The Cold War Into A Fearful Hot War

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Albert Kao

Ms. Frankie Tsui

Social Study 10-1

The Cold War Into A Fearful Hot War

As World War II ended, the two giant powers in the world, USSR and USA, faced a new conflict that had terrified the whole world for decades. After the war, the world split into two parts, USSR-led communist countries and USA-led capitalist countries. They had started lots of competitions in many fields such as military, territories, politics, economy, and technology. People named the period as the Cold War, which contained the series of competitions that the capitalist countries and the communist countries tried to weaken each other. Both side tried not to make it a hot war, which was that countries sent military to other countries and fight. In order to prevent nuclear war from exploding, which was when countries with nuclear weapons start to shoot nuclear bombs at each other and cause the chain reaction. However, in an effort to try to maintain their "cool", there were still some small serious conflicts that almost led the Cold War into a hot war. The Cuban missile crisis, Vietnam War, and the Korean War were some examples of the small conflicts. The Cuban missile crisis was when USSR tried to transport nuclear bomb to Cuba and settle a nuclear bomb base against America. However John Kennedy (President of US) hoped to solve this peacefully, so he made a secret deal with Khrushchev (leader of USSR). Therefore, this conflict ended up pacifically. The Vietnam War was when US supported South Vietnam to try and defeat the USSR-supported North Vietnam. Soon, American citizens felt it was a bad decision to continue the bloody war and held many antiwar movements. In the end, the US government pulled military out of Vietnam, and then the war ended peacefully by North Vietnam winning. The Korean War was started by North Korea sending their military crossed the 38 degree line and attacking South Korea in 1950. So South Korea asked for help from America and the UN. In response, UN passed the Resolution 84 sending military to help South Korea. While UN troops started to push North Korea back, North Korea asked help from USSR and China, which led the Korean War to become a global warfare. As the war seemed unending, both side decided to sign armistice agreement to stop fighting. No peace treaty was signed when later North Korea announced they would not follow the armistice agreement anymore. However, compared to the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam War, the Korean War still had more effects on making the Cold war a hot war. The Korean War was the first direct arm conflict that developed between USA and USSR during the Cold War because America was afraid the communist would take over Asia, bringing a new idea that USSR and USA would also start proxy war in other countries which caused conflicts later, and USSR, China, and North Korea would form Allies after the war to remind America that they were ready for a hot war.

Korean War was the first direct arm conflict that developed during the Cold War because "[the] United State’s intention [to] Korea was clear as they strongly showed their will to go against communism in Korean Peninsula[.] [And] the Americans viewed the civil conflict in Korea more as a conflict between themselves and the Soviets, fighting for expansion of their social ideology."(Koran War). In1927 long before WWII, China was in its bloody civil war. Jiang Jieshi led his nationalist party, Guomindang, to destroy and seize the Chinese Communist Party because he thought Communist party was a threat to his government. However as WWII had started in 1939, Japan invaded China from the north. Japanese conquered and killed lots of Chinese people, so Guomindang and Chinese Communist Party decided to work together and defeated the Japanese invaders. Therefore, the civil war stopped for a while. But as soon as WWII had ended by Allies winning, the war between Guomindang and Chinese Communist Party started again. This time Mao Zedong, the leader of Chinese Communist Party, had defeated Jiang-led Guomindang with the help from USSR and the supports from peasant. Jiang had no choice but to retreat out of China. Therefore, the most important areas in Asia, part of Russia and China, were under the communist’s control. And this had terrified USA and other capitalist countries.

