korean war

• Chinese civil war 1927-1949


  Nationalists (Kuomintang) led by Chiang Kai-Shek and the Chinese Communist party led by Mao Zedong
• Japanese attacked China and civil war was delayed


  1937
• Civil war resumed


  1945
• US aid to Kuomintang

  $2 million financial aid and some military aid
• Marshall mission


  Attempted to get Mao and Chiang to support a coalition govt but it failed
• Truman decided against US involvement as the US didn't have the men and was more concerned with Berlin to get into a land war
• Stalin also did not put Red army in the Chinese civil war but sent military supplies
• 1954 Quemoy and Matsu


  Chinese communists attacked the Taiwanese straits followed by bombardments
• 1955 Tachen Islands


  Chinese communists attacked Tachen Islands
• Formosa Revolution


  Congress allowed Eisenhower to take whatever military action necessary to defend Taiwan including use of nuclear weapons
• US One China policy

  Denying diplomacy towards the PRC
• Loss of China as main trade partner


  Japan was necessary as a 'cornerstone of American containment in Asia'
• Defensive Perimeter Strategy 1950

  Military security of the Pacific and that ran along the Aleutians to Japan. It omitted South Korea.
• Loss of China to communism


  Left Truman in need of a desperate containment propagandist victory
• McCarthyism & the 2nd red scare domestic pressure

  Influenced Truman
• Truman needed to sell NSC-68

  As many American's didn't want militarisation
• Korea divided into 2 zones


  Led by the US and the USSR on the 38th parallel
• In 1947 the US submitted whether free elections on reunification should be held to the UN but the USSR refused to partake (as they feared it would result in a pro-US capitalist govt)
• Soviets sent military supplies, fuel, medicine, ships & in may 1950 after Kim's request this gives him the green light & he invades NK in June 1950
• Sygman Rhee had been constant in border skirmishes provoking the North in hopes for US intervention & reunite Korea under capitalism
• Kim ilsung had been the one who pressed for support, visiting Stalin & Mao for approval. He proposed this in 1949 but Stalin initially disapproved. Kim Il Sung invaded SK in June 1950 as he wanted to reunify Korea under communism
• Events of the Korean war

  1. Initially NK was very successful, South Korean troops fell back until Pusan

  2. In Sep 1950 UN troops under MacArthur's command landed at Inchon behind NK lines & counterattacked

  3. They pushed the NK forces back the 38th parallel but MacArthur crossed the border & invaded north then neared the Yalu River

  4. Chinese people's volunteer army helped the NK forces push America back & Seoul was re-captured by communist forces but then they both retreated to the 38th parellel

  5. General MacArthur pressed for Formosa to attack the CPVA & wanted Truman to use the atom bomb on China

  6. Panmunjom Armistice signed in 1953 at the 38th parallel
• NSC-68 1950: Globalised & militarised containment. Stressed importance to commit to global security. 'wrest the initiative from the Soviet Union'
• Effects of the Korean War

  1.West Germany allowed to rearm due to fears of soviet expansion- results in soviet Warsaw Pact 1955.

  2.China is angered by lack of soviet support in NK fighting, begin of Sino-soviet split.

  3.US increases support support to France against Ho Chi Minh. 4.SEATO 1954 formed (extended US influence in pacific region) provided SEA countries with nuclear Umbrella to encircle the USSR with pro-US allies.
• Aftermath of Chinese civil war:

  1949 Chiang Kai-Shek and his 2mill followers fled to Formosa.

  Together the USSR and China cut off a huge market for US trade. Dulles states 'The loss of China to communism is worst defeat in US history'

  The US then blocked entry of the PRC into the UN.

  1950 Treaty of Friendship
• US policy after WW2:

  1.Japan rearmament-Established a 75,000 strong National Police Reserve. In 1952, a force of 110,000 ground troops was placed.

  2.Economic stabilisation-To accelerate Japanese economic recovery to align with US policy. Economic advisors appointed by Joseph Dodge and produced a super balanced budget.

  3.Occupation of Japan-After Japanese surrender, US bases were built in Japanese territory.

  4.Re-education- Communists banned from government posts.