1. The Cold War Begins 25.4 The Korean War
“Our nation honors her sons and daughters who answered the call to defend a country they never knew, and a people they never met.”
25.4 The Korean War

2. Focus Your Thoughts . . . Where is Korea?
What countries neighbor Korea?
Knowing what you know about the Cold War, Korea’s neighbors, and Korea as it exists today, what do you think the Korean War might be about?

3. Korea’s Significant Location
East Asia
Korea is a peninsula which is bordered on the west by the Yellow Sea and on the east by the Sea of Japan
Korea shares a border with China, which shares a border with Russia
Korea is also a close neighbor of Japan

4. What is the ‘38th’ parallel referred to as today?
Korea before the War
In 1905, Korea came under Japanese control, however, after Japan was defeated in WWII, Korea was made a free country by the Allied Powers
In order to protect this new country, we divided Korea in two at the 38th parallel
The Soviet Union controlled North Korea
The Americans controlled South Korea
What is the ‘38th’ parallel referred to as today?

5. The DMZ The De-Militarized Zone
North and South Korean army personnel at the DMZ

6. The Split

7. Soviet & American Occupation
The presence of the Soviets in the North and the Americans in the South was meant to be temporary, but the Cold War led to problems
Stalin tried to set up a communist government in North Korea (shocking!)
South Korea had a democratic government, led by President Syngman Rhee
He hoped to unify North and South Korea once again
North Korea then named itself the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea
The first leader was Kim Il Sung
He hoped to unify North and South Korea once again as well, disagreed about how to do this this led to war

8. The Start of the Korean War
June 25, 1950
100,000 N. Korean soldiers invaded S. Korea
The troops carried Soviet weapons and drove Soviet tanks; the future of S. Korea was at stake
The attack came as a complete surprise to the Truman administration, which had already begun to withdraw U.S. troops from S. Korea
The decision to fight was made quickly . . .
Why??

9. The Role of the United States
S. Korea was a small country, incapable of defending itself against the N. Korean advance
Truman felt we had to send a signal to the world proving that we would not tolerate communist aggression
General Dwight D. Eisenhower agreed
“We’ll have a dozen Koreas soon if we don’t take a firm stand.”

10. Would it fail as the League of Nations had?
The Capture of Seoul
Within days, N. Korea had pushed back S. Korean forces and captured the capital of Seoul
Truman knew he had to act quickly
He sent naval and air forces to defend S. Korea
He then asked the U.N. to approve the use of force to stop the North Korean invasion
What would the U.N. do??
Would it fail as the League of Nations had?

11. The Role of the U.N.
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously in favor of the use of force
Under the U.N. rules, five key nations held the power to veto security council decisions one of those nations was the Soviet Union (crap!)
As luck would have it, the Soviet representative was not present to veto the use of force against N. Korea
He was absent because the Soviets were protesting the admission of Nationalist China

12. June 30, 1950
It became clear to Truman that air and naval support were not going to be enough
Although he feared putting troops on the ground, he realized it was the only way he could save S. Korea from communist takeover
The military force sent into Korea was a U.N. force; the whole effort was referred to as a U.N. police action
Some 40,000 other troops were provided by fifteen other member nations
The U.S. never declared war

13. Fighting Conditions Troops entered the battle in South Korea
N. Korean troops greatly outnumbered and outgunned S. Korean troops
Summer heat and heavy rains sapped what little strength the soldiers had
By the end of the month, N. Koreans had pushed U.N. forces to the southeast tip of S. Korea
U.N. troops formed a 130-mile-long line around the port city of Pusan which they were told they had to hold on to at all costs

14. The Inchon Landing
With more and more troops landing every day, the N. Korean advance stalled
General MacArthur saw this as an opportunity to go on the offensive, and he called for a landing behind N. Korean lines at the port city of Inchon
Inchon was a very risky place to launch an attack from because of high tides; the N. Koreans would never expect it
The September 15th invasion was a complete success, in less than twenty-four hours the U.N. forces had regained some ground.

15. The Inchon Landing

16. Will we invade North Korea?
North Korea on the Run
The N. Koreans had stretched themselves too thin, and the capital city of Seoul soon fell to the U.N. forces
The U.N. forces launched another attack from Pusan, this attack broke the N. Korean line; huge numbers of N. Korean troops died or were forced to surrender
By October 1st, all of S. Korea was back under U.N. control, now the question became whether or not we should stop at the 38th parallel or invade N. Korea, knowing the Soviets and the Chinese may back them . . .
What do you think?
Will we invade North Korea?

17. The Invasion of North Korea
Both Truman and General MacArthur supported the invasion
Steady progress was made through October and November but then – as promised – the Chinese came to the rescue of N. Korea, just as MacArthur’s final push to end the war was getting under way
With the promise of a quick end to the war dissolving before their eyes, the U.N. forces, faced with the harsh Korean winter and an impossible number of Chinese forces, were forced to retreat

18. Conflicting Viewpoints
General MacArthur
General Ridgeway & Truman
Called for the expansion of the war
Wanted to bomb mainland China with atomic weapons
Wanted to pull Taiwan (where the Nationalist government of China had re-located to) into the war
Felt MacArthur’s plan was too hasty and wanted to stay the course
Ridgeway was successful, and succeeded in pushing the Chinese back to the 38th parallel again
Truman fires MacArthur, a WWII hero, and enrages the American people

19. July 1951
The United States enters into peace talks; at this point 80,000 Americans have been wounded; 14,000 were dead
Talks were delayed and largely unsuccessful:
N. and S. Korea bickered over where their dividing line should be; fighting continued alone the 38th parallel and U.N. casualties reached 40,000, this area became known as Heartbreak Ridge
Syngman Rhee refused to send prisoners of war back to their communist countries

20. 1952 - 1953 1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected President
Eisenhower had campaigned promising an end to the fighting in Korea; Communist China and N. Korea also seemed interested in ending the fighting
Despite this, the U.N. suffered another 57,000 casualties in the last two months of the conflict; the communists lost 100,000
Finally, on July 27, 1953, the guns fell silent, yet the borders of North and South Korea were pretty much the same nothing of any significance had been accomplished, but the costs were great:
37,000 Americans
60,000 U.N. troops
2 million communists
3 million Korean civilians

21. The Korean War Memorial Washington, D.C.
Originally the plan was to include thirty-eight statues to represent the thirty-eighth parallel . . .

22. The Korean War Memorial Washington, D.C.
Money ran out so, instead, they built nineteen and a wall that has the names of the dead lazered in, along with pictures . . .

23. The Korean War Memorial Washington, D.C.
The wall also reflects the nineteen statues so, when combined, the nineteen physical statues and the nineteen reflections equal thirty-eight.