The Korean War

1. After World War II. The Soviet Union and the United States agreed to divide Korea at the 38th parallel. They would control this territory until the people were ready to govern themselves.
2. In June 1950, communist North Korea, controlled by the Soviet Union invaded South Korea who was controlled by the United States, France and Great Britain. It was a suprised attack and South Korea wasn't quite ready for it.
3. Harry S. Truman thought that this would be the perfect time to test out his policy of containment.
4. At the beginning of the war North Korea was winning and they pushed South Korea all the way back to the little area of Pusan.
5. Originally, the goal of the USA was to claim back all of the land, but Gen. MacArthur ask to try and unite to whole of Korea under one democracy. President Harry Truman agreed and the USA began to conquer much more of Korea.
6. China entered the war because the United States were conquering too much of Korea. China pushed them back to the Armistice Line.
7. The Korean War wasn't very popular. Many people thought that we shouldn't waste money to fight this war for something that wasn't our problem. America also thought that we shouldn't be responsible for Korea's future.
8. Some people began to lose support for Harry Truman. People began to think that they should have pursued Korea and try to liberate the whole of Korea. General MacArthur really pushed for this. He was being a pain so President Truman retired him to his home.
9. At this point, there was a stalemate for almost two years. In the end a cease-fire ended the three year war of Korea.
10. The war didn't stop for a long time after the treaty. People were still fighting after the treaty. This was mainly a war to stop the spread of communism.