Cold War Effects

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“If we let Korea down,” President Harry Truman stated, “the Soviets will keep right on going and swallow up one [place] after another.” The “hot war” of the Cold War period, which had suffering effects, lead into the background to the Korean War and the subsequent roles of the superpowers’ roles at the beginning of the war with Kim II Sung, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong.
In 1910, Japan had formally annexed Korea and was still in occupation of Korea when World War Two (WWII) ended. It was decided that the United States and USSR would take mutual responsibility for expelling the Japanese forces there. The 38th parallel line of latitude was taken as the splitting point with the USSR dominating Korea north of the line and the United States occupying …show more content…
Both Synghman Rhee and Kim II Sung sought to unite the country; therefore creating a civil war that would arise of superpower involvement. Kim II Sung set a large amount of work into convincing Stalin to aid an attack on the South. Stalin’s support was a key significance to giving his approval near 1950. Stalin’s global role in the Korean War seemed restored such as: Communists won the Chinese Civil War, Soviets now had the atomic bomb, the West was fronting financial struggles, the spread of Soviet influence to Asia, United States was changing Japan into a powerful ant-Communist base, and Stalin’s opportunism was persuaded by Acheson’s “perimeter” speech. The historian John Lewis Gaddis directs out Stalin’s opportunism as probable factor- his tendency to develop in problems where he thought he could do so without inciting too strong a response. In addition, Stalin warned “the Korean friends: not to “expect great assistance and support from the Soviet Union, because it had more important challenges to meet than the Korean problem.” Stalin made it evident that Kim II Sung would have to gain the consent of Mao Zedong. At the beginning, Mao was uncertain, but eventually gave his approval because Kim gave the idea that Stalin was more eager than he truly was. In the mean time, Mao was also developing an invasion of Taiwan and required Soviet support for this. When the attacked occurred it not only shocked Mao but South Koreans and Americans as well. The North wanted to win quickly, so they planned and carried out a massive tank attack, and the reason of this attack caused the United States to take such action. The reasons were NSC-68’s recommendation to triple the defense budget was initiated, United States land forces in Europe was strengthened, NATO toughened, and top importance was given to West Germany for it to become equipped and joined into NATO. The result of the
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