Korean War Essay, Research Paper

In 1950-1953 South Korea was invaded by North Korea which began aCivil war. The Untied States was in the “forgotten war” and was against theNorth because it was a communist country. Many soldiers fought and lost theirlives. To most Americans the Korean War was labeled the “forgotten war”simply because it was in between the time of two major wars, World War II andthe Vietnam War. One reason why it was forgotten was because of it’s time in Americanhistory. It came after a World War which stopped a lot of thing that werehappening over in Europe. It stopped the reign of Hitler, Hirohito and Mussolini.It also stopped communism from ruling the western world. World War II tookplace from September 1939 to September 1945. Just 5 short years after thisgreat World War the Korean War began. World War II had a certain purposethat was accomplished during the War. Korea had a purpose that was to reunitethe Koreas that purpose was lost after the war started. Unlike in World War IIthe United States was victorious on what it was sent out to do but in the KoreanWar they were not able to get what they wanted so it was labeled a failure bymost Americans. The Vietnam War was another factor in it’s place of history that affected it.This war started 11 years after Korea was over. This war lasted from 1964 to1973. This was a long war where a lot of soldiers lost their lives. While this warwas going on back over in the United States people were protesting the war.These protests took a lot of attention off of the Korean War. The reason why ittook attention off of the Korean war was because this war scared the wholegeneration of the time. This war was very similar to the Korean war in manyways such as they were both failures and many soldiers lost their lives for noreason. Unlike Korea this war had no purpose at all that would have helped theUnited states in anyway. The media during this war was high andovershadowed the Korean War. Next some background on the war itself is necessary to help youunderstand it better: The Korean War affected the lives of all Americans , yet little is knownbeyond the antics of M*A*S*H (Brady, front cover) . There are many reasonswhy all these Americans who were affected by the war just wanted to forgetabout it. The Korean War just did not arouse Americans like World War II did.Korea only gave the American people a brief shelf in History books (Keyword:History Channel) . The loss of the Korean War gave the Americans no hero’s toremember or song to sing. Little did come out of this embarrassing war to theAmericans. The television show “M*A*S*H” and a combat journal by MartinRoss called “The Last Parallel” (Brady, pg.1). Unlike other wars when the fewAmericans returned home, the people did not have parades or crow the streets.Americans at home just went on with their lives as if nothing happened at all. Early morning of June 25, 1950, North Korean armed forces crossed the38th parallel of latitude (new border between North and South Korea) to theRepublic of Korea (South Korea). North Korea attacked South Korea for everypossible direction hoping to make the South a communist country like their own.The armed forces of the North pushed everyone west to the capitol of SouthKorea, Seoul. By June 28th of that same year, Seoul had fallen apart and theSouth Korean army was at full retreat. The United States reacted quickly even more quickly than the UnitedNations. President Harry S. Truman directed the General of the Army Douglas

MacArthur, commander of the United States occupation forces in Japan, toinsure the safe evacuation of United States civilians and to supply weapons andammunition to South Korea. Then on June 26, 1950 the United States air andnaval forces were sent over to help aid the South Korean ground units. TheUnited States reacted so quickly because they thought it would help with theireconomy. Before the war got into full action, Communist delegates from North Koreasaid they were willing to accept the 38th parallel as the new border between theNorth and South Korea (Martin, pg. 69). North Korea gave in a little bit when thedelegates said this because the feared of losing the war once the Untied Statesgot involved. South Korea wanted to accept this offer but the United States saidotherwise. The United States wanted both countries to become one under theSouthern government. Shortly after the United Nations had advanced into North Korea inSeptember of 1950, the Communist China had secretly began to recruit troopsinto North Korea(Young Students, p.124). The United Nations air and seapatrols did not detect any sign of the Chinese moving into North Korea becausethe Chinese sent300, 000 soldiers over by boat during the nights. During the Korean War the President of the United States of America wasHarry S. Truman. Harry S. Truman acted quickly getting the United Statesinvolved. This war should have been between the Koreas and no one else.The only way the United States should have ever became involved was if NorthKorea would have received help from the Communist China. The way Trumanacted was wrong and killed many of men because of his actions. There was justno reason at all for us to go ever there because no matter what would havehappened the United States wouldn’t have achieved a thing from the war(Barker, TBarker@onramp,net). On the morning of July 27, 1953 gun fire feel silent over North and SouthKorea. A treaty was singed due to North Korea and China’s loss and the twocountries decided it was time to end the war that was accomplishing nothing. In this treaty that was singed it stated that prisoners captured during thiswar that lasted thirty-seven months had a choice to stay where they were now orgo back home, the 38th parallel became the new border between the twocountries. Yet, no land was gained or lost by either side. After Truman got the United States involved he could have saved thelives of many soldiers. The North Korean leaders proposed a truce that wouldhave restored the two Koreas to the way they were before they invaded SouthKorea. The South Korean government liked this idea but President Trumanwanted to reunite the two Koreas under the South Korean government. So thewar went on another two and a half years. Soon after Truman turned down thetruce the Chinese started to send troops over to help North Korea. This justmade things worse for President Truman. Truman got another country into thewar and caused 900,000 deaths alone with the Chinese. Truman caused thesedeaths because he didn’t accept the truce that North Korea offered. By notaccepting this truce he made China get involved with the war. The Forgotten War will never be a popular war. It should be looked on asan important war because of all the soldiers who gave their lives. All 54,000soldiers who died should not be forgotten. Perhaps in the future people will lookback at this war and remember it and will add a little more text about it in theAmerican History text books. Perhaps in the future everyone will learn about thiswar and appreciate all the lives that were taken during the war, and it won’t bereferred to as the forgotten war.