Korean+War,+1950-1953

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Korean War June 25, 1950 - July 27, 1953: Operation Tomahawk

Domenic T. & Gigi F. Map of Korean In Global Context ||  || Korean Soldiers ||  Map of the Korean Penninsula ||
 * [[image:http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/northkorea/images/map.gif width="418" height="458"]]
 * [[image:buchholtzsidoramericanstudies/North-Korea-military-001.jpg]]

 Tasks I: Explain the nature and scope of the conflict.-- Due Friday, November 18th From 1950-1953 the U.S was engaged in the Korean War, although at the beginning of this war it was North Korea fighting against South Korea in a civil war. The issue was that the two countries thought that they should be unified but that stewed up arguments and war broke out. During this event, the U.S and the Soviet Union were at war; they both pulled their armies out of the war (Formosa Policy). The Soviet Union supported the north and the U.S supported the south. The U.S was interested in this conflict because we were at war with the soviets and we didn’t want them to try and attack the Korea’s while they are at their weakest and expand their military (Formosa Policy). The military was necessary because we were trying to control everybody and also we feared that the Soviets would try to seize the entire peninsula (where the division was). Fairly quickly the U.S and the Soviets decided to divide the country right at the peninsula (Chinese-Soviet Relations). But then shortly after the North Korean’s planned another attack on the peninsula but the U.N took control if it by a 9 to 0 votes and stopped them.

Works Cited: "Formosa Policy." //CQ Press Electronic Library//. Web. 18 Nov. 2011. "Chinese-Soviet Relations." //CQ Press Electronic Library//. Web. 18 Nov. 2011.  Task II: Analyze the U.S.’s involvement in the conflict.- Due Tuesday, November 22nd

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Korean War falls under Max Boot's idea of a protective small war because the United States entered the Korean war to protect South Korea from being overruled and becoming a communist country. The U.S. followed the Truman Doctrine in doing so because the doctrine basically stated that we can go protect and country that is resisting communism and this was a perfect scenario for us to "protect" against North Korea. Important decision makers in the Korean war include Harry S. Truman, President of the United States during the Korean War, and commander of the United States occupation forces in Japan, Douglas MacArthur. During this war MacArthur played an important role in rebuilding Japan and from this he carried on the personality of being "full of himself" and began to come in to South Korea to help the U.S. and South Korea push the North Koreans back to North Korea and potentially push communism back. After pushing the Koreans back to North Korea, MacArthur thought that he should invade China to push communism back even further (Pierpaoli). President Truman opposed this idea and MacArthur became furious. Although the U.S. did not invade China the chinese still flooded Korea and MacArthur thought it was time to do something. He went to congress to ask permission to drop a nuclear bomb and this was "unconstitutional" so President Truman fired him. Many were on MacArthur's side and opposed President Truman's decision. After losing a major force in the war the U.S. still managed to push North Koreans back to their side of Korea. On June 25, 1950, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) launched a surprise invasion of the Republic of Korea (South Korea). That act initiated the Korean War and prompted U.S. president Harry Truman to authorize a limited commitment of U.S. air and naval units to South Korea (ABC-Clio). Harry S. Truman directed Douglas MacArthur, commander of the United States occupation forces in Japan, to insure the safe evacuation of United States civilians and to supply weapons and ammunition to South Korea. Truman did not seek a formal declaration of war from Congress but thought of America's presence in Korea was no more than a "police action." President Truman also took advantage of the opportunity to defend a noncommunist government from invasion by communist troops and was determined not to lose another country to communism but the invasion of South Korea made Truman genuinely fearful that the Soviet Union and China intended to expand the sphere of communism throughout Asia. There was a precedent for he U.S. to participate in this small war and that is the berlin airlift and the berlin airlift influenced the soviets to press communism further into Korea and the berlin airlift also made the soviets side with North Korea.The Truman Doctrine best fits the aim and goals of the Korean War because, "Under the Truman Doctrine the United States was prepared to send any money, equipment, or military force to countries that were threatened by the communist government, thereby offering assistance to those countries resisting communism (United States Presidential Doctrines)." In this small war, South Korea was being invaded by North Korea in the attempt to make them a communist country but according to the Truman Doctine, the U.S. was allowed to send troops in to prevent this from happening since South Korea was resisiting communism. There was no final winner of this small war but instead were lots of negotiations between North and South Korea and circumstances reguarding communism.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Korean War."//World History: The Modern Era//.ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 21 Nov. 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Douglas MacArthur: Surrender ultimatum to North Korea (1950)." World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.

