Korean War

(proper noun)

(25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) a war between Communist-led North Korea and US-aligned South Korea. It was primarily the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II.

Related Terms

Examples of Korean War in the following topics:

  • China and the Bomb

    • The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a war between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).
    • Suffering severe casualties, within two months of the start of the war, U.N. and South Korean forces were pushed back to a small area in the south of the Korean Peninsula .
    • Chinese forces crossed the Yalu River and joined the Korean War.
    • South Korean and UN troops withdraw behind the 38th parallel in the Korean War.
    • Outline the causes and course of U.S. involvement the Korean War

  • The Armistice

    • Both the North and the South remained dependent on their sponsor states from 1948 to the outbreak of the Korean War.
    • A rapid U.N. counter-offensive then drove the North Koreans past the 38th Parallel and almost to the Yalu River, when China entered the war on the side of North Korea.
    • The Korean war was the first time the Truman Doctrine, the containment of the spread of communism, was put into action.
    • However, engaging in the Korean War also resulted in the U.S. making even more enemies (this time with China and North Korea), and doomed already strained relations with the Soviet Union.
    • A map of the Demilitarized Zone, established by the 1953 armistice agreement that ended the Korean War.

  • The Military Implementation of Containment

    • The Korean War was the first militarized instance of containment, as U.S. and South Korea fought against communist North Korea.
    • The North Koreans have invaded South Korea."
    • The Korean War was the first militarized instance of containment, as U.S. and South Korea fought against communist North Korea.
    • Truman blamed MacArthur's focus on victory and adopted a "limited war" policy.
    • Chinese forces crossed the Yalu River and joined the Korean War.

  • The Korean War

    • The Korean War was one of the most significant events of the Cold War, caused largely by the broader tensions between America and the Soviet Union.
    • The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950.
    • On the North Korean side, Joseph Stalin "planned, prepared, and initiated" the invasion, creating "detailed [war] plans" that were communicated to the North Koreans.
    • Department of Defense, the United States suffered 33,686 battle deaths, along with 2,830 non-battle deaths, during the Korean War.
    • Describe the progression of the Korean War and the cost to human life and general resources

  • The G.I. Bill of Rights

    • Bill offered returning World War II veterans important benefits that had a great impact on socio-economic changes in the post-war era.
    • The Veterans' Adjustment Act of 1952, signed into law on July 16, 1952, offered benefits to veterans of the Korean War that served for more than 90 days and had received an "other than dishonorable discharge."
    • Korean War veterans did not receive unemployment compensation but were entitled to unemployment compensation starting at the end of a waiting period which was determined by the amount and disbursement dates of their mustering out pay.
    • One improvement in the unemployment compensation for Korean War veterans was they could receive both state and federal benefits, the federal benefits beginning once state benefits were exhausted.
    • Bill to veterans of World War II and veterans of the Korean War.

  • Conclusion: Truman and the Beginning of the Cold War

    • With the victory of the communist side in the Chinese Civil War and the outbreak of the Korean War (1950–53), the conflict expanded.
    • One of the more significant impacts of containment was the outbreak of the Korean War.
    • Joseph Stalin "planned, prepared, and initiated" the invasion, creating "detailed [war] plans" that were communicated to the North Koreans.
    • Among other effects, the Korean War galvanised NATO to develop a military structure.
    • However, because of the American policy of containment, the Cold War saw several "proxy wars," such as the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

  • The Truman Presidency

    • He presided over an uncertain domestic scene as America sought its path after the war and tensions with the Soviet Union increased, marking the start of the Cold War.
    • When communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, he sent in U.S. troops and gained UN approval for the Korean War.
    • On June 25, 1950, Kim Il-sung's Korean People's Army invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War.
    • In the early weeks of the war, the North Koreans easily pushed back their southern counterparts.
    • To bring a quick end to World War II, the U.S.

  • Containment to Rollback

    • By attempting to push North Korean forces beyond the 38th parallel, the US pursued a policy of "rollback" rather than containment.
    • The notion of military rollback against the Soviet Union was proposed by strategists in the late 1940s, and by the Truman Administration against North Korea in the Korean War.
    • The U.S. entered the Korean War to defend South Korea from a communist invasion—following containment doctrine.
    • Truman blamed MacArthur's focus on victory and adopted a "limited war" policy, shifting his focus to negotiating a settlement, which was finally reached in 1953.
    • President Eisenhower relied on clandestine CIA actions to undermine hostile governments and used economic and military foreign aid to strengthen governments supporting the American position in the Cold War.

  • North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

    • However, the Korean War galvanized the member states, and an integrated military structure was built up under the direction of two U.S. supreme commanders.
    • The outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950 was crucial for NATO as it raised the apparent threat of all Communist countries working together, and forced the alliance to develop concrete military plans.
    • The Warsaw Pact was a formal response to West Germany's integration, and clearly delineated the two opposing sides of the Cold War.
    • Politically, the organization sought better relations with former Cold War rivals, which culminated with several former Warsaw Pact states joining the alliance in 1999 and 2004.
    • During the Cold War, most of Europe was divided between two alliances.

  • The Cold War's Costs and Consequences

    • The costs of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States, as well as its numerous proxy wars, were extensive.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs today.
    • Military expenditures by the U.S. during the Cold War years were estimated to have been $8 trillion, while nearly 100,000 Americans lost their lives in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
    • Many of the proxy wars and subsidies for local conflicts ended along with the Cold War, and the incidence of interstate, ethnic, and revolutionary wars, as well as refugee and displaced persons crises, has declined somewhat in the post-Cold War years.
    • The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs.