Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Keywords:
• Seoul
• Pyongyang
• General Douglas MacArthur
• United Nations (UN)
• De-Militarised zone
• Truce
• The ‘Forgotten War’
How did the Korean War start?
• At the end of WWII, the Americans occupied South Korea and the Soviets
occupied North Korea.
• They could not agree on what sort of government to elect for Korea, so,
by 1948, two independent states had been set up, North Korea & South
Korea, divided by the 38th parallel.
• South Korea was ruled by anti-communist Syngman Rhee and North
Korea by the Communist dictator Kim Il Sung.
• China was also Communist since 1949 and bordered North Korea. This
gave North Korea more confidence. Both leaders ignored their
‘independent states’ and claimed to rule the whole of Korea.
• The trigger cause of the Korean War is unknown, but Stalin had provided
North Korea with tanks and planes, and Chinese Communists probably
encouraged them too.
• The North Koreans claimed that the South Koreans has crossed the 38th
Parallel, and were just defending themselves.
Truman Quote
“Communism was acting in Korea, just as Hitler,
Mussolini and the Japanese had ten, fifteen, and
twenty years earlier. I felt certain that if South Korea
was allowed to fall, Communist leaders would be
emboldened to override nations closer to our own
shores. If the Communists were permitted to force
their way into the Republic of Korea without
opposition from the free world, no small nation would
have the courage to resist threat and aggression by
stronger Communist neighbours”
The Korean War
• In June 1950, troops from North Korea invaded
South Korea in attempt to spread communism
• They tried to take control of the majority of the
country
• After China turning communist in 1949, Truman
felt Korea needed resist the spread of communism
• His fear was of a ‘domino effect’ of communism
spreading throughout Asia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzPlkGN5LLg
United Nations Intervention
• At the United Nations, the USA argued that a
force should be sent to defend South Korea
• A motion is passed to send a UN force made up of
mostly USA troops
(A number of other countries also sent troops)