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- The Korean War began on June 25, 1950, when 75,000 North Korean soldiers poured over the 38th parallel into South Korea to impose communism on its neighbor.
- The Korean War began at 4:30 a.m. on June 25, 1950, and ended on July 27, 1953. There are still more than 7,000 U.S. soldiers missing in action from the war.
- The North Korean film Unsung Heroes (1978) glorifies members of the North Korean military while depicting war crimes by South Korea and the U.S. In its cast were several U.S. soldiers who had defected to North Korea.
- The Korean War took a heavy toll—up to a total of 5 million dead, wounded, or missing, and half of them civilians.
- Korea Was Split in Half After World War II.
- The U.S. Congress Never Declared War, thereby Establishing A Precedent.
- The United Nations Played A Major role.
- Long Retreats Marked The Early Stages of The War.
- Macarthur Was Fired For insubordination.
- Truce Talks Went on For Most of The War.
- The U.S. Military Integrated During The War.
- No Permanent Peace Treaty Has Ever Been Signed.
Japan ruled over Korea from 1905 until the end of World War II, after which the Soviet Union occupied the northern half of the peninsula and the United States occupied the south. Originally, they intended to keep Korea together as one country. But when the United Nations called for elections in 1947, the Soviet Union refused to comply, instead inst...
On June 25, 1950, North Korea launched a full-scale invasion of the South after receiving the go-ahead from Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Until that point, the United States appeared disinclined to intervene. The year before it had removed its last remaining troops from Korea, and that January U.S. Secretary of State Dean Acheson had given a speec...
On the first day of the war, the United Nations Security Council demanded that North Korea stop fighting and withdraw to the border along the 38th parallel. When this warning was ignored, it passed a second resolution asking its member states to assist South Korea in repelling the attack. It then established a unified command under U.S. General Dou...
The invading North Korean troops were able to capture Seoul within three days—the first of four times that city would change hands—and quickly pushed their opponents back to the so-called Pusan Perimeter in the extreme southeastern portion of the peninsula. The tide turned that September, however, in part due to a surprise amphibious landing that G...
Following the “Big Bug-Out,” the Truman administration abandoned its goal of unifying Korea and expressed its willingness to negotiate with the Communists. But MacArthur continued advocating for an escalation. In December 1950 he stated that Washington’s refusal to allow him to attack bases in China was “an enormous handicap, without precedent in m...
Official ceasefire negotiations began in July 1951, by which time the wild swings of the early war had been replaced by limited attacks on strategic positions. Within months the two sides had agreed to divide the country along the existing battle line and not the 38th parallel. This would give South Korea slightly more territory than it had before ...
In July 1948 President Truman desegregated the military with an executive order that mandated “equality of treatment and opportunity” for all soldiers. Even so, separate black units remained the norm at the start of the Korean War. Piecemeal integration came when, as casualties mounted, field commanders of white units began accepting black replacem...
The July 1953 armistice may have ended the war, but it has not led to a peace treaty between North and South Korea. The two sides are still separated by a heavily fortified 2.5-mile-wide demilitarized zone, and tensions remain high, particularly over the North’s fledgling nuclear weapons program. North Korea has also occasionally resorted to assass...
- Jesse Greenspan
- 4 min
- A U.S. Army sergeant in Moscow was the catalyst. Stalin prevented a war on the Korean Peninsula since the end of World War II, for fear of an all-out war with the West.
- The South was far from Democratic. Rhee with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The first President of South Korea, Syngman Rhee, jailed or assassinated his political opponents.
- The U.S. knew about the North’s military buildup. The nascent CIA noticed the North Koreans moving their army toward their Southern border but thought it was more of a defensive measure.
- It was technically a “police action” President Truman never asked Congress for a declaration of war, and Congress didn’t offer one. That was back when we cared about these kinds of things.
- The North Koreans captured an American general. A month after the Korean War broke out, Major General William F. Dean, commander of 24th Infantry Division, was separated from his forces in Taejon while trying to help wounded soldiers.
- The Army built an impromptu special operations unit. The United States lacked a guerrilla warfare capability at the start of the Korean War, and had to put one together, and fast.
- The Korean War combined old tactics and new ones on land, sea, and air. The paratroopers of the 187th Airborne Regimental Combat Team (known as the “Rakkasans”) conducted all of the airborne operations of the Korean War.
- The 38th parallel is a recurring theme before, during, and after the war. In 1896, the Japanese government proposed to the Russian government that Korea should be split in half along the 38th parallel, with Russia taking control of the north.
The Korean War was a conflict (1950–53) between North Korea, aided by China, and South Korea, aided by the UN with the U.S. as the principal participant. At least 2.5 million people lost their lives in the fighting, which ended in July 1953 with Korea still divided into two hostile states separated by the 38th parallel.
May 21, 2024 · The Korean War was a conflict (1950–53) between North Korea, aided by China, and South Korea, aided by the UN with the U.S. as the principal participant. At least 2.5 million people lost their lives in the fighting, which ended in July 1953 with Korea still divided into two hostile states separated by the 38th parallel.
Jun 28, 2013 · Read CNN’s Fast Facts about the Korean War. Although hostilities ceased in 1953, there has been no formal end to the war.
