This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War.
#STRATEGIC WAR TRUMAN FULL#
In June 1950, one of these border clashes sparked a full scale invasion of South Korea by the North Korean People’s Army (KPA).Ī Civil War or a War between the Superpowers?
As the tension rose, they fortified the 38th parallel border and increased their military presence there, leading to cross-border shootings and skirmishes. Both claimed to be the legitimate government of Korea, and neither accepted the border as permanent. Tensions between the two Koreas increased in 1949-50, as their leaders engaged in aggressive political rhetoric. Despite so, the Koreans had never accepted the division as legitimate or permanent and the bitterly opposing governments of the North and South were both determined to reunify the country under their own control. By 1948, North Korea and South Korea became independent nation-states. However, driven by ideological interests and Cold War tensions, the Soviets and Americans, though officially committed to the establishment of a unified Korea, encouraged the formation of separate governments. This division was intended to last only four years, after which an independent Korean government was to be elected. The Korean War began on Jwhen 223,000 North Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldiers supported by 150 tanks poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea (ROK) to the south. In October 1950, Chinese PLA expeditionary force, under the name of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army (PVA 中国人民志愿军), crossed the Yalu River to assist North Korean armies in the Korean War, engaging the UN-sanctioned US-led coalition troops (hereon known as the Allied forces) which was far stronger in terms of military equipment and logistical supply than China. China and the US crossed swords soon after the birth of New China under the leadership of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949.