Cold War 1151

The Korean War (1950-/953)

Adjoining China, Korea had a Communist “people’s republic” in the north,
supported by the Soviet Union, and in the south, a republic created under
the patronage of the United States. In June 1950, North Korean troops,
upon Stalin’s go-ahead, invaded the southern zone. General Douglas
MacArthur took command of the U.S. forces defending South Korea,
backed by small contingents sent by other members of the United Nations,
which had passed a resolution condemning the Communist invasion. For
the first time—with the exception of events in Greece—Communist and
non-Communist forces engaged in open warfare, a conflict fought with
conventional weapons, but with nuclear bombs lurking in the background.
Although Chinese troops were aiding the northern side, U.S. forces
pushed back the Communist forces in 1951. In any case, neither side
wanted to see the war expand beyond Korea. The armistice signed in July
1953 left the division between North and South Korea almost the same as

before the war, but at the cost of 3 million casualties (including 140,000
U.S. troops killed or wounded).
The Korean War heightened Cold War tensions in Europe. To the Allies,
the war raised the outside possibility of a Soviet-led invasion of the Ger­
man Federal Republic, similar to that launched by North Korean troops
against South Korea. In the United States, the war contributed to a mood

U.S. marines file past a burning building in North Korea during

the Korean War, 1950.