UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

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UNITED STATES AND THE WORLD IN THE TWENTIETH
CENTURY
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THE KOREAN WAR

• Korea, 1945-1950
• Stalins Green Light
• American Reaction
• War and its costs
• Global Conflict

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KOREA, 1945-50

• NORTH KOREA
• Kim Il Sung
• Soviet Occupation (last Soviet troops leave in
  December 1948)
• Democratic Republic of Korea, September 1948

• SOUTH KOREA
• Syngman Rhee
• American Occupation (last troops leave June 1949)
• Republic of Korea, August 1948

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STALINS GREEN LIGHT

• In conversations with Kim Il-Sung in April 1950
  in the Kremlin, Stalin gave four reasons why the
  international environment had "changed
  sufficiently to permit a more active stance on
  the unification of Korea."
• 1. "the significant strengthening of the
  socialist camp in the East the victory of the
  Chinese revolution, the signing of an alliance
  between the USSR and the PRC, and the USSR's
  acquisition of an atomic bomb.
• 2. "the obvious weakness of the reactionary camp
  the shameful defeat of America's intervention
  into Chinese affairs, Western troubles in
  Southeast Asia, and the inability of the South
  Korean regime and its American masters to improve
  the social, economic, and political situation in
  South Korea."

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STALINS GREEN LIGHT

• 3. "the dishonest, perfidious, and arrogant
  behavior of the United States in Europe, the
  Balkans, the Middle East, and especially its
  decision to form NATO." According to Stalin,
  "America was no longer a partner, but instead
  an adversary, and the Soviet Union could not bind
  itself any longer to agreements with such an
  adversary.
• 4. "aggressive designs of the South Korean
  junta." As Stalin concluded, "the South was
  determined to launch an attack on the North
  sooner or later and it was important to forestall
  this aggression."

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AMERICAN REACTION

• The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all
  doubt that Communism has passed beyond the use of
  subversion to conquer independent nations and
  will now use armed invasion and war. It has
  defied the orders of the Security Council of the
  United Nations issued to preserve international
  peace and security.
• Truman, June 27, 1950

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KOREAN WAR

• Inchon Landings, September 1950
• Chinese entry, October 1950
• MacArthurs Dismissal, April 1951
• July 1951 Truce Talks Begin
• Eisenhower (1953-61)
• Stalins death (March 1953)
• Cease-fire, July 1953

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COSTS OF THE KOREAN WAR

• American casualties 54.000 (Vietnam 58,000)
• South Korean 228.000
• Estimates of Chinese casualties 132.000 (PRC) to
  900.000 (US)
• Estimates of North Korean casualties
• 90.000 (DRK) to 600.000 (US)

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ALLIANCE SYSTEMS

• AMERICAN
• NATO
• Rio Treaty
• ANZUS
• Baghdad Pact CENTO
• SEATO
• Bilateral treaties (Japan, Philippines, S. Korea,
  Taiwan)

• SOVIET
• Sino-Soviet Alliance
• Warsaw Pact

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ON EVERY FRONTCOLD WAR GOES GLOBAL

• Europe
• Middle East
• Far East
• Latin America
• Africa

• Military rivalry
• Economic warfare
• Propaganda struggle
• Scientific competition