Transcript Korean War - Thomas, Philip

Korean War
Alex Castillo, Gavin Brock, Ryan McNew
What started the war and who was involved?
The following states were involved in the Korean war: Russia, United States,
North Korea, South Korea, and China.
The war was between Communist North and Anti-Communist South, in
other words called a proxy war.
It started on North Korea invading South Korea in order for it to become
unioned to one communist nation instead of a separate nation.
What was the outcome of the war?
The korean war was short, but bloody with about 5 million people dead.
As the war went on it took two years for negotiations to take place. The war
ended with a stalemate on July 27, 1953.
The stalemate concluded with a division on the 38th parallel and a 2 mile wide
demilitarized zone.
Which historical figures were in the war and what were
their roles?
Anti communist dictator Syngman Rhee
Communist dictator kim il sung
U.S. President Harry Truman Macarthur
Mao Zedong
Macarthur was the U.S. army general who led fighting in the pacific theater during WW2. He played his role
by leading the war in korea, but he also ignored Truman’s orders for invading North Korea which ended
with them retreating.
Harry Truman played a tremendous role serving as the President and leading the UN to help with the war.
Positive Effects of Korean War
Boost the economy of Japan
Legitimize the United nations
Bring larger military expansion to the world
Established America’s chain of military bases around the world
Boosted the economy of Japan
Much of the material used in the war was bought from nearby Japan. This gave
Japanese economy such an dynamic boot after the ravages of WWII that
some have called the Korean War, Japan’s Marshal Plan.
The U.S. needed a supply line to fight in the korean war and Japan was the
obvious choice.
The Korean War had similar effects on the American economy, as defense
spending nearly quadrupled in the last six months of 1950.
Authorized the United Nations
The United Nations Security Council (which was being boycotted by Russia at this
time) asked for UN states to send troops to the region under a UN flag. The huge bulk
of the troops sent were American
Gained respect by taking prompt and direct action.
Used combined force to stop aggression. Achieved joint action by members.
Bring larger Military expansion to the world
Helped give the U.S. a larger military around the world by proving the U.S. military is
an unstoppable force.
It confirmed the ideas behind NSC-68, with its call for US to expand its military and to
lead an anti communist alliance.
Established America’s chain of military bases
around the world
Gave the United States the freedom to expand its military and have more bases
around the world.
Defense spending of the U.S nearly quadrupled in the last six months of 1950
for the military and expansion
Gave the U.S. military authorization to have the most military bases around the
world.
Negative effects of the Korean War
The Korean War helped prompt a rapid and serious escalation of the Cold War
between the United States and communist China and the USSR
This war represented the first direct war between communist and American forces
The United States considered a direct attack on China during the Korean War
Continuation of the Negative Effects
North Korea’s economic and agricultural infrastructure was almost completely
destroyed as a result of the war
The bombings annihilated much of the country’s agricultural lands and most of its
transportation system
The country of North Korea had a 12% decrease in the population due to the
constant bombing, disease, and famine
Living Conditions in Korea
Due to one of the hottest and driest summers on record, the thirsty American
soldiers had to drink water from the rice paddies. As a result, dangerous diseases
were very common.
During the frigid cold winter of 1950, U.S. soldiers had to deal with icy terrain,
shortage of cold weather gear, jamming guns, and frozen food rations
Costs of the Korean War
In North and South Korea, millions of refugees were scattered around the two
countries.
For the US, Defence spending went up from 12 to 60 billion dollars, failed to liberate
North Korea
After the war, russia was forced into an expensive arms and space race with America
China failed to win South Korea for Communism, and was isolated by America in
trade and politics
Casualties of the Korean War
1.3 million South Korean military, 520,000 North Korean military, and over 3
million civilian casualties
17,000 UN casualties
142,000 US casualties
900,000 Chinese casualties