Monday, April 21, 2014

Reasons behind American involvement in the Korean War

In the last readings, we read about differing positions as to whether involvement in Korea would thwart a potential third World War, or whether Korea's fall to communism would have minimal effects, so long as Japan, Taiwan, and the Phillipines remained under the United States' sphere of influence.  What is your position on this issue?  Do you think, now that you know how Korea ended, that the US and the UN made the right move by intervening in the Korean conflict?  Does Truman's reference to past events (large empires intervening in more vulnerable countries) carry weight in the answer to this question?

18 comments:

  1. I believe that the US and the UN made the best decision they were able to based on the information they had at the time and the history they knew. If we had not intervened, it is hard to imagine what may have happened. Even though a huge number of people died, nearly 5 million, the death rate could have been even higher if we had not stepped in. Truman believed that communism in Korea was the same as those defined by Hitler, Mussolini, and the Japanese implemented years before. Truman thought that if Korea was to fall to communism, the Korean leaders would be emboldened to then take over other countries near them geographically. Truman believed that no small nation would be able to resist the advances of communism on their government.

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  2. I think the United States made the right decision with the United Nations because if they did not intervene then the third World War would happen. As Lauren said, "if we didn't intervene the death rate could have been higher." I agree with this statement because 5 million people dead is nothing compared to the astonishing figure of World War II's death rate, 56,125,262 million people. Truman wanted to end the communism in Korea because it exemplified the same characteristics as previous communist leaders.

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  3. The US got involved in Korea to save face and to appear strong against communism, not because Korea was vital to American interests. Somewhat ironically, South Korea was only a sham democracy under Syngman Rhee, who was really just as tyrannical as North Korea's Kim Il-Sung. Once again, this set a Cold War pattern for the US: support of anti-communists who were quite blatantly dictators themselves, and the tautological justification of that US support for the simple reason that these dictators were anti-communist.

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  4. What if North Korea won the war and swallowed up South Korea?

    Then I guess World War III would happen, or Korea would probably end up with killing itself.

    Look at North Korea and South Korea now, you surely can tell the difference, right?

    I am a Chinese student from China, as you known it is called a communism country, but I do think that it was a right thing to keep North Korea and South Korea separate and don't cause any warfare. To be honest, I think North Korea was using "communism" as a title to cover its prototype as a feudal hereditary country (grandfather and father and son keep ruling the country? BS.), why don't we look at China, it was a communism country, but it survived and getting stronger. Communism could a better thing than capitalism in a certain cases and I think we (Chinese people) needed it at one point in the history, and now we've grown up, and we are transforming our country, although it was still called a communism country, we are doing more of socialism.

    When the Korean War happened, it was a right thing that the US, UN, Soviet Union, and China were controlling the situation, if not, what would Korea be today? What would our world be today? See now North Korea leader was claiming that they were making Nuclear weapon, what if this happened in the 1950s?

    You know what I mean ;)

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  5. I think that the United States intervening on behalf of the United Nations in the Korean war was ultimately the best decision. It stopped the spread of Communism into South Korea which helped it get to where it is today, it also gave the US influence over Asian affairs up until the present. The US failed, however, in acting militarily smart under the leadership of General McArthur, bringing international shame. I do not think that the takeover of korea would lead to WWIII.

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  6. Overall i think that the United States and the United Nations decision to intervene Korea was the best decision possible for everybody.In the article/ reading it talks about an interview between and interviewer and who i believe was someone from the Truman administration. In the interview, the person from the Truman administration says something along the lines of, "I am afraid it is going to be seriously considered because I'm afraid it's going to happen, whether we want it to or not. I'm for Korea". To me this quote shows that fact that the United States at this point saw it inevitable to intervene in Korea with the UN.

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  7. I believe the decision to step in with the Korean War was the best decision. Although largely the US's involvement was to prevent the spread of Communism the outcome was what it needed to be. If Communism was the spread to the South of Korea surly WW3 would have occurred and if this would have happened the amount of lives would have been so much worst. Not to mention that the advanced machinery would have lead to even more deaths. And even if it had not happen, we all see where North Korea is today. I agree with Andrew, North Korea isn't just a Communist country but one lead by family ties which make it weak, because if one leader didn't have the leadership qualities to lead than the country goes into havoc. Imagine if that were all of Korea today. Imagine if they had all those people to fight for them, things would not be good.

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  8. I believe as well that the intervention of the United States and the UN on the Korean war was by far the best decision that could have been made. The number of deaths was not as high as it could have been if the US and the UN had decided to not do anything. It would have lead to a World War III for sure and many more nations would have been involved and many more people would have been murdered. Truman's main goal while interveining was to stop the expansion of communism and save South Korea of becoming communist as well. His goal was accomplished, which is good because a bigger dictatorship that could have lead to many more deaths such as Stalin's dictatorship for instance. If Truman never intervened, both North and South Korea would have been uncomunicated with the rest of the world and a bigger and extremely communist nation with a powerful and dangerous dictator, as North Korea is actually today. Therefore it was a really good decision of Truman and the US and the UN to intervene because at least they saved the Southern part of Korea of being under the dictatorship that North Korea has been through for the last decades.

