Click2History - Korean War - Chapter 1 - Preface

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff cellpadding=5> <tr> <td align=center valign=top><div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>KOREAN WAR</p> <p>STORY BEHIND THE CONFLICT</b></font></p>  <table width="590"> <tr> <td align="CENTER" valign="top" bgcolor="000000" colspan=2><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="3" color="FFFFFF"><b>STORY CHAPTER LINKS</b></font></td> </tr> <tr> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width="100%" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="5" border="0"> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><a href="#preface"><b>1. STORY PREFACE</b></a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch2.htm">2. KOREA DIVIDED</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP" width="50%"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch3.htm">3. RESULTS OF THE SPLIT</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch4.htm">4. WHY WAR?</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch5.htm">5. AMERICA INTERVENES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch6.htm">6. CHINA INTERVENES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch7.htm">7. DEATH AT CHOSIN RESERVOIR</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> <td align=center valign=top width=50%>  <table width=100% cellpadding=5 cellspacing=5 border=0> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch8.htm">8. STALEMATE</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch9.htm">9. “HEARTBREAK RIDGE”</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch10.htm">10. WAR PICTURES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch11.htm">11. HOSTILITIES TODAY</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch12.htm">12. NUCLEAR WEAPONS</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch13.htm">13. KIM IL SUNG</a></b></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="LEFT" valign="TOP"><font face="ARIAL, HELVETICA" size="2"><b><a href="korean_war_ch14.htm">14. USED AND RECOMMENDED SOURCES</a></b></font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  <p><b><font size="3"><u><a name="preface">PREFACE</a></u></font></b></p> <div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">At 4:00 a.m. Sunday morning, 25 June 1950, North Korea crossed the <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/books/field/map1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>38th Parallel</b></a> (known as the "Line of <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia02/korea_north_sm02.gif" target="_blank"><b>Demarcation</b></a>" in that part of the world), and launched a full-scale <a href="http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/brochures/KW-Outbreak/map2.jpg" target="_blank"><b>invasion</b></a> of <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia02/korea_south_sm02.gif" target="_blank"><b>South Korea</b></a>. The UN Security Council immediately <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_3_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>passed</b></a> a <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/kw_3_2.jpg" target="_blank"><b>resolution</b></a> calling on the "Democratic People’s Republic of Korea" (the DPRK) to cease hostilities and to withdraw.</p> <p>When the North Koreans refused, the Security Council passed a <a href="http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/korea/large/week1/ayer_1_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>second resolution</b></a> on the 27th of June, recommending that <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h97000/h97167.jpg" target="_blank"><b>UN</b></a> members "furnish such assistance to the Republic of Korea [South Korea] as may be necessary to repel the armed <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h97000/h97052.jpg" target="_blank"><b>attack</b></a> and restore the international peace and security in the area."</p> <p>Meanwhile, DPRK’s southern-moving forces were <a href="http://www.dean.usma.edu/history/dhistorymaps/images/KoreanW/KW10.jpg" target="_blank"><b>advancing</b></a> rapidly. <a href="http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/seoul_1946.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Seoul</b></a>, South Korea’s capital, fell in four days.</p> <p>These events posed a major challenge to the Truman Administration and to America’s allies. If the invasion were not <a href="http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/images/h96000/h96378.jpg" target="_blank"><b>checked</b></a>, it would set a precedent that could easily undermine the confidence of post-WWII countries relying on the U.S. for protection. Countries like South Korea.</p> <p>How was it that a nation, politically <a href="http://lookinside-images.amazon.com/Qffs+v35leqPRbKeiBZv1MEeZtk6pkyrlJoehtle+cD47clp6YvRPqUWylF4CbfrxR2PiE2YspE=" target="_blank"><b>unified</b></a> for two millennia, was now <a href="http://lookinside-images.amazon.com/Qffs+v35lepm7g80g60U0y9uv8Z841urGKg61e5ti96vST67XjgGCLDPNDrtEy24P85X8iGsiP8=" target="_blank"><b>fighting</b></a> <a href="http://lookinside-images.amazon.com/Qffs+v35lepm7g80g60U0y9uv8Z841ur3ZbSdItPXLHoYl0zONgNr74Hfgel+OCsXXeF6CXwZYvCWhJ8WpG5c20yRDhUD0ayRKG0xnMDXTGz6p+1jyNbS5doxWoCzc9W4F5kJ8ugXqNq681+jsgW19PlQahIkDzkg5Kxhh1YjZyR0IoPzCFyURLLVnU9eCJy" target="_blank"><b>itself</b></a>? </p> </div> <p align="right"><font size="2"><a href="korean_war_ch2.htm">GO TO CHAPTER 2</a></font></p> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="3"><a href="http://www.awesomestories.com/content/about_author.htm" target="_blank"><b>Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.</b></center></a></p><br> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table>  </body>