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KOREAN WAR.   Term Paper ID:18718 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Examines international relationship among U.S., China, Soviet Union, South & North Korea & U.N. from 1945 to 1953.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Examines international relationship among U.S., China, Soviet Union, South & North Korea & U.N. from 1945 to 1953. Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION This research examines the pursuit of international relations by the Americans, Chinese, North Koreans, South Koreans, Soviets, and the United Nations with respect to the conduct of the Korean War. For the most part, the time frame of this research is 1945-1953. August 1945 marked the end of the Second World War, and, in late-July 1953, a truce agreement was signed between North Korea (the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) and the United Nations Command (Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate, 1953). The truce agreement did not bring about an end to the war, but it did stop the fighting (United States Department of State, 1960). By July 1991, the truce will have been in effect for 38 years; however, a state of war (undeclared as such on either side) will continue to exist Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. In the United States, both the government andpublic had, to a great extent, accepted the premise that air power alonecould attain the country's policy objectives (Blum, 1982). Leewas not a guerrilla leader. At the United Nations Security Council, United States delegate WarrenAustin demanded fair and free elections for all of Korea, regardless ofwhat the Peoples Republic of China thought. 1 July 195 -31 August 195 In the summer of 195 , General MacArthur had 83, American troopsunder his command--largely stationed in Japan. Thus, for the first time, the concept of limitedwar arose (Rees, 1964). When the United Nations attempted tohold free elections in Korea to end the divided status of the country, theSoviets refused to allow United Nations representatives into the north(Berger, 1957). New York: MacBride. Further, the United States was able, as a consequence ofthe Chinese demands, to persuade the United Nations to adopt the newAmerican policy of negotiation from a position of strength (Truman, 1956). In actuality, however, the actions of the United Statesin Korea did constitute a war, and, in that war, 33,629 Americans werekilled and another 1 3,283 were wounded. (1964). (1987). They were an occupation force in agenerally cooperative country, and, as the battle veterans of the SecondWorld War were shipped home between 1945 and 195 , they were replaced forthe most part with soldiers with no combat experience, who developed cozynests which they were extremely reluctant to leave in order to fightcommunism in Korea. Leckie, R. Hastings, M. The wars of America (Vol. ByJuly 1991, the truce will have been in effect for 38 years; however, astate of war (undeclared as such on either side) will continue to exist(assuming that the two parties will not sign an armistice, or otherwisesettle the dispute, between January and July 1991). Thus, Americancharges against the Chinese, North Koreans, and Soviets often received acool reception by Asians who tended to view the United States as a ruthlessand unscrupulous conqueror (Osgood, 1957). Within such a context, policyactions tend to become time-sensitive. Soon,American forces also crossed the 38th parallel, and the United Nationsforces were soon at the Yalu River on the Chinese border. Inresponse, the interim government established by the Soviets proclaimed thecreation of the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea, with Kim Il Sung (KimSung Chu) at its head (Poats, 1954). The UnitedNations forces were, by this time, superior to the North Korean army innumbers, training, and equipment. The United States had overreacted to itssuccess against the North Koreans, and had assumed that they could bothdemand and get their own way. (1954). Initially, the Chinese offensiveachieved successes, and the allies of the United States in the UnitedNations, tiring of the war, pushed the United Nations General Assembly tooffer to meet the Chinese demands with respect to Formosa and UnitedNations membership, if the Peoples Republic of China would agree to aKorean settlement which left South Korea intact. The weakness ofAmerican conventional forces, particularly in Asia, appeared to be an openinvitation to the Stalinists to pursue their aggressive policies, one ofthe targets of which was Korea. With the Soviets continuing theirboycott, the Security Council, on 27 June 195 , agreed to the Trumanrequest to provide assistance to South Korea to resist the aggression ofNorth Korea. By December 195 , the Chinese army had driven the United Nationsforces back to approximately the 38th parallel. The Inchon landingenabled the United Nations forces to cut the excessively long North