To what extent was the Korean War part of the Cold War?

To What Extent was the Korean War a Part of the Cold War?

The Korean War, that began on the 25th of June 1950 and lasted until the 27th of July 1953, was a war between the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea). It was initially the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th parallel, with the US military forces occupying the southern half and Soviet military forces occupying the northern half. The 38th parallel increasingly became a political border between the two Korean states. Although reunification negotiations continued in the preceding months, tension increased. The situation accelerated into open warfare when North Korean forces invaded South Korea in June 1950. There are various reasons why it can be argued that the Korean War was part of the cold war or that it was far from that, but it is definitely true that the Korean War started as a civil war and eventually became a cold war. To start off, although many nations were involved in the Korean War and in that sense it was a cold war, one should remember that the Korean War itself began only after the North Korean attack and it can therefore be considered as a civil war. Both southern and northern sides had the same aim to unify Korea into a single country that shared the same culture, language and had historically been unified. It was because of this that the UN classified the attack by North Korea as a “breach of peace” rather than an act of aggression. And since the Korean War was initially only a result of conflict between both sides of Korea, it is therefore a civil war and not a cold war. As a matter of fact, it is also important to remember that the Korean War itself began and only took place in Korea and nowhere else and due to that it can be seen as a civil war entirely. Even though there might have been further intervention and help from other foreign states throughout the Korean War, the war itself only took place in Korea and it was between and depended entirely only on the two sides, North Korea and South Korea and due to this fact the Korean War can be seen as a civil war. Also, another major reason to why the Korean War might be considered a civil war and not a cold war is basically because both South and North Korea at that time had already gained independence from Japan and were therefore free and independent states. Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 and for the next 35 years had been oppressed and exploited by the Japanese Empire. There were many revolts and strikes during that time, but the independence only became official once the Japanese were defeated in World War II and the US and Soviet armies moved into Korea. For that reason, the Korean War that soon occurred can be seen as a civil war because the war arose with absolutely no intervention coming from Japan or any other foreign states, but simply because of the aims each side had and wished to achieve for themselves. On the other hand, the Korean War can be seen as a product of the cold war tension because like the cold war, the Korean War was a conflict between two opposing ideologies, communism and capitalism. By 1949 the cold war tensions were at boiling point because of events such as the Truman doctrine, Marshall plan and Berlin blockade, at these events things happened that caused tension and misunderstanding between the east and south. The Truman Doctrine stated that the US would aid any country under attack by armed minorities, it was made because of the situation in Greece but Stalin knew that it was aimed at preventing the spread of communism and this caused Stalin’s misunderstandings and anger which then resulted in a possible reason to why Stalin allowed the invasion from North Korea into South Korea. In addition to that, it is also critical to remember that Kim Il Jung’s North Korean invasion on South Korea that then lead to the Korean War, depended entirely on Stalin’s decision. The request from Kim Il Jung to invade South Korea lasted for years before Stalin finally agreed to it. It is unsure whether Stalin wanted Kim Il Jung to begin a war or not, but Stalin clearly declared his willingness to aid Kim with his decision. With this being said, it can evidently be seen that the Korean War depended a lot on the Soviet’s army and that for that reason it was a cold war conflict. If Stalin did not support the North Korean invasion, Kim would not have attacked since he knew he would lose and he could not afford that from happening. Likewise, intervention did not only come from the USSR, but also from the U.S. and China, which again makes the Korean War become more of a cold war conflict than a civil war. The U.S. provided 88% of the 341,000 international soldiers that aided South Korean forces, with twenty other countries of the United Nations offering assistance. When the U.N. drove the North Koreans past the 38th parallel and almost to the Yalu River, China entered the war on the side of North Korea which forced the Southern-allied forces to retreat behind the 38th parallel. Clearly, the Korean War had a lot of military intervention coming from foreign states and soon the war became a conflict between the U.S., China and the USSR rather than simply between the two sides of Korea. After analyzing and taking in consideration all of these major and minor factors in the Korean War, we can clearly see that the Korean War was a cold war conflict to a very large extent. It can be said that it started off as a civil war just between the South and North Korea, but it is a fact that later on it became a cold war conflict. Both sides of Korea dreamed of unification and followed completely different ideologies, a conflict between them was inevitable, and since both North and South Korea could not afford to lose their sides in a war, requesting for foreign military help and intervention was the best option. By the end of the Korean War the conflict was a lot bigger than expected. Many other states were intervened and some might even say that a possible World War III could have occurred. With all of that said, it is safe to conclude that the Korean War might have started as a civil war but it soon escalated to a cold war conflict between various nations.