will have full support of the United States. This doctrine defined all the “skirmishes around the globe in such places as Somalia and Central and South America” along with the wars fought in Korea, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia as fight against communism (United States History 2010). The fear of the Domino theory increased when China became a communist state in 1949, and more people began to believe that a domino effect would follow (Hickey 2009). Causes of the Korean War The main cause of the Korean War was the attack of North Korea on South Korea. Since both the governments believed that they were the real leaders of the country and that the whole Korea should be united, under the rule of one single government, like it was before the attack of Japan. North Korea convinced Stalin, the then President of Soviet Union, that if North Korea attacked South Korea they would be able to establish communist rule through out the region (Metcalf 2010). Soviet was happy to financially support the war encouraging North Korea to attack the South. Even though the conflict between the North and the South was not uncommon, when Kim Sung crossed the 38th parallel, it still came as a surprise since no one expected that North Korea would officially attack South Korea. South Korea did not have enough means to fight the war against the well equipped army of the North as they did not have the resources or the support of Stalin. Looking at this situation, the United States and Britain intervened and officially announced its support for South Korea. The Korean War reflected the conflict between communists and anti-communists in Korea. Many other political powers of the world helped accelerating it and it was because of these other powers that the war lasted for three years. There were many political, ideological, and economic causes of the Korean War. It was basically a civil war in which many countries were involved. Each country involved had their individual interest and cause of entering the war. Korea was a single entity in the 19th century until Japanese took control of its parts in 1910. When a settlement was reached after the World War II, Korea was divided by the United States and the Soviet. As these forces left Korea, soon the desire of the sides to occupy the other side came to the surface. North Korea wanted the South under its communism rule and convinced communists in China and the Soviet that it was possible. The United States had its own perception of world peace and was suffering from the Domino theory suggested by Truman. They could not allow the communists to expand because that would mean that eventually Western Europe would fall under its rule as well. They entered the war with the intention of stopping communists from expanding and later wanted to cross the occupation far up in the North. This infuriated the Chinese who then entered the war to stop this invasion. Each country seemed to be afraid of the other taking control and this was one political reason all the nations had in common. The Soviet provided the economic aid required by the communists to win the war while the United Nations stopped the communists from taking over. It can also be said that it was a part of the Cold war between the Soviet and the United States, as both the countries were afraid of fighting each other directly as they were both economically strong and had the military and atomic resources (Bastian 2010). The Korean War 1950 - 1953 At the end of World War II, it was decided that the Soviet Union would occupy the North of Korea while the United States would stay in the South and it was divided into two nations. With the help of United States the Republic of Korea was established in 1946, led by Syngman Rhee, strongly supported by the American government, while the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was established in the South led by Kim Il Sung, backed by the Soviet (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). Both the forces, American and Soviet, left Korea once both the governments were established but the conflict and hostility in both these governments was not foreseen by either of the states. Both the governments of Korea believed that they were the true rulers and wanted to unite the island under their own rule. Kim Il Sung began forming an army with the support of the Soviet Union that supplied it with tanks and artillery to support the communist rule while the administration of capitalists Korea, i.e. South Korea, had full American support. Soon both the Korean sides started attacking each other in order to expand and began launching raids against each other in which at least 100,000 Koreans were killed (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). By early 1950, the civil war was obvious and the attacks against the 38th parallel became more and more open (Hoffman 2010). Under the influence of the Soviets, Kim Il Sung launched an official full-blown invasion against South Korea on June 25, 1950, over-running Seoul and forcing the South Korean forces to retreat (Liu 2006). This invasion shocked many nations and United Nations wanted to pass resolution by it but the Soviet Union was boycotting the Security Council and no decision could be made without the presence of all the five permanent members (United States History 2010). Truman soon declared that it was very important to save South Korea from the communists and insisted that United Nations take action which eventually called for a cease-fire suggesting that member nations provide as much help to South Korea as possible (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). Around 22 nations sent in their troops to help fight the war in Korea and the largest number of them belonged to the United States (United States History 2010). On June 27, the United Nations allowed the international forces to help South Koreans in the war and American naval and air units were sent led by general McArthur, to South Korea to help them push the invaders back where they came from (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002). However, there remain a hesitation to officially send the American troops for was to avoid enraging the Chinese and Soviets and it wasn’t until July 1, that an American troop arrived in North Korea officially. None of this was enough to stop the Soviet backed Koreans from moving forward and soon they had their eye on the vital port of Pusan. The American troops initially could not compete with the well organized Korean troops that were heavily armed with Soviet artillery and tanks since they were hurriedly sent from the Japan occupation (Hickey 2009). However, with the help of British and Australian battalions, General Walton Walker, the commander of 8th United States Army in Korea, was able to stand strong against the communists at eh Pusan Bridgehead (Hickey 2009). China’s Intervention As MacArthur got more troops and support from the UN he was able to take over the occupied territory and take back South Korea pushing the communist back in the North. As the General moved forward, he realized that the North Korean army was getting weaker and their supply and communication was questionable at that time. He soon began moving forward with the troops and crossed the 38th parallel moving into the city of Seoul “coming ashore at Inchon” (United States History 2010). MacArthur got more confident with every more and did not feel the need to stop anywhere before the Yalu river, on the other side which lay China (United States History 2010). This panicked the Chinese government that soon publicly announced that the conquest of North Korea will not be tolerated and began preparing for a counter attack on the UN forces (ETE 2010). These warnings by China were ignored by MacArthur and he continued with his operation and kept moving forward into North Korea. China was alarmed and armies were assembled in which 200,000 Chinese troops were assembles consisting of Chinese volunteers who were not as well equipped as the UN troops but were able to shock them and MacArthur with their modern weapons that were supplied by the Soviet (Greenfield History 2010). The UN forces were attacked by the communist China on October 19, 1950 (United States History 2010), and China officially entered the war. The Chinese troops were prepared to face consequences and were determined to fight the UN troops and push them back into South Korea, taking back Seoul. American troops were shocked and unprepared for the Chinese intervention and with the weather conditions getting worse; they were forced by the Chinese troops to retreat and were forced out of Seoul on January 4, 1951 (Thomas 2010). China was successful in taking back Seoul but in another UN offensive launched in February 1951, Chinese were forced back to the North of Seoul by the UN troops but stopped at the 38th parallel (ETE 2010). This was followed by a Chinese offensive in April that destroyed many UN troops, but the Chinese armies stayed at the North of Seoul (ETE 2010). A thirst UN offensive was launched to push the Chinese troops up the 38th parallel in May and June 1951 (ETE 2010). A period of stalemate was followed by this which lasted for two years in which negotiations were dragged by both sides and without reaching any conclusions (Thomas 2010). The war after that was fought only in the air and the battle line which strengthened the defensive network on both the side (ETE 2010). During this time, the Soviet kept providing strong aid to the Chinese and North Korean communists (Thomas 2010). Both the sides had enough resources to keep fighting the war and a settlement was reached between the two and there was little movement in either direction (United States History 2010). Other Countries in the Korean War The Korean War was not just between North Korea, South Korea, and China but many other powerful leaders were directly or indirectly involved in it. Stalin and Truman in particular played an important role in the war. Stalin had established a complete communist rule in USSR by 1950 (Rummel 2002). The main reason why Stalin supported South Korea’s attack on the North was that his regime believed in expansion of communism. Stalin was often compared with Hitler because of his tyranny and ideology (Ascherson 2010). Support of Stalin was not for Korea but for communism in which he strongly believed. USSR fought the war alongside North Korea till the end and provided it with all the financial aid that was needed to fight the war against South Korea. The United States interfered in the war mainly because of Truman’s doctrine which was inspired by Kennan’s Telegram. According to Truman if they allowed communism to take of South Korea it would then seek ways to take over its surrounding area. The United States was also suffering from the Red Scare during that period (Berkin, Miller and Cherny 2002), which was one of the main reasons why they entered the war. For them the war was against communism and indirectly against Stalin. Since the Untied States and USSR were fighting a Cold War, this was a perfect opportunity for both the countries to indirectly defeat each other as they could not directly declare war against each other because both the countries had nuclear technology and a strong defence. Other countries that participated in the war were Britain, New Zealand, Cuba, South Africa, Ethiopia, etc. These countries mainly participated because the United Nations had passed a resolution advising that South Korea be provided with a “police action” by the member countries (BBC News 2001). Britain was already under heavy debt after World War II, in which it took financial aid from the United States. Britain was not in the position to oppose the war because of this debt and so it joined the United States to fight the war till the end in Korea. Other member countries were just following the orders of the United Nations. Effects of the Korean War The effects of the war were severe on Koreans. Though the war is now forgotten by the Americans and other nations involved, it is still remembered by the Koreans and Chinese