COLD WAR – KOREA
KOREAN WAR – 1945, June 1950 - July 1953
Historical Context
1. The Cold War between the Communists and the Western Worlds began promptly following the end of World War II.
2. In order to maintain political prestige among the uncommitted nations of the world, neither side could allow the other any advantage or concession.
a. This was seen during the Berlin Blockade: the Soviets tried to blockade Berlin, and the West answered with the Berlin Airlift (1947-49).
3. Japan had annexed Korea in 1910 and exercised control over the region until its fall at the end of WWII.
4. Many Korean Nationalists were Communist, and was what elicited the interest of both the US and the USSR—the USSR to promote Communism, and the US to contain it.
Post WWII situation
5. Following the defeat of Japan in 1945, US and Soviet forces occupied Korea. Though Japanese rule over Korea ended, Korean Nationalists were not permitted to govern.
a. The action of occupying forces resulted out of East-West divisions in the Cold War. Both the US and the USSR sought to extend their influence in the Pacific region.
6. As a result, the Council of Foreign Ministers decided to split Korea at the 38th parallel, with Soviet occupation in the North and US in the South. They also agreed that a provisional government would be established shortly in order to work towards reunification of Korea. This was known as the ‘Moscow Agreement’.
a. Korea was not immediately unified because the US did not want to risk a left-leaning united Korea becoming a satellite state for the Soviets. Therefore this ‘temporary’ agreement to split at the 38th parallel was reached.
7. Despite the Moscow Agreement, separate administrations emerged on either side of the 38th parallel.
a. In the South, a US military government called the Republic of Korea (ROK) was established under the undemocratic and strongly anticommunist rule of Syngman Rhee. Elections were rigged to put him in power.
b. In the North, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) under Communist influences under the leader Kim Il Sung. Communists had widespread support in the North so Kim Il Sung won in a fair election.
c. As a result there was no hope for reunification, and involvement from the US and USSR worked to establish rival regimes. The 38th parallel turned into a Cold War frontier.
Steps to War (Practises)
8. Once the DPRK was set up, Soviet troops left the North in 1948. US troops left the South by mid-1949. ‘Involvement in the Korean War’ refers to the situation from 1950-3.
9. In June 1950, 90 000 North Korean soldiers launched an offensive into South Korea.
10. US troops arrived in Korea promptly after, and were eventually joined by UN troops of 15 other nations.
a. Acheson commented on the situation: the Korean War “removed the recommendations of NSC-68 from the realm of theory and made them into immediate budget issues.”
11. Chinese troops under Mao supported North Korea and 200 000 Chinese joined NK forces in November 1950.
Why US got involved
12. NSC-68 officially redefined US foreign policy: it stated that all Communist activity in the world could be traced back to Moscow, and suggested that the US immediately increase military spending by $35-50 billion.
a. The NSC-68 encouraged military and economic aid to be given to any country perceived by the USA to be resisting Communism. Therefore the Korean War was pivotal because it was the first application of the NSC-68—it marked an acceleration but not reorientation of American foreign policy.
13. In this era of the Red Scare -- Senator Joseph McCarthy levelled his infamous allegations regarding communists in the State Department in February 1950 -- the “loss” of China constituted a damning political charge.
a. Therefore in this political climate, Truman was compelled to intervene in Korea so as not to appear ‘soft on Communism’.
14. Truman “If we were to let Asia go, the Near East would collapse and no telling what would happen in Europe…”
a. Idea that communism would spread quickly from one country to another was called the ‘Domino theory.
b. North Korea’s invasion into South Korea was perceived as a clear example of Soviet expansionism. This reflected the US belief in a monolithic Communist bloc, and that the North Koreans were acting on the orders of Stalin.
c. Therefore to keep a series of countries from falling, the US intervened on the basis of containment.
Why USSR got involved
15. Soviet foreign policy was reflected in the ‘two camps’ speech by both Stalin and politburo member A.A. Zhdanov. Zhdanov stated that post-war developments resulted in ‘two camps’: “the imperialist and antidemocratic camp ... and the anti-imperialist and democratic camp”
a. Zhdanov's speech set out a new, cold war perspective for the European communist parties. It demanded action to defend postwar leftwing gains from imperialist threat and encroachment from the establishment of ‘anti-Soviet’ blocs of countries—not only in Western Europe, but also South America and China.
b. There the USSR saw US occupation in Korea as imperialistic actions,
i. Note: nationalists in Korea were mainly ‘left-leaning’ therefore Stalin saw US intervention as ‘encroachment of postwar leftwing gains’.
16. In early 1950, Stalin eventually gave Kim Il Sung approval to launch an invasion into South Korea. He was initially opposed, but changed his mind a number of reasons:
a. Communist victory in China in 1949 prompted Stalin to reconsider “permanent revolution” as a possibility.
i. This, combined with the fact that the Soviets had nuclear weapons (April 1949) and the West was facing economic problems in Europe convinced Stalin to push forward with spreading Soviet influence in Asia.
b. US presence in Japan following the end of WWII resulted in the establishment of a strong anti-Communist government in Japan.
i. Stalin believed that Communist control over South Korea (alongside the already Communist NK) could counter-balance the presence of anti-Communist Japan and secure the Soviet position in north-east Asia.
c. Acheson’s ‘perimeter speech’ identified certain areas in the Pacific around which the US drew a security perimeter against Soviet aggression.
i. North Korea was one region left out of this perimeter, so Stalin thought he could advance into the situation without provoking too strong a response from the US. (this view is supported by Gaddis)
Results
17. Korea thus became the first “hot war” of the Cold War. It signified the lengths that the Soviet Union and United States would go to just to gain their sphere of influence in the world, to either spread or contain communism. Although the war was not a direct war between the two superpowers, it foreshadowed future conflicts that were to arise as a result of the growing tensions between the US and the USSR through indirect confrontation in proxy locations.
