Assess the Significance of the Korean War in Relation to the Cold War
The Korean War was the first major ‘proxy war’ of the Cold War, and was relatively significant to the development of the Cold War due to a number of factors. Overall it can be seen as a clear example of the United States’ policy of containment in action, leading to the vast growth of America’s military capability, as well as the globalisation of the Cold War due to the military alliances constructed by the US. Along with this, the Korean War ended with the emergence of China as the frontrunner of communism in Asia, due to the stalemate reached in the war.
The Korean War was significant in terms of the Cold War, as it had long term affects on America’s foreign policy. The expansion of the USSR and the ideology of communism shaped America’s commitment to the policy of the global containment of communism, and dictated its foreign policy for the next twenty years. In particular, the Korean War was a major factor of the implementation of National Security Council Paper No. 68 (NSC-68), which was said to be ‘a policy of calculated and gradual coercion’ whilst rejecting the ‘concept of isolation’, showing a large shift in America’s foreign policy due to its previous isolationist tendencies, instead letting America reinvent itself as a ‘superpower with a global reach.’
The Korean War was also important to NSC-68 in particular as it was the direct reason why it was able to go be implemented. In the political circumstances of the time, the policies of U.S Security of State Dean Acheson were deemed too expensive, and that it could ‘bankrupt the country’, due to the remarkably ‘quiet and contained’ Soviet Union at the time. This view is supported by Dobson who states that the Korean War gave NSC-68 the ‘stamp of legitimacy’ and without the Korean War, it was unlikely that the Congress would have financed NSC-68 due to vast expenses involved. Through the implementation and the funding of NSC-68, America developed a vastly militarised way of combatting communism, and
The Korean War was significant in terms of the Cold War, as it had long term affects on America’s foreign policy. The expansion of the USSR and the ideology of communism shaped America’s commitment to the policy of the global containment of communism, and dictated its foreign policy for the next twenty years. In particular, the Korean War was a major factor of the implementation of National Security Council Paper No. 68 (NSC-68), which was said to be ‘a policy of calculated and gradual coercion’ whilst rejecting the ‘concept of isolation’, showing a large shift in America’s foreign policy due to its previous isolationist tendencies, instead letting America reinvent itself as a ‘superpower with a global reach.’
The Korean War was also important to NSC-68 in particular as it was the direct reason why it was able to go be implemented. In the political circumstances of the time, the policies of U.S Security of State Dean Acheson were deemed too expensive, and that it could ‘bankrupt the country’, due to the remarkably ‘quiet and contained’ Soviet Union at the time. This view is supported by Dobson who states that the Korean War gave NSC-68 the ‘stamp of legitimacy’ and without the Korean War, it was unlikely that the Congress would have financed NSC-68 due to vast expenses involved. Through the implementation and the funding of NSC-68, America developed a vastly militarised way of combatting communism, and
Bibliography: * Containment Remembered, The Globe and the Mail, 1997 Books * Dobson, A & Marsh, S. US foreign policy since 1945 (The Making of the Contemporary World). Routledge; 2 edition, 2006 * LaFeber, W * Leffler, M. Economics, Power and National Security – The Cold War: The Essential Readings, Blackwell Publishers Ltd. 2001 * Murrin, J