Korean War Essays (Examples)

The Republicans rallied behind MacArthur who did not stifle his view that America should attack enemy bases in China, even at the risk of a wider war. Truman was incensed. The battle in Washington was soon drawing bigger headlines than the battle in Korea. (Ibid)

Many theorists in the 1950's saw the Chinese involvement as being part of an overall communist plot to dominate the world. They saw little distinction between Chinese and Russian involvement in the Korean War but rather saw the war as a combined effort at communist dominance.

In the 1950s, Western scholars, strongly influenced by the intensifying Cold War, generally viewed China's entrance into the Korean War as a reflection of a well-coordinated Communist plot of worldwide expansion, believing that the entire international

Communist movement was under the control of Moscow, and that neither eijing nor Pyongyang had the freedom to make their own foreign policy…

Korean ar

Life as a Soldier in the Korean ar

Life here in Korea has been unbearable and exhausting. I enlisted prior to the outbreak of war and had been stationed in Japan on security detail. The work was easy and had not prepared me for my deployment to the front lines. As an 18-year-old private first class, I witnessed heavy fighting and the kind that seemed never to make a dent in the morale of the North Koreans. And especially with the dispatching of their Chinese allies by the thousands in the later part of this year, the task for fighting them off became and endless test of our endurance.

It is also intolerably cold here in the winter. At its worst, the temperature was so cold that our guns jammed and our cannons cracked. The ground was so frozen over that we had to use grenades to make…

In order to do so, Kim built up a formidable army which was armed by the Soviets. His army was also bolstered by the arrival of veteran Korean fighters from China after the end of the Chinese civil war between the Communist and the Nationalists in which the Communists under Mao had triumphed. On the other hand, Rhee's government was relatively weak due to the communist insurgency in the south and his army had not been armed to the same level as that of North Korea by the United States.

Nevertheless, Stalin did not approve of such an attack at first because he did not want a direct confrontation with the United States at that stage. After the Soviet testing of the atomic bomb in 1949, and the success of the communist revolution in China in the same year, Stalin gained more confidence. Hence, when Kim Il Sung approached him…

The North, however, was more nationalistic in its ideas, and believed that the entire peninsula should be united based on a common language and culture. At the time, primarily because of the tremendous loss of resources from World War II, the South was unable to fight off the North completely (Stokesbury, 1990, 25-61). Based on the tense atmosphere between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Iron Curtain descending on Eastern Europe, and the Soviet push towards nuclear parity with the U.S., most of the Western governments assumed that all communistic leadership, regardless of location and nationality, were controlled either overtly or covertly by Moscow. So, when the North Korean government began its guerilla attacks against the South, the United States saw this as direct aggression from the Soviets and a desire to export communism even further. Added to this was the looming war in China, and the fear…

Korean War made with specific focus on what the populace went through as primarily a policy of the local alliances or the foreign influences. The paper will focus on the numerous plights of the Korean civilians including the genocides, the economic strains, the social influences and the rehabilitation concerns. The paper will also discuss the extent to which the Korean War was a Cold War or a civil war.

The Korean War, which was essentially one of the many "limited wars" for forces like the United States and United Nations, ended up being a complete and destructive clash for the Koreans. What made this war particularly savage to Korean people, North and South, civilian and solder was the truth that the human and material sources of North and South Korea were utilized and exploited to the maximum. The material devastation and lack of existence in general on either side was…

Despite extensive assistance from the United States and the United Nations, the South Korean economy failed to rebound and it took nearly a decade before the South Korean economy began to demonstrate any significant improvement. Oddly the South Korean improvement coincided with the rise to power of Park Chung Hee (Vu). Prior to 1961, South Korea was ruled by a civilian government but a military coup occurred in 1961 which brought to power Major General Park Chung Hee. Under Park, the South Korean economy began to show improvement.