Koreansupply lines, and the tide of the battle in Korea began to turn (Thomas,1954). The communists infiltrated thelightly guarded prisoner of war compounds in South Korea, and beganenforcing their own form of justice against those communist prisonersunwilling to be repatriated. Following six years of war (based upon a North American-NorthwestEuropean perspective),1 more than 3 million lives, and incalculable humanand physical damage, however, the Allies had failed to ensure either abetter or a more lasting peace; thus, as opposed to a great victory, theSecond World War was actually a failure and a travesty. The American soldiers initially committed to battle in Korea wererouted by the North Koreans, and the United States lost the greatpsychological advantage on which it had counted to cow the North Koreansinto a retreat from South Korea. United States Department of State. As these actions unfolded, the government of the Peoples Republic ofChina stated clearly on several occasions that the Peoples Republic wouldintervene in the war, if American forces crossed the 38th parallel.MacArthur's intelligence officers called the Chinese threat so muchdiplomatic blackmail, and MacArthur told President Truman at a Wake Islandmeeting that, should the Chinese try to rescue North Korea, the Chinesearmy would be slaughtered (Truman, 1956). Two days before Japan accepted the terms of unconditional surrender,1 , Soviet troops crossed into Korea from Siberia (Goodrich, 1956). By the time theSecurity Council voted 9- to call for a cease fire in Korea, and to orderthe North Koreans to withdraw from South Korea, the capital of South Korea,Seoul, was under North Korean attack. As a consequence, by the end of August 195 , theUnited Nations forces had been isolated in the small Pusan Perimeter indeep southeast Korea. AtlanticMonthly,(9), 5-12, 37-43. The war was started, and it continued farlonger than necessary, as a consequence of significant misperceptions ofevents on both sides. (1985). While the United Nations and the Americangovernment were debating this question, the South Korean army crossed the38th parallel in pursuit of the North Koreans, and this action proved to beonly the first, but not the last time, that South Korea's Rhee threw awrench into the United Nations and United States policy machinery. TheUnited States and the Korean problem. In early-195 , the American State Department declared that theAmerican Pacific line of defense was defined by a line stretching from theAleutian Islands to Japan to the Ryukyu Islands to the Philippines (Leckie,1962). New York: St. American actions taken to restorecontrol of the camps brought the country further disfavor around the worldfor what was perceived by many as brutality. Martin's. The industrial north ofKorea had a population approximating nine million, while there were morethan 21 million people in the predominantly agricultural south. The offer was so favorable to the north that its rejection by Rheewas assured; however, the offer was also couched in language whichindicated that the south represented a security threat to the north.Consequently, Kim Il Sung used Rhee's rejection of the offer as the excuseto launch what the north called a defensive invasion of the south on 25June 195 . The communist representatives to the peace talks began to soften onthe forced repatriation issue, and it at last began to look as if a ceasefire would be arranged. The question involvedwhether or not the United Nations forces could cross the 38th parallel topursue the North Koreans. (1956). Chicago: U of Chicago P. Government Printing Office. Truman clearly saw that such a victory could only beattained through the use of nuclear weapons on the Peoples Republic ofChina, and that such use would inevitably cause a response in kind againstthe United States by the Soviet Union. (1982). The offer was turned down because, first, they werenot required, and, second, their presence would have assured that thePeoples Republic of China would have never agreed to peace in Korea. Ridgeway, M.B., Gen. General MacArthur messaged the Joint Chiefs of Staff that thesituation was critical, that the Korean action had developed into a majoroperation, and that reinforcements of at least four full army divisionswere required. TheUnited States contended that the Peoples Republic had not acted within thegenerally accepted customs of civilized nations, by giving prior notice ofhostile actions (Leckie, 1968). It now became apparent to the Americancommanders that they were going to have to fight in earnest, with soldierswho were largely unprepared both physically and mentally, and who were notproperly equipped for the task at hand. CONCLUSION By the time the cease fire was declared, both sides were tired of thewar and wanted it to end. The Americangovernment even stalled on sending vital economic aid to South Korea untilafter North Korea invaded the south (Leckie, 1968). Prior to his firing by Truman, General MacArthur, in coalition withhis Republican allies in Congress, did everything in his power to widen thewar, and to prevent any type of peace settlement other than one imposed byone side or the other, if one sid-e,or the other was able to achieve adevastating victory. The United Nations forces soon had the North Korean army on the run,and, as a consequence, a new policy crisis arose. Decision in Korea. Republicans in theAmerican Congress, in control for the first time since the 192 s,threatened to scuttle the peace plan; however, they never got the chance,as the Chinese, once again, got greedy and demanded United Nationsmembership first, to be followed by a Korean peace conference to be held inBeijing. 