Why did the US go to war in Korea in the 1950's?

Answer 1

The Korean War happened because of what is called containment. After WWII The U.S. and the Soviet Union were world powers that didn'd like each other at all. Communism, the government that the Soviets had was spreading throughtout Asia and to other areas. The U.S. did not want the Soviets to get too many allies (most of the countries who became communists allied the soviots in the Warsaw Pact) so containment was the answer, that is they contained the Soviets where they were stopping there spread. This was all part of the cold war which really had little actual battles. But in Korea, N. Korea was Communist and S. Korea was not. The U.S. wanted to stop this so they help S. Korea resist N. Korean aggression. N. Korea atted South Korea nearly destroying them, but the United Nations join south Korea. Most of the U.N. forces were Americans but it is techniquely the U.N. who fought in that war. The fighting went back and forth like a sew saw on who was winning when the fighting was over, this war lasting for a couple years, the new border between the countries is not much different then where it started. The battle seemed to have no purpose but it did stop the comunists from spreading so it was a victory for the U.N.

Answer 2

Because of the Truman doctrine the U.S. said they would not allow communism to spread any farther than it already had. They had already let China go under communist rule, so they couldn't allow it to keep spreading throughout Asia.

Answer 3

At the moment my understanding of it is that the US was feeling pretty confident after they won the Berlin Blockade over the Soviet Union and various other places where they stood up to the Soviet Union. However, when they lost China to communism and the Soviets got the Atomic bomb, people believed the government was weak, so i think that they committed themselves to show that they were not weak. But also, at the time there was a 'domino theory' that once one country falls to communism others will also, so you have the top of the world (Soviet Union)and now the worlds biggest population (china, so it may have been part of their containment policy. hope that makes sense and i think i may have answered my own question. The Korean War was a United Nations Police Action and the United States was part (most) of the UN force. The US got involved because they wanted to promote their capitalist ideals and protecting the capitalists in a communist "infested" zone was top priority. Also the Soviets were involved so they had to fight back I am doing the causes for the Korean war as an 8th grade project, and the way I interpreted the cause for the Korean War was the fact that both sides wanted to unite but could not agree on what type of government, so the North tried to unite it forcefully by crossing the 38th parallel on June 25th 1950. I am also doing a project on the Korean War and I was taught that the U.S. were involved because of the Truman Document. A promise that states that the U.S. will help any country fighting communism, that was brought up after WWII. Also because of their membership in the United Nations, and because South Korea asked the U.S. for aid. I am doing an assignment on this and was told that part of the cause was Kim ii sung, the communist dictator of North Korea was convinced that people in the south, would welcome being ruled by his government. http://archives.gov/education/lessons/korean-conflict/ So why did the United States become involved in the Korean conflict? The decision to intervene in Korea grew out of the tense atmosphere that characterized Cold War politics. On the eve of the North Korean invasion, a number of events had made Truman anxious. The Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb in 1949, ending the United States' monopoly on the weapon. In Europe, Soviet intervention in Greece and Turkey had given rise to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, which funneled aid to war-torn Europe in the hopes of warding off communist political victories. In early 1950, President Truman directed the National Security Council (NSC) to conduct an analysis of Soviet and American military capabilities. In its report, known as "NSC 68," the Council recommended heavy increases in military funding to help contain the Soviets. Events in Asia also contributed to an increased sense of insecurity. In 1949 China underwent a revolution that brought Mao Zedong and his Communist party into power. The nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-Shek, had retreated to the island of Formosa (Taiwan) while they continued their war with mainland China. Mao quickly moved to ally himself with the Soviet Union, and signed a treaty with the Soviets in 1950. The Truman administration faced criticism from Republicans who claimed he had "lost" China. They criticized him for not providing enough aid to the Chinese nationalists. The suggestion by Secretary of State Dean Acheson that the administration recognize the communist government of China only gave them more ammunition for their attacks. The Truman administration also faced internal criticism regarding its commitment to anticommunism at home. Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin had recently begun his infamous hunt for communists within the U. S. Government. Although McCarthy was just warming up, the recent trials of Alger Hiss and others for espionage left the Truman administration apprehensive about its anticommunist credentials. Truman and his advisors found themselves under increased domestic pressure not to appear "soft" on communism abroad. Thus, when North Korean troops invaded the South, the Truman administration seized upon the opportunity to defend a noncommunist government from invasion by communist troops. Determined not to "lose" Another Country to communism, and interested in shoring up its anticommunist credentials, the Truman administration found itself defending a nation a world away from U.S. soil. Yet Truman's response was not merely a response to internal pressure. The invasion of South Korea made Truman genuinely fearful that the Soviet Union and China intended to expand the sphere of communism throughout Asia. Truman's statement of June 27 illustrates his concern with communist aggression and expansion. In it, Truman argues that "communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war." Truman's statement suggests that he believed the attack by North Korea had been part of a larger plan by communist China and, by extension, the Soviet Union. The President believed that the Korean situation was similar to that of Greece in 1947. He informed his advisors that he believed the invasion was "very obviously inspired by the Soviet Union." This gave America a moral imperative to act. "If we don't put up a fight now," Truman observed to his staff, there was "no telling what they'll do." His concern over the future of anticommunist governments in Asia showed in his public statement. Truman pledged to defend Formosa (Taiwan) from attack and to support French forces in Indochina, a conflict that would eventually escalate into the Vietnam War. Yet Truman had no wish to provoke a full-scale war with the Soviets. By blaming "communism" in the statement, as opposed to the Soviet Union, Dean Acheson later explained, the administration sought to give the Soviets a "graceful exit" and not provoke open confrontation with Russia. Truman's statement also reflected a new military order. Although the United States took the lead in the Korean action, it did so under the rubric of the United Nations. Truman made it clear that his actions fell within the measures recommended by the United Nations, and reminded "all members of the United Nations" to "consider carefully the consequences of this latest aggression in Korea" and that America "will continue to uphold the rule of law." This document is part of the George M. Elsey papers, located at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri. Elsey, who had worked under President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, was a top administrative assistant to the President. Truman met with Elsey and other advisors on the morning of the 27th to draft and revise the public statement--his second on the Korean conflict. At 11:30 a.m. the President met with members of the foreign affairs and foreign relations committees of Congress and, shortly after, the statement was released to newspaper reporters. That afternoon, Truman attended another meeting of the United Nations to propose a resolution urging all members of the United Nations to give assistance to South Korea. The meeting had been originally planned for the morning but was postponed to accommodate one of its members. Secretary of State Dean Acheson later reflected that the Soviets liked to point out that since the U.N. meeting occurred after the President's statement, Truman could not truthfully claim that his decision to commit forces was influenced by the wishes of the United Nations. When it did meet later that day, the United Nations passed his resolution, although a handful of dissenting countries abstained.

Answer 4

While the end of World War II brought peace and prosperity to most Americans, it also created a heightened state of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. Fearing that the Soviet Union intended to "export" communism to other nations, America centered its foreign policy on the "containment" of communism, both at home and abroad. Although formulation of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and the Berlin Airlift suggested that the United States had a particular concern with the spread of communism in Europe, America's policy of containment extended to Asia as well. Indeed, Asia proved to be the site of the first major battle waged in the name of containment: the Korean War.

The decision to intervene in Korea grew out of the tense atmosphere that characterized Cold War politics. On the eve of the North Korean invasion, a number of events had made Truman anxious. The Soviet Union exploded an atomic bomb in 1949, ending the United States' monopoly on the weapon. In Europe, Soviet intervention in Greece and Turkey had given rise to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, which funneled aid to war-torn Europe in the hopes of warding off communist political victories. In early 1950, President Truman directed the National Security Council (NSC) to conduct an analysis of Soviet and American military capabilities. In its report, known as "NSC 68," the Council recommended heavy increases in military funding to help contain the Soviets

Answer 5

To prevent the communist country of North Korea from conquering South Korea.

Answer 6

The U.S. had a long standing treaty with South Korea to protect it from foreign aggression.