On June 25th, 1950, 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People's Army rushed across the
38th parallel, a boundary drawn up between the United States and the Soviet Union which
separated Korea into north and south, with the north communist and firmly aligned with
the Soviet Union and the south democratic and aligned with the United States.
One month later the US would enter the war, anxious to achieve a quick armistice with
the North out of fear of dragging in the Soviet Union or China and launching World War III.
But how did a war that would last to this day begin?
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Infographics Show, today we're telling the
story of the Korean War.
Korea was seized as part of the Japanese empire early on in the 20th century.
After a stunning defeat of Russia, the world was forced to accept that Japan was a new
world power, and Japan itself was eager to add to its territories.
Unfortunately for the people of Korea, this meant that the Japanese army would occupy
the nation until the end of World War II.
Upon Japan's defeat however, something needed to be done about its former imperial holdings.
As part of its unconditional surrender, Japan was forced to recall its armies in Asia back
to its home island, and to give up most of its overseas territories.
Yet while Manchuria would be returned to the Chinese, nobody had any idea about what to
do with Korea.
Ultimately the nation was divided along the 38th parallel, and in a bid to seek to pacify
the Soviet Union, Soviet forces were allowed to take control of the north, and the Americans
would take control of the south.
Nobody by the way had bothered to ask the Koreans what they themselves wanted.
By 1950 the south was controlled by anti-communist dictator Syngman Rhee, which the US very reluctantly
supported.
The north however was enthusiastically supported by the Soviet Union, who had installed Kim
Il Sung as leader.
Both men wanted to reunify Korea under their own rule, and border skirmishes between the
two nations were common, with almost 10,000 troops killed in battle before the war officially
began.
Then came the major offensive from the North in the summer of 1950.
For the United States, the conflict was not a border dispute between two rival nations,
but rather part of a larger and growing struggle between the forces of communism and democracy.
The United States considered noninterference an impossibility, and a secret national security
council report even recommended that the United States use military force to contain communist
expansionism anywhere in the world, regardless of the intrinsic strategic or economic value
of the lands in question.
For the US, the die was cast, and what was quickly seen as a war of aggression backed
by the Soviet Union was met with US troops.
President Harry Truman would go on to say, “If we let Korea down the Soviets will keep
right on going and swallow up one place after another.”
This anti-communist sentiment would in later years lead to the 'domino effect' theory,
which claimed that if one nation was allowed to fall to communism, it would pave the way
for many others to do the same.
While the anti-communist fervor of the US would come to be derided by later generations,
the truth is that the Soviet Union very much wanted a unified, communist Korea, also believing
that an ultimate confrontation between democracy and communism was inevitable, and if that
fight was to come then the only way for any side to survive was to have the most allies.
In short, everyone believed that World War III was inevitable.
Despite the intervention of the United States and its allies, the war initially went very
badly for the democratic forces.
North Korean forces were backed with Soviet equipment and had received extensive training
from Soviet military advisers.
In fact, many of North Korea's operations were being actively planned by Soviet generals,
who put their vast experience combating the Japanese in Manchuria and the Germans in eastern
Europe to great effect.
North Korean forces were numerous, well disciplined, well equipped, and had high morale.
By contrast, South Korean forces had not received much training and suffered from very poor
morale.
US soldiers would often find their South Korean allies fleeing from battle at the slightest
provocation, and desertion was a common problem for South Korean military leaders.
While the US was initially supposed to supplement South Korean forces and fight a defensive
battle to push the North out of the South, they soon found themselves carrying the brunt
of the battle.
The extreme heat also worked against the American soldiers, who suffered from logistic and supply
problems and were often forced to refill their drinking canteens from rice paddies which
had been fertilized with human waste.
This led to outbreaks of disease and illness which further decreased US strength.
The US desperately needed to relieve pressure on its forces, and it was decided that an
amphibious invasion behind North Korean forces would be launched.
The plan was extremely risky, if the landings went poorly then American forces would be
destroyed on the beaches, overwhelmed by superior North Korean firepower- yet if it was successful
then North Korean forces would be cut off from their supply lines and forced to fight
on two fronts at the same time.
Kim Il Sung, leader of North Korea, was completely aware of the vulnerability of his forces to
being flanked by landings at his rear, and had even received some intel from the Soviets
that American landings at Inchon were possible- yet Kim Il Sun did not believe that the Americans
would attempt such a landing, as Inchon's beaches were notoriously treacherous and difficult
terrain and its dangerous tides only afforded a few hours of safety for landing craft.
On September 15th, 40,000 American troops and 8,600 South Korean troops forced a landing
at Inchon, fully 100 miles (160 km) behind the North's lines.
