General MacArthur landed a brilliant invasion behind enemy forces at Inchon on September 15, 1950, and drove the North Koreans back across the 38th parallel, towards China and the Yalu River. An overconfident MacArthur boasted that he’d “have the boys home by Christmas,” but in November 1950, Chinese “volunteers” flooded across the border and pushed the South Koreans back to the 38th parallel. MacArthur wanted to blockade China and bomb Manchuria, but Truman didn’t want to enlarge the war beyond necessity, but when the angry general began to publicly criticize President Truman and spoke of using atomic weapons, Harry had no choice but to remove him from command on grounds of insubordination. MacArthur returned to cheers while Truman was scorned as a “pig,” an “imbecile,” an appeaser to communist Russia and China, and a “Judas.” The Korean War, separating the
Why Did LBJ Continue U.S. Involvement in South Vietnam? Cold War Considerations: China & South East Asia The rise of China as a superpower had made the world appear an even more threatening place to the USA in terms of the spread of communism. After the Americans had fought the Chinese in Korea and South East Asia seemed to offer ample opportunities for the spread of Communism in what was known as “The Domino Effect”. When Vietnam appeared to be on the verge of collapse. Laos was threatened by Communist insurgents and Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia had renounced aid from the US and demanded neutrality in any further conflicts.
How far was the Korean War a militant and political success for the US? The world was by taken by surprise when North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel in June 1950. The war that followed soon snowballed out of proportion, spreading out to involve China, the Soviet Union, and the UN and is said by historians to have shaped US foreign policy as it is today. But was the war a success, or was it merely another black whole swallowing the lives of American, Korean and Chinese soldiers? From a militant point of view it may be said that the war was a success and at the same time unsuccessful.
Additionally the conflict in Korea allowed the USA to demonstrate its military capabilities to the world, as Kennedy said, he wanted to prove America’s credibility and Vietnam was the perfect place to illustrate this and, in the bigger picture, help to increase UN credibility. However, despite US concession to accept containment as an accomplishment, North Korea remaining communist can be seen as an American failure. In 1950, the US made the decision to invade North Korea. This switch to rollback policy shows that their goals were higher than just containment. They were defeated by Chinese ‘dragon’ attacks, which in December 1950 caused the most humiliating retreat in US history, totalling 300 miles.
Japan had always relied on a strong military, and in the 1930's Japan's leaders turned to military power to solve problems such as a growing population, lack of resources and perceived racist policies of the Western world. Meanwhile, the US was seeking to advance themselves by isolating their country from external affairs: this meant they were isolating themselves from the conflict of World War 2 in Europe by only supplying arms (to Britain and China) but refusing to send American men to the front lines. This policy of isolationism was threatened when Japan's idea of a self-sufficient Asian area, the Co-Prosperity Sphere, was introduced. As these two strong forces grew, a collision course transpired. While Japan wanted to expand in Asia-Pacific and build an Empire.
This took the Chinese by surprise which were unprepared but still managed to send them back to the 38th parallel therefore the achievements of the under-equipped Chinese troops forcing the USA and South Koreans forces back to the northern border indicates that the Korean war was not a victory for the USA, this was very humiliating for the USA and especially Truman as he was in charge of MacArthur. On the other hand USA safeguarded Japan, the most important economy in Asia, and ensured that it was a loyal US ally. Japan had benefited massively from the Korean War and
This would cripple the Japanese forces. Without oil the Japanese were unable to fuel their navy and military thus incapable of taking over another country. Japan responded with a surprise attack to the United States Naval Fleet at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese thought if they destroyed the U.S. Navy, the strongest during that time, they would be successful in gaining control over China by the time the U.S. recovered. Luckily some of the ships were out doing routine training at the time of the attack.
The decision to drop the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki had many influential factors effecting the decision. There certainly was the possibility of success for an invasion, but the decision not to invade far outweighed the decision to invade. Conventional bombing and Blockade were considered in the effort to force Japan into surrender. But, the fact that the Japanese military were controlling the Government and were in a state of mind of absolute refusal to surrender, meant that this was not a reasonable option. Political factors were greatly influential of Truman’s final decision to drop the bomb and the threat of Russian military who were soon to advance in the region had its impact.
, highlighting that he believed without the use of atomic weapons, the Cold War was not an inevitability. Despite the pre-existing tensions between East and West, the use of atomic weaponry amplified the Soviet’s paranoia causing Stalin to authorise ‘a crash Soviet program to catch up’ , signifying the start of the Cold War which would shape the course of the twentieth century. A key significance of the use of atomic weapons in 1945 was the ethical implications that using such weaponry held. As Stalin stated ‘war is barbaric, but using the A-bomb is superbarbarity’ . Stalin’s view is supported by Admiral D Leahy, who in his memoirs writes ‘we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages’ This quote holds a substantial amount of weight to my argument due to Admiral D Leahy’s position as Roosevelt and Truman’s chief of staff, it would be expected for a man of such status to hold a view in support of America’s actions.
Model Essay Student’s Name Section Number Why the Atomic Bombs Saved Japan. The decision to use nuclear weapons to stop the War in the Pacific by President Harry S. Truman in August, 1945 remains controversial to this day. Most of Truman’s critics, the so-called revisionist historians, argue that Japan wanted to surrender and had already been defeated, making the use of atomic bombs unnecessary. They say the bombs were used mainly to demonstrate America’s power to intimidate the Soviet Union. The historians who support Truman, sometimes called the traditionalists, agree that Japan had been defeated but argue that Japan was not ready to surrender and was, in fact, preparing for one last great battle that would have cost millions of lives.