The Korean War

~**10 Important Things You Should Know About the Korean War**~

1. When the Korean War first started, North Koreans pushed South Koreans into the southeastern pennisula Pusan.The commander of all UN forces, General Douglas MacArthur, reversed the situation by placing his troops in the port city of Inchon, behind North Korean lines.

2.After ignoring the warning of the Chinese, UN forces pushed on toward the Yalu River. November 25, 1950 was the day hundreds of thousands of Chinese Communist troops attacked the Yalu River into North Korea, sending UN troops flailing back to South Korea, leaving both sides "trapped" at the 38th parallel early in 1951.

3. Truman "dodged" a world war by ordering MacArthur not to bomb China, and blockade their coastline. He feared this would get the USSR involved, and he didn't want that to happen. Eventually this led to him firing MacArthur for undermining civilian control of the military.

4. The North and South Korean governments kept an uneasy peace from 1945-1950

5. In June 1950, Joseph Stalin, the general secretary of the USSR, became eager to expand communist domination. He ordered N. Korea's leader to unite the country under communism.

6. On July 15th, 1950, tanks drove across the 38th parallel, while 100 thousand well trained and armed combat troops swarmed into S. Korea, without resistance of S. Korea's army

7. The Security Council of the United Nations called an emergency session. The USSR didn't attend, which left the US, Britain, and France pass a resolution urging members to help defend S. Korea against attack.

8. Mao Zedong believed American forces helping S. Korea was part of an American scheme to expand itself into East Asia and perphaps China itself.

9. North and South Korea agreed to a cease-fire on June 7th, 1953.

10. The US fought the Korean War to prevent communism from spreading in Asia.