Lessons of Korean War

The antagonism between the North Korean and South Korea spilled into direct warfare in 1950. At the end of the war, more than 3 million Koreans died while millions of refugees remained homeless and distressed. About 2 million Chinese and 55,000 Americans died in the war.

Because of the serious consequences, many countries involved in the Korean War learnt valuable lessons.

America learnt that there were risks associated with the policy of containment. More than 1 million people died in the Korean War and what initially began as a confrontation with North Korea quickly got out of hand when China, the country with the world’s largest army, intervened. America underestimated the Chinese. American troops ignored Chinese warnings and got too close to the Chinese border. In October 1950, 200,000 Chinese troops joined the North Koreans. These troops had been taught to hate the Americans and were prepared to die for Communism. They also had modern weapons supplied by the USSR.

America also learnt that even though it was by far the most powerful country in the world there were limits to its power. Containment was a policy that had its limitations. It was okay when they attempted to contain the spread of communism but when America tried to go further and force the Communists out of North Korea, it did not expect the rapid escalation that followed.

If America wanted to confront communism, it had to proceed with caution. The American General-in-charge, MacArthur, was sacked by President Truman because he wanted to free South Korea, remove the communists from North Korea and then carry the war on into China. He even asked for permission to use nuclear weapons, which was rejected as this could easily have sparked a world war.

Other countries also leant not to underestimate China. Because of China’s intervention in the Korean War in 1950, it was proved that China was a major military power that the other countries, in particular, America, should not have ignored. The Korean War proved that the Chinese military was not afraid, and had planned to stand up to a world power like America.

The Korean War also tells us that smaller countries wren not always controlled by the superpowers. America, Russia, and China were drawn into the war started by North Korea. However, smaller countries were able to use the Cold War to achieve their own aims. Thus our group agrees that the Korean War was a “proxy war”, so that the two superpowers, America and Russia, were able to avoid a direct conflict with each other by using a third party, Korea. We can also tell that due to this, many countries intervened in the Korean War so as to achieve their aims. Thus, to answer our inquiry question, yes, the extent of interference in the Korean War was large. One such evidence of this would be China's interference in 1950.

-Sharmila.