31 December 195 -27 July 1953 On New Year's Eve 195 , General Lin Piao's 485, man army launchedthe Third Wave Offensive against the 385, man army commanded by GeneralMatthew Ridgeway (1956). The attack by North Korea on South Korea marked the beginning of theAmerican Domino Theory in Asia. The Soviets established an interim government headed by and staffed withKoreans, while they (the Soviets) stayed in the background. (1953). (1986). 15 August 1945-24 June 195 The Second World War was proclaimed as a great victory by the AlliedNations. (1962). Congressional Record, SenateDocument No. During the three week period, the Chinese moved 3 , soldiersacross the Yalu into North Korea, where they were augmented by 4 , NorthKorean soldiers. One furtherembarrassment was in store for the United States, as a consequence of itsno forced prisoner repatriation policy--21 Americans held as prisoners ofwar by the communist forces publicly refused repatriation. Korea was outside of this American line of defense, and, just onemonth before North Korea invaded the south, an influential Americansenator, Tom Connally, stated that the Soviets could seize South Koreawithout American interference, because Korea was not particularly important(Leckie, 1962). By the end of June, however, General MacArthur had messagedPresident Truman that the only hope of prevailing against North Korea wasto commit United States ground forces in Korea. Vero Beach, FL: Rourke. (1954). Edwards, R. When Kim SungChu became head of government in North Korea, he made a dramatic impact inboth the northern and southern sections of Korea by assuming the name KimIl Sung, after the country's greatest hero in its opposition to Japan. Government Printing Office.----------------------- 23 The invasion was led by hundreds of tanks, which served as thevanguard for 9 , North Korean infantry soldiers (Appleman, 1961). The south wasdenied tanks, heavy artillery, military aircraft, and large stocks of smallarms ammunition by the Americans, because of an American fear that SyngmanRhee would attempt to unify the country by force (Collins, 1969). The American public, by and large, did not support the Koreaneffort, were unimpressed with the stated need to counter communism in Asia,and saw no justification for American participation in an alien war to saveone Asian country from another Asian country (Leckie, 1968). The communists demanded that each prisoner berequired to make a public declaration at the time of scheduledrepatriation, and the United States agreed to this demand. A trench and bunker war reminiscent of the First World War soonensued. Syngman Rhee, who had not been consulted in thetalks, however, balked, and threatened to withdraw his forces from theUnited Nations force, and to continue the war on his (South Korea's) own.Eisenhower attempted to buy Rhee off with promises of economic aid and amutual defense treaty. A key demand of thecommunist side was that all prisoners should be repatriated, whether or notsuch was their individual desire. New York: Harper Bros. RESEARCH FINDINGS To a great extent, the policy decisions made by the Americans,Chinese, North Koreans, South Koreans, the Soviets, and the United Nationswith respect to the Korean War were controlled by events, actions, andperceptions of events and actions, as opposed to having events and actionscontrolled by policy (Kaufman, 1986). At both the Cairo Conference and thePotsdam Conference, Stalin had agreed that Korea should eventually becomefree and politically independent. In addition to losing its moral authority in Asia, the United Stateswas perceived by the Chinese, North Koreans, and Soviets as beingmilitarily weak in Asia. Collins, J.L., Gen. TheSoviets stationed armed guards along the 38th parallel, shut off railtraffic to the south, shut off electrical power distribution to the south,and deprived the south of coal and chemicals. INTRODUCTION This research examines the pursuit of international relations by theAmericans, Chinese, North Koreans, South Koreans, Soviets, and the UnitedNations with respect to the conduct of the Korean War. Leckie, R. Rather, they established a military occupationgovernment, which neither understood nor attempted to understand the Koreanpeople and their customs, and dictated to the Koreans in a harsh and ineptmanner (Leckie, 1968). Noone