South Korea Proxy War

The Cold War was fought between the United States and the Soviet Union, however, there was never any direct contact between the two nations. In this war, the United States fought for capitalism and the Soviet Union fought for communism. The United States and Soviet Union fought each other through Proxy wars - wars incited by a major power that does not participate in the war. Two examples of Proxy wars during the Cold War are the Korean and Vietnam Wars. The Korean war began in 1950 when North Korea surprise attacked South Korea. While China fought for North Korea who supported communism, the United States backed South Korea who was a non-communist country. Three years after the war started, in 1953, an armistice was signed and the Korean war
ended. The United States became involved in the Vietnam war in 1964 when President Johnson claimed that North Vietnam attacked United States destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin to Congress. He also believed in the Domino Theory - the theory that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Indochina would too. In response, Congress approved sending United States troops to fight alongside France in South Vietnam against North Vietnamese nationalists because they did not want a communist victory. After comparing and contrasting the causes and effects of the Vietnam and Korean war, it becomes evident that there are many different causes and effects of these two wars. The Vietnam and Korean wars had common causes and effects such as their starting point, fighting sides, division lines, and death and injury tolls. Both countries were separated at a parallel; Korea was separated at the 38th parallel and Vietnam was separated at the 17th parallel. Because of this, the northern parts of these countries were easily accessed by the Soviet Union and were subject to the communist ideology they fought for. However, the southern parts of these countries were further away from the Soviet Union’s influence and were impacted by the United States. The main cause for the United States’ involvement in both wars was the demand for the containment of communism. While the United States did not want communism, the Soviet Union encouraged communism. Therefore, the United States intervened and attempted to fight the Soviet Union and its communist ideologies. After World War II, when the United States slowly withdrew troops from South Korea, the Soviet Union believed that the United States would not fight back to defend South Korea, therefore North Korea attacked South Korea which involved the United States the Korean War. During the Vietnam war, however, the United States asked the Congress to send troops to South Vietnam because President Johnson claimed that North Vietnam attacked United States destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. The United States was attacked first in both wars, entailing the United States to assault the Soviet Union back. In both cases, the United States is impacted less according to the rates of dead, wounded, and missing soldiers and civilians. During the Korean war, the United States lost 54,000 lives in total while Korea lost four million soldiers and civilians. Likewise, during the Vietnamese war, the United States had 58,000 dead, 303,000 wounded, and 750 imprisoned soldiers while Vietnam had a total for four million wounded and killed Vietnamese people. Due to the location of the wars, the United States had no civilian casualties. Furthermore, after the United States withdrew from South Vietnam, more than an additional two million people died because of uprisings. The two Proxy wars during the Cold War consisted of different effects that resulted in the demise of many people.
After the Korean war, North Korea established collective farms, heavy industry, and a strong military with nuclear weapons, but they also developed strong economic issues. Under the help of the United States, South Korea prospered. Industry and foreign trade flourished and from the 1980’s to the 1990’s, South Korea had one of the highest economic growth rates. Moreover, in 1987, South Korea allowed free elections. Because of the political difference, North and South Korea did not unify. The United States still kept troops in South Korea and North Korea’s nuclear weapons is one of the biggest obstacles between the two countries. However, after the Vietnam war, North and South Vietnam coalesced under communism. Thousands of Vietnamese were sent to “reeducation camps” to conform to communism ideology and one and a half Vietnamese tried to flee the communist oppression forced upon them by the North Vietnamese. More that 200,000 died at sea trying to escape on overcrowded boats. The 70,000 Vietnamese who did escape ended up settling in North America or refugee camps in South East Asia. Subsequently, Korea remains divided and Vietnam stays merged into a communist
country. A side by side comparison of the causes and effects of the Vietnam and Korean war illustrates that there were different causes and effects of these wars waged for the containment of communism. Similar causes and effects include the entry point of the United States into these wars, what each side of the war fought for, how the countries were divided, and the death and injury tolls. Different effects of these Proxy wars are the resolutions of the sides that fought in the war and the final result of the nation after the war. The Korean war resulted in a stalemate but overall was a success for containment, however, the Vietnamese war allowed communism to spread into South Vietnam - a failure for containment.