25 июн 1950 г. - Korean War

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Background info:
- Korea had been ruled by Japan until 1945, at the end of WW2 the northern half of Korea was liberated by Soviet troops, while the southern half was by Americans. When the war ended, the North remained communist with a communist leader who had been trained by the USSR, the South was anti-communist. There was bitter hostility between the leaders of each half, and reunification did not seem likely. In 1950 this hostility turned into warfare. Northern troops overwhelmed Southern forces, and by September 1950, only a small corner of South Korea was left.

What was the US response?

Truman was dedicated to containing communism seen before, and this was the perfect example to show how communism spreads without containment in place. Containment was the plan; and so, Truman immediately sent advisers, supplies, and warships to the seas around Korea. However, Truman knew that if he were to take military action, it would look better if the US had support from other countries, or even better - the UN. Truman put a tremendous amount of pressure on the UN to condemn the actions of the north Koreans and to call them to withdraw their troops. The USA was the biggest contributor to the UN budget and was often prioritized, but it didn't always mean that everything went their way, and it seemed to be going that way.

In the Cold War atmosphere at the time, most powers would oppose other powers. Normally, in a dispute like this, the USSR would have definitely used its VETO against the action of the UN toward North korea. However, the USSR was boycotting the UN at the time over the issue of the decision of whether communist china would be accepted into the UN or not, this meant that the USSR was not even at the meeting and therefore couldn't use its VETO. With this, Truman was able to claim this was a UN-sponsored operation.

Under this sponsor, the UN used its members armies to drive the North Koreans out of the South. 18 states provided help of some sort such as troops.

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