Korea

• Division of Korea

  1945
• After the collapse of Japan, Russian forces were invading Korea from the North, liberating the country from Japanese control and ridding the country of the last fragments of their army. Alarmed by the rapid progress of the USSR, Truman asked for the Red Army to stop at the 38th parallel. Stalin agreed, and so now Korea was divided. The Northern half was under Communist control and the Southern half under Capitalist control.
• Communist Party formed in North

  1946
• The North Korean Communist Party is officially formed under the leadership of Kim Il Sung.
• Truman Doctrine

  1947
• Pledged $400 million to help Greece and Turkey due to the fact that Britain was no longer in a position to do so. Attempt to stave off Communism. First example of an active US policy to combat threat of Communism in Europe. This still had a significant effect on the situation in Asia, as it was becoming increasingly apparent that the USA was willing to combat any attempt at Communist expansion financially.
• The United Nations recognised Korea's right to independence and set up a commission to supervise elections in Korea. The USSR refused to allow the commission to enter North Korea, and so the commission was given authorization to hold elections in the South for a "National Government" of Korea.
• US Withdrawal

  1948
• US troop withdrawal began in May after the advice was given by the National Security Council (NSC). The USSR also begin to withdraw troops within a year.
• Elections take place in Korea amidst widespread corruption and violence. Syngman Rhee gained a majority in the National Assembly, and was subsequently chosen to be President. In October, the UN recognised the new Republic of Korea (ROK). In the North, the Soviets proceeded with their own elections. The Communists formed the new Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) with Kim Il Sung as the Premier. This was however not recognised by the UN.
• Fall of China

  1949
• This was a huge political victory for the USSR. China was a huge country that had a population of more than 800 million! China would also be a significant stepping stone for further Communist expansion into Asia (The Domino Theory). This was now a major concern for the USA, as Japan was now under even more pressure.
• In March and April, Kim went to Moscow for a meeting with Stalin. There he signed agreements based around economic support and military support. However, despites Kim's constant pleading and pressure, Stalin would not give Kim the "green light" for an attack on South Korea.
• Across the new border, various skirmishes and attacks occurred. 400 soldiers had been killed in May alone.
• The USSR secretly tested their first A-Bomb a full six years earlier than the USA had expected them to. The radiation was detected, and thus the power balance of the Cold War had now dramatically been shifted.
• Acheson Makes Mistake!!

