Korean War

A detailed Summary of Korean War

The Korean War was a result of the division of Korea after World War 2. Japan controlled Korea prior to 1945 when the United States and the Soviet Union divided Korea at the 38th parallel. The US did this in the fear that the Soviet Union would take over Korea. This was the beginning of the split between the north and south.

Both the US and the Soviet Union began to build their regimes within their halves to support their interests. By the end of 1946 these regimes of the north and of the south were in place although the official split didn't occur until 1948. That year the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was formed under the Soviet backed Kim II Sung. The South's leader Syngman Rhee was backed by the US and formed the Republic of Korea.

The South's new government was barely even formed before it had its first problem. The North had incited guerrilla movement; the south took two years to suppress the movement. This was only accomplished with the aid of about 500 American advisors that were left behind after the withdraw of the Soviet and American troops.

In May of 1949 the first border fighting broke out and continued in small isolated events until December of 1949. The South had provoked many of these skirmishes and wh

As a result of the war the spread of communism was delayed, but at the cost of 36,934 dead US soldiers and 103,284 wounded. The economic and physical damage to Korea was unimaginable. The war was one of the United States most upsetting war at that point in time that was until another Asian conflict.

The Chinese forces had apparently waited until the UN forces were across the 38th parallel so that the supply lines would be stretched out. Because of the UN's great victories the Intel about KPA forces was overlooked. Columns of KPA were forming all over the countryside.

By October of 1950 the north had been pushed out of South Korea. The war for the south left 111,000 South Koreans killed, 106,000 wounded, and 57,000 missing. The US forces suffered 6,954 dead, 13,659 wounded, and 3,877 missing in action.

The immediate success of the North's invasion prompted the US to take action. Only a couple of days after the invasion the US went to the UN council urging them to send in troops to help suppress the North's invasion. With the US as the lead force the UN sent in troops to put down the DPRK.

The US forces could have reestablished the 38th parallel, but the continued to drive the KPA north. The war could have ended there, but Macarthur had more in store for the KPA he wanted to push them out of Korea. On October 19 the US had captured the North's capital. However, three days earlier a group of Chinese troops had crossed the border and made their way towards the UN forces. The Chinese forces devastated the Troops halting the UN's

Some common words found in the essay are:
South Korean, POWs KPA, KPA Chinese, Korea October, South Koreans, August KPA, Soviet Union, Korea South's, Unions Representative, Soviet American, 38th parallel, republic korea, un forces, soviet union, chinese forces, peace talks, fighting broke, summer 1950, north south, buffer zone,

Approximate Word count = 1044
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History