Section 3: Wars in Korea and Vietnam Main Idea: In Asia, the Cold War flared into actual wars supported mainly by the superpowers Why it matters now: Today, Vietnam is a communist country, and Korea is split into Communist and non- communist nations

War in Korea Korea had been taken over and ruled by Japan from 1910 to 1945 At the end of WWII, Japanese troops to the north of Korea surrendered to the Soviets while Japanese troops to the south surrendered to the Americans In this manner, Korea was divided at the 38 th paralle l

War in Korea On June 25 th, 1950 the North Koreans swept across the 38 th parallel with Soviet tanks, planes, and money trying to take over all of Korea President Truman decided to back South Korea to prevent a repeat of Germany’s aggression in WWII and to contain communism

War in Korea The U.N. voted to protect South Korea (Soviets had boycotted the UN) General Douglas MacArthur took command of the UN forces They halted the North Korean control with the landing of Inchon

War in Korea By the end of 1950, U.N. forces were chasing the retreating North Korean forces; almost to the border with China China did not want American troops on its border; so China joined the war on the side of North Korea The Chinese sent 300,000 troops into N. Korea because they felt threatened as a result of the Americans’ military push

War in Korea By Jan the Chinese who outnumbered the UN forces pushed the UN out of N. Korea and were able to capture Seoul, the capital MacArthur proposed a nuclear attack against China but Truman denied that option Truman then removed the General for insubordination

B. The Fighting Continues By 1952 the UN forces pushed the Chinese and N. Koreans past the 38 th parallel July 1953 UN forces and N. Korean signed a cease-fire agreement and the border was set at approximately the original 38 th parallel

Aftermath of the War The two countries remain divided- Communist N. Korea and Democratic S. Korea N. Korea is a impoverished country where as S. Korea has flourished as a result of foreign aid from the U.S.

War Breaks out in Vietnam From the late 1800s until WWII, Vietnam was ruled by France The Vietnamese people opposed French colonial rule. One such person was Ho Chi Minh, a communist who led several revolts against the French In 1940, Japan took control of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh retuned to Vietnam and helped found the Vietminh, an organization with the purpose of winning independence for Vietnam

The Road to War After the War, Japan was forced to leave Vietnam. Meanwhile, France wanted its colony back France moved its troops back into Vietnam and by the end of 1945, had control of the southern part of the country. Ho Chi Minh kept fighting the French from the north of Vietnam The Vietnamese defeat the French

War Breaks out in Vietnam This was a great threat to the U.S. who saw this in terms of the Domino Theory: The fall of one Southeastern Asian country to communism would lead to the fall of its neighbors domino theory: countries on the brink of communism are like a row of dominoes, if one falls the others will fall too.

C. Vietnam-A Divided Country 1.After France’s defeat an international peace conference divided the country at 17 degrees north latitude. 2.Communist to the North led by Ho and anti-Communist to the South led by dictator Ngo Dinh Diem

Vietnam-A Divided Country 3. The Vietcong or Communist guerillas gained influence in the south and won control of large areas in the countryside

The U.S. Gets Involved 1.Congress authorized the president to send troops because Vietnamese patrol boats attacked U.S. destroyers 2.In ,000 troops and by 1968 there were more than 500,000 American troops

U.S. Troops Enter the Fight 3. Negatives: In unfamiliar jungle fighting a guerilla war and the S. Vietnamese govt. was disliked by the people 4. U.S. also bombed millions of acres of farmland creating hate amongst the peasants for the U.S. and the S. Vietnamese govt.

U.S. Withdraws 1.U.S. protests of the war increase to such a level that it forces President Nixon to begin withdrawing troops 2.Nixon adopts a plan called Vietnamization which gradually pulled U.S. troops letting the South Vietnamese troops take over

B. U.S. Withdraws 1.Nixon authorizes a massive bombing campaign into N. Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos trying to destroy the Vietcong 2.By 1973 the war was over with more than 1.5 million Vietnamese killed and 58,000 American soldiers killed