Communist aggression was the most important reason because without the original assault by North Korea there would’ve been no war, merely suspicion on the US’ part regarding Stalin and other Communist nations’ activities. Another reason for the outbreak of the Korean war in 1950 was the ambiguity of the US’ foreign policy. The US were very contradictory about their objectives prior to the war and at different stages throughout
Causes and Effects of the Korean War There were four main cause of the Korean War. First cause was the division of the Korean Peninsula after World War 2 between capitalist countries. Second Cause was North Korea invaded South Korea and US decided to invade North Korea. Third cause was Korea was owned by the Japanese and USA and Soviet Union wanted different solutions to the problems that were happening in Korea. Fourth reason was refusal of South Korea to hold elections as per North Koreas demands.
The Korean peninsula was divided along the 38th parallel, and the two Korean nations have remained divided ever since. During the Korean War, the United States abstained from using its nuclear capabilities, but did consider using them and made threats to that effect at different times. According to the theory of deterrence, the United States withheld using its nuclear arsenal during the Korean War in order to avoid total war with China and the Soviet Union. Which sides were the original aggressors and defenders in the Korean War is still debated today, but after the fall of the Soviet Union, some light was finally shed on the issue. “Two staff members of the post-Stalin era archive of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union presented a paper” that contained detailed records which “explained in straightforward language that Kim II Sung had repeatedly pressed Joseph Stalin for permission to reunify Korea by military means long before the invasion was launched” (Korean War Revisited).
Who wants to see a world power “fall” to a tiny country’s problem? The answer: no one. The U.S. didn’t count for the fact that if they backed the anti-communist South Koreans, the Soviet Union and China would back the communist North Koreans. Ultimately, the U.S. underestimated the Chinese and the problems it would cause for the U.S. Therefore, this is another reason why the Korean War is the forgotten war.
After the second world war, the Soviet Union occupied several countries in eastern Europe by not allowing them to have free elections. By doing that they created a buffer zone in order to protect their ideology. The government of America saw it as a violation of their pledge and the possible spread of the disliked ideology all over the world. This motivated the States to put their energy into an arms race and to be ready for a Soviet invasion, which actually never happened because this might not even have been the goal of the Soviet Union. In his work, Fleming explained that if the Soviets wanted to attack the united states of America they had done it because they had all the necessary equipment but at that period the nation was more interested in its inner politics than conquering the world.
The Soviets had denied sharing control of the Turkish Straits as they had claimed they would not have. Truman was advised to act as the worst case scenario was that there was a Soviet desire for Global Conquest. When Great Britain announced that they were going to stop aiding Greece and
It significantly highlighted the true conflict involving the US and the USSR, and more importantly the ongoing battle between two opposing ideologies- capitalism and communism. The Korean War began with the communist North’s invasion of South Korea only years after the neighboring China ended its civil conflict and embraced a new Communist Regime under Mao Zedong. Whilst in the West communism had already been threatening to “swallow up” Europe seen through Stalin’s role in Czecoslovakinan Crisis; his disregard for the Yalta-Potsdam Agreements and the mobilized Red Army troops scattered over Eastern Europe. Consequently, the US where experiencing the beginnings of “anti-communist hysteria” due to the domino-effect Communist had had in Asia seen through the Sino-Soviet Pact (1950, and the possible threat of world-communism. In this sense, the Korean War is highly significant because it displayed the new terms of post-World War Two conflict and how difficult it would be to fight a contained War due to the snowballing effect of communism around the world.
But fearing the loss of an ally and a Communist buffer to protect their Northeast provinces, China joined forces with North Korea to push back UN troops and stop their invasion. In the end, there was very little change to the border between North and South Korea, and to this day, the tension between the two countries is
Laos was threatened by Communist insurgents and Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia had renounced aid from the US and demanded neutrality in any further conflicts. Left-wing insurgents were threatening Thailand and the British were having similar issues in dealing with threats in Malaysia and Borneo. Sukarno. Leader of Indonesia, had started to show an interest in the Indonesian communist party, much to the ire of America. While the more sophisticated of the US advisers realised that the domino theory was too simplistic in an increasingly non-linear world, split not just by ideology but also historically through ethnic and nationalist conflict, this didn't mean that the USSR and China would exploit any weakness shown by the USA.
However, the USA in the 1950s believed that if South Vietnam (which was not controlled by Ho) fell to Ho, this would mean communist expansion. This was because the American administration believed in the domino theory, i.e. once a country falls to communism, this will mean that Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, etc will start to fall to communism. In turn, the USA under Eisenhower drew a line in Vietnam to stop Ho reunification attempt. At the same time they tried to create a strong non-communist South Vietnam under the leadership of Diem.