Friday, September 20, 2013
Reasons behind American involvement in Korea
In the readings over the weekend, we read about differing positions as to whether involvement in Korea would thwart a potential third World War, or whether Korea's fall to communism would have minimal effects, so long as Japan, Taiwan, and the Phillipines remained under the United States' sphere of influence. What is your position on this issue? Do you think, now that you know how Korea ended, that the US and the UN made the right move by intervening in the Korean conflict? Does Truman's reference to past events (large empires intervening in more vulnerable countries) carry weight in the answer to this question?
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Yes, in my opinion it was definitely the right decision to intervene. Of course, we couldn't have known what would actually become of North Korea, but I think it is too bad that despite the interference, it became the unthinkable dictatorship that it is today. So, with regard on today's situation in Korea, it seems right that the UN decided to intervene. On the other hand, at this time, they mainly intervened because the country seemed to develop a disliked form of government, which is actually an unacceptable reason to interfere with other countries' matters.
ReplyDeleteI'm iffy as to whether it would have started a third world war or not, but if the government has any fear at all that a third world war could be started without intervention then yes it is probably the right thing to intervene. But, if the real reason for entering is simply because they dislike the form of government then that's not a good enough reason. Now a days im a bit more hesitant towards American intervention but seeing as they didn't completely annihilate any cities or towns during this war and they were fighting for the weaker side's right to have their choice of how to govern themselves then i suppose it was okay for them to enter.
ReplyDeleteIt is really hard to predict what would have happened if we had laid off Korea. However with such an overwhelming fear of the spread of communism I think that it was a wise move. If they hadn't done anything who knows how powerful the communist countries would have become. Their success of turning South Korea into a communist country may have given them just the confidence they needed to stomp on top of the rest of Asia and maybe even Europe too. However, since the US intervened it gave them a quick and successful warning to not mess with the US sphere of influence.
ReplyDeleteI think the right decision was made. However, I don't think it is predictable or not to say if a world war would have been started. Truman's reference to past events is very accurate when it comes to the power and effect of Communism. Despite North Korea invading South Korea, the US and the UN made an effort by intervening.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe it would have started a third world war. I don't think the US needed to intervene because it did not effect us. I believe the United States intervened because they wanted to gain another ally. If America went into Korea, ended the war, and made peace between the two sides, maybe Korea would unite and become an ally and friend to the US. Obviously the two split and US only became allies to South Korea. If the US didn't get involved, i'm sure WWIII wouldn't have begun and no harm would've came to the US.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult to predict the outcome if we hadn't done what we did. However that being said, I think that we made the right decision in helping them. With the rapid expansion of communism, who know where it could have gone to. We couldn't just sit back and watch. I also think like Mitch said, maybe there was a bit of reasoning towards allies that played along with it. Maybe if we helped them and they united, we would all become allies with eachother.
ReplyDeleteI think that is might have started leaning towards a third world war, but it would take more to push it that far. America intervening in Korea was seen as a permeative strike against the fall of the Pacific countries. I do believe that if strong countries have power of weaker countries then they can control what goes on in that country, so if korea where to be taken over, who's to say that in a few years it would of attacked Japan and other Countries near there. If the west were to fall under communism then there could of been a whole hemisphere under one ideology and one ultimate ruler, that would of been the USSR. Stoping the USSR from gaining more countries was also a key factor in the U.S. entering the war.
ReplyDeleteI think that the US felt the need to intervene because they were so anti-communism. They also had the power to be involved in many different conflicts around the world. They felt responsible for stopping the spread of communism, at any cost.
ReplyDeleteI think intervention was necessary, if not South Korea would most certainly have been more or less forced in to communism. While certain counties like China and Russia have had varying degrees of success, if South Korea ended up anything like the north, it is fair too say they are thankful they didn't go down that route.
ReplyDeleteIf the US did not intervene, there is a good chance powerful communist countries would have risen. However, perhaps it was not completely necessary. After all, the US is so powerful, maybe it wouldn't have even mattered if other countries became communist? It is always hard to predict what would have happened when we already know the course history has taken.
ReplyDeletePredicting the outcome of a Korean war without intervention is difficult, but there was a lot of room for the course of the war to go worse than it did. I think that Communism would've seen a great uprising along with the countries that adopt it. There would be a rise of communism world wide, I think.
ReplyDeleteEven though from the hindsight that the ending of the Korean Civil War hardly not brought any actual progress of the situation, nevertheless i thing stop things from getting worse could be considered as a success in a way. Consider the fact that Korea is literally surrounded by tow of the world's biggest communism country China and Souviet Union and border on the rest of the southern east asia area, intervene the conflict was absolutely imperative to stop the rest of health organs and skins from getting infected by the "Communism Cancer"
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