history ₊˚🪽⊹ ♡

• How the Korean War became an international crisis


  1. Kim Il-Sung's invasion of South Korea across the 38th parallel on 25th June 1950

  2. UN Security Council voted to take military action to help South Korea on 27th June 1950

  3. Soviet Union supported North Korea but was not present at the UN meeting to veto the decision
• How the UN army attack at Inchon led to an international crisis

  1. Superior naval support for UN troops, majority were US troops with previous beach storming experience from WW2

  2. Strategic decision to target Inchon as it was strongly fortified but not heavily defended by North Korean forces
• Kim Il-Sung realised that his tactic of encouraging guerilla warfare in the south wasn't enough to destabilise the government, so he thought an invasion might trigger an uprising in the South, overthrowing the ROK
• The UN troops captured the entirety of Inchon in 4 days
• The UN troops targeted Inchon as it was strongly fortified, which meant it wasn't an obvious target and wasn't heavily defended by North Korean forces
• Outbreak of the Korean War

  1950
• By 1950, North Korea had 135,000 troops while the South had 19,000 troops
• There were problems with the election as the Soviet Union refused to allow UN inspectors into North Korea
• Only southern voters were counted in the election
• After the establishment of the two governments, the Soviets and the USA withdrew their troops from Korea
• The two Korean governments refused to accept the legitimacy of the other
• Korean War


  1950-1953
• In 1945, when the Allies defeated Japan in WWII, the Japanese Army was dismantled
• America proposed to occupy Korea alongside the Soviet Union, with the Soviet Union occupying the North and the USA occupying the South
• The division of Korea along the 38th parallel was intended to prevent further conflict between US and Soviet troops
• The Korean people were unhappy under Japanese control and wanted immediate independence, but there was a real divide within Korea on how to go about this
• The USA and USSR had very different ideologies and both sides competed for influence in Korea
• The USA was deeply concerned by the threat of communism in Korea and wanted to stop it from gaining a foothold and potentially spreading to other countries
• In 1948, the USA called on the UN for help, and the UN declared that national elections should be held in Korea the following year
• Stalemate


  Both sides were facing each other on heavily fortified positions over the par, with no clear progress
• Airpower used to break stalemate

  1. US planes began bombing North Korean towns, cities, transport systems, factories and many bases with high explosives and napalm

  2. Many Korean people, both soldiers and civilians, were killed
• Soviet Involvement


  • Chinese politicians had met with Stalin, the Soviet leader, to ask for his support
  • Stalin agreed to send military equipment and aviation to help the Chinese and North Korean forces
  • Stalin stipulated that Soviet fighter planes (and pilots) would only operate over Chinese airspace, and around the Chinese-North Korean border
• Soviet cover-up of involvement
• Soviet planes were painted with Chinese or North Korean markings and Soviet pilots were banned from speaking Russian on the radio
• For almost two years the two sides fought each other in the air over Korea
• The UN lost around 3500 planes while the North Koreans, Chinese and Soviets lost nearly 3000
• Some pilots even wore Chinese uniforms during combat missions
• North Korea's forces pushed the South Korean army back to Pusan
• UN troops launched an attack at Inchon


  Then pushed inland
• UN forces and South Korean troops in the south advanced

  North
• By early December, all North Korean troops had been driven out of South Korea. UN forces crossed into North Korea
• China warned against the advance


  But MacArthur was confident China would not enter the war
• In late October 1950, China joined the war


  And helped push UN forces back into South Korea
• By March 1951, the advance had been stopped with both sides around the 38th parallel
• Against orders from Truman, MacArthur sent UN troops back into North Korea


  MacArthur was sacked
• The UN and the war in Korea was largely American, with the USA providing most of the troops and equipment
• US forces were led by an American General, MacArthur
• The UN approved the action of crossing the 38th parallel into North Korea, hoping that North and South Korea could be unified
• When UN troops began driving North Korean forces back towards the Yalu River on the Chinese border


  Around 200,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans to fight back
• Chinese and North Korean forces pushed the UN forces back into South Korea, and re-took Seoul