on the United Nations--side, however, took the statements at facevalue, and, of course, Chou En-lai did not provide the actual date of theChinese attack in his warnings. Air Force General OrvilAnderson, Commander of the Air War College, publicly asked President Trumanfor an order to bomb Soviet nuclear weapons sites, which he contended couldbe completely destroyed by the American Air Force in one week (Leckie,1968). South Korea had not anticipated the invasion, and its divisions,which were no match for those from the north in the best of situations,were at only half-strength, because the remainder had been granted weekendleave. During that 35year time period, Korean guerrillas harassed the Japanese constantly.Prominent among the guerrilla leaders were Kim Il Sung, a legend in Korea,who died with a Japanese price on his head, and Kim Sung Chu, whoeventually became the leader of the North Korean government. The army of the Peoples Republic of China then launched its strongestattack in two years, and Syngman Rhee was made painfully aware that he hadno chance of successfully prosecuting the war on his own. The United States StateDepartment and the Central Intelligence Agency concurred in theseassessments. The talks broke down once again. Rees, D. Even those nations tired of the war were not prepared to fallinto that trap. Truman, H.S. The Korean War. The United States government viewed theloss of South Korea to the communists as the first step towards communistattacks on Japan, Okinawa, and Formosa (Truman, 1956). 2).London: Hodder and Stoughton. (1961). 74. Chou En-lai rejected any peace talks on Korea until (1) theUnited Nations withdrew from Korea, (2) the United States withdrew itssupport from Chiang Kai-shek, (3) western nations ceased their rearmingprograms, and (4) the Peoples Republic of China was recognized as thelegitimate representative of China in the United Nations. The interimgovernment in the north also implemented a popular land reform program,under which large estates were broken up, and divided among the peasants.By contrast, in the south, the Americans did not establish an interimKorean government. August 1945 marked the endof the Second World War, and, in late-July 1953, a truce agreement wassigned between North Korea (the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) andthe United Nations Command (Committee on Foreign Relations, United StatesSenate, 1953). Secondarily, there existed a fear insome quarters of the American government that the committing of Americanground forces in Korea would be countered by Stalin with a commitment ofSoviet ground forces, which would start a third world war. The United States called for an emergency meeting of the UnitedNations Security Council, which met on 26 June 195 . The Soviets, having come into thePacific Theater of the Second World War at the urging of the United States,accepted an American proposal that the 38th parallel of latitude should bethe dividing line in Korea, where, north of which, the Soviets would acceptthe surrender of Japanese troops, and, south of which, the Americans wouldaccept such surrender (Marshall, 1953). Our mistakes in Korea. Osgood, R.E. The death of Josef Stalin was a catalyst for theChinese to seek an end to the war, while the strength of the communist armyand Eisenhower's promises of aid eventually persuaded Rhee to accept asettlement he did not want. 7 November 195 -3 December 195 On 7 November 195 , true to its word, the army of the PeoplesRepublic of China poured across the Yalu, and the United Nations forceswere soon forced to fall back (Hastings, 1987). Predictably, the United Nations and the United States rejected theChinese terms. The Korea knot, a military-political history.Philadelphia: U of Pennsylvania P. New York: Avon. Still, PresidentTruman did not plan to commit American ground forces on a large scale inKorea, because he shared the prevailing American attitude that air powercould achieve American objectives. 1 September 195 -6 November 195 In September 195 , the United Nations forces launched a counterattackout of the Pusan Perimeter, and, under General MacArthur's direction,planned and successfully conducted the amphibious landing at Inchon,located near Seoul, just south of the 38th parallel. As a result,Eisenhower was able to persuade,Rhee to cooperate, although the realpersuasion had been provided by the Chinese army. The 38th parallel was neverintended by the Americans as a line which would divide Korea into twocountries. Soldier. Poats, R.P. The assistance plans, at that time, did not callfor a commitment of ground forces. The Korean War. A second round of peace talks eventually convened. Further, they leftwithout training and equipping a strong army in the south. The prisonerissue remained central to the debate. Korea: The limited war. Kaufman, B.I. By 1948, the Soviets had trained and equipped a strong North Koreanmilitary, and Soviet troops began withdrawing from the country. By 27 June 195 , it became apparent