The Cold War: The Wars in Korea and Vietnam

Unit 10 Review Reading #3

The Cold War was the period after WWII when the world’s two
superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, waged a war of words
and ideas with each other. Though these two countries did not engage in
direct warfare with each other, their competition did result in numerous
conflicts. Two of these conflicts were actual wars involving areas under the
influence of the two superpowers.
These wars, the Korean War (1950-1953) and the Vietnam War (1955-
1975) are called proxy wars. In a proxy war
opposing powers (like the United States and
the Soviet Union) use other countries as
substitutes for fighting each other directly. In
Korea and Vietnam, the Soviets (and the
Communist Chinese) supported Korean and
Vietnamese communists living in the northern
halves of those countries. The United States
supported the more democratic southern
regions of those countries. Even though these The 38th Parallel was and is the
wars had some similarities, each had very border between the two Koreas.
different outcomes.

What Started the War in Korea?

Korea lies between China and Japan. In 1910, Japan made Korea part of
its empire. When World War II ended,
Soviet forces took over the northern
half of Korea. American forces occupied
the south. The 38th parallel of latitude
became the border that divided the two
republics. On June 25th, 1950,
Communist troops crossed this border
into South Korea.

How did the United Nations Help

South Korea?
South Korea asked the United
Nations to stop the North Koreans. The
UN Security Council voted to send aid
to South Korea. (The Soviet Union was
not attending the UN meetings at that
time. If it had been, the Soviets
probably would have stopped any UN
action.) The United Nations sent
soldiers to help South Korea. China and the Soviet Union helped North
Korea.

How did the UN Troops Push Back the Communists?

By September of 1950, the Communists controlled most of Korea.
However, the UN forces got behind North Korean lines. Then they made a
surprise attack at a place called Inchon that cut the Communist forces in two
and forced them to retreat.
By November, UN forces had
pushed the Communists back to the
Yalu River, the border between
China and North Korea. It looked as
if the war was over. The UN hoped
that Korea would become one
country again. But then China sent
in thousands of troops to help the
North Koreans. The fighting went
on.
Sept., 1950 - Landing ships unload men and
equipment on Red Beach the day after the
What Ended the Korean War? amphibious assault on Inchon.
In July, 1951, truce talks began.
A truce is an agreement to stop a war for a time. The talks dragged on for
two years. Finally, the two sides signed an armistice. It left Korea divided.
The border between the two Koreas was almost the same one that existed
before the war.

Why Was the Korean War

Important?
The Korean War showed that the
UN could stop an attack on a member
nation. It showed that China could
hold its own in a war that did not use
atomic weapons. It also showed that
the Cold War between the two
superpowers would continue.
Since 1953, the United States has
continued to support South Korea. It
has become an industrial powerhouse
in Asia. North Korea remains U.S. Air Force F86 Sabres over Korea. The
Korean War was the first conflict to involve
Communist and struggles to feed its
air to air combat between jet aircraft.
citizens. Its government occasionally
threatens its neighbors with military action. Furthermore, even though the
fighting has stopped, the war has not officially ended. Only a truce or
temporary peace exists between the two warring sides.

What Started the Vietnam War?

After WWII, nationalist independence movements spread across
Southeast Asia. In 1946, the U.S. gave the Philippine Islands their
independence. South of the Philippines, Indonesia was given its
independence by the Netherlands. However, France refused to give up its
colonial lands in the area of Southeast Asia known as “Indochina.”

What Did Ho Chi Minh Want for Vietnam?

Japan had conquered Indochina during WWII. The Vietnamese, under
the leadership of a man named Ho Chi Minh, fought
against the Japanese. After the war, Ho Chi Minh wanted
Vietnam to be and independent country, not a colony of
France.
Between 1946 and 1954, Ho Chi Minh and his
communist followers fought a fierce guerrilla style war
against the French. The United States sent help to the
French. The U.S. did not want another communist
government in Asia. However, in 1954, the Vietnamese
communist forces captured a French fort. Because of
this, the French government decided that it could not
Vietnamese
win the war. communist leader
Ho Chi Minh.
What Happened After the Communists Defeated
France?
Ho Chi Minh and the French agreed to divide Vietnam into two areas.
The communist area became known as North Vietnam. The non-communist
area became South Vietnam. Two other areas in Indochina became
independent: Cambodia and Laos.
The division of Vietnam was not meant to be permanent. The
government of South Vietnam was supposed to hold an election. In this
election, the Vietnamese people would choose how to unite their country.
But the election never took place. North Vietnam began a guerrilla war inside
of South Vietnam to unite the whole Vietnamese peninsula into one
communist nation. Communists living in South Vietnam (who were called the
“Vietcong”) joined in this struggle against the government of South Vietnam.

What Did the United States Do About the Guerrilla War in Vietnam?
In the early 1960’s, the United States began to send military advisors
to South Vietnam. Their job was simply to help the South Vietnamese
government. But by 1968, nearly 500,000 American troops were fighting a
war in South Vietnam. However, many American citizens began protesting
against the United State’s getting involved
in this war.
America’s part in the Vietnam War
lasted from 1960 to 1975. In 1969, the
U.S. government started to gradually
withdraw its forces from South Vietnam.
The American plan was to turn the fighting
of the war entirely over to the South
Vietnamese army. The United States
called this plan Vietnamization.
U.S. soldiers begin a mission in the
What United North and South Vietnamese jungle.
Vietnam?
After the United States pulled all of its soldiers out of Vietnam in 1975,
the South Vietnamese government collapsed. The North Vietnamese took
control of South Vietnam’s capital city, Saigon.
The next year, North and South Vietnam united into one communist
country, the Socialist Republic of
Vietnam. The government gave a
new name to Saigon, the former
capital. It became Ho Chi Minh City.
After many years of struggle,
the United States and the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam found ways to
work together. Trade between the
two countries increased, and the
United States investment in Vietnam
grew. Today, there is more travel and
tourism in Vietnam. There is also a
renewed effort to locate American In the United States, protests against the war
soldiers that had gone missing in sometimes ended in violence, as they did at
Vietnam during the war. Kent State in 1970.