Korean War

  

Korean War
Part of the Cold War
Date 25 June 1950 – 27 March 1953 Location Korean peninsula Result DPRK and Landonist victory Establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Korea falls under China's sphere of influence and joins the Eastern Bloc Establishment of the Provisional Assembly of the Korean Republic Beginning of the Red Terror
Belligerents
China Manchuria DPR Korea Supported by: United Commonwealth Tournesol Quebec Maritimes Mexico Indonesia Albania	Korean Republic League of Nations Force Kingdom of Sierra Astoria Superior United Kingdom Manitoba Patagonia Netherlands Germany Brazil Antilles
Strength
1,310,000 150,000 40,000	335,000 366,500
Casualties and losses
Total civilian dead: 2–3 million (estimated)

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The Korean War was an armed conflict fought over the Korean Peninsula between 1950 and 1953 during the Cold War. The war began on June 25 when an army of 20,000 Korean exiles invaded the Republic of Korea through the neighboring Manchu People's Republic with support from both the latter and the People's Republic of China in an attempt to depose the Korean Republic and establish a unified Korean socialist state. In support of the effort, Communist Korea received further support and backing from the United Commonwealth and other member states of the Landonist International while the Korean Republic received support from the League of Nations in the form of a multinational military force (League of Nations Force that encompassed troops from Western Bloc-aligned states in the Americas and Europe, principle among them being the Kingdom of Sierra, Germany, and the United Kingdom along with several Commonwealth realms and other countries that sent both troops and supplies to Korea.

In 1910, the Empire of Japan annexed Korea, making it a colony until the end of the Great War in 1938 when it was granted independence following the defeat of Japan and the abolition of its empire and imperial system. Following the war's end, the Republic of Korea was proclaimed and administered the entire peninsula, receiving international recognition in the process, and Syngman Rhee took over as the first President of Korea. Rhee's administration quickly became corrupt and resorted to authoritarian measures, banning all communist and leftist political parties and forced them, chief among them being the Workers' Party of Korea, to flee the country in exile and set up operations in nearby China and Manchuria, both of which became communist by the 1940s. His purges along with the subsequent Cold War resulting in extensive Red Scare and the communist takeovers of Manchuria and China, caused Rhee and the Korean government to instigate the White Terror, a campaign of political repression and terror targeting suspected communist sympathizers, spies, and operates of the Eastern Bloc and/or exiled communist parties.

Following the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War and the Manchu Revolution, the Chinese and Manchurian governments began working with exiled Korean leftists and seeking to organize them into an army, training and equipping them for war along with reorganizing, training, and preparing their receptive militaries for war as well. The fear of a Western Bloc-aligned capitalist state on Manchuria's border and close to China was a motivating factor in the outbreak of the Korean War along with seeking to further spread communism into Asia following the Indonesian National Revolution and First Indochina War saw communist victories in Indonesia and Indochina respectively. After a few years of preparations, the invasion was launched on March 25, 1950, seeing all Korean exiles with material, armor, and air support from China and Manchuria, launched a full-scale invasion into Korea and immediately engaged the Republic of Korea Army in the process. The ROK Army largely lacked armor, artillery, and air support and was unprepared for war, being pushed from the border with Manchuria in the process and quickly retreating down south. By the start of May 1950, Pyongyang, the largest city in Northern Korea, was captured and the ROK Army was being pushed back across the peninsula.

After two months, the League of Nations approved the creation of a multinational military force that was quickly deployed to Korea, with the port of Pusan being the main landing ground. Most of the troops would be from Sierra, but the force also consisted of other Anglo-American and European countries with additional material and medical support from other Western Bloc states such as India, Denmark, and North France. The arrival of foreign forces, albeit in a quasi-state of readiness at best, salvaged the situation and slowed the communist advance down, however intense fighting persisted throughout the year and the war gridded to a stalemate by January 1951.

See also

• White Terror (Korea)
• Red Terror (Korea)
• Korea–Manchuria border