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The Korean War (1950–1953) was a military conflict between the Republic of Korea, supported by the United Nations, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and People's Republic of China (PRC), with air support from the Soviet Union. The war began on 25 June 1950 and an armistice was signed on 27 July 1953. The war was a result of the political division of Korea by agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War. The Korean peninsula had been ruled by Japan from 1910 until the end of World War II. In 1945, following the surrender of Japan, American administrators divided the peninsula along the 38th Parallel, with United States troops occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part.
The failure to hold free elections throughout the Korean Peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides, and the North established a Communist government. The 38th Parallel increasingly became a political border between the two Koreas. Although reunification negotiations continued in the months preceding the war, tension intensified. Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel persisted. The situation escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950. It was the first significant armed conflict of the Cold War.
The United Nations, particularly the United States, came to the aid of the South Koreans in repelling the invasion. After early defeats by the North Korean military, when a rapid UN counter-offensive repelled the North Koreans past the 38th Parallel and almost to the Yalu River, the People's Republic of China (PRC) came to the aid of Communist North. A Chinese counter-offensive repelled the United Nations forces past the 38th Parallel. The Soviet Union materially aided North Korea and China. The threat of a nuclear war eventually ceased with an armistice that restored the border between the Koreas near the 38th Parallel and created the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) wide buffer zone between the two Koreas.
During the war, both North and South Korea were sponsored by external powers, thus facilitating the war's metamorphosis from a civil war to a proxy war between powers involved in the larger Cold War. From a military science perspective, the Korean War combined strategies and tactics of World War I and World War II—swift infantry attacks followed by air bombing raids. The initial mobile campaign transitioned to trench warfare, lasting from July 1951 until the 1953 border stalemate and armistice.
Date 25 June 1950—present (Ceasefire signed 27 July 1953)
Location Korean Peninsula
Status - Cease-fire armistice
- North Korean invasion of South Korea repelled
- UN invasion of North Korea repelled
- Chinese invasion of South Korea repelled
- Korean Demilitarized Zone established, little territorial change at the 38th parallel border, essentially uti possidetis
Territorial changes DMZ; both gained little border territory at the 38th parallel.
Territory often changed hands early in the war, until the front stabilized.
Brig. Gen. Courtney Whitney; Gen. Douglas MacArthur, Commander in Chief of U.N. Forces; and Maj. Gen. Edward M. Almond observe the shelling of Inchon from the U.S.S. Mt. McKinley, September 15, 1950.
A squad of Chinese Infantrymen in a defensive position on Triangle Hill.
Fifth Air Force, Korea--Smoke pours from a swept-wing Russian built MIG-15 as bullets spatter from the blazing machine guns of a U.S. Air Force F-86 "Sabre" jet pilot. Photographs, such as this, printed from actual gun camera film, plus written statements of jet pilots who witness the "kill" must be evaluated before official confirmation or credit may be given. The white ribbon in the photograph is a river somewhere below MiG Alley.
Sources : wikipedia, google image search & boston.com
