Assignment

The Korean War

Causes of War through the level of analysis

Submitted to Course Code Course Name Submitted by ID

: Farzana Mannan : GED-338 : International Ralations : Sharvy Ahmed : 081015012

The Korean War

The Korean War took place between two Korean regimes from June 1950 to July 1953. This war is considered as a fight between two leaders Kim II and Syngman Rhee for the rise of power and very much influenced by the external countries.

Analysis of The Causes of The Korean War

Individual Level In 1950 Korea was divided into two regimes between the communist north and the capitalist south. North was led by Kim II and the south was led by Syngman Rhee. Syngman Rhee, leader of the southern part wanted to invade and conquer the northern Korea and impose his rule and become the leader of the country. At the same time Kim II, leader of the northern part also wanted to become the leader of the country and asked for help from Russia. Desire of becoming the leader of the whole country led both of them towards war against each other. Aggressive characteristics and the struggle for survival between Kim II and Syngman Rhee is the most important reason for the outbreak of the Korean War.

State/Society Level The Society structure of the North Korea was communism and the socio political condition of South Korea was Capitalism. The war can be viewed as a war between the communist and the capitalists. Two domination powers Soviet Union and USA helped these two regimes as Soviet Union wanted to expand the communist ideology and on the other hand Capitalist USA wanted to stop the spread. International Level It seemed to be a war between South and North Korea, but America and Russia were using it to fight without having a hot war. The USA went to war in Korea for three reasons. The first reason was the Domino theory China turned Communist in 1949 and Truman feared that the next domino would be Japan. The second reason was to undermine Communism and protect the American way of life. Thirdly, Truman realised the USA was in a competition for world domination with the USSR. Russia went to war because Stalin wanted Communism to grow. In 1949, Kim II persuaded Stalin and Mao Tse Tung to support an invasion of South Korea. After Kim II launched an offensive attack on Southern Korea, Syngman Rhee turned to USA and the UN in order for their help. In return, USA sent 350,000 men; 14 billion dollars which combined with 50,000 men from 14 different nations provided a very powerful army in order to counter attack the fight. This started the actual fighting.