In 1945 at the epilogue of WWII, as Allies almost pushed Japan out of Korea, USA wanted Korea peninsula to be an independent country in order to make the Cairo Declaration come true. The Cairo Declaration was the agreement signed after the meeting between US, UK and China about how to defeat Japan. Therefore, US brought up an idea to divide Korean Peninsula at the 38 degree line which was the military demarcation line that set on the 38th parallel north to divide the peninsula into North, and South Korea. USSR would control the north part, and US would control the south part. This began the divisions of people in the Korean Peninsula, the communist in the north and the capitalist in the south. In 1948, both sides elected different leaders, South Korea with Syngman Rhee and North Korea with Kim II-sung. And they all claimed rights to the other half. As the new leader had been elected, the divisions between both sides became more significant. As the result, Kin II-sung set up the Korean People’s Army in the same year, as, US pulled most of its military out of South Korea. Peace did not last for a long time. The divisions soon made North Korea attack South Korea in 1950 because Kim II-sung and Stalin (leader of USSR) wanted to expand communist power. The Korean War started. When western capitalist countries got the news that South Korea was being attacked by North Korea, they were terrified because they were afraid that they would lose the entire Asia when South Korea was conquered by the communist. So the western capitalists armed up and sent their military to support South Korea. As they sent their military to South Korea, it immediately made Korean War become a global warfare, and this bloody war also became the first direct arm conflict between the western capitalists and the communists.

Base on the idea of the Cold War, countries should try their best to avoid physical conflict and use competitions to replace conflicts. In this way, hot war wouldn’t explore. But the Korean War had gone against this idea because countries did truly attack each other. However, many contentions said Korean War was absolutely avoiding less and didn’t go against the idea of the Cold War. First, USA couldn’t take the consequence of losing South Korea because it would hardly hit the power of the capitalist countries. Second, the Korean War was seemed as a proxy war, so it didn’t really go against the idea of the Cold War because a proxy war was allowed during the Cold War. According to this, the Korean War didn’t go against the idea of the Cold War, but it almost led the Cold War into hot war because South Korea was very important to USA.

The Korean War became the first direct arm conflict because both North Korea and South Korea had claimed their rights to control the other side before they started a bloody civil war. However, because most of the important lands in Asia were under the communists controlled it made the western capitalists terrified. So they had no choice but joined the civil war. This first arm conflict that existed during the Cold War had made the situation in the world very edgy which almost led both sides to start a hot war and nuclear warfare. General Macarthur once asked President Truman and the Congress for permission to use nuclear bomb because the Korean War seemed unfinished and wasted too many sources. This is another example showing the Korean War was so intense that USA was about to use nuclear bomb to end it.

The Korean War brought a new idea to the world that USSR and USA would also start a proxy war in other countries. During WWII, countries formed alliances and sent their militaries to other countries and fought. But this was not considering a kind of proxy war. The definition of a proxy war is when countries with opposite powers sent supports or troops secretly to other countries’ battle field in order to go against one another. In addition, they would not fight directly because they didn’t want a full scale war. However, countries that sent their militaries to other places and fought during WWII wanted a full scale war and eventually defeated each other. And this went against the definition of a proxy war. Most people believe that the Cold War represented the function of the proxy war the best because there were many conflicts during the Cold War that conformed to the idea of a proxy war. Another reason was "both United States and USSR did not want any military aggression to occur as they were tired of any more fights. Thus the two powers began to compete with each other through the conflicts of foreign countries, in order to spread their own power more globally." (Koran War). The Soviet war in Afghanistan and the Korean War were some examples of conflict that they started to prevent true fight. The Soviet war in Afghanistan was USSR supported the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, which formed by USSR in Afghanistan in 1978 to support USSR. The Democratic Republic of Afghanistan was attacked by Mujahideen, fighters that fought for their religious believes later supported by the USA. This action later led to a long civil war in Afghanistan. The Korean War was when USSR-supported North Korea attacked USA-supported South Korea and led to the civil war in the Korean peninsula. The Korean War was a more effective event that brought the idea of proxy war to the world than the Soviet war in Afghanistan because the Korean War was the first proxy war that USSR and USA started during the Cold War. And it also brought a lot of fear to people in different countries because their countries might be in war anytime. In addition the Soviet war in Afghanistan happened at the end of the Cold War, so it did not bring too many negative ideas to people in the world.

