May 9-13

Monday- Notes on Korean War

Tuesday- Workday

Wednesday- Started 50's presentations

Thursday- 50's notes here

Friday- 50's notes again

The Korean Conflict: The Forgotten War

Origins:

Korea was invaded and ruled by Japan from 1910 until 1945
After WWII, Korea was split into 2- North (USSR) and South (US) at the 38th parallel
An election was going to be held to eventually unify Korea
United Nations held an election in 1948
The Soviet Union refused to allow participation in the election in their occupied zone
Instead, they handed over power to the North Korean Communist Party under Kim IL-Sung
The South elected the nationalist exile Syngman Rhee

Before War:

US pulls out in January of 1950
Korea was "outside of our defense perimeter"
This encouraged North Korea to be aggressive
South Korean President Syngman Rhee and North Korean leader Kim IL- Sung both wanted to reunite
The People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union were wary of war in Korea
Mao and Stalin were concerned that it would encourage American intervention in Asia after just leaving
Kim was able to manipulate both Mao and Stalin into supporting their invasion of South Korea

War:

North Korea invades South Korea in June 1950
Pusan perimeter
China invaded July of 1953
US leaves
North unifies communism and invades South
UN gets involved to help South Korea
Major invasion led by Douglas MacArthur
North falls back
Pushed back up
China gets nervous
China attacks
Pushes North back down
Back and forth along the 38th parallel
Due to the victory at Inchon, the goal of saving South Korea had been achieved
Truman fired MacArthur on April 11, 1951
- Talking Nuclear war
- Went against orders from Truman

United Nations:

United Nations Security Council voted to send troops to help South Korea
US, Great Britain, France, China, and the Soviet Union were permanent members that could veto the "police action"
UN Forces vs. Communist Forces

China Retaliates:

End of War:

Rest of the war involved little territory change and lengthy peace negotiations
Even during the peace negotiations combat continued
For the South Korean and allied forces the goal was to recapture all of what had been South Korea
Eventually a cease fire was established
DMZ was established around it, which is still defended today by North Korean troops on one side and South Korean and American troops on the other
Newly-elected US President Dwight Eisenhower fulfilled a campaign promise by going to Korea to find out what could be done to end the conflict
No peace treaty was signed

Results:

Korean War was the first armed confrontation of the Cold War, and it set a model for many later conflicts
Created the idea of a limited war, where the 2 superpowers would/could fight without using nuclear weapons
Also expanded the Cold War, which to that point had mostly been concerned with Europe
Total number of deaths, including all civilians and military soldiers from UN and China, was 2 million
US had 54,000
Pyongyang (capital of North Korea) was bombarded with more than one thousand bombs per square kilometer

North Korean Leaders:

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