Korea+9321


 * Korea was originally a Japanese colony, but after World War II, a Soviet sphere of influence was established above the 38th parallel, and a U.S. backed noncommunist government was created in the South.
 * War broke out in June 1950, when North Korean troops crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea. The U.S. and sixteen U.N. nations rushed to the aid of South Korea. However, the U.S. did most of the fighting.
 * Although initially the South Korean forces were pushed back to almost the southern end of the peninsula, a daring offensive from General Douglas MacArthur from the city of Inchon behind North Korean Lines helped push the North Koreans back North across the 38th parallel.
 * After the UN. defied requests not to cross the Yalu River into China, Communist China joined the fight on the side of the North Koreans, and pushed the UN forces back to the 38th parallel.
 * General MacArthur wanted to bomb China and blockade its coastline. Truman wouldn't let him. This led to a public criticism of Truman by MacArthur, and MacArthur's subsequent sacking.
 * Although truce talks began in 1951, a Armistice was not declared until 1953. When Eisenhower was elected, he progressed the talks but secretly warned that the U.S. was prepared to use atomic weapons if necessary.
 * The Korean War is seen as the first major example of the U.S.'s containment policy, where they would try to stop the spread of communism through intervention.
 * The Korean War is not officially over, since no official peace treaty was signed, and there remains an active war state between the two Koreas, with occasional fighting sometimes erupting.
 * This was also the first proxy war, where the U.S. and the Soviet Union did not directly fight each other, but rather indirectly fought each other using other countries.

American Prisoners of War. The North Koreans did not obey Geneva Convention regulations, and treated their POWs very inhumanely.

The Korean War was fought over a period of 3 years in a very harsh, mountainous, and barren landscape.



Winter in Korea. The Korean Winter was very harsh and made the war even harder to bear. A description of the major offensives of the war before the stalemate.



The state of the Korean Peninsula after the war, including the armistice line.

//"Communism in Korea could get off to a better start than practically anywhere else in the world."// - Truman's ambassador visiting Korea in 1946.