The Korean War was considered one of the most important events that well presented the idea of a proxy war. Weep in the Korean War, both leaders in the capitalist countries and the communist countries did not wish to fight directly with each other. Because if they fought against each other directly, there would be a very big chance that the Korean War might lead to a full scale war in the world and eventually start a nuclear warfare. In order not to make the Korean War into a full scale war and still supported either North Korea or South Korea, countries used different excuses to make their dispatch of military seem accurate. The USA asked UN to pass the United Nation Security Council Resolution 84, so the capitalist countries could send their troops to support South Korea. China armed up part of its military naming it People’s Volunteer Army and announced peasants volunteer to support North Korea. Therefore, no one would have any excuse to blame China for joining the war. USSR sent some of its pilots and fighters to join North Korea or China’s military but the pilots of USSR were forced to wear the People’s Volunteer Army’s uniform and they could only fight in the MiG Alley (Yalu River to Yellow sea). Therefore USSR would not be blamed for joining the war.

According to the idea about a proxy war being the way for countries to avoid true conflict, the Korean War should have no influence on almost making the Cold war into a hot war. But this wasn’t really correct. First, the Korean War brought an idea to the world that USA and USSR would start battle anywhere they wanted. It also motivated either the communists or the capitalists to rise in some countries because they knew USA and USSR would help them. As the result, the world was in disorder. Second, even though the Korean War was defined as a proxy war, but it was so important to USA that General Macarthur even proposed to use the nuclear bomb because it took USA too long to end the conflict. Based on the reasons above, it strongly proved that the Korean War had an undeniable influence on almost making the Cold War into a hot war.

The Cold War was seemed as the period that best expressed the idea of proxy war and the Korean War was the first conflict that made people to have the fear that their home might become battle field throughout the whole the Cold War. People was fear of this because the Korean War was the first main conflict that exploded between USSR and USA and both sides (the communist and the capitalist) used many ways and excuses to make their dispatch of military seemed accurate and secret.

USSR, China and North Korea formed alliance after the Korean War to remind the capitalist countries, especially USA, that they were ready for hot war which led to later conflicts. "The effects of the Korean War were that:(i) Korea was much devastated during the war, particularly North Korea; (ii) China was protected by a buffer state, North Korea, in her northeast; (iii) China and the Soviet Union became close allies after the war; (iv) the western nations had given military assistance to the United Nations to fight against aggression and the authority of the United Nations was upheld." (Cold War) While the Korean War seemed unfinished, both the capitalist countries and the communist countries got tired of it because they had spent too many resources and people in the war. As the result, in 1953, North Korea’s commander Nam II, China’s commander and the UN’s commander William Kelly Harrison, Jr. met in Panmunjom, a village set on the 38 degree line, to discuss an agreement. The result of the agreement was called the Korean Armistice Agreement. This agreement allowed both sides to set up a 4 km long demilitarized zone from the 38 degree line, the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Both sides needed to stop any military conflict in 12 hours and retreated from the Korean Demilitarized Zone in 72 hours. However, the conflict didn’t just end easily. After the agreement was signed, both side started to blame each other for what they had done during the war. North Korea was blamed for killing almost a thousand of peasants in the hospital near the Seoul National University and massacring huge amount of people when they were retreating back to North Korea. South Korea had also been blamed for killing almost one hundred thousand people during the Bodo League Massacre, an action to clean the communist supporters in South Korea in the beginning of the Korean War. In 1948, South Korea killed sixty thousands people in Jeju, a group of islands located at the south west part of South Korea, because there was a revolt.

As China, USSR, and North Korea formed alliances; the power of the communist countries in the world had grown rapidly, and more new conflicts exploded between the capitalist countries and the communist countries because North Korea, China and USSR would support any communist party that tried to rise, so they could reach their international goal, making the world into a communist world. The Yom Kippur War was one example. It was that the communists supported the alliances of Egypt and Syria to attack the USA supported Israel. The conflict began because Egypt and Syria wanted to take back the lands, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula that were taken by Israel before. Most people believed that Egypt and Syria started this conflict because they had the support from the communist countries. In addition, those Arabs countries that got involved even felt that the price of the war was less than the Six-Day War, conflict that the alliance of Jordan, Syria and Egypt crushed by the troop of Israel.

