CAUSES
Some things that had led to the Korean War are the Cold War, the Domino Theory, and communism. The Domino Theory was something that had Truman worry because the countries in the Far East were getting power and they were beginning to be more powerful. After China became communist, Truman was scared that the other o countries would fall right behind it. If the other countries fall behind it, like Korea, then Japan would fall too. If Japan had fallen, then the US would have been in trouble because Japan was our key source to trade and such things. Communism was something that scared all of US. Nobody wanted communism because that’s how the enemy ran their territories. Communism was something that people never wanted because it scared people. The propaganda people used to show how communism was, scared everyone. The Cold War is something that’s very significant because it’s the reason why North and South Korea split up and went to war because Kim II Sung and Stalin were talking about how Stalin couldn’t take over South Korea, but Stalin didn’t know that the US was going to help South Korea out. This is what made the North and south go to war.
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| Kim II Sung |
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| Stalin |
Setting
The war was fought in South Korea after North Korea invaded them in the hopes of taking over the south. The war started when the North Korean communists crossed the 38th parallel. The 38th parallel was the line or boarder that was separating North and South Korea. Once the soldiers crossed the parallel, the war had started. The North came into the South with a lot of tanks, army men, and many flying bullets. MacArthur, a US General, decided to go against Truman's orders and wanted to go to the Northern tip to situate the war. He was told to keep the US troops and the South Korean troops in the Southern side of Korea. In return of attack, the US had airplanes that bombed, destroyed, and killed many Korean soldiers.
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| Map of war |
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| Tanks firing |
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| 38th Parallel |
US Involvement
The United States was involved in the Korean War because the UN needed countries to help the South out in the war. Since the South needed more aid than the North, many countries ended up helping. Out of all the aid, 90% came from the US and the other 10% came from communist countries which helped the North. Again, Communism and the Domino Theory had something to do with the US involvement. America didn't want to lose Japan to communism because that way they would block all trade with us. Communism was something that we didn't want happening at all. For us it was a really bad thing and we felt like we had to help the Southerners out.
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| NO COMMUNISM |
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| Japan |
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| The Domino Theory |
Home Front
The United States did a lot to make people aware of what was going on in the war. They wanted people to remember the war and they wanted them to support the troops that were putting their life at stake in order to keep America communist free. There were many news articles, posters, all sorts or propaganda to let people know that they need to help as much as they can. Once the public was seeing what was going on over there, they started helping and contributing to the war. It turned out that all the contributions helped out a lot.
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| One of the political cartoons people would see in the news paper. |
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| This is a political cartoon made by the North Koreans. |
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| This is another political cartoon that shows how North Korea is stronger than we are. |
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| This is the heading of a newspaper article. |
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| This is a heading of a newspaper article too that people would see every day. |
End Of War
After the Korean War, there were many ups and downs about it. Of course there will be many downs because of the destruction of the bombs, the casualties, deaths and how bad the economy got. There were so many deaths between both the US and the North and South Koreans. About 1.5 million South Korean soldiers died, 2.5 million Northern soldiers died and 55,000 American soldiers died during the war. There were many hurt and many missing in action. Although the war brought many downs, it also brought ups too. Some ups the war had on all of us today are: not fearing communism, we don't have to fear it anymore because we don't want that type of government and we feel that it can't happen to us. Also, our economy and Japan's economy went up because of the need for supplies and trade. I also think that the war made people more patriotic and more aware of situations that are happening in the world and wound us. What some people don't know is that the war is still going on today due to the fact that there was never an agreement between the North and South.
QUOTES:
" I have seen so many deaths, I don't think anyone could see anything worse than what we have seen and what we have experienced" (History Alive).
"What i can't believe is that people don't know that the war is still going on and that we still have troops over there in Korea, did you know it was going on?"( History Alive).
"We would see so many advertisememnts about to war, support this, support that, do this, do that, but people didn't seem to worry, heck i didn't seem to worry about it either" (History Alvie).
" Let me tell ya, I definitely did not want to go to the war, when i found out i was being drafted, my heart sank, i felt as if my world had ended right there" (History Alive).