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  9. I think that the US had to stop Korea from moving in and taking over the south, but ultimately it was more focused on stopping communism and the spread of it. The problem was If North Korea had won, then the smaller countries would have been influenced by communism because of Russia. The US had to intervene so that communism would not be spread. They ultimately had to stop communism from taking over.

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  10. The involvement of the US in Korea was a good move because the idea was to keep other countries from falling to communism. The other countries did not fall under communism so it was successful to intervene. Although we didn't necessarily win the war, the goal in containment was successful. If they didn't intervene, then the other countries probably would have fallen because of heavy influence from Korea. Truman saved South Korea from falling into communism, which was important because if the whole state of Korea was communist, they would be an even bigger communist power. Also, more communism means more deaths in Korea, so it saved many lives. World War III would have been imminent based on the battle between communism and democracy. More countries would have gotten involved from their political status, and more people would have died. Intervening prevented a lot of chaos.

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  11. I believe that the US stepping in to help Korea was a good idea and it helped to keep the countries from falling into communism. Not intervening would have been a msitake, and this way we prevented an even further spread of communism across the globe. Overall the US definitley mad a smart move by stepping in and helping south korea, otherwise it wouldnt be were it was today (unlike NOrth korea)

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  12. Well I believe it was a good idea for United States to get involved. I believe a reason why they got involved was to show how big and mighty they are. But also another reason why I believe they got involved was because they were so scared of communism. They thought that if they didn't do anything communism would spread around the whole world and would eventually come to the United States. That is how powerful communism was at the time and was getting stronger by the day. So the United States had to contain it and stop the spread.

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  13. I think America made the right move in getting involved. Truman had been getting criticized for all his appeasement and the American people were very fearful of Communism. See, communism was having a domino effect. The Korean War just prevented one country from making the transition. It depends how you view war in general. I think that this whole thing was a power struggle between the US and Russia, and by preventing South Korea from becoming communist, America came out triumphant.

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  14. I believe that the United States government and the United Nations made a good choice declaring "Police Actions" against the North Korea. Truman was known for being soft on communism and it was necessary for him to prove the public wrong. Plus, it was necessary for the United States government because of their containment policy. If they let the north korean communist invade the south, It will be another country falling into communism based on Stalin's plan.

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  15. I personally think it is not profitable for U.S. to limit the Communism in Korea. The outcome of the war did not limit any Communism power. It is a waste for U.S. to use its military power on Korea. According to Senator Tom Connally, Korea is not an absolute essential part in the chain of defense. Either South Korea and North Korea is significant enough to influence others. U.S.'s motivation on invading Korea is more about showing their power to the Soviet Union. Truman's intention behind his decision is not simply wanting to eliminate Communism, but stating his determination on fighting Communism.

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  16. In and of itself, Korea was a small and unimportant nation. Many of the American soldiers sent over there had probably not even known where Korea was located. Also, Korea did not fit into America's Defensive Perimeter in the East. So it is easy to think that we should not have intervened in Korea; it was not worth the lives that were lost. However, it was the message that was sent to the Soviet world that was more important than an actual victory in Korea. Had we not defended the South Koreans, China and the USSR would have thought that they could invade any weak, Democratic country without retaliation. It would have caused a domino effect. It is difficult to say whether this would lead to a third World War, but it would have definitely allowed the Soviets to vastly increase their sphere of influence. Although it may have seemed unreasonable to enact the Containment policy in such a minuscule country, the effects of the alternative would have been far worse. Therefore, there is no doubt that the US and the UN made the right decision by intervening in the Korean conflict.

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  17. After the reading, I think the fall of Korea peninsula into communism could be significant to the course of capitalism to today. US, at the moment, was the only influential country which was capitalist. If US have had be less aggressive in Korea War. Taiwan, Japan would fell into communism as soon as communist take over Korea. Then, it would be hard for America to contain communism. Also I think WWIII would be more likely to happen because US would not easily surrender even when every other countries are communists. In a conclusion, the US/UN had made a right move in stepping into Korean War.

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  18. if only a less costly and deadlier way could have been produced to stop the progression of communism then, the UN's choice to intervene is more justifiable. communism could have been allowed to spread and it was a fierce test for NATO. as seen today north korea is a volatile and dangerous nation, it only posses half of the korean peninsula. the difference from north and south korea is a drastic representation of two lifestyles, one of freedom and one of complete obedience

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