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U.s foreign policy 1919-1941
Americas involvement in WW2
Americas involvement in WW2
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The establishment of the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea) in 1948 as separate states and the division of the Korean peninsula demonstrated the failure of the agreement by Allied forces to govern Korea multilaterally after defeating Japan and in “due course” give independence to that country. During various conferences that took place between the Allies between 1943 and end of the Second World War, both the US and the Soviet Union had formally acknowledged that the creation of the two separate states in the two occupation zones was not a permanent solution and the establishment of a united government for Korea was the official commitment of the two occupying powers. On 25th June 1950 the North Korean army invaded South Korea and in doing so created one of the decisive moments of the United States and Soviet Union rivalry which escalated the existing tensions between the two countries known as “The Cold War”. This essay will begin by discussing briefly the US Foreign Policy towards Korea during and after the end of the Second World War and examine the agreements reached between the victorious Allied governments following the defeat of the Axis forces (Germany, Italy, Japan) and debate the reasons for the US involvement in the Korean War. Significantly, the Korean War was the start of a nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviet Union (Russia was referred to by this name after the Second World War). Although this essay will emphasize mainly on the policies and actions of the US government prior and during the Korean War, it will inevitably make references to other governments involved in that conflict especially the Soviet Union.
The American policy toward Korea chang...
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...orld Politics 1, no. 02 (1949): 223-232.
• Meade, Edward Grant. American Military Government in Korea. New York: King's Crown Press, 1951.
• Roberts, Priscilla. "New Light on a “Forgotten War”: The Diplomacy of the Korean Conflict." OAH Magazine of History 14, no. 3 (2000): 10-14.
• Soon Sung Cho. Korea in World Politics, 1940-1950: An Evaluation of American Responsibility. California: Univ of California Press, 1967.
• Stueck, William. "The Korean War: an international history." (1997).
• Theoharis, Athan. "Roosevelt and Truman on Yalta: the origins of the Cold War." Political Science Quarterly (1972): 210-241.
• Truman, Harry S. Memoirs by Harry S. Truman: Volume Two: Years of Trial and Hope. New York: Doubleday & Company, 1956.
• Weathersby, Kathryn. "Soviet aims in Korea and the origins of the Korean War, 1945-1950: new evidence from Russian archives." (1993): 5.
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
The Korean War changed the face of American Cold War diplomacy forever. In the midst of all the political conflict and speculation worldwide, the nation had to choose between two proposed solutions, each one hoping to ensure that communism didn?t sweep across the globe and destroy American ideals of capitalism and democracy. General Douglas MacArthur takes the pro-active stance and says that, assuming it has the capability, the U.S. should attack communism everywhere. President Harry Truman, on the other hand, believed that containing the Soviet communists from Western Europe was the best and most important course of action, and that eliminating communism in Asia was not a priority.
Offner, Arnold A. Another Such Victory: President Truman and the Cold War, 1945-1953. 1st September 2002. New Article. 11th March 2014.
1 Walter Lippman, The Cold War: A Study in U.S. Foreign Policy (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1947) 48-52.
Pearson, Lester B. "Documents on the Korean Crisis." University of Manitoba. January 24, 1951. http://www.umanitoba.ca/libraries/units/archives/canada_war/tribune/website/clippings/korea/Documents_on_the_Korean_Crisis1.shtml (accessed December 18, 2011).
Offner, Arnold. “‘Another Such Victory’: President Truman, American Foreign Policy, and the Cold War.” Taking Sides: Clashing Views On Controversial Issues in United States History. Ed. Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle. 14th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 291-301.
Throughout the early 1950’s the Korean Peninsula was a location with much civil unrest and violence. For this reason, it is a miracle that the Korean Armistice Agreement was actually mutually agreed upon by North and South Korea. Even with the constant complications, and early opposition surrounding the Korean Armistice Agreement, the aid of Dwight D Eisenhower made this unrealistic attempt of peace a reality.
Hammond, Thomas, Editor. Witnesses to the Origins of the Cold War. University of Washington Press. Seattle, 1982.
U.S. participation was centered on America’s foreign policy at the time. Although the War did not break out until June of 1950, several conflicts brewed over the attempt to take over the entire nation under one rule for several years after World War II. The majority of these conflicts took place at the 38th parallel where Korea was split. Decisions influenced by President Harry S. Truman and his doctrine, which was essentially the policy to contain the spread of communism, gave the United Nations an opportunity to prevent global domination through communism (“Teaching with Documents”). The fear of international communism from the powers of the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China was the main reason that caused the United States to intervene.
Outline of Essay About the Origins of the Cold War OUTLINE: Introduction- 1. Definition of ‘Cold War’ and the Powers involved 2. Perceived definition of ‘start of Cold War’ 3. Iron Curtain Speech, Truman Doctrine and Berlin Blockade as significant events that caused strife between both powers, but which triggering off the start of the Cold War Body- 1. Iron Curtain Speech (1946) - A warning of Soviet influence beyond the acknowledged Eastern Europe - Churchill’s belief that the idea of a balance in power does not appeal to the Soviets - Wants Western democracies to stand together in prevention of further
The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea that involved the support of the world’s most powerful countries. “ It was the only occasion in the Cold War when the military forces of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Soviet Union, and the USA (plus its Western allies) met in combat” (Malkasian 5). The Korean War was the first “hot war” of the Cold War which ended in a stalemate creating the two Koreas.
“Truman, Harry S.” The Concise Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. Columbia: Columbia, 1994. Online. Internet. Available at HTTP: http://www.historychannel.com/. 24 Sept. 2001.
Since the end of the Korean War, the United States has enacted policies to isolate and undermine the Kim Dynasty in North Korea. A key development took place in the past several decades where North Korea broke away from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to develop their own nuclear weapons and while lacking launch capabilities, they have been successful in their development. During this process, the United States took active policies to deter the North Koreans in pursuit of their goals. It is easy to assume that the United States took this stance in order to maintain a military edge in the region. But under closer examination, this neo-realist perspective does not explain why the United States pursued this policy.
Taubman, William. Stalin's American Policy: From Entente to Detente to Cold War. New York: Norton, 1982. Print.
Kim, Yongho and Yi, Yurim “Security Dilemmas and Signaling during the North Korean Nuclear Standoff”, Asian Perspective, Vol. 29, No. 3, 2005, pp. 73-97