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Korean War

  • Korean war began June 25, 1950 when soviet backed Korean troops from the north of the 38th parallel crossed the boundary into the democratic backed southern Korea.
  • The primary combatants included the United States at the forefront of the UN troops, North and South Korea, and the Peoples Republic of China, who backed the Communist Northern Korean troops.
  • North Korea was successful in pushing the UN southward until September of 1950 when Korean War hero General Douglas MacArthur successfully took back Inchon, South Korea near Seoul, South Korea. Despite the occasional retreat at the hands of Chinese troops, UN soldiers were able to resist.
  • The Korean War drew into a stalemate with relatively little gain on either side, prompting a debate in the United States where Republicans began questioning the patriotism of President Truman and the Democrats, leading to a landslide presidential election victory for Eisenhower, a Republican.
  • The war ended with no official treaty, but rather a ceasefire in July of 1953 that solidified the 38th parallel as a separation between North Korea, who established a communist regime, and South Korea, who established a democratic system and became a manufacturing superpower in Asia.



Vietnam War

  • Similarly to Korea, the Vietnam War began as a conflict between the Chinese backed Northern Communist Vietnam, and the Southern United States backed Democratic Southern Vietnam.
  • The war lasted from 1955 to 1975 officially, but U.S. involvement dates back to 1946 when the U.S. began sending aid to French troops in South East Asia in France’s attempt to restore its imperial empire.
  • Conflict in Vietnam began in the early 1940’s when Vietnamese resistance troops under Ho Chi Minh started fighting French occupation.
  • The conflict escalated in the 50’s when Northern Vietnam turned to Communism, which U.S. president Eisenhower perceived as a threat. Worried the rest of SouthEast Asia would turn to Communism, the United States sent forces to occupy Vietnam, prompting fighting to begin between the U.S. occupying forces and the Northern Viet Cong troops.
  • The turning point in the war was the Viet Cong launch of the Tet Offensive, a plan that involved attacks on over 40 Southern Korean cities.
  • The prolonged length of the conflict and the Tet Offensive sparked a reaction from the college age Americans, who began the peace movement and petitioned the war and hostilities between nations.
  • Civilian casualties were extreme due to the U.S. strategy of bombing and then sweeping forests with troops. The Vietnam forests was devastated due to the use of Napalm and flamethrowers.
  • The homefield advantage possessed by the viet cong and their jungle guerilla tactics alongside Sun Tzu Art of War manipulation of war tactics gave the Viet Cong an unprecedented advantage over the U.S. troops with no advantages besides numbers and military technology, which proved ineffective in the end.
  • Despite heavy losses of over 700,000 troops, the Viet Cong won the war in 1975 with a U.S. withdrawal of troops, uniting North and South Korea into a single communist nation.



Conclusion

  • Both wars involved prior conflict between the West and the East, but the scale of the Cold war drew the conflicts into prolonged battles between the Democratic and Communist nations who refused to let South and SouthEast Asia fall into the hands of the opposite side, becoming not only wars to decide the future of the concerned nation, but also the future of the Cold war and the power levels of the Communist and Democratic nations, each determined to end the power of the other system.


Academic Sources

  • Axelrod, Alan, and Charles L. Phillips. "Korean War." Wars in the Contemporary World (1950 to Present). Facts On File, 2015. Modern World History Online. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
  • Carlisle, Rodney P. "Korean War." Encyclopedia of the Atomic Age. Facts On File, 2001. Modern World History Online. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
  • Ackermann, Marsha E. "Korean War." Encyclopedia of World History, Vol. 6. Facts On File, 2013. Modern World History Online. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. <http://online.infobase.com/HRC/Search/Details/244472?q=korean war>.
  • "Vietnam War." History in Literature. Facts On File, 2004. Modern World History Online. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
  • Perkins, Dorothy. "Vietnam War." Encyclopedia of China. Facts On File, 1998. Modern World History Online. Web. 23 Mar. 2016.
  • Seelye, James E. "Vietnam War." Encyclopedia of World History, Vol. 6. Facts On File, 2013. Modern World History Online. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. <http://online.infobase.com/HRC/Search/Details/243926?q=vietnam war>.
  • Axelrod, Alan, and Charles L. Phillips. "Vietnam War." Wars in the Contemporary World (1950 to Present). Facts On File, 2015. Modern World History Online. Web. 23 Mar. 2016. <http://online.infobase.com/HRC/Search/Details/209596?q=vietnam war>.
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