How Has the Korean War Changed History?

The size of the North Korean forces employed, the depth of penetration, the intensity of the attack, and the landings made miles south of the Parallel on the east coast indicated that the North Koreans are engaged in all out offensive to subjugate South Korea. It was the start of a war that is still not ended a full seven

decades later. The Korean War, which ultimately would pit the U S against China in the first ever confrontation between the two superpowers, would claim the lives of an estimated two point five million military members and civilians, including nearly thirty four thousand Americans. The DT would cease with an armistice on July nineteen fifty three, but the Geneva Conference of nineteen fifty four failed to produce a peace treaty, and the North and South remained tense enemies, and that's

the way things have pretty much continued. Though. In eighteen, North Korean dictator Kim Jong un and South Korean President Mun Jaen announced that they would work together toward a peace treaty, but after the collapse of a February summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, those tensions seemed likely to remain for a

while longer. In the US, the Korean War is sometimes called the forgotten War because it's overshadowed by the conflicts that came before and after it, the stirring victory of World War Two and the lengthy, painful ordeal of the Vietnam War. We spoke with Edward Rhodes, a professor on the faculty of the shar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, who is an expert in American foreign and national security policy. He said,

modern Americans don't think about it much. Vietnam was more traumatic and World War Two was more of victorious. Nevertheless, the overlooked conflict has exerted a powerful influence that still felt today. According to Rhodes, the war forever changed the course of US foreign and national security policy, compelling the US to accept a permanent military involvement around the globe

even in peace time. It also helped drive the creation of a vast US nuclear arsenal to deter possible Communist aggression, with the threat of annihilation, and a global nuclear arms race still continues. All this happened, according to Rhoads, after Korea, a nation that had been occupied by the Japanese from nineteen ten to nineteen forty five, was split into two by the U S and the U S s R. After World War Two. He explains, it was a practical matter.

There were Japanese armies that had retreated into Korea from Manchuria and they needed to be disarmed. We split that large task with the Soviet Union, with the understanding that the Soviets would disarm the Japanese in the north and

we would do it in the south. But as the Cold War developed between the US and its European allies and the Soviets, the temporary partition turned into a permanent one with the formation of a communist regime headed by Kim Eel sung in the north and an authoritarian pro American government headed by Sing Man e in the South. Each regime saw itself as the real government of Korea

and its rival as illegitimate. Kim eel sung decided to settle the matter by invading South Korea, and in May nineteen fifty finally obtained reluctant approval from his patron, the Stalin regime. About a month later, Kim launched a surprise attack, which initially had devastating results. The South Korean forces essentially dissolved the U n Security Council, taking advantage of a Soviet boycott of the body, then passed a measure calling

for member nations to assist the belaggered South Koreans. That mandate enabled US President Harry Truman to respond militarily without having to go to Congress for a declaration of war. Up until that point, the U s hadn't seen South Korea as having much strategic importance, a road said, but when the North Korean tanks rolled across the border, the image that flashed in Truman's mind was that this was

a repeat of what the Nazis did. His response is to stand up, thinking that if we had stood up to Hitler early on, the world would have been a better place. An outnumbered contingent of UN forces formed a desperate line of defense around the only part of South Korea not yet captured by the Communists, and managed to

hold off the invaders for two months. That gave General Douglas MacArthur, who had been placed in overall command of the U N forces, enough time to make an audacious, amphibious landing at Incheon, near the South Korean capital of Seoul, on September fifteenth, nineteen fifty, cutting off the over extended

North Koreans. McArthur's forces chased the invaders back north across the thirty eighth Parallel, and by mid October had captured the North Korean capital of Kyongyang, but MacArthur, over confident, kept pushing the North Koreans back to the Yalu River, the border with China. China then responded with a massive counter attack of between thirteen thousand and three hundred thousand troops. This time it was the UN forces who were driven back. A bloody stalemate on the ground developed as the US

pounded North Korea from the air. MacArthur eventually was relieved of his command by Truman and replaced with General Matthew Ridgeway. The US abandoned the idea of a total victory and shifted to a holding action against the communist forces. Rhodes said MacArthur embraced the idea that there's no substitute for victory.

You beat the enemy and they surrender. But Rhodes explained, after the Chinese intervention, quote, We're still in a situation where there's got to be a substitute for victory, because how are we going to fight the manpower of China. There's a realization that we can't fight this war to victory, and it's hard for the American people to accept. The longer the war stretched on, the more unpopular it became

back in the US. Many of the soldiers sent to Korea or reservists who had served in World War Two. Rhodes explained, They've got homes and families and jobs, and then they were called up and sent to fight another war. There was a feeling that this wasn't fair. Eventually, truman successor, President Dwight Eisenhower, ran on a promise that he would go to Korea and seek an end to the conflict.

Actually did that a month before his inauguration in three but though Eisenhower had ended the fighting, the Korean War still shaped his policies. Rhodes said Eisenhower looked at this as the wrong war at the wrong time, using the wrong weapons. He reaches the conclusion that with the Cold War going on with the Soviets, we have to plan for the long haul. We're going to sustain this kind

of military deterrence. That led to resources being pumped into the development of a massive nuclear deterrent that could be used to contain the Soviets. Additionally, Eisenhower began attempting to form alliances with more and more countries in an effort to create a unified front to hold off Communist aggression. We also spoke via email with Charles K. Armstrong, the Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Social Sciences

at Columbia University. He said the US was forced to take China more seriously as a military power after fighting to a stalemate in the Korean War. General MacArthur had severely underestimated the Chinese military's willingness to confront the US in capacity to fight, leading to a bad route for UN forces In the initial months after China entered the war.

China's participation in the Korean War also consolidated Mao's rule and dashed the hopes of sub Americans that the communist regime could be rolled back and replaced by Schangkai Shek's nationalists. Armstrong said a Mao's willingness to support the North Koreans directly, as opposed to Stalin's reluctance, helped solidify China North Korean relations and caused the North Koreans to be more distrustful

of the Russians. For the US, China was seen from the Korean War onward as the primary ally of North Korea and the primary great power there was an enemy of the US in Korea. The Armistice ended the fighting, but North Korea, now backed by the Chinese, remained as a belligerent enemy to South Korea. The ongoing threat meant that U S forces couldn't just withdraw and come home.

Armstrong notes the North Korean invasion in the emerging Cold War convinced American policymakers that the US needed a permanent military presence in Asia and Europe in order to contain communist aggression. I Additionally, the Korean war helped set the table for another even bloodier and more painful future conflict.

According to Armstrong, Korea led directly to the U. S decision to help the French against communist led insurgency in colonial Vietnam, and then, after the French defeat, to intervene in support of an anti communist regime in South Vietnam, which blocked an election called for by the nineteen fifty four Geneva Conference that helped set the stage for the

Vietnam War. Armstrong said the most lasting legacy of the Korean War for the US was the establishment of a global military presence over the long term and a commitment to confront communism throughout the world during the Cold War and for Korea in East Asia, ideological and military confrontation

that has lasted seven decades. That included a U. S force stationed in South Korea as a deterrent to North Korea, which in turn has a massive array of long range artillery and rockets equipped with chemical and biological weapons aimed at Seoul. That's in addition to the nuclear weapons and ballistic missile arsenal. The Trump so far has been unable to persuade the North Korean regime to give up. Today's episode was written by Patrick J. Keiger and produced by

Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more on this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works dot com, and for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.