because it was fought on their land having a severe impact on civilians. Nothing came out of war expect for loss of lives and resources. The war also strained the relationship of the United States with China and the Soviet and its traces can be seen even today. Today, South Korea has advanced a lot economically and technologically but North Korea is still suffering from poverty and is heavily militarized (Kotkin 2010). The Korean War killed millions of people and completely destroyed Korea and the people there are still suffering from the psychological impact that was caused. People still believe that Korea can be united once again but this would result in another war. North Korea has been trying to get nuclear power which can be a threat to South Korea and Japan. The main reason behind the acceleration of war was communism and Truman’s Doctrine played an important role in the Korean War because it created the fear of the domino effect of communism in the United States (Streich 2009). The war had many psychological, economical, and sociological effects on many countries that participated. The Koreans suffered the most because it was fought on their land and faced many casualties. The war was also a failure for the United States since it provided most of the military assistance that was needed in the war and lost many soldiers in it who are still remembered. The effect similar on Britain as it too lost around 100,000 troops to a war that was never won. Conclusion It can be concluded that the Korean War was not just a civil war but also an indirect war between two super powers i.e. United States and Soviet Union. Moreover, it was fight between two different ideologies i.e. communism and capitalism. There are many underlying causes of the war and each nation involved had a personal reason to interfere. The Korean War began as a conflict between South Korea and North Korea and it gradually evolved and absorbed many countries in it. Other involved nations may have recovered from the war but Korea is still suffering from the consequences. The casualties of the war cannot be compensated. The conflict between North and South Korea can be traced back to late 1880’s when it was invaded by Japan. The consequences of Korean War cannot be ignored as the scale of death was just as high as the World War I. The Korean War was a failed war in which everyone ended up losing one thing or another. References Ascherson, Neal. "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin." The Guardian. October 9, 2010. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/09/bloodlands-stalin-timothy-snyder-review (accessed October 11, 2010). Bastian, Peter. "Origins of the Cold War." American history for Australian Schools. 2010. http://www.anzasa.arts.usyd.edu.au/ahas/cworigins_overview.html (accessed October 9, 2010). BBC News. "Britain's Forgotten War." BBC News. April 20, 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1285708.stm (accessed October 11, 2010). Berkin, Carol, Christopher L. Miller, and Robert W. Cherny. Making America: A History of the United States from 1865. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Coakley, Robert W. American Military history. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, 1989. Department of Navy. "French Indo-China PSIS." Publication of Pacific Strategic Intelligence Section, October 11, 1945: 400-435. ETE. "The Korean War." Exploring the Environment. 2010. http://www.cotf.edu/ete/modules/korea/kwar.html (accessed October 9, 2010). Global Security. "Cold War." Global Security. 2010. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/cold_war.htm (accessed October 8, 2010). Greenfield History. "Describe Japan’s invasion of Manchuria (1931–3) and what the League of Nations did about it." Greenfield History. 2010. http://www.johndclare.net/EL5.htm (accessed October 7, 2010). Hickey, Michael. "The Korean War: An Overview." BBC. November 5, 2009. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/coldwar/korea_hickey_01.shtml (accessed October 8, 2010). Hoffman, Lou. "History: Korean War." Albuquerque. 2010. http://www.cabq.gov/veterans/history/koreanwar (accessed October 9, 2010). Jones, Alisa. "Nationalizing the Past: Korea in Chinese History." Journal of Northeast Asian history, 2009: 103-139. Kotkin, Joel. "The New World Order." New Geography. September 27, 2010. http://www.newgeography.com/content/001786-the-new-world-order (accessed October 9, 2010). Kreis, Steven. "George Kennan, "The Sources of Soviet Conduct" (1947)." The history Guide. 2000. http://www.historyguide.org/europe/kennan.html (accessed October 8, 2010). Liu, Henry C K. "Part 5: Kim Il-sung and China." Asia Times. September 16, 2006. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/HI16Dg03.html (accessed October 9, 2010). Metcalf, Adam. "Cold War." Regent's prep. 2010. http://www.regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/conflict/coldwar.cfm (accessed October 11, 2010). Pillai, Prabhakar. "Cause and Effects of Korean War." Buzzle. 2010. http://www.buzzle.com/articles/cause-and-effects-of-korean-war.html (accessed October 7, 2010). Rummel, R. J. "How many did communist regimes murder?" Freedom, Democide, War. 2002. http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/COM.ART.HTM (accessed October 11, 2010). Samii, Bill. "World War II -- 60 Years After: The Anglo-Soviet Invasion Of Iran And Washington-Tehran Relations." Pars times. 2010. http://www.parstimes.com/history/anglo_soviet_invasion.html (accessed October 8, 2010). Streich, Michael. "Korean War, Harry Truman, and Communism." Suite 101. January 18, 2009. http://www.suite101.com/content/korean-war-harry-truman-and-communism-a90821 (accessed October 9, 2010). Thomas, Ronan. "The war that won't end." Asia Times. May 25, 2010. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/LE25Dg03.html (accessed October 9, 2010). United States History. "The Domino Theory." United States History. 2010. http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1965.html (accessed October 8, 2010). Read More