The+Korean+War

-The [|Korean War]-

Since the russian revolution soviets tried to spread communism around the world. And it seemed to be working because of events in china. the leaders of china jiang jieshi and mao zedong became enemies, the soviet union aided mao and the united states aided jiang, but mao took over the main land of china and called the chinese government the peoples republic of china. from there the conflict moves to korea, where after WW2 the united states and the soviets split korea into two parts divided by the 38th parallel of latitude. The northern part of korea was comunist while the southern part was free, but on june 25, 1950 90,000 troops from north korea armed with weapons from the Soviets invaded southern korea. But President Truman did not want comunism to spread around the word so we sent united states troops to aid south korea and help pust back the northern soldiers. The attempt to push them back began with Douglas MacArthur attacking the port city of inchon, truman was worried about what china would do if the was continued but MarArthur insisted that the would no interveen, but then on november 26, 1950 around 300,000 chinese troops attacked. trumand did not want a big war and have to worry about the use of neuclear weapons, but MacArthur distrusted Trumans policy of a limited war when MacArthur sent a letter to congress condemning the policy, and for that truman fired him.

By the spring of 1951 the war settled into a stalemate After months of heavy fighting, the center of the conflict was returned to the 38th parallel, where it remained for the rest of the war. MacArthur, however, wished to mount another invasion of North Korea. When MacArthur persisted in publicly criticizing U.S. policy, Truman, on the recommendation of the Joint Chiefs of Staff removed him from command and installed Gen. Matthew B. ridgeway as commander in chief. Gen. James Van Fleet then took command of the 8th Army. Ridgway began truce negotiations with the North Koreans and Chinese, while small unit actions, bitter but indecisive, continued. Gen. Van Fleet was denied permission to go on the offensive and end the “meat grinder” war.

The war's unpopularity played an important role in the presidential victory of dwight d. ,Eisenhower who had pledged to go to Korea to end the war. Negotiations broke down four different times, but after much difficulty and nuclear threats by Eisenhower, an armistice agreement was signed Casualties in the war were heavy. U.S. losses were placed at over 54,000 dead and 103,000 wounded, while Chinese and Korean casualties were each at least 10 times as high. Korean forces on both sides executed many alleged civilian enemy sympathizers, especially in the early months of the war.