The Cold War in Korea After World War II, Research Paper Example

Post World War II, Korea experienced the first military action of the Cold War on June 25, 1950 (“Korean War”). In an effort to fight the expansion of Communism, United States military forces had already entered the conflict by July and were fighting the North Korean People’s Army on behalf of South Korea (“Korean War”). This would be just one of many conflicts in the history of Western involvement in South Asia to fight against communism and to promote the Western ideal of a “Free World”. Anti-communism was the height of concern for US officials and it pervaded American society (Whitfield). In the Western World, specifically in the US, anti-communist sentiment was in full swing. With Communism’s victory in China and the newly formed People’s Republic of China, US forces were compelled to dedicate their efforts and intervene in the Korean Civil War (“Korean War”).

On April 11, 1951, President Harry S. Truman gave a speech to the American public in order to explain the war effort in Korea. He said in the second line of his speech, “In the simplest terms, what we are doing in Korea is this: We are trying to prevent a Third World War.” This was also the speech in which President Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of his command because he made statements that were not in line with Truman’s administration’s policies (“Korean War”). General MacArthur was at the verge of provoking and starting a full-scale war with China and President Truman knew that this would now be the answer to the fight against the spread of Communism. President Truman and his administration were concerned to provoke Soviet forces into aggression against European nations and that was absolutely something the US was prepared to take on (“Korean War”). Although the fight against Communism was priority for the US, Truman knew that General MacArthur’s views would only add more conflict thus an impending “Third World War”.

At this point though, the fight against Communism was, in the eyes of the US, crucial to the Western way of life. Truman’s administration intended to start military action against North Korea in order to prevent a larger scale war that would equal that of WWII, which was still fresh in the minds of everyone, worldwide. Unlike WWII and the future Vietnam War, the Korean War received little media attention, therefore the public was often in the dark about any military action taking place overseas in a foreign land (“Korean War”). Most Americans were as afraid of the spread of Communism as the current administration, and certainly did not want to experience another full scale world war.

The rise of communism before and after the World Wars cause immense strain on foreign relations during this time. Many in the Western World feared communism and felt that fighting communist rise to power was effective the most important concern of the times. Although the Korean War was short, lasting from 1950-1953, it was bloody and set up the world stage for further escalation into Cold War (“Korean War”). Around 5 million people lost their lives in the Korean War and half of that number were Korean civilians (“Korean War”).

In relation to Truman’s speech on the firing of General MacArthur, the Cold War and specifically, the Korean War was meant to deescalate the possibility of a wider scale war while at the same time eradicating Communist rule and sentiment. However, especially with South Asian nations, the many decades these countries spent under Japanese rule, spawned revolutionary attitudes, factions and pervasive nationalism. This took the form of Communist sentiment as a reaction to forced rule under a foreign nation.

Toward the end of the Korean War, Truman’s military commanders negotiated peace talks however at points the negotiations stalled and prolonged the end of the war. Eventually, North Korea and South Korea would agree on placing a barrier, a “2-mile-wide demilitarized zone that still exists today” (“Korean War”). As is the current state of Korean, North Korea and South Korea exist as separate nations. North Korea is now considered one of the most hard-lined, dictator lead Communist nations in history and continues to operate under heavy control today. Although the war did not eradicate Communism from Korea, it did prevent the spread to the south.

It can be said that historical documentation of the events leading up to the Korean War and the Cold War shed light on US’s anti-Communist obsession and fervor. Although other Western nations were against the spread of Communism, it was the US’s push for military involvement in South Asia that carried the Cold War through five presidential administrations and decades of conflict worldwide. Because of the US’s status as a major world power, the Truman administration and those to come in the future were able to interject forces and use their power to remove Communist forces and armies. However, these actions were not without much hesitation and protest from all over the world.

Works Cited

“Korean War.” History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 9 Sept. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/korean-war>.

Whitfield, Stephen J. The culture of the Cold War. JHU Press, 1996.