Another example of the war that started because parties got support from the communist countries was the Vietnam War. Before the Vietnam War had started, the Viet Cong, the communist supporters in Vietnam, got the support from the communist countries, especially USSR. So the Viet Cong began many guerilla wars against the South Vietnam government supported by the USA and those guerilla wars had crushed the South Vietnam military. Soon the situation in the Vietnam became very dangerous, so President Kennedy of the USA decided to send special force to help the Vietnam government, and people believed that this was the beginning of the Vietnam War.

But, many people didn’t believe USSR, China and North Korea got together to form alliances because Sino-Soviet spilt exploded during 1950 to 1980. The Sino-Soviet spilt was when a series of disagreement in politics occurred between Nikita Khrushchev led USSR and Mao led China. Nikita Khrushchev was the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union and Mao was the first chairman of the Central Committee of the communist party of China. Both leaders had argument regarding territories, border between China mainland and Russia, and ideal of Marxism. USSR claimed that Mao wasn’t a true believer of Marxism and Mao blame USSR was the follower of Social-imperialism. They also had many nuclear bomb issues to argue about; China kept asking for technology to build nuclear bomb from USSR, but USSR kept looking for excuses to stop China from getting the technology of making nuclear bomb. However, this didn’t influence the support that sent by the alliance between the communist countries because the Sino-Soviet spilt was more in politics. Therefore it didn’t influence either China or USSR’s military, and they still had enough resources to support the communist parties in other countries. Another reason that it didn’t influence the relationship of the alliance was because the Sino-Soviet spilt got better when Nikita Khrushchev stepped down. Nikita Khrushchev was the main reason why the Sino-Soviet spilt exploded because he disagreed and blamed many policies or action that China had done to improve their country, so it made Mao very angry.

One of the most important reasons why the Korean War had almost made the Cold War into a hot war was because the Korean War caused many conflicts to explode even it had ended. USSR, China, North Korea and other communist countries would get together after the war and formed alliance telling the whole world they were ready for hot war. They also provided supports for the communist parties in other countries to rise like the Vietnam War. This alliance had brought on many conflicts till the end of the Cold War.

In the 20th century, the Cold War was considered the most terrible nightmare to all people in the world. And people were afraid that the Cold War might become a hot war. And there was a conflict obviously boosted the Cold War onto the track toward hot war, the Korean War. The Korean War was considered a key because it was the first arm conflict between USA and USSR during the Cold War, it brought the ideas about proxy war to people, and it let the three big communist countries (USSR, China, and North Korea) to form alliance. After WWII, USA was afraid that the communists would take over Asia because they had lost China already. Therefore they joined the civil war in the Korean Peninsula when communist North Korea attacked capitalist South Korea. As USA joined the civil war, USSR immediately joined the opposite side to maintain the balance of power. This action brought a new idea to the world that USA and USSR might start proxy war anywhere and it soon created an extreme unsafe emotion. While the war seemed unending, both sides started to get tired of it. In order to stop this eternal war, they decided to sign an armistice agreement to end it. But as soon as the agreement had been reached, USSR, China, and North Korea formed an alliance and declared that they would not follow the armistice agreement anymore which left many fuses to later conflicts. It is said that there wouldn’t have been so many problems if USA hadn’t joined join the civil war in the Korean Peninsula because the war could just had been ended simply without any huge damages. However, it wasn’t true because if USA hadn’t joined the civil war, Asia would have become the communists’ and break the balance of power. Then the Cold War would never end or end by the communists winning the war based on their increasingly power. As the result, which USA joined the war, the communists’ power stopped growing. Yet, even the power stopped growing, the legacies that it had left still made it a key of almost turning the Cold War into a hot war.