to everyone that the NorthKoreans had no intention of voluntarily withdrawing from South Korea. A day later, the Chinese army launched a massive counterattack, which sent the United Nations forces reeling in retreat. The invasion by the north on 25 June 195 , therefore, shouldnot have surprised anyone in any context other than its timing, and eventhat was designed to hit the south before it could rebuild its economy,which meant that an early strike should have been anticipated. Conflict: History of the Korean War, 195 -1953. II). Washington: U.S. (1956). In 1947, the United States brought the issue of a divided Korea tothe United Nations (Truman, 1956). This action hadthe effect of invoking the American policy of no forced prisonerrepatriation, before the communists had agreed to the policy in the peacenegotiations. (196 ). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. Rapid action in the Security Councilagainst the North Koreans was made possible by the absence from the Councilof the Soviet Union. In-the midst of all of this uproar, Josef Stalin, the Soviet leaderdied. South to the Naktong, North to the Yalu.Washington: U.S. The United States also had a domestic problem withthe war. For the most part,the time frame of this research is 1945-1953. Korea was under Japanese rule from 191 until 1945. 25 June 195 -3 June 195 In mid-June 195 , Kim Il Sung broadcast (radio) a peace offer to thesouth. Truman, having concludedthat Stalin was not going to commit the Soviets to fight in Korea, andfeeling relatively sure that the same could be said for the PeoplesRepublic of China, authorized General MacArthur to commit American groundforces in Korea. During the three weeklull, the United Nations forces rushed major units into forward positionsin North Korea, doing exactly as Mao had hoped, just as winter was closingdown on North Korea. At the Wake Island meeting also, Chairman of the Joint Chiefsof Staff, General Omar Bradley, was so confident of American success inKorea that he initiated discussions aimed at transferring some Americandivisions from Korea to Europe. The lightly armed and leave-depleted South Korean units could notwithstand the onslaught from the north, and the North Korean army easilysmashed through the South Korean perimeter defense. Therefore, a rational approach tothis investigation is to pursue it on a chronological basis. The Korean people were incensed at what had happened to theircountry, and they placed most of the blame on the Americans (Leckie, 1968). References Appleman, R.E. He did, however, become the leader of South Korea's(Republic of Korea) first government, assuming as leader the westernizedversion of his name, Syngman Rhee. At that time, the Soviets were boycotting the Councilbecause the other permanent Council members would not agree to recognizethe Peoples Republic of China as the legitimate representative of China inplace of the Chiang Kai-shek government on Formosa. New York: Foreign Policy Institute. The bridge destruction was tooccur when North Korean tanks entered Seoul. The findingsof this research, thus, are presented in discussions delineated by thefollowing time points: (1) 15 August 1945-24 June 195 ; (2) 25 June 195 -3 June 195 ; (3) 1 July 195 -31 August 195 ; (4) 1 September 195 -6November 195 ; (5) 7 November 195 -3 December 195 ; and (6) 31 December195 -27 July 1953. By this time, General DwightEisenhower was president of the United States, and his highly popularstatement that he would end the fighting in Korea was in danger. As aconsequence, that initial effort was left to Kim Il Sung. Drawing the line: The origin of Americancontainment policy in East Asia. At this time, the United Nations forces were isolated in the PusanPerimeter. Committee on Foreign Relations, United States Senate. New York: Foreign Policy Institute. Berger, C. Korea: A study of US policy in the UN. The United States rejected this demand,and the peace talks broke down. The North Korean army, near the end of August 195 , launchedthe Great Naktong offensive to throw the United Nations and the UnitedStates out of Korea. Unfortunately, American intelligence estimated the totalsize of the communist force at 7 , men. President Truman never agreed to call the Korean action a war. Goodrich, L.M. Stragglers who eventually reported to theirunits south of the Han brought South Korean army strength back up to54, , leaving the army with a devastating loss of 44, men--44.9percent of its original strength. When the United Nations commanders attemptedto stop such actions, the prisoners rioted and took control of the prisonerof war camps from their American guards. Americantroops did not begin to withdraw from South Korea until mid-1949, furtherstrengthening their impression as an occupying force. By this time, however, MacArthur had received therequested reinforcements, and the Naktong Offensive stalled. TheSouth Korean government ordered the destruction of Han River bridges justsouth of Seoul, to impede the northern