Topic– Norman Lowe; Mastering World History; The spread of communism outside Europe.
2) Discuss the reasons behind the 1950 Korean War. Also discuss the impact of the war on Korea and on international relations.(250 words)
Directive word
Discuss- this is an all-encompassing directive which mandates us to write in detail about the key demand of the question. we also have to discuss about the related and important aspects of the question in order to bring out a complete picture of the issue in hand.
Key demand of the question
The question wants us to write in detail about the reasons behind the 1950 Korean War and then write at length about the impact of war on Korea and international relations at that time.
Structure of the answer
Introduction- write a few introductory lines about the 1950 Korean War. e.g defeat of Japan in the second world war and division of the country along the 38th parallel and mention the influence of Russia in the North and America in the south etc.
Body-
- Discuss the reasons behind the Korean War. e.g it was not intended to be a permanent division. The United Nations wanted free elections for the whole country and the Americans agreed, believing that since their zone contained two-thirds of the population, the communist north would be outvoted. However, the unification of Korea, like that of Germany, soon became part of Cold War rivalry: no agreement could be reached, and the artificial division continued ; Elections were held in the south, supervised by the UN, and the independent Republic of Korea, or South Korea; The following month, the Russians created the Democratic People’s Republic o f Korea , o r North Korea under the communist g o v e r n m e n t; In 1949 Russian and American troops were withdrawn, leaving a potentially dangerous situation: most Koreans bitterly resented the artificial division forced on their country by outsiders, but both leaders claimed the right to rule the whole country etc.
- Discuss the impact of the war. e.g USA took direct action in the war; American policy therefore changed decisively: instead of just economic help and promises of support, Truman decided it was essential for the West to take a stand by supporting South Korea. American troops in Japan were ordered to Korea even before the UN had decided what action to take; The Chinese government was seriously alarmed; For Korea itself it was a disaster: the country was devastated, about four million Korean soldiers and civilians had been killed and five million people were homeless. The division seemed permanent; both states remained intensely suspicious of each other and heavily armed, and there were constant ceasefire violations; The UN had exerted its authority and reversed an act of aggression, but the communist world denounced it as a tool of the capitalists.
- The military performance of communist China was impressive; she had prevented the unification of Korea under American influence and was now clearly a world power etc.
Conclusion– based on your discussion, form a fair and a balanced conclusion on the given issue.
