The Korean War(한국 전쟁) was a war fought in Korea between armies from North Korea and from South Korea. The war began on 4:30 AM on June 25, 1950 and fighting stopped July 27, 1953. More than two million Koreans died, most of them in the north.
Both sides blame each other for starting the war. The north, led by communist Kim Il-Sung, was helped mostly by People's Republic of China, and the USSR. The south, led by nationalist Syngman Rhee, was helped by many countries in the United Nations, and especially by the United States. The war ended with a truce. South Korea and North Korea are still officially at war, and the United States still keeps troops in South Korea, in case North Korea ever invades again. North and South Korea are divided by the 38th parallel.

Causes

[[File:|200px|thumb|Crossing the border between North and South Korea]] There were many causes, the main ones were:
The Cold War.
The Cold War was an important cause in the Korean War. Relations between the USA and the USSR were bad and when China became Communist in October 1949, the President of the USA, Harry Truman, was very worried that other countries around China may also become Communist, such as Japan.
Reputation.
Truman had just spent a lot of money to make the American Army much bigger and Americans wanted to see this new powerful Army in action. Joseph Stalin's people also wanted to see Stalin get better results. Stalin had recently lost the fight for the Berlin Wall and wanted another chance to prove that he could beat America, the Korean War was his chance.
Support.
The United Nations had just been created and a war would give it the chance to prove to people that the UN was strong and would not fail like the League of Nations had done earlier.
Syngman Rhee was also in trouble, he was a democrat surrounded by Communists. He could have made a Communist country attack him to get support from other democratic countries that would otherwise just ignore him.

Events

25^th June 1950

North Korea invades South Korea and pushes all the way down to around the southern borders and the South Korean Army retreated to Pusan.

July 1950
[[File:|200px|thumb|UN Forces landing at Inchon]]

United Nations army intervenes and land at Inchon, a small port just about half-way down South Korea, from here on they fight the North Korean army and push them past the border separating North and South Korea and right up the Chinese border, just under the Yalu River.

China starts to feel threatened with the war happening so close to them and tell the UN Army and the South Korean army to return to the border and that they have no business to fight so far into North Korea.

October 1950

The warning given by the Chinese is ignored by the UN (led by an American general called MacArthur) and so the Chinese army, called the People's Liberation Army, invades North Korea and helps the North Koreans fight the UN until the UN are pushed past the border separating North and South Korea.

December 1950

Because MiG-15s are beating American's P-80 Shooting Stars, the F-86 Sabre is put into the Air Force.

February 1951

Fighting continues until order is restored and neither army is in the other country. Peace talks start happening.

March 1951 - 27^th July 1953

Peace talks during this time, on the 27^th July 1953 no peace has been declared but an armistice has been signed by both countries and the UN withdraw.

Results

Statistics

Total Strength

United Nations

• South Korea - 590,909 soldiers
• United States of America - 480,002
• Britain - 62,998
• Canada - 26,791
• Australia - 16,999
• Turkey - 5,000
• Philippines - 7,002
• Netherlands - 3,971
• France - 3,425
• New Zealand - 1,384
• Thailand - 1,239
• Ethiopia - 1,283
• Greece - 1,249
• Colombia - 1,062
• Belgium - 891
• South Africa - 873
• Luxembourg - 44
  • Total - about 968,000 soldiers

Communist

• North Korea - 260,108
• China - 780,092
• Soviet Union - 25,972
  • Total - about 1,065,000 soldiers

Crosses

South Korea

• South Korea - 58,121 deaths - 175,802 wounded
• United States - 36,503 deaths - 92,073 wounded
• Turkey - 721 deaths - 2,109 wounded
• Canada - 507 deaths - 1,001 wounded
• Australia - 501 deaths - 1,192 wounded
• New Zealand - 41 deaths
• France - about 100 deaths
• Luxembourg - 2 deaths - 2 wounded

North Korea

• North Korea - 214,900 deaths
• China - about 300,000 Deaths
• Soviet Union - about 300 Deaths

Extra Information

The popular television show M*A*S*H was about American doctors serving in the Korean War. The show lasted longer than the war did.

Other pages

• The Cold War

Other websites

• In depth article on the Korean War - not recommended to Simple Wikipedia users
• A Korean War timeline of events
• Educational site containing biographies, interviews, factsheets etc
• Search list of names of the dead
• Photos of the Korean War - Equipement, combat etc