MARISSA HOWELL - 7. Korean War - Webquest
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John Ehret High School **We aren't endorsed by this school
Course
HIST 11
Subject
History
Date
Nov 9, 2023
Pages
3
Uploaded by DoctorOtterMaster3751 on coursehero.com
Social Studies
Name:
Directions:
Complete the following questions using the link listed below.
https://www.history.com/topics/korea/korean-war
1.
When did the Korean War begin?
-
The Korean war began on June 25, 1950.
2.
What caused the outbreak of the Korean War?
-
Some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People's Army poured across the
38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People's
Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the
south.
3.
Explain how Korea was divided between the northern half and the southern half.
How did this division occur? Where did this division occur?
-
Since the beginning of the 20th century, Korea had been a part of the
Japanese empire, and after World War II it fell to the Americans and the
Soviets to decide what should be done with their enemy's imperial
possessions. In August 1945, two young aides at the State Department
divided the Korean peninsula in half along the 38th parallel. The Russians
occupied the area north of the line and the United States occupied the area to
its south.
4.
By the end of the decade, two new states had formed on the peninsula. In the
south
, the anti-communist dictator
Syngman Rhee
(1875-1965) enjoyed the
reluctant support of the American government; in the, the communist dictator
Kim Il Sung
(1912-1994) enjoyed the slightly more enthusiastic support of the
Soviets.
5.
In what way did the growing conflict in Korea symbolize the overall Cold War?
-
Many feared it was the first step in a communist campaign to take over the
world.
6.
How did President Harry S. Truman view the Korean War?
-
"If we let Korea down," President Harry Truman said, "the Soviet[s] will keep
right on going and swallow up one [place] after another." The fight on the
Korean peninsula was a symbol of the global struggle between east and west,
good and evil, in the Cold War.
7.
Who was Douglas MacArthur?
-
Douglas MacArthur was a General and was the commander in charge of the
Asian theater.
8.
What role did China play in the conflict? How did it impact the decisions of the
Americans?
-
As American troops crossed the boundary and headed north toward the
Yalu River, the border between North Korea and Communist China, the
Chinese started to worry about protecting themselves from what they
called "armed aggression against Chinese territory." Chinese leader Mao
Zedong sent troops to North Korea and warned the United States to keep
away from the Yalu boundary unless it wanted full-scale war.
9.
Explain the tensions that grew between MacArthur and Truman. What was the
source of the tensions and what did it lead to?
-
This was something that President Truman and his advisers decidedly did not
want: They were sure that such a war would lead to Soviet aggression in
Europe, the deployment of atomic weapons, and millions of senseless deaths.
To General MacArthur, however, anything short of this wider war represented
"appeasement," an unacceptable knuckling under to the communists.
-
As President Truman looked for a way to prevent war with the Chinese,
MacArthur did all he could to provoke it. Finally, in March 1951, he sent a letter
to Joseph Martin, a House Republican leader who shared MacArthur's support
for declaring all-out war on China-and who could be counted upon to leak the
letter to the press. "There is," MacArthur wrote, "no substitute for victory"
against international communism.
-
For Truman, this letter was the last straw. On April 11, the president fired the
general for insubordination.
10. Explain how the Korean War ended.
-
In July 1951, President Truman and his new military commanders started peace
talks at Panmunjom. Still, the fighting continued along the 38th parallel as
negotiations stalled. Both sides were willing to accept a ceasefire that
maintained the 38th parallel boundary, but they could not agree on whether
prisoners of war should be forcibly "repatriated." (The Chinese and the North
Koreans said yes; the United States said no.)
-
Finally, after more than two years of negotiations, the adversaries signed an
armistice on July 27, 1953. The agreement allowed the POWs to stay where
they liked; drew a new boundary near the 38th parallel that gave South Korea
an extra 1,500 square miles of territory; and created a 2-mile-wide
"demilitarized zone" that still exists today.
11.
The Korean War was relatively short but exceptionally bloody. Nearly 5 million
people died. More than half of these-about 10 percent of Korea's prewar
population-were
civilians
. (This rate of civilian casualties was higher than World
War II's and Vietnam's.) Almost
40,000
Americans died in action in Korea, and
more than
100,000
were wounded.
12.
What is the legacy of the Korean War? Why is it still significant today?
-
The Korean War, despite being so short, resulted in the death and injury of
thousands. The war reverberated for decades in Washington and around the
world as it was the first conflict the UN Command participated in. It militarized
American foreign policy-making, replacing the diplomatic efforts of the late
1940s with a new emphasis on intervention capabilities as a key measure of
international power.
-
The Korean War also led to the concept of "limited war," setting the stage for
U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
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