The attack was a complete surprise to the North, and the landing force met with relatively
light resistance.
From the east, American tank battalions rushed to encircle the North Korean forces, threatening
to trap the bulk of the North Korean army in the south.
North Korean forces rapidly retreated back to Seoul, the South's capital which they had
seized early on in the war.
A vicious battle levelled much of Seoul and saw the North's forces in full retreat, with
only 30,000 North Korean soldiers making it back to the north.
The way to Pyongyang was now clear, and an end to the war was in sight.
Back in the Soviet Union, Stalin berated several of his military commanders for the poor performance
of the North Korean military and held them personally responsible.
Some of them would not survive their failures.
President Truman however warned that advances into North Korea should be careful not to
provoke China, as he feared that it would lead to China's entry into the war and prompt
the Soviets to initiate attacks in Europe, launching the much feared democracy versus
communism World War III.
China's Mao Zedong had in fact warned the UN that in the case of safeguarding Chinese
national security, they would intervene if necessary against UN forces in Korea.
American General Douglas McArthur, commander of UN forces in Korea, however was sure that
China wouldn't dare risk full-out war against the US, specially given the fact that the
nation still lacked any serious military hardware and relied on mass infantry formations.
He also resented what he thought of as President Truman's appeasement of the Chinese, and thus
while President Truman tried to prevent war with the Chinese, General McArthur actively
tried to provoke it.
Unbeknownst to McArthur, he was about to get his wish, as for weeks now Chinese military
forces had been moving into North Korea.
While UN forces had encountered various Chinese military units, these were small in size and
thought to be nothing more than volunteers, thus General McArthur ignored intelligence
that said a growing Chinese force was massing in the mountains, believing that any Chinese
in North Korea were volunteer fighters and not actual troops.
Meanwhile, Stalin had been secretly communicating with Mao Zedong, telling him to send several
infantry divisions into North Korea, but warning that Soviet forces would not intercede in
the fight.
Diplomatic discussions between Mao and Stalin led to Stalin agreeing to lend some material
support, but no combat troops, and that he would offer the support of the Soviet air
force but only over Chinese air space.
This would be of little use to Chinese forces as none of the fighting was taking place in
China itself.
Still, some Soviet pilots did fly missions against UN forces, though they were careful
to always remain near the Chinese border in case they were shot down.
China immediately supplemented its forces in North Korea with a force of 200,000 troops,
which incredibly completely evaded detection by UN aerial reconnaissance.
This was achieved by marching only at night time and setting up elaborate camouflage while
resting during the day.
Strict discipline was enforced, and soldiers were to immediately duck for cover and remain
motionless if any aircraft were spotted overhead.
Chinese officers were authorized to shoot any security violators, and the measures,
while draconian, allowed three divisions of Chinese infantry to completely surprise South
Korean and UN forces.
Deep in North Korea, Chinese forces routed a South korean army, and then completely encircled
the US's 8th Cavalry Regiment, launching attacks from the north, northwest, and west.
UN forces were forced to retreat, but despite the huge success of their attack, the Chinese
mysteriously retreated to mountain hideouts instead of pushing the attack and capitalizing
on their victory.
Because of the sudden withdrawal though, UN command did not believe that China had truly
committed to the war, and thus continued to push north.
This would result in another series of deadly Chinese ambushes, the most famous of being
the Battle of Chosin Reservoir in which 30,000 UN troops, mostly Americans from the US's
X Corps, were surrounded by 120,000 Chinese troops.
The Chinese were ordered to completely destroy the UN forces, however for seventeen days
UN forces held their own under a brutal wintertime assault.
Eventually the encircled forces were able to break through the Chinese lines, and with
the aid of American Marines and the US Army's Task Force Faith, were able to retreat.
The battle would see 1,000 UN soldiers killed with 20,000 Chinese killed, mostly due to
the superior equipment and tactics of the Americans and their British and South Korean
allies.
The battle however marked the end of offensive operations into North Korea.
With China fully committed, President Truman desperately wanted to avoid a third world
war and thus ordered UN forces to move back to the 38th parallel.
As negotiations took place, fighting continued along the 38th parallel, until finally after
two years of negotiations, an armistice was signed on July 27th, 1953.
A cease fire which lasts to this day was immediately put into effect, but a satisfactory end to
the Korean war was never achieved.
Sadly, hostilities between north and south are still at an all time high, and the continued
backing of Russia and China allow North Korea, impoverished as it is, to survive.
Should President Truman have risked a wider war with China in order to defeat the communist
North?
Why or why not?
Let us know in the comments!
Also, be sure to check out our other video How Do North Koreans See America?.
Thanks for watching, and as always, don’t forget to like, share and subscribe.
See you next time.