<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Pierpaoli, Paul. "Korean War (Intermediate Causes)." // World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society //. ABC-CLIO,2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.

<span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: georgia,serif; font-size: 13px; vertical-align: baseline;">Paul. "Korean War (Intermediate Causes)." // World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society //. ABC-CLIO,2011. Web. 22 Nov. 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> TASK III: How did United States' Public view this conflict? Due Tuesday, Noevmber 29th <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Korean War was so controversial among americans because it was a war that we didn't necessarily have to go in and fight for since it wasn't concerning our country and dealt with communism which aggrivated many americans. The Korean War also became a big controvery among americans when President Truman had fired McArthur, a brave, strong, and smart military leader. Many had agreed with Mcarthur's decision to push communism further into China and were purely upset when he was fired, this caused many to object the Korean War."But while support for the war was high, opposition to the Truman administration rose to a dramatic peak in spring and summer 1951 after Truman's dismissal of General Douglas MacArthur.(ABC-Clio)" Many African Americans were also very upset with the conditions they were fighting in and how they were treated which made many reject the korean war. "These prisoners included a number of African American soldiers who had served, for the first time in history, in integrated combat units within the U.S. armed forces. Most American service members, white and black, returned to the United States, with only a handful electing to stay in communist North Korea. (ABC-Clio)" Also many did not support this war because many thought it would potentially lead to another war involving other countries "Despite this approval, 43 percent believed it would lead eventually to another world war, while 14 percent believed that the war would not last more than a year. (ABC-Clio)" Others supported the cause and appreciated what the Unites States was doing. "77 percent of Americans polled by Gallup responded that they supported President Harry S. Truman's decision to commit United States air, naval, and ground forces to a larger United Nations(UN) force in defense of the Republic of Korea, which had been invaded by the Democratics People of Korea. (ABC-Clio)" The public's opinion played an important role in this war and had also helped influenced the outcome. Since many did not support the war it influenced the outcome by making the end of the war come sooner and instead of fighitng more to establish a winner, the public's opinion was taken in mind when setting up negotiations betwee the countries as well.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hornbuckle, Adam R. "U.S. Public Opinion: Korean War." //World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society//.ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"NSC-147: Analysis of Possible Courses of Action in Korea (1953) [excerpts]." //World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society//.ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">"Korean War: Societal Impact of the War: Key Question." //World at War: Understanding Conflict and Society//.ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> Task IV: Did the U.S. achieve its goals? -- Due Friday, December 2nd <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The Korean War was ended because there was an armistice signed by North Korea, China and the UN but not South Korea. Korea is still split into North Korea, which is communist, and South Korea which is non-communist ( Korean Peninsula: History). So overall the success for the americans was good because they managed to keep communism out of South Korea and they got the war to come to a stop, although there was no dominate winner of this war (Schaick). The U.S public was for the most part happy about this because we got to get our troops out of Korea and the problem was resolved. As for our allies(South Korea) they were very thankful for our help against the communist North Koreans out of their side, and even today South Korea remains non-communist. As for our enemies (North Korea, USSR)was not happy with the outcome because it was their initial idea to invade South Korea and it was denied. Also if we wanted to, we could have easily pushed them all the way back through North Korea, but President Truman apposed Douglas MacArthur's idea of trying to push them back and decided not to because there was no reason but to create more problems. The decisions by President Truman were very wise, even though he wasn't a very popular president he decided not keep pushing because it would be unnecessary after we already achieved our goals

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Works Cited: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Schaick, Van F. "The CQ Researcher Online." //CQ Press Electronic Library//. Web. 02 Dec. 2011. <http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;"> ProQuest Staff. "Korean Peninsula: History." // World Conflicts Today //. 2011: n.p. // SIRS Issues Researcher. // Web. 02 Dec 2011.

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