10 Important Things Everyone Should Know About the Korean War

1. Aided by the Soviets, a Communist government came to power in North Korea. In South Korea, a noncommunist government leader supported by the United States governed.
   
2. Korea had been a Japanese colony for half a century when Japan surrendered to the Allies at the end of WWII.
3. In June of 1950, North Korean forces crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea, the conflict that followed became known as the Korean War.
4. The United States appealed to the United Nations to stop the Communist move into South Korea.
5. 16 nations provided soldiers for a UN force. U.S. troops made up most of the force and did most of the fighting.
6. General Douglas MacArthur, forner WWII hero in the Pacific, served as commander of all UN forces.
   
7. In early fighting, North Korea pushed the South Koreans back almost to Pusan, a city on the southeastern tip of the Korean peninsula.
8. The UN forces pushed northward beyond the 38th parallel toward the Yalu River, the boundry seperating China from North Korea. The Chinese warned them to stop. They saw the UN movement into China as a threat to their security. After an ignored warning by the UN, Chinese Communist troops attacked in human waves across the Yalu River.
   
9. A cease-fire ended the fighting in July 1953. The two Koreas were left more or less where they had been in 1950 with a border near the 38th parallel. Communism had been contained in Korea.
10. Americans felt frustrated by the indecisive war. Some politicians selfishly made use of this frustration, such as Joseph McCarthy.