18. The US strengthened its position in Europe: Greece and Turkey were brought into NATO and military bases were set up in Turkey. Actions were taken to also incorporate West Germany into NATO (eventually occurring in 1955), as well as increase US land forces across Europe.
a. The conflict in Korea prompted the US to prepare for similar confrontations in different parts of the world, such as Turkey (which shared a border with the USSR) and, most importantly, Germany.
b. Thus, Korea led to an increasing of tensions within the Cold War.
19. US followed through with the NSC-68’s recommendation to vastly increase military spending— US defence spending raised as high as $5o billion under the impact of the Korean War.
a. War in Korea prompted the rapid militarization of American foreign policy. To maintain the now increased military commitments, US defence spending increased dramatically—running approximately 10 per cent of America’s GNP in the 1950s.
b. This was the initiation of the military industrial complex in the US.
20. The US took steps in Asia to prevent against what it saw as Communist treats.
a. The US began maintaining military bases in Japan following 1952.
i. It planned to build Japan up economically and make it a bulwark against Communism.
b. The US also took measures to defend Taiwan by sending its Seventh Fleet to the Taiwan Straits to defend against possible Communist attack from China.
c. SEATO (South East Asian Treaty Organization) was formed as an anti-Communist containment bloc in Asia.
d. In this way, the Korean War initiated the globalization of the Cold War. Conflict originating on Europe was now spread to Asia, and foreshadowed the eventual spreading to other parts of the developing world as well.
21. China’s actions in Korea alienated it from the UN and China was now viewed as a Communist aggressor in Asia.
a. China was playing an increasingly more prominent role in East-West relations.
b. The results of the Korean War were favourable for Mao within the region because he appeared to have ‘saved’ North Korea from US aggression.
22. The stalemate that resulted in Korea demonstrated that neither the US nor the USSR was intent on deploying nuclear weapons to end the war. The military armistice signed in July 1953 reflected a period of détente following the realization that continued confrontation could only be advanced through the use of nuclear weaponry.
Adlai Stevenson. "Korea in Perspective" Foreign Affairs (1952).
"What would have happened if the United States and the United Nations had ignored the Korean aggression?... Would not the Soviet Union, having challenged successfully in Korea, have followed that challenge with another? And stll another? Munich would follow Munich."
"What would have happened if the United States and the United Nations had ignored the Korean aggression?... Would not the Soviet Union, having challenged successfully in Korea, have followed that challenge with another? And stll another? Munich would follow Munich."
Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (Knopf, 1945).
“ These[The Russians and Americans] alone are proceeding …along a path to which no limit can be perceived.”
“ These[The Russians and Americans] alone are proceeding …along a path to which no limit can be perceived.”
Tocqueville predicted in 1835 that America and Russia would arise as world powers because each was the strongest representations of two conflicting types of power: democracy versus authoritarianism (“The principal instrument of the former is freedom; of the latter, servitude.”). Therefore the Cold War was a conflict in the balance of powers.
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, Origins of the Cold War (1967).
“…the existence of any non-Communist state was by definition a threat to the Soviet Union.”
“…the existence of any non-Communist state was by definition a threat to the Soviet Union.”
Bruce Cummings. The Origins of the Korean War (1981).
The Korean War was "not an example of the expansionist aims of the Soviet Union, but a civil war."
The Korean War was "not an example of the expansionist aims of the Soviet Union, but a civil war."
George F. Kennan, The Long Telegram (1946).
“…the USSR still lives in antagonistic ‘capitalist encirclement’ with which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence.”
“…the USSR still lives in antagonistic ‘capitalist encirclement’ with which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence.”
Kennan asserted in the Telegram that the root of Soviet conduct lay deep within the foundation of the Soviet system, and no concessions from the outside world, including the United States, could effectively resolve conflicts with Russia.
The Korean War was a limited war, a civil war, and an episode in the Cold War.. To
what extent do you agree with each part of this assertion?
Candidates should take each part and address it by saying in what ways the quotation fits or
does not fit.
Limited could suggest that fighting remained in Korea and officially the USSR was not
fighting. But, there was widespread participation (UN) and heavy USA involvement as well
as many casualties, about 4 million.
Civil war, yes, north against south, and based on the political differences of the two.
Cold War, because it was the communist north supported by USSR and China against the
west, especially USA who used the United Nations in their policy of containment.
Candidates might also point out that it developed out of the Second World War.
For what reasons, and with what results for East-West relations, did the superpowers become
involved in the affairs of one of the following: Korea; Vietnam; the Middle East?
A two-part question requiring candidates to explain the motives behind involvement in either area
of conflict and what result this had for East-West relations. It is not an invitation to detail or
recount the course of the conflicts in either area.
For Korea, accept answers which use either the start of the Korean War in 1950, or the “liberation”
from Japan in 1945 as a starting date. For Vietnam – accept starting date from either 1946, or from
1960–61. Middle East – could include the Arab-Israeli dispute characterized by a series of wars
since 1948 and/or Iran/Iraq/Afghanistan.
Reasons could include: ideology; strategy; mutual fear of perceived rival expansion; prestige;
proxy/surrogate conflict; economic resources etc.
Results could include: intensification of tensions; economic and political burdens placed upon
superpower participants; arms/technological development; realisation of risk of direct confrontation
leading to periods of peaceful co-existence/détente; increasing role of PRC in East-West
confrontation etc.
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