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The Forgotten War: The Korean War

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The Forgotten War: The Korean War
Korean War
"They can call it whatever they want. I think it was a war and that's it. A lot of guys were dying or getting wounded and you can call it "the Forgotten War" or "the conflict," but it was a war. That's it." as said by Eddie Rios of the United States Marine Corps. Even though we don’t remember it, or don’t think it was a war but it was. The Korean War was a small one but it still happened. In this paper I will go over why the war started, what happened and how it ended. Without further ado let us get started. The Korean war was the first war in the cold war. In late June of 1950 North Korean forces marched towards the South Korean capital, Seoul. The U.S then passed a resolution and President Truman sent forces over to South Korea. …show more content…
“The war was a defensive war-to get the communists out of South Korea.” It was also one of the hottest summers on record. Desperate Americans had to drink water from rice patties that were fertilized by human waste. Disease was common. After summer, President Truman and General Douglas MacArthur had set new war aims. “It was now a war to “liberate” the communists in North Korea.” “The strategy was initially a success, the troops were pushed back out of Seoul and when America crossed the 38th parallel and headed towards the Yalu River the communist Chinese were worried about protecting themselves Chinese leader Mao Zedong sent troops to tell the U.S to keep away from broader unless they wanted full-scale war.” Truman tried to prevent war with China but MacArthur tried to provoke it. In early April, MacArthur got fired because of insubordination. President Truman was thinking about using atomic bombs on Korea. The Korean war ended in July of 1953. “Even though it was short it was exponentially bloody.” “There were more than 5 million people died in the that three year period.” Almost 40,000 people were American. Korea is still divided to this day. It took over two years to negotiate the armistice. The armistice gave South Korea an extra 1,500 square miles of space. The beginning through the end, the Korean war was difficult. Whether it was the mass of dead people or all the fighting that took place in those three years. It was a small but large war. People may call it the “Forgotten War” but it was a true
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