  1950
• In a speech to the National Press Club in January, US Secretary of State Dean Acheson accidentally excluded Korea from the USA's strategic defensive perimeter. This is argued to have resulted in the Soviets believing the US would not intervene in a military combat in Korea.
• In the light of the new nuclear threat of Communism, NSC-68 was produced that outlined the new direction that the USA's foreign policy needed to take in order to contain Communism. This new direction would now focus on rollback, the view that Communism needed to be confronted and pushed back to safeguard the free world. This was therefore the basis of a much more aggressive US foreign policy. The feeling in the USA was that they were losing the Cold War and thus firmer action was needed.
• 25th June – North Korea invades South Korea. North Korean propaganda claimed that the invasion was in reaction to a South Korean attack, however this was unfounded. When Truman heard of the invasion he was outraged, remarking "By God, I'm going to let them have it!" The US viewed the attack as a test to see how the West would react to a Communist invasion. Inaction would only serve to repeat the mistakes of Appeasement of the late 1930s. Truman made sure that the US intervention in the war was first ratified by the United Nations. This gave it a legitimate basis. However, this only occurred because the USSR, who had the power to veto such intervention in the Security Council, were absent in protest over the failure to admit Communist China into the organisation.
• The North pushed South with great speed and success. The capital Seoul was captured within three days. By early September, the South Koreans had been pushed back to the South-East corner of the country at Pusan. They were rapidly losing this conflict before the Americans and the UN forces had even really set foot in Korea. Something needed to be done to stem the tide……
• General MacArthur masterminded the invasion to attempt to cut the North Korean forces in two and destroy their communication lines, thus effectively forcing a retreat from the Pusan Perimeter. The success of the Inchon landings and the reestablishment of the South Korean government in the newly recaptured Seoul installed a new feeling of confidence in the USA. The trapped North Korean troops fled and by the 1st October, the combined UN & US forces were back at the 38th parallel.
• Truman now had an important decision to make: a) Do the troops stay at the 38th Parallel? After all, their initial objectives for the war were to rescue South Korea from the Communist invaders from the North. This was however risky as it could be viewed as rather cowardly in the face of Communism. OR b) Carry on past the 38th parallel and use this opportunity to begin to drive Communism out of Asia? If successful against North Korea, this would provide a platform for either the natural resurgence of a capitalist China or a base from which the USA could launch an invasion. However, an invasion of North Korea could bring China or even the USSR into the war, making it escalate far beyond what the Americans wanted.
• After gaining approval from the United Nations, the US chose rollback. This was now an excellent opportunity to stem the tide of Communism. However, in order not to escalate the war further, Truman publicly announced that the US posed no threat whatsoever to either the People's Republic of China, nor the USSR.
• China, already concerned by the war in Korea, dispatched troops to the North Korean border and warned the US that they would not tolerate US troops on its border. MacArthur however was sure that China would not intervene and had managed to persuade Truman that Rollback was of no risk. On 14th October, 300,000 the Communist Party Volunteers Army (CPV) crossed the Yalu River and began fighting the extremely surprised and now very concerned US & UN forces. Because of this, a state of emergency was declared in the United States. This peripheral war had now involved one of the largest and most dangerous powers in the world!!
• Truman was unwilling to engage in a full-scale war with China, but on the other hand, he was not prepared to simply abandon Korea. The use of the Atomic Bomb was always a consideration, but essentially was fraught with danger. It could bring the USSR into the war and thus begin WW3. General MacArthur however was not as placid! He had been very outspoken regarding Truman's lack of will and reluctance to take a more aggressive stance against the North Koreans and the Chinese. He even went as far as sending a letter to Beijing threatening the use of nuclear weapons. He had gone too far! Truman sacked the General in April and replaced him with General Ridgway (who was an advocate of the "die to tie" style of stalemate warfare).
• After heavy casualties in the stalemate war, in July, both sides were ready to open peace talks at Kaesong. Whilst the talks were in session, heavy fighting continued. The talks broke down, but were resumed later in the year a Panmunjon, however again talks stalled, in particular over where the demarcation line would be and over the issue of the return of prisoners of war.
• USA Detonate H-Bomb

  1952
• The Arms Race was taken to a new level with the development of the H-Bomb. It was in excess of 450 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. The "Operation Ivy" bomb yielded 10.4 Megatons.
• After initial air battles in 1951 which had been very dramatic and in many ways destructive for the US, they had managed to establish a sort of air superiority by 1952. They now began heaving bombing raids in the North, on hydroelectric plants and on the North Korean capital Pyongyang. Although the strikes were aimed at military targets tremendous damage was inflicted on the civilian population, particularly when napalm was used. Kim Il Sung announced publicly that 6000 civilians had been killed, provoking international outrage.
• The Korean war had effectively been the final nail in Truman's coffin. He chose not to run for re-election in the 1952 elections, and so the Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower became President. The support that Eisenhower received from by the staunch anti-Communists Richard Nixon and Joe McCarthy proved crucial.
• Death of Stalin

  1953
• The death of Stalin threw the whole of Russia into mourning. Despite his violent and oppressive characteristics, he was genuinely very popular and was often regarded as being the reason why Russia had become arguably the greatest power in the world and had been able to win WW2. Across the world, his death signalled a new optimism for the Cold War, and coupled with the appointment of Eisenhower as the new US President, many believed that the tensions of the Cold War could now begin to lessen and that negotiations, such as those over Korea, could now replace the threats and suspicions.
• The USSR's first H-Bomb (Joe-4) was not really a huge event, as it was nowhere near the size of the USA's H-Bomb in terms of yield. However, again the political implications were far-reaching. The USA had believed that the USSR was at least 5 years behind technologically, but they had managed to catch up within just nine months. The nuclear superiority that the USA had just established was once again nullified.
• Agreements for an armistice were concluded on the 16th June 1953, but unfortunately this was not the end of the fighting. Syngman Rhee opposed many of the compromises made, and this led to fierce attacks upon the South Vietnamese. Rhee was eventually silenced by the promise of a $1 billion investment into South Vietnam from the US. On 27th July, the Armistice was signed by the USA, China and North Korea. South Korea refused to sign but had little alternative than to accept it.