Poll: who started the Korean war in 1950

[Kaj]

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Originally, the USSR was going to occupy all of Korea. The US insisted on a shared occupation after the Bomb worked, and the US no longer welcomed Soviet participation in the war on Japan.

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This refutes your claim.

On August 10, 1945, with the Japanese surrender imminent, the American government was unsure whether the Russians would adhere to the proposal arranged by the U.S. government. A month earlier, Colonels Dean Rusk and Bonesteel had drawn the dividing line at the 38th parallel in less than one-half an hour and using a National Geographic map for reference.

[lehighguy]

They could ask us to leave whenever they want, and nobody in America would object. While I have no doubt the south could defend form the north at this point, I'm thinking thier leaders see some value in having the US to counter balance China.

[Bill Haywood]

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if they didnt create those circustances, there would be no Korea or Koreans left, just a few slaves of the Japanese

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I don't follow that at all. The division at the 38th parallel and a joint occupation were required to defeat Japan?

[Copernicus]

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if they didnt create those circustances, there would be no Korea or Koreans left, just a few slaves of the Japanese

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I don't follow that at all. The division at the 38th parallel and a joint occupation were required to defeat Japan?

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You jumped a bit past the period I was referring to, I was talking about entering war against Japan in the first place. However, at the time of the drawing of the 38th parallel, yes, it was believed that US forces were stretched to thinly to defeat the Japanese and hold all of Korea on its own.

[rubberloon]

There's some evidence of South Korean attacks, incursions, inroads, raids into North Korea before the North Korean invasion, but even if true it's black mice against a black horse. North Korea was the aggressor.

[Bill Haywood]

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There's some evidence of South Korean attacks, incursions, inroads, raids into North Korea before the North Korean invasion, but even if true it's black mice against a black horse. North Korea was the aggressor.

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It's more than just "some evidence," it was a low grade war that went on for several years. But the huge escalation was initiated by the North, enabled by tanks from Stalin.

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However, at the time of the drawing of the 38th parallel, yes, it was believed that US forces were stretched to thinly to defeat the Japanese and hold all of Korea on its own.

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Welllll, it was more than just an estimation that the US couldn't hold all of Korea. The Russian bear dominated the continent; it agreed to ALLOW the US to share in the occupation. Nobody was contemplating trying to seize Manchuria before the USSR did.

[Nonfiction]

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Incidentally, I've been to the Korean War Museum in Seoul. Walking around Seoul, the people are not friendly to Americans (in my experience), treating you as you might expect blacks were treated walking around Atlanta in 1950s. They don't seem to want us in their country. Except those outside the military base gates selling stuff to GIs (including any kind of sex you might want). The base I was at closed the gates completely for inbound/outbound traffic one day in the 2 weeks I was there due to an anti-American protest in the streets. It was a strange feeling to really feel like part of an occupying power -- you can see it in most of the other people there that they didn't give a rat's ass about the country or its people (in my opinion). It was an interesting trip.

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The hilarious thing is that the only reason they are even able to have a protest in the streets is because of the occupation. Without the US dividing Korea, the Soviets control all of it, and the South gets to join along in the starvation and economic retardedness of the North! Yay everyone is happy in United Korea!

[Bill Haywood]

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Without the US dividing Korea, the Soviets control all of it, and the South gets to join along in the starvation and economic retardedness of the North! Yay everyone is happy in United Korea!

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If you rewind history and restart the movie, the results will be very different just due to chance. (See Stephen J. Gould's _Wonderful Life_ on historical causation.)

If Korea did not suffer a cataclysmic war, who knows how things would have played out. You can't assume the same xenophobic cult would arise. You can't even assume Kim Il Sung would have come out on top.

Most Koreans wish there had never been a division period, no matter the political results. I favor nations making their own choices.

[GoodCallYouWin]

"If you rewind history and restart the movie, the results will be very different just due to chance. "

Did you repeal the laws of causality while I was out shopping?

[mrick]

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The Potsdam Declaration preceded the bombings of Hirsoshima and Nagaski.

[/ QUOTE ]Potsdam conference took place from July 17 to August 2, 1945. The atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945.

But the Soviets knew full well of the existence and the capabilities of the bomb and the Americans knew the Soviets knew - and president Truman made doubly sure they knew. At the beginning of the conference he announced to all those present, that the U.S. was in possession of a formidable, never-before-seen weapon. Stalin, who would have been a very cool poker player, took this in stride and formally wished the Americans every success with this weapon, which he hoped "would help end the war sooner".

So, the two sides were aware of the potential significant imbalance in military strength between the US and the USSR, although this imbalance was strictly a matter of long-range strategic weapons. The Soviet Union was all-powerful in the European theater.