1. Alan Nie AP USH Period 1

2.  WWII had ended, leaving two superpowers in the US and USSR, each with their own government and ideology  Both wanted the world, and to promote “peace” they divided it  Their would be a communist half, and a democratic half  Some places were split this way, like Germany, Vietnam, Europe, and in particular, Korea  When the communists left North Korea prepared for anything, and the US left South Korea weak and undefended, North Korea decided to seize the opportunity

3.  The Korean War was an extension of the Cold War, that actually turned into large-scale military conflict  It was a battle for control of Korea, the communist forces of the North Koreans, Chinese and Soviets against the democratic forces of the US and UN  North Korea had invaded South Korea, starting the war, when the Us and its allies thought to come into the conflict, and with the Chinese entering, the war turned into a stalemate

4.  The tensions of the Cold War finally boiled over  The US and Soviet Union may have not been directly involved, but both contributed to the start, leaving both countries alone when conflict seemed to be very likely  The chance of unifying Korea seemed to easy to North Korea and they were willing to chance a world war to get it  North Korea was left strong and powerful by the Russians, while the South was left with a weak and unstable government by the US  It was too good to be true, the US declaring South Korea to be outside its defensive perimeter, for the North, it was the start of the war

5.  General Douglas McArthur- supreme commander of the UN forces, that is, until Truman fired him  President Harry S. Truman- president of the US during the Korean War  Kim Il Sung- dictator of North Korea, who reigned over it until his dying day  Mao Zedong- leader of China, who sent reinforcements to North Korea to keep it alive during the war

6.  On June 25, 1950, the North Koran army (known as KPA) first attacks the South  On September 15, 1950, the UN and US forces attack and take back South Korea, then launching into the North itself  Ten days later, the Chinese enter the war with their own offensive, pushing the UN back behind the 38 th Parallel  But by January 25, 1951, the Chinese forces had lost their drive and was defeated by a US force, which pushed back ahead of the parallel  The war is a stalemate from that point on  An armistice is signed July 27, 1953, officially ending the war  The entire war was fought in North and South Korea, the battle line switching between both countries  Before the war the 38 th parallel was the dividing line between the two countries  Once the war started, the line became more fluid and dependent on who had the upper hand  The US-UN counterattack came very close to invading China  The North Koreans reached as far as the area around Pusan  It was a seesaw between the two forces, going north and south until the war settled onto the stalemate after 1951  After the war ended, the final battle line, became the boundary between the two countries

7.  The armistice on July 1953 ended large military conflict for both countries, but the tensions still go on  South Korea became a rich, prosperous country, while the North suffered natural disasters and retained their huge standing army, offset by being poor and almost entirely supported by China  the US suffered 400,000 deaths or missing men, while both Koreas lost around a million deaths  A small change in boundary, millions of deaths, and a page in the history books was what was accomplished from the Korean War, a war that was fought just over the idea of government.