The Korean War should be understood as a Cold War conflict. Discuss.

Introduction

Cold war conflict is defined as a conflict between the US and the USSR with their satellite states based on their ideological differences. The US and the USSR were involved in the Korean War due to their own ideological reasons such as the US intention of defending South Korea to contain communism, General Douglas MacArthur assistance to Chiang Kai Shek nationalists in China and USSR s attempt to threaten US presence in Japan. To a large extend, Korean War is a cold war conflict as it is based on the ideological interest of US and USSR who were involved in this war.
Body 1 Thesis Statement:

The Korean War should be understood as a cold war conflict because the USs intention to defend South Korea from the USSR was to contain communism as the US viewed soviet intervention into the war as expansionistic.
Details: y

Under the influence of nationa l security council-68 report which states that Soviet Union will build up relations, military capabilities and undertake aggressive measures against the west with the discovery of nuclear weapon, the west see the soviet involvement in Korea as expanding co mmunist into Asia.

According to the domino theory, when one country falls under the communist rule, countries around the region would be influenced and fall under its rule as well.

Hence, US responded by providing military supplies to the south Korean forc es and committing themselves to the conflict as seen in Trumans 27th June statement that US will intervene against any further communist expansion in the Pacific.

UN military intervention was able to push back North Koreans across 38th parallel and furth er cross the 38th parallel as an attempt to uproot the communist from North Korea.

The Korean War resulted in establishment of NATO and increase establishment of US military base in allied countries to ensure that they were immune to communist.

Linking Statement:

Hence, the Korean War should be understood as a cold war conflict as Soviet participation was viewed as a spread communism to the US. Thus, US intervention into the war was to prevent Korea from falling into the hands of communism and consequently the whole of Asia, increasing the power of communism throughout the world.

Body 2 Thesis Statement:

McArthurs open support for the nationalist leader, Chiang Kai Shek further heightened tensions between US and USSR where USs support for Chiang Kai Shek was seen as a threat to USSRs ideology security.

Details:
y

McArthur led the Korean War, and continued advance towards the Chinese border after crossing the 38 th parallel. This contributed to the Chinese decision to engage UN forces.

American government had provided strong support for the nationalists in the course of the civil war with Maos communist troops.

American political leaders see the need to contest communism rather than accept the notion of coexistence.

Linking Statement:

Therefore, the Korean War should be understood as a cold war conflict due to the fact that it heightened the tensions between the US and the USSR when the US viewed the Korean War as USSRs attempts to spread its ideology.

Body 3 Thesis Statement:

The Korean War should be understood as a Cold War conflict as USSRs intervention into the war was to unify the Korean Peninsula under communist rule. This would secure Soviet borders and threaten US presence in Japan .
Details: y

It wanted to deter US from implementing policies that were expansionistic and prevent East Asia from falling into Capitalist hands which will oppose the USSR.

It wanted to discourage the US from using Japan as a base to diminish the power of Communism.

Hence, the USSR provided aids to North Korea to help them in their invasions to the South.

The USSR intervened indirectly by providing troops, weapons and even a military advisor.

However, they did not want to risk confrontations with the US .

Linking Statement:

Therefore, these aims that the USSR had were due to the ir strong bitterness towards the US and the Capitalist ideology. Therefore the Korean War is to be seen as a cold war conflict as the USSRs intervention was indeed to have the Korean Peninsula under the communist rule. On the other hand,
Body 4 Thesis Statement:

The Korean War should not be understood as a Cold War conflict as it was based on internal political dispute with the 2 Korean leaders, Kim II -Sung and Syngman Rhee, willing to use force to overcome the other to unify Korea.
Details: y y

Historically, the Korean Peninsula had always been reunified. After the end of WWII, North and South Korea could not come to an agreement in terms of a reunification.

Hence both leaders of North and South Korea were determined to unify the country.

In addition, they were even willing to use force if it meant overcoming the other and unifying the country under their individual governments.

Linking Statement:

Therefore the Korean W ar should not be understood as a Cold War conflict as it was based on internal political dispute; the roots of the war was based on an internal struggle to reunify the country under one dominant government and hence it was not intentionally caused by a cla sh of ideologies.
QUALIFIER

On the surface, it may seem that the Soviet Union was trying very hard not to get entangled in an open war with the US, which can rule out the Korean War as a Cold War conflict. However, the reasons as to why the USSR got involv ed in the conflict in the first place must be considered. The USSR had expansionistic ideas when they sent military aid to North Korea. Furthermore, with a unified Korean Peninsula would mean that the Soviets will be able to counter the US presence in Japan. At the same time, a unified Korea would also provide a good platform for the USSR to spread communism throughout the rest of Asia. On the other hand, the US, with the Containment Policy and the Domino Theory in mind, wanted to stop the spread of Communism. It is indeed arguable that the conflict had started solely because of the Korean leaders intentions to reunify Korea . However, it is not entirely true. The division between the two Koreas was made by the US and the USSR after World War II. This division influenced the leaders of both South and North Korea s in wanting to reunify Korea under the name of their respective ideologies.
Conclusion

The definition of the Cold War was the non -violent conflict between the US and USSR. Therefore, by definition, since both countries hostilities were directed at each other during Korean War both directly and indirectly, it can be understood as a Cold War conflict.