Topic > The Korean War: A Conflict Between the Soviet Union and the United States

During the year 1950, a new tension came to light. Eventually, the conflict became so severe that it led to war. It happened in Korea, but many countries remained involved. This war would have a huge impact on the world and will help determine how to deal with future tensions and wars. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Not long before this conflict, there was the Cold War, which was between the Soviet Union and America. The Soviets wanted to expand, but the United States would have none of it and adopted a policy of containment. One product of this was NSC-68, a document which stated that greater efforts would be made to contain communism. It applied to the spread of communism anywhere in the world, due to fears that the Soviets might develop everything they needed to destroy the United States. So when the Soviet Union came to Korea, it was a problem. Korea was divided by the 38th parallel, which divided it into North Korea and South Korea. The Soviets took control of the North, while the US occupied the South. Both formed separate governments and everything calmed down, so they both withdrew . In June 1950, President Truman received a phone call about North Korea's attack on South Korea, and that's when the war began. The call led Truman to believe that the invasion had something to do with the Soviet Union, and he was right. The President then decided to declare war and the United Nations supported him. This would make the Korean War “the first military action authorized by the United Nations,” rather than being approved by Congress. Truman did it this way because he thought Congress was taking too long to make a decision and wanted to act as quickly as possible. On June 27, the Security Council made official US support for the war in Korea. Soon afterward, President Truman ordered all U.S. military forces into action. While it was approved by some, not everyone in the nation, including the Truman administration, agreed. Mainly due to the fact that the President had violated the Constitution by not obtaining a declaration of war from Congress. Furthermore, at the beginning of the war South Korea was not doing very well with the help of the United Nations. Truman defended himself, but people were still skeptical. This is why War may also be known as “Mr. Truman's War.” As the war continues, things change and South Korea and the UN forces aren't doing so badly. The general of the UN forces at the time was Douglas MacArthur and one of his plans was the reason the roles switched during the war. He planned an attack on the port city of Seoul. This caught the North by surprise, which led to South Korea taking back Seoul. After that General MacArthur felt really good about himself and thought it would be a good idea to invade the North, and Truman agreed. Instead of simply containing communism, MacArthur wanted to get rid of it completely. The plan was fine for the South and for the UN, until October. They were about to take control of North Korea's capital when China started issuing threats. The general ignored them and headed towards the border with China. When they got there, the Chinese were waiting to attack them, which caught MacArthur off guard. This led to the retreat of the South Koreans and the United States, and North Korea to retake Seoul. MacArthur was failing at his job and no one trusted him with force anymore. He started to.