The Korean War was between North Korea, a communist state, and South Korea. It was the first major strife of the Cold War; the Soviet Union supported North Korea and the United States backed South Korea. The German and Italian tyrants, Hitler and Mussolini, were defeated by 1945 after which United States and Soviet Union turned to fighting Japan later in the year. After General MacArthur forced the Japanese to surrender, the USSR and the United States acquired control of the adjacent Korean Peninsula, which had previously been under Japanese seizure starting at the turn of the twentieth century. With the decision to divide Korea at the 38th parallel, the Soviet Union overtook control in the north and the United States in the south.…