Korean War Lessons

the US aims in Korea
how the support of the UN helped
how far the US achieved its aims
whether MacArthur should have been allowed to invade North Korea
why MacArthur was removed
the military and civilian cost of war

The US has one goal in Korea and that is to stop the spread of Communism throughout the reigon as much as possible. Fortunatly, we have gained the support of the UN in our mission to contain Soviet influence, largely due to the absence of the USSR from UN assembly due to their boycott. This has given us the aid of many UN nations, but we are still takeing on the majority of the responsability of this war as a nation. What is absolutly necessary in Korea is to regain South Korea's freedom from communist forces occupying the reigon. If communism is allowed to continue to spread at its current rate, it could very well take over all of Asia, which would be divistateing to our containment efforts. A secondary goal of the war would be to eliminate communism from Koera entirely. North Korea's communist, one-state regime is a dangerous one. Even if South Korea is saved, they still will have a communist threat directly north of them, with a large influence in Asia. When we invaded North Korea, the Chinese forces (who are communist and have been tought to be anti-American by Soviet influences) met us with an unexpected strength. We weere pushed back behind the origional divider of Korea, and former President Tuman decided to pull troops. US Military General MacArthur went against direct orders and threatened the Chinese anyways, and was removed from his position. Although he was only doing what he thought was best for the country and the safety of the American people, the President needs to know he is surrounded by people he can trust, so MacArthur was removed from his position. Had that war been started, chances were the USSR would have been involved. That would have made the war a hard one to win, and the costs of loseing the war would have been unthinkable to the US people and nation as a whole. As of now the US policy of containment has been rather unsuccessful, due mainly to a lack of aggression, especially in Asia. Communist forces have already taken over China, who we had previously thought of as our biggest ally in Korea, and if we had to invade Korea to stop it from takeing over there. In the future we need to be more aggressive to stop communist threats before they reach the point they did in China and Korea, or we could face an entirely Communist Asia, and even Europe.

The War in the Pacific

1. What was the importance of the Battle of Midway?

The battle was the turning point of the Pacific aspect of the war. The US devistated the Japanese, destorying 4 aircraft carriers with 250 planes. After this battle the US continued to push the Japanese back across the Pacific towards Asia.

2. What strategy did the United States adopt in fighting Japan?

After Midway, the US stayed on the offensive, "leapfroging" from one pacific island to the other in order to push the Japanese back and lessen their presence in the Pacific.

3. Why did the Japanese fight so hard on Iwo Jima?

The Japanese realized that their chances of not completly loseing the war were diminishing and that a loss at Iwp Jima would mean almost certain failure of the war.


4. Why did the Allies believe Okinawa was a foretaste of an invasion of Japan?

They believed the great losses suffered at Okinawa would be what an invasion of Japan would be like becasue of highly defended the island was. Japan itself would be similarly defended, which would mean a similar resistance and death toll.

5. What was the Manhattan Project?

The Manhattan Project was a project led by many US scientists who developed the atomic bomb.

6. Ultimately, why did President Truman decide to drop atomic bombs on Japan?

He decided it was necessary to drop the bomb becasue in the long run it would save lives. As much destruction as it caused it prevented all the destruction that an invasion and lenghtly battle would have caused.