The Korean War The Forgotten War June 25, 1950 July 27, 1953
Korea War has been called a forgotten war since at least October 1951 when U.S. News & World Report gave it that moniker. In reality, though, Americans did not so much forget the Korean War as never think about it at all. When the war first broke out, people worried that American involvement would usher in the same type of rationing and full mobilization that had characterized the Second World War. That failed to occur and within a few months most Americans turned back to their own lives, ignoring the conflict raging half a world away. Newspapers continued to report on the war, but with the entrance of the Chinese in late fall 1950 and the resulting stalemate in late 1951, few Americans wanted to read or think about Korea.
The Korean War never resonated with the American public in the way that World War II did, despite the fact that nearly 2 million Americans served in theater (as part of a United Nations force) in the three-year fight against the North Koreans and Chinese, and some 37,000 died. Perhaps it was because Korea wasn t a declared war and ended in an unsatisfactory stalemate
Unlike World War II and Vietnam, the Korean War did not get much media attention in the United States. The most famous representation of the war in popular culture is the television series M*A*S*H, which was set in a field hospital in South Korea. The series ran from 1972 until 1983, and its final episode was the mostwatched in television history. "KOREA, A FORGOTTEN WAR" (By Cpl.Tom Lyons,U S Army, 2nd Inf.Div.) Why have they forgotten? Will some one let me know. A war fought through the summers, And through the winters snow. Will any one out there listen, To what we have to say? While fighting in Korea, We lived from day to day. We were but young Americans, Sent off to fight that war, After it had ended, You heard of us no more. Many young Americans, Sacrificed their flesh and blood. While serving in Korea, They died while fighting in mud. Those veterans now lay, In sacred ground so hallow, Before this war was over, Many more GI's did follow. We were proud to serve our country, In that far off land, Why has our nation forgotten, We shall never understand
Perhaps the most distinctive characteristic of the Korean War generation is their silence. Veterans of both World War II and the Vietnam War came back to talk about what they did and to form and join veteran s organizations, but Korean War veterans came home and tried to pick up their old lives and forget their wartime experiences. Many did not even tell their wives or children that they served in Korea. About one-fourth of Korean War veterans also served in World War II and many went on to serve in the Vietnam War
If the best minds in the world had set out to find us the worst possible location in the world to fight this damnable war, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson (1893-1971) once said, the unanimous choice would have been Korea. The peninsula had landed in America s lap almost by accident.
Since 1910, Korea had been a part of the Japanese empire. Despite the often oppressive and heavy-handed rule of the Japanese authorities, many recognizably modern aspects of Korean society emerged or grew considerably during the 35-year period of colonial rule. By the time of the Japanese surrender in August 1945, Korea was the second-most industrialized nation in Asia after Japan itself.
After World War II Korea fell into the hands of the Americans and the Soviets to decide who would decide what would be done with Imperial Japanese possessions. The country was divided at the 38 th Parallel into zones of occupation by the victorious Americans and Soviets, and various individuals and organizations across the political spectrum from Communists to the far Right claimed to speak for an independent Korean government. The Soviets and Americans failed to reach an agreement on a unified Korean government, and in 1948 two separate governments were established, each claiming to be the legitimate government of all Korea: the Republic of Korea in Seoul, in the American zone, and the Democratic People s Republic of Korea in Pyongyang, in the Soviet zone.
By the end of the decade, two new states had formed on the peninsula. In the south, the anticommunist dictator Syngman Rhee (1875-1965) enjoyed the reluctant support of the American government; in the north, the communist dictator Kim Il Sung (1912-1994) enjoyed the slightly more enthusiastic support of the Soviets. Neither dictator was content to remain on his side of the 38th parallel, however, and border skirmishes were common. Nearly 10,000 North and South Korean soldiers were killed in battle before the war even began.
South Korea was unstable economically The United States feared that South Korea would fall to communism U.S. government helped to build up the South Korean military Both the U.S. and the Soviets removed their troops from Korea in 1949.
