brief explanation of the impact of the war in korea 1950 -1953 during the cold war. done in a history lesson

1. What was the impact
of war in Korea?
By Rachel, Alizeh and Alisha

2. Background…
• China became communist in 1949
• America had thought of China as an
ally
• Truman found out that Stalin was
using cominform to help
communists get to power in
Malaysia, Indonesia, Burma, the
Philippines and Korea.

3. The Domino Theory…
• The domino theory was a theory
during the 1950s to 1980s, promoted
at times by the government of the
United States, that speculated that if
one state in a region came under the
influence of communism, then the
surrounding countries would follow in
a domino effect.

4. The roots of the Korean War…
• South Korea was invaded in 1950
• After the war North Korea was
liberated by Soviet troops
• And South Korea by the
Americans
• The south was anti-communist
but the north was controlled by a
communist leader

5. • In 1950 the hostility between North
and South turned into war.
• Communists took control over all of
South Korea apart from a small corner.
• The United States came to South
Korea's aid because at this stage of the
Cold War, policymakers did not want to
appear "soft on Communism” and so
the US intervened as part of a "police
action" run by a UN (United Nations)

6. Conditions were awful, with
treacherous cold and blinding snow-
storms in the winter 1950-1951.
Many civilians suffered as a result of
the war and there were also reports
of prisoners of war being treated
very badly.

7. • General Douglas MacArthur commanded the US
forces which now began to hold off the North
Koreans at Pusan, at the southernmost tip of Korea.
• MacArthur crushed the North Korean army
• Instead of being satisfied with his rapid re-conquest
of South Korea, MacArthur crossed the 38TH Parallel
and pursued the North Korean army all the way to
the northernmost provinces of North Korea
• Afraid that the US was interested in taking North
Korea as a base for operations against Manchuria, the
People's Republic of China secretly sent an army
• This Chinese army attacked the US/UN/ROK forces.

8. • General Matthew Ridgway took MacArthur's
command and held off the Communists with
strong fortifications and entrenchments just north
of the 38TH Parallel
• Peace negotiations dragged on at Kaesong then
moved and continued to drag at Panmunjom
through 1951 and 1952.
• The US tried using strategic bombing to intimidate
the Communists into negotiating a peace
treaty, but they wouldn't budge, particularly on
the issue of POW (Prisoner of War) repatriation.

9. • Neither side wanted to appear weak so
the talks went on, occasionally breaking
down for months.
• In 1953 a peace treaty was signed at
Panmunjom that ended the Korean
War, returning Korea to a divided status
essentially the same as before the war.
• Neither the war nor its outcome did
much to lessen the era's Cold War
tension

10. What was the impact in Korea?
• The Korean War finally ended in July 1953. Left
in its wake were four million military and civilian
casualties, including 33,600 American, 16,000
UN allied, 415,000 South Korean, and 520,000
North Korean dead.
• There were also an estimated 900,000 Chinese
casualties.
• Half of Korea's industry was destroyed and a
third of all homes. The disruption of civilian life
was almost complete.

11. • Try to imagine for a moment what life
must have been like for civilians trying to
avoid invading armies during the first year
of the war when battle lines shifted back
and forth through the countryside every
few months.

12. • Each time opposing armies swept through an
area, homes and personal possessions would be
damaged or destroyed by shelling or bombing, crops
would be trampled, livestock would be stolen for
food, and civilians would be harmed by stray gunfire or
random violence by individual soldiers.
• If found, male civilians could be forcefully drafted to
fight, and anyone could be accused as being a supporter
of the "other" side and then imprisoned or summarily
executed.