Pre History: the war had it’s roots in World War II when Korea was a rice-producing colony of Japan. After Japan surrendered to the allied forces Korea was split in half along the 38th parallel (38 degrees north). The United States established a Capitalist government in South Korea called the Republic of Korea (ROK) the people then elected Sygnam Rhee, a Korean Nationalist who spent much of his adult life in the United States. While the Soviet Union established a Communist government (DPR) in The North led by Kim Il Sung a former resistance fighter against Japan in World War II and received military training by the Soviet Union.
The War Begins: After the elections of Sygnam Rhee and Kim IL Sung political tension began rise higher and higher in South Korea. Civil war was rampant as pro Communist forces began to engage in Guerrilla activity that included sacking towns, burning villages, kidnapping, torturing, and even murdering pro Capitalist leaders, and policemen. This left the Rhee Government increasingly wakened. Eventually martial law was imposed. This left the South Korea both militarily, and politically weakened. At the same time Kim Il Sung was traveling to Moscow, and Peking (Now called Beijing) to request Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong to approve his plan of invasion. Both were hesitant to give the green light because Stalin did not want risk provoking the United States, and Mao did not want anything to do with his plans to attack Taiwan. However, once Kim IL Sung promised that the war would be over in less than three weeks, both reluctantly agreed. On June 25th Kim IL Sung boasting a massive army outfitted and trained by the Soviet Union with more than 1,400 pieces of artillery, 126 modernized tanks, and over 110,000 soldiers quickly drove of the vastly outnumbered, and poorly equipped South Korean army.
The US Pushes North: After the North Korean invasion President Harry Truman felt he had few options besides a military response. The United Nations then sent a large force of mostly American troops (with some British, Canadian, and other Countries) landed in South Korea. By the time of arrival the North Koreans had controlled almost all of South Korea, including the capital of Seoul. The only un occupied piece of South Korea left was an eighty-mile defense perimeter around the port of Pusan. However, on September 15th, 1950 the tide turned when an amphibious assault on the beach at Inchon, five-miles west of Seoul, at the same time South Korean and UN forces charged out from the defensive perimeter at Pusan. The mastermind behind it was general Douglas Mac Arthur regarded as a brilliant but haughty and self confident commander. The Joint Chief of Staff was opposed to the amphibious assault stating the Inchon had some of the highest tides in the world and that the town itself was protected by a sea wall. Mac Arthur concluded that these were precisely the conditions required to make it happen. The battle of Inchon was just as successful as Mac Arthur planned, though most of the North Korean forces escaped the trap the capital of Seoul was retaken and South Korea was taken back within a few short weeks. Even before Inchon, the White House considering the idea of rolling back the North Korean border all the way North To the Yalu river. At that point the Eighth army led by General Walton Walker and the 7th infantry division led by General Edward M. Almond, Pushed the Koreans all the way up to the Chinese border. However it was at that point that the Chinese intervened they sent an army of hundreds of thousands of troops into Korea they then pushed the UN forces and the South Koreans back past the 38th parallel and then they recaptured Seoul. MacArthur requested to extend the war into China, but Truman refused fearing a full scale war with the Soviet Union. When MacArthur brought the issue to the press Truman had him fired. After MacArthur was fired he was replaced by General Matthew B. Ridegway.
The War ends:The war then dragged on for another year and cost some three million lives. Peace talks began in 1953 under the new President former US commanding general during World War II Dwight D. Eisenhower. The peace agreement split Korea almost exactly as it was before the war. Now today Korea became more and more isolated and are now on very poor terms with most other Countries in the World. So why was it forgotten? Mainly because it was over shadowed by the Korean war which occurred a few years later. The shame is that it did not deserve because nearly 3 million people died and it was the first major battle of the Cold War. More people were killed in Vietnam but that is no excuse to forget about Korea.
The War Begins: After the elections of Sygnam Rhee and Kim IL Sung political tension began rise higher and higher in South Korea. Civil war was rampant as pro Communist forces began to engage in Guerrilla activity that included sacking towns, burning villages, kidnapping, torturing, and even murdering pro Capitalist leaders, and policemen. This left the Rhee Government increasingly wakened. Eventually martial law was imposed. This left the South Korea both militarily, and politically weakened. At the same time Kim Il Sung was traveling to Moscow, and Peking (Now called Beijing) to request Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Chinese leader Mao Zedong to approve his plan of invasion. Both were hesitant to give the green light because Stalin did not want risk provoking the United States, and Mao did not want anything to do with his plans to attack Taiwan. However, once Kim IL Sung promised that the war would be over in less than three weeks, both reluctantly agreed. On June 25th Kim IL Sung boasting a massive army outfitted and trained by the Soviet Union with more than 1,400 pieces of artillery, 126 modernized tanks, and over 110,000 soldiers quickly drove of the vastly outnumbered, and poorly equipped South Korean army.
The US Pushes North: After the North Korean invasion President Harry Truman felt he had few options besides a military response. The United Nations then sent a large force of mostly American troops (with some British, Canadian, and other Countries) landed in South Korea. By the time of arrival the North Koreans had controlled almost all of South Korea, including the capital of Seoul. The only un occupied piece of South Korea left was an eighty-mile defense perimeter around the port of Pusan. However, on September 15th, 1950 the tide turned when an amphibious assault on the beach at Inchon, five-miles west of Seoul, at the same time South Korean and UN forces charged out from the defensive perimeter at Pusan. The mastermind behind it was general Douglas Mac Arthur regarded as a brilliant but haughty and self confident commander. The Joint Chief of Staff was opposed to the amphibious assault stating the Inchon had some of the highest tides in the world and that the town itself was protected by a sea wall. Mac Arthur concluded that these were precisely the conditions required to make it happen. The battle of Inchon was just as successful as Mac Arthur planned, though most of the North Korean forces escaped the trap the capital of Seoul was retaken and South Korea was taken back within a few short weeks. Even before Inchon, the White House considering the idea of rolling back the North Korean border all the way North To the Yalu river. At that point the Eighth army led by General Walton Walker and the 7th infantry division led by General Edward M. Almond, Pushed the Koreans all the way up to the Chinese border. However it was at that point that the Chinese intervened they sent an army of hundreds of thousands of troops into Korea they then pushed the UN forces and the South Koreans back past the 38th parallel and then they recaptured Seoul. MacArthur requested to extend the war into China, but Truman refused fearing a full scale war with the Soviet Union. When MacArthur brought the issue to the press Truman had him fired. After MacArthur was fired he was replaced by General Matthew B. Ridegway.
The War ends:The war then dragged on for another year and cost some three million lives. Peace talks began in 1953 under the new President former US commanding general during World War II Dwight D. Eisenhower. The peace agreement split Korea almost exactly as it was before the war. Now today Korea became more and more isolated and are now on very poor terms with most other Countries in the World. So why was it forgotten? Mainly because it was over shadowed by the Korean war which occurred a few years later. The shame is that it did not deserve because nearly 3 million people died and it was the first major battle of the Cold War. More people were killed in Vietnam but that is no excuse to forget about Korea.