The Soviet Union (USSR) supplied weaponry, trained the North Korean armed forces and its experienced WWII generals devised the plan for the invasion. When the Chinese communists under Mao Zedong won their war with the nationalists in 1949, Mao too was able to assist North Korea. He sent back 20,000 Koreans who fought with the Chinese communists
Joseph Stalin was at first reluctant to support Kim s proposed invasion because he feared a major war with the United States of America (USA) might be the outcome. By early 1950 he changed his opinion, partly because the USSR had successfully tested its first atomic bomb in 1949. This would have the effect of making the USA more cautious in any response to any USSR military move. Secondly, Stalin had reason to believe the USA would not support South Korea if North Korea invaded. In January 1950 the American Secretary of State Dean Acheson implied in a speech that South Korea was not a vital area of interest to USA. In addition, the USA House of Representatives rejected a bill to send financial aid to the south. Though the bill was passed a month later, this also suggested to Stalin that America did not care much about Korea and would stand aside if the north invaded the south.
In April 1950 Kim Il-sung visited Moscow, and Stalin finally agreed to support an invasion. The plan was, to take all of South Korea in three weeks, before American intervention, should it happen, could be organized.
In mid-june North Korean units were secretly moved into position close to the 38th parallel while North Korea s insurgents operating deep in South Korea intensified their activity. To counter the insurgents the south had to maintain a portion of its fighting troops far from the border. The North Koreans began their assault consisting of over 100,000 troops beginning at 4:40 am on June 25, 1950.
The North Korean invasion came as an alarming surprise to American officials. As far as they were concerned, this was not simply a border dispute between two unstable dictatorships on the other side of the globe. Instead, many feared it was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the world. For this reason, nonintervention was not considered an option by many top decision makers. (In fact, in April 1950, a National Security Council report known as NSC-68 had recommended that the United States use military force to contain communist expansionism anywhere it seemed to be occurring, regardless of the intrinsic strategic or economic value of the lands in question. )
If we let Korea down, President Harry Truman (1884-1972) said, the Soviet[s] will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another. The fight on the Korean peninsula was a symbol of the global struggle between east and west, good and evil. As the North Korean army pushed into Seoul, the South Korean capital, the United States readied its troops for a war against communism itself.
At first, the war was a defensive one a war to get the communists out of South Korea and it went badly for the Allies. The North Korean army was welldisciplined, well-trained and wellequipped; Rhee s forces, by contrast, were frightened, confused, and seemed inclined to flee the battlefield at any provocation. Also, it was one of the hottest and driest summers on record, and desperately thirsty American soldiers were often forced to drink water from rice paddies that had been fertilized with human waste. As a result, dangerous intestinal diseases and other illnesses were a constant threat
By the end of the summer, President Truman and General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964), the commander in charge of the Asian theater, had decided on a new set of war aims. Now, for the Allies, the Korean War was an offensive one: It was a war to liberate the North from the communists
The U.N. became involved and asked for an immediate cease fire The Soviets were boycotting the U.N. due to the denial of admittance of China to the world governing body
June 27 th -The U.N. Security Council labeled North Korea as an aggressor and offered support to South Korea The U.S. sponsored this resolution U.S. forces entered South Korea under the direction General MacArthur 15 other countries gave military and monetary support, however no other country gave the same support that the United States did.
The initial period of the war was a desperate struggle between the two forces, in which UN forces were close to being driven out of Korea. This period ended with the establishment of the Pusan perimeter, a defensive line 80 miles long, which protected the main approaches to the strategically vital southern port of Pusan.
In mid-september, General MacArthur brought off a masterstroke by landing two divisions 240km (150 miles) in the enemy rear at the port of Inchon. Their communications cut, and under heavy aerial bombardment, the North Koreans broke and fled back north; MacArthur ordered a hot pursuit which led across the 38th parallel and deep into North Korea. As the victorious UN forces drew near to the Manchurian border, there were ominous signals from Peking that communist China would intervene to defend its territory. In mid-october, MacArthur met President Harry Truman on Wake Island in their first encounter to assure him that a massive UN offensive was about to conclude the war victoriously by Christmas. No sooner had this been launched in November than the Chinese unleashed their armies.
Over half a million Chinese troops entered the war, launching several offensives that pushed the UN forces almost back to the 38th parallel. In the bitter fighting of the winter of 1950-51, heavy losses were sustained by both sides. After being pushed back from the Yalu River and the Chinese border, the UN Command was forced to abandon first Pyongyang on December 5, and then Seoul on January 4.
