What caused the korean war - Essay Example

The Korean War, civil and military struggle that was fought on the Korean Peninsula and that reached its height between 1950 and 1953, was originated in the division of Korea into South Korea and North Korea after World War II (1939-1945) . Efforts to reunify the peninsula after the war failed, and in 1948, the South proclaimed the Republic of Korea after the elections held under the United Nations and the North established the People’s Republic of Korea under the influence of the USSR. In 1949, border fighting broke out between the North and the South.

On June 25, 1950, North Korean forces crossed the dividing line and invaded the South. Soon, in defence of the South, the United States joined the fighting under the banner of the United Nations (UN), along with small contingents of British, Canadian, Australian, and Turkish troops. In October 1950, China joined the war on the North’s side. By the time a cease-fire agreement was signed on July 27, 1953, millions of soldiers and civilians had perished. The armistice ended the fighting, but Korea has remained divided for decades since and subject to the possibility of a new war at any time3.

In this paper, I will talk about causes of Korean War. World War II ended in Sep 1945, with the total surrender of Japan. Now little Korea, a bone without meat, was in paw reach of Russian armies. Dictator Joseph Stalin was all too well aware of Korea’s value as a foil against Russia’s traditional rivals, China and Japan, and as a checkmate to the United States which, having won the war in the pacific, was bound to play a leading role in establishing the new order in Asia4. He was set to overrun Korea, not to prepare it for freedom, but to convert it to Communism and thereafter exploit it.

This has been his plan in central Europe, where he had first liberated, then, held captive, what are called the Iron curtain countries. In 1943, after the Cairo conference, Stalin had agreed with US,