advance, so that the South Koreangovernment could be relocated in Taegu. The Chinese commanders employed the HachiShiki tactic of dropping the center of their lines back to form an invertedvee. Rather, he was an aristocrat, whose efforts tobring freedom to Korea resulted in imprisonment, torture, and exile (Foot,1985). Thus commenced more than two years of thebloodiest fighting ever witnessed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. The American leaders, however, remainedgenerally confident having, through wishful thinking, persuaded themselvesthat, apparently, the 32 , Chinese soldiers which had been amassed justacross the Yalu in Manchuria had simply come down to enjoy the view. Eisenhower did followthrough in buying off South Korea with economic and military aid, and thecommunists did accede to the voluntary prisoner repatriation policy pushedby the United States. (1957). Washington: U.S. Eventually, peace talks did begin between the United Nations and theNorth Koreans (who represented the communists at the talks, while theChinese army held the communist battle positions). Marshall, S.L.A. Opposition to ending the war came from SouthKorea led by Syngman Rhee, and from many Republicans in the United StatesCongress, all of whom wanted to prosecute the war to an ultimate, thoughunattainable, victory. Athird major figure in Korea's opposition to Japan was Lee Sung Man. Government Printing Office. Itwas always termed a United Nations Police Action. It came to an end because all parties with realpower finally-wanted it to end on almost any terms. When the United Nations forces entered the vee, they were surroundedand annihilated. Foot, R. For the next year-and-a-half, the brutal war was fought largelywithin sight of the 38th parallel, assuming that one could see an imaginaryline. At this point, PresidentTruman was ready to accept the status quo which had been rejected when theUnited Nations forces had earlier crossed the 38th parallel into NorthKorea. The record of Koreanunification, 1943-196 . The wrong war: American policy and dimensions ofthe Korean conflict, 195 -1953. These American soldiers oftenretreated against orders, threw away their weapons, refused to fight,abandoned their wounded, and, at times, sat an awaited capture by the NorthKoreans (Leckie, 1968). (1968). When the American militarycommanders learned of this plan, they made desperate and futile attempts tostop it. NewYork: Council on Foreign Relations. A long-held tactic of Mao Tse-tung, however, was to lure enemyarmies to stretch supply lines before attacking. Thomas, R.C.W. The American Secretary of theNavy publicly advocated instituting war against China to compel cooperationfor peace, stating that, in that way, the United States would become thefirst aggressor for peace (Leckie, 1968). Official Washington, including the Central Intelligence Agency,concluded that the Chinese had made e limited intervention, and, thus,there existed no serious threat to the United Nations forces (Leckie,1968). These troops were neitherwell-trained nor well-equipped. This time, however, it was the turn of the Chinese to prove thatthey were just as capable as the Americans of becoming so flushed withtheir own success, that they could reject a rational solution to theproblem. New York:Bantam Books. In actuality, however, Chinese foreignminister Chou En-lai had provided numerous warnings of China's intent. Blum, R.M. Even anAmerican Marine commander and his press agent's attempts to state that theaction, far from being a retreat, was just an attack in a differentdirection, could not hide from the world what had actually occurred. During this period, Chiang Kai-shek offered to send 33, troopsfrom Formosa to Korea. Lee, unlike Kim Il Sung, and Kim Sung Chu, was not universallypopular in Korea. The Chinese then set a trap for the United Nations forces. The Allied policy of unconditional surrender had reduced both Germanyand Japan to the status of beggars; thus, Germany could not be enlisted inthe battle against Stalinist expansionism in Europe, and Japan could not beused to counter similar Stalinist actions in East Asia. Such logic, however, had littleeffect on either MacArthur or his Republican allies in the Congress. This request was startling for American military planners,because four full army divisions represented 4 percent of all Americanground forces located outside the Far East. The damage,however, was already done. Limited war: The challenge to Americanstrategy. President Truman decided that the policy of communist containmentpursued by the United States in Europe must be extended to Asia, and hecalled a meeting of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, and directedGeneral MacArthur in Tokyo to report on the best means by which the UnitedStates could act in Korea (Collins, 1969). The number wasquite small alongside the number of communist prisoners refusingrepatriation; however, even one American prisoner refusing repatriation wasenough to cause national