General Douglas MacArthur, Commander of the UN forces in Korea, was dismissed by US President Harry S. Truman on 11 April. There had been public dispute between the two men, as Truman had countermanded MacArthur's desire to extend the war into China. MacArthur was replaced by General Walton Walker. When Walker was killed in a road accident, General Matthew Ridgeway took his place
In mid-1951, with the land battle in stalemate, both sides agreed to go to the conference table and armistice talks began. They dragged on for two years. The main haggling point was the future of the tens of thousands of communist prisoners held in camps on Koje Island off the coast of South Korea.
While the communist negotiators were adamant that all were to be returned to their country of origin, thousands of prisoners were unwilling to be repatriated (sent back to their country). There were several great mutinies in the Koje camps before a satisfactory formula enabled those who wished to be repatriated to go home and for asylum to be granted to those who wished otherwise
President Eisenhower Republican candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower Democrat candidate Adlai Stevenson Eisenhower promised to end the Korean war yet still resist the spread of Communism Eisenhower won the electoral college 442-89
Eisenhower stayed true to his word to end the war Bombing raids increased by the U.S. in North Korea in May of 1953
On July 27, 1953, a great calm descended over the battlefields as the an armistice was agreed upon. In Operation Big Switch, thousands of former prisoners on each side were returned. A Demilitarised Zone or DMZ was established on basically the same border the war started with at the 38 th Parallel. Both sides withdrew from their fighting positions, and a UN commission was set up to supervise the armistice.
U.S. Troops Statistics Source: Dept. of Defense U.S. Deaths: Hostile: 33,739 Non-Hostile: 2,835 Total In-Theatre: 36,574 U.S. Wounded in Action - 103,284 Other Casualties by Country (killed and missing) Source: Encyclopedia Britannica South Korea - (217,000 military, 1,000,000 civilian) North Korea - (406,000 military, 600,000 civilian)* China - (600,000 military)* *Note* The true numbers of these may never be known as these countries have not released this information
Energized America s anti-communist commitments No longer did elected officials hesitate about the need to contain Soviet communism at any cost. NATO forces were rapidly expanding. By 1952, there were 261,000 American troops stationed in Europe, three times the number in 1950. By 1953, NATO forces had reached 7 million. Truman also increased assistance to the French in Indochina, creating the Military Assistance Advisory Group for Indochina. This was the start of America s deepening involvement in Vietnam.
The Cold War in the 1950s: USSR Nikita Khrushchev takes over after Stalin s death in 1953. He repudiates Stalin s use of the vast Gulag (or labor camp complex) and attempts to separate Stalin s crimes from true communism. Repression and Dissent Polish and Hungarian intellectuals and students held demonstrations calling for free elections, withdrawal of Soviet troops, etc. 1956 Soviet Crackdown in Hungary Soviet tanks were sent in to crush dissent. Eastern Europe remained under Soviet control.
The Cold War in the 1950s: USSR October 4, 1957 USSR launched the first satellite, Sputnik, into orbit. The Sputnik launch confirmed the Soviet Union s superpower status. Two months earlier they had tested an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Khrushchev We will bury you
Dwight Eisenhower takes over from Truman in 1953. Democrats charged Republicans for missile gap Eisenhower responded. Enlarged defense spending; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) By 1962-63, the U.S. had 450 missiles and 2,000 bombers capable at striking the Soviet Union, compared to 50-100 ICBMS and 200 bombers that could reach the U.S.
In the 1950s, French intellectuals coined the term Third World to describe the efforts of countries seeking a third way between Western capitalism and Soviet communism. By the early 1960s, the term had come to identify a large bloc of countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Charting a third way proved difficult, both economically and politically. Both the Soviets and the Americans saw the Third World as underdeveloped.
By the middle of the 1960s, as the euphoria of decolonization evaporated and new states found themselves mired in debt and dependency, many Third World nations fell into dictatorship and authoritarian rule.
Khrushchev: peaceful coexistence American U-2 spy plane shot down by Soviets in 1960. In 1961, the Soviet begun construction of the Berlin Wall, which cut off movement between East and West Berlin and became a symbol of the eroding relations between the Soviet Union and the United States. Cuban Missile Crisis (October of 1962)