America would aid any country threatened by communism. For example, the US provided economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey as their governments were fighting against communism in their own countries. Truman believed that weak states like these were highly susceptible to a communist takeover. The Truman Doctrine also provided the basis of the Domino Theory, which states that if the US does not stop the spread of communism, countries would fall under communism one after another, just like dominoes creating a toppling chain. Agreeing with Truman's sentiments, the American Congress voted $400 million dollars of aid to Greece and Turkey.
After the overwhelming battle in Korea, starting in 1950, the war between North Korea, China and patron state USSR against South Korea and patron state USA finally ended in a ceasefire in June 16th 1953. It can be argued that the USA was the successors of the Korean War due to significant military and political success. However, the USA also faced great negative impacts from the war politically and militarily which can challenge the view of the USA triumph. It can be argued that the US was the victors of the Korean War because of their military success. Primarily the US goal was to defend South Korea from the invasion of North Korea, June 1950.
Not only for this reason did China attack the US, but also Mao Zedong wanted to strengthen his position in china and thought attacking the US would do so. This was a huge failure as it made the opposition stronger as they had China now to deal with as well as North Korea and the USSR pushing the NK’s to carry on the war. This failure made the US retreat. The Korean War has political successes within it for the US. The fact that they stopped North Korea and Kim Il Sung from
But United States leaders had other concerns. No sooner had World War II ended, then a "Cold War," between the forces of democracy and communism began (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). Long years of fighting had devastated the democratic nations of Western Europe, which left the communist Soviet Union as the dominant power in Europe and Asia (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). The Soviet Union had already over run most of Eastern Europe; now they seemed determined to spread communism all around the globe (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). To help counter that threat Truman started secretly sending money as well as supplies to help back the French forces against Ho Chi Minh's forces (Schomp The Vietnam War 5).
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.
The US intervened because of this as there was a great fear of communism around at the time. McCarthyism had just become a major issue, with many government officials being accused of being communist and as Truman had lost China, Eisenhower knew that if he ‘lost’ Vietnam, then his popularity would suffer greatly as the US public would think he was soft on communism. As a result, he would not be re-elected. The domino theory was significant because if Indochina fell to communism then there was a risk of the US losing Japan, after the effort the US put into restoring Japan after WW2 and all the trade that came from Japan, the US couldn’t afford for Japan to be threatened. Another significant reason why the US intervened in South East Asia was the power vacuum after Dien Bien Phu.
The USA entered the war to stop the spread of Communism in South East Asia. Americans fear of Communism meant that American governments in the 1950s and 1960s used their economic and military strength to support anti-Communists around the world. In South-East Asia, the USA became heavily involved in the defence of South Vietnam. In the early stages of the Vietnam War, many Americans supported US government policy. By 1968, however, over half a million US soldiers and marines were fighting in the jungles of South Vietnam and there had been thousands of US casualties.
Korea, conquered by Japan during the war, was divided at the 38th parallel then given to the USSR in the north and the US in the south. The Soviets pulled out of N. Korea in 1950, leaving a communist regime behind. That regime, funded and equipped by The Peoples Republic of China, invaded S. Korea. Therefore the United states in order to uphold its policy of containment started to support the south Korean regime and supplied it with aid, troops when it was invaded under the banner of containement.Not only this under the banner of the UN, successfully withdrew north Korean troops from south korea.The "conflict" lasted three years and victory
The United States also began to feel more threatened by South East Asian countries especially China around this time (Roberts, 2006). The US also supported and put Saddam Hussein in power at this time in an attempt to gain better control of the Middle East. In 1979 the Soviets had their version of Vietnam; they had Afghanistan. Under Jimmy Carter the United States had one of the best economies they'd had since World War II. By this time the threat of nuclear attack had decreased.
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.