shock in the United States. Elections were eventually held in the south, and theRepublic of Korea was born under the auspices of the United Nations, withan elected National Assembly, which selected Syngman Rhee as president. (1953). The result was that the destruction of the Han River bridges alsovirtually destroyed what was left of the South Korean army, as most of thatarmy were trapped between the Han River and the advancing North Koreans.Thus, by 3 June 195 , the 98, man South Korean army was left with astrength of 22, men, with the remainder being captured, having deserted,or separated from their units. Rhee would have none of it, and fearful that apeace accord would be worked out that he opposed, scuttled the talks byreleasing communist prisoners of war into the countryside. Thus, all of the signals sent by the American governmentwith respect to Korea appeared to indicate that an aggressive move by theStalinists against South Korea would not be forcibly resisted by theAmericans. The war in Korea, 195 -1953. The Chinese, heavily dependent on the Soviet Union for critical warsupplies viewed Stalin's death as holding ominous implications for thefuture of.the relationship between the two countries, because the newSoviet leadership regarded the entire Korean venture as a fiasco (Leckie,1968). (1988). By thetime American troops arrived in Korea in mid-September, the Soviets hadsealed North Korea off from the southern part of the country, and a defacto division of Korea had been accomplished. Memoirs: Years of trial and hope (Vol. The strength ofthe American air deterrent, however, lay primarily in its capacity todeliver nuclear weapons, and, by 195 , Soviet nuclear development hadvirtually neutralized the American nuclear option. The truce agreement did not bring about an end to the war,but it did stop the fighting (United States Department of State, 196 ). Aldershot,England: Gale and Polden. The Korean War: Challenges in crisis,credibility, and command. By not being at war, andby acting in support of the United Nations, the Truman Administration neverfelt obligated to consult Congress on its decisions related to the Koreanaction, other than to request appropriations to pay for the effort(Edwards, 1988). (1956). (1969). Mao Tse-tung, too, was sick of the war, and with Stalin dead, he nolonger had a Soviet leader to whom he was indebted, and who had urged himto continue the war against the United Nations forces. New York: Harper & Row. (1957). Further, in Asia particularly, the United States had, through its useof nuclear weapons on Japan, forfeited the moral authority necessary tosupport its charges of communist aggression (Leckie, 1968). As a consequence of the Rhee action, thepeace talks broke off, and hostilities resumed. Some Chinese forces hadbegun secretly crossing the Yalu into North Korea on 16 October 195 . Atthat time, the nearest American troops were located in Okinawa. Ridgeway's United Nations forces, subsequent to MacArthur's firing byTruman in April 1951, launched a counterattack, which was eventually torestore the 38th parallel as a general dividing line between the opposingforces. President Truman promptly suspended General Anderson from his duties,and forced the resignation of the Secretary of the Navy. The economic isolation ofthe south created a food shortage in the north. War in peacetime: The history andlessons of Korea. Worse still forthe United States, China, for whom the Pacific Theater of the Second WorldWar was largely fought by the Americans, became a communist 1The North American-Northwest European perception of the Second WorldWar conveniently ignores (1) the Japanese incursion into Manchuria in 1931,and the beginning of that country's war with China in 1932, (2) the Italianinvasion of Ethiopia in 1936, (3) the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939-initiated by Franco's fascists who were supported by the fascistgovernments of Germany and Italy, and who were opposed by Spain's electedRepublican government which was supported by the communist government inthe Soviet Union, while the governments of France, the United Kingdom, andthe United States watched idly, hoping that Spain's socialist Republicangovernment and its Soviet supporters would be defeated without too muchpower accruing to the German and Italian fascists, and (4) the Germanannexation of Austria in 1938, and part of Czechoslovakia in 1939.country, and the inept regime of Chiang Kai-shek was exiled and isolated onthe island of Formosa. On 27 June 195 , President Truman announced American plans to assistSouth Korea, and to attempt to provide such assistance under the auspicesof the United Nations. For threeweeks, the Chinese army remained virtually inactive just inside NorthKorea. Thus, United Nations commandersfelt confident of their ability to counter the communist army--soconfident, in fact, that, on 24 November 195 , they launched an attackagainst the Chinese forces. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.