Korea - The Forgotten War (10 Important Facts)

The predominant cause of the intensity of the conflict in Korea between Communism and Democracy was that China had fallen to communism in September of 1949, after the Nationalists, backed by the US, were defeated in a civil war, and forced to retreat to Taiwan. This occurrence caused a fear in the US that communism was attempting to conquer the world, which made the American policy on foreign affairs well prepared to jump at the next display of communist power in Asia.

Japan had controlled Korea as a colony for 50 years, until its defeat at the end of World War II. At this time, in 1945, the Soviet Union moved in to occupy the portion of Korea that lay north of the 38th parallel. In response, America began to occupy the part of Korea that lay to the south of the 38th parallel (sort of like Germany in a sense). The northern faction was ruled by Communism while South Korea had a US-supported noncommunist leader.
When North Korean forces crossed the border at the 38th parallel, in June of 1950, a conflict erupted, which is now known as the Korean War, because Truman took action in order to follow through with his communism-containment policy. He asked for the aid of other United Nations members in the form of soldiers, and several responded affirmatively, but Americans comprised most of South Korea's fighting force (they were all commanded by General Douglas MacArthur).

At the beginning of the war, North Korea had the upper hand as it managed to push South Korean forces against the southeastern most part of the peninsula. MacArthur's response was the first offensive for South Korea where the US snuck behind the enemy lines by landing at Inchon, eventually trapping and forcing the northerners to retreat (they were sandwiched between the invaders at Inchon and the forces down near Pusan, which was the southeastern most part of the peninsula).

MacArthur quickly gained Truman and the UN's permission to chase the enemy as they retreated because Truman believed that an invasion would cause the two factions to reunite, but by the time the US forces nearly reached the Yalu River, the boundary between North Korea and China (now communist), the Chinese told the forces to halt.
The turning point of the invasion, and really the war, came with China's fear of being insecure because its neighbor, North Korea, which shared its style of government, was being invaded. The leaders of China warned the UN that if their forces continued to advance, China would enter the conflict against the UN. However, the UN drove their forces closer to the Yalu river, and on November 25, 1950, hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops pushed the UN's forces back into South Korea. This caused there to be a balance of control along the original line of separation, the 38th parallel.

MacArthur almost immediately wanted to blockade China's coastline and bomb the whole of China, thereby utilizing the historically affective Total War method, but Truman denied this request, fearing that it would lead to a World War III if the Soviet Union felt it had to step in. MacArthur responded by opposing the president by trying to gain support of Republican leaders and the public through the media.

Because MacArthur opposed his orders as Commander and Chief, Truman fired MacArthur and sent him back to the US. Upon his return to America, although most Americans saw the incident from President Truman's perspective and agreed with the action, MacArthur was treated like a hero.

Because the war had been occurring for a long time with no apparent conclusion in sight, the Korean War became more unpopular. The topic of the war was used in the election of 1952 after the Soviets, who were supporting North Korea with money and weapons, suggested that discussions of truces begin, but failed to do so within two years. When Truman didn't run, Dwight D. Eisenhower, a republican World War II hero, ran and won on account that he criticized the hated war and promised to quickly end the conflict.

To show exactly how much the US despised the Korean War, the people elected "Ike" in landslide vote, and one of the first actions he took as president was to go talk with the North Koreans and Chinese (this was a good move considering not only that he had to uphold a promise to his supporters and the American people, but that China was a nation rich in the resource of troops and that the Soviet Union could physically join in the fight if it were prolonged any further). Eisenhower made a compromise with the communists, although he privately stated that he was prepared to use nuclear weapons and bring the war home to China if necessary, to have a cease-fire end the fighting in July of 1953. With this agreement, the border that existed between North and South Korea had been kept relatively similar to as it had been at the start of the war, and communism had been contained. However, some Americans were angered by the fact that the long war had such a seemingly minute impact on America.