Click2History - Korean War - Chapter 4 - Why War?

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>KOREAN WAR</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 4 - WHY WAR?</font></b></p> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Korea, a small country numbering 30 million people in 1950, lies at <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/korea_eastsea01.jpg" target="_blank"><b>the point</b></a> where three great Asian powers (Japan, China, and the former Soviet Union) meet.</p> <p>At the end of WWII, preoccupied with Soviet intentions in western Europe, the United States attached little strategic importance to Korea. America did assist the South Koreans in national elections and helped them form the Republic of Korea <a href="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ks.html" target="_blank"><b>(ROK)</b></a>. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, took an active role in governing North Korea and in forming the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea <a href="http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/kn.html" target="_blank"><b>(DPRK)</b></a>.</p> <p>The United States Army withdrew its combat forces from South Korea in 1949 but left a military advisory group to assist the South Korean Army. In early 1950, the Soviets supplied weapons to (and assigned several thousand Russian soldiers as trainers for) the North Korean People’s Army. Armed clashes between North and South Korea were common along the <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/books/field/map3.jpg" target="_blank"><b>38th Parallel</b></a>, but in June 1950 American observers did not anticipate an invasion of the South.</p> <p>Determined to reunite Korea by force, the North <a href="http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/KW-Outbreak/map2.jpg" target="_blank"><b>invaded</b></a> the South on June 25, 1950. South Korean troops, <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/archive/photos/35percent67_7318.jpg" target="_blank"><b>fighting</b></a> in July and <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/archive/photos/medium_67_7415.jpg" target="_blank"><b>August</b></a> with relatively few reinforcements, were soon <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/archive/photos/Dmg_7_72_regular.jpg" target="_blank"><b>exhausted</b></a>. Civilians, ordered to evacuate their villages by the South Korean <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/archive/photos/images/30percent_67_7420.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Army</b></a>, became <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/archive/photos/images/50percent_67_7417.jpg" target="_blank"><b>refugees</b></a> as they moved south in the P’ohang sector on August 12, 1950.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="korean_war_ch3.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="korean_war_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER  </a>   <a href="korean_war_ch5.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>