Park was assassinated in 1979 and things were in turmoil in South Korea for a few short years. During such time, South Korea again attempted civilian government but it was unsuccessful. A new militarily controlled government assumed control under the leadership of General Chun Doo Hwan. The economy rebounded during Chun's tenure but he was never able to attain the popularity enjoyed…

Korean War

Cause and Effects of the Korean War

In June of 1950 armed forces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea, crossed the border and invaded the Republic of Korea, known as South Korea. This precipitated three years of war between the United States, which led the United Nation's forces supporting the South Koreans, and the North Koreans with their allies from the People's Republic of China and the Soviet Union. In short it was a war between the major Communist powers and the Free World set on the Korean peninsula.

Historians have debated the causes and effects of the war since it happened but almost every one can agree that the division of the Korean Peninsula after the Second World War was the first step toward war. In the wake of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the surrender of Japan left…

Korean War is often called the quiet or forgotten war. Sandwiched in between the popular war, World War II, and an unpopular war, The Vietnam War, The Korean conflict was not the measure of hardware and military might which occurred in WWII.

The Korean War was also not the political boondoggle which arose during the Vietnam era. The Korean conflict tested the wills and strategies of the world's global super powers, and how they would respond to include the newly formed United Nations in their actions. As such, the Korean Conflict tested the character of the nations involved, rather than the military might, or will to win. As such, President Truman was at the center of the crucible, and responded to the crisis with political acumen.

Following the use of atomic weapons on Japan to end WWII, ussia had developed atomic weapons also. Thus as the world entered the military…

1950's Korean War, North Korea (Democratic People's epublic Korea) and South Korea (epublic Korea) Were Exploited by the Superpowers for Their Own Agendas

The closing decade of the 20th century witnessed the end of the Cold War as the Soviet Union collapsed and its former Warsaw Pact allies flocked to join their former enemies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The end of the Cold War also resulted in the United States emerging as the world's only remaining superpower, but the 21st century promises to truly be the "Century of Asia" with China taking the lead. The ussian bear that played such a crucial role in the Cold War is down, but it is certainly not out and stands to play an important role as an emerging superpower in the future as well. These outcomes were the result, at least in part, of how these three countries prosecuted their respective…

President Harry S. Truman found himself entrenched in a major dilemma as the Korean ar unfolded. The consensus among most political leaders in the United States was that the Soviet Union was intending to export communism to the rest of the world. This consensus formed the basis of the American foreign policy with the goal being to contain communism at home and abroad. In Europe, this policy was characterized by the Marshall Plan but, in Asia, this policy became identified by the United States' participation in the Korean ar.

Korea had been divided at the end of the Second orld ar into two halves. This division had occurred as a result of the Soviet Union having invaded Korea during the ar and the Japanese subsequently surrendering to the Soviets. The United States, fearing that the Soviet Union might try to establish a communist government on the entire peninsula moved troops…

According to international relations scholar Kang (2003) one of the greatest puzzles of the postwar world is why the conflict between communist North Korea and South Korea has not re-erupted, despite the prediction that this would occur by most scholars. The purpose of Kang’s essay is to answer how so many respected scholars were so mistaken. In one succinct and concise sentence, Kang states: “The case of North Korea provides a window with which to examine these theories of conflict initiation, and reveals how the assumptions underlying these theories can become mis-specified” (Kang, 2003, p.302). Kang argues that both the theory of how conflicts occur and the actual conditions on the ground in Korea were misunderstood.

Kang also identifies novel facets of the North Korean perspective which he says have gone unnoticed by the West. “The flurry of North Korean diplomatic and economic initiatives in the past few years show…

Psychological Traps and Intuitive Decision-Making
Psychological traps can be especially dangerous when engaging in decision-making. There are a number of different psychological traps that leaders and decision makers can fall into. This paper will discuss some of these traps, explain how they affect decisions and the intuitive decision-making process, and provide two examples of how this can be seen in the “Korea 1950” case study.
One type of psychological trap is the anchoring trap, which occurs when a decision maker gives disproportionate weight to the first bit of information received, allowing this tidbit of data to inform and shape his entire outlook when subsequent data would better help to explain a situation so that a more informed and rational decision could be made.[footnoteRef:2] The status-quo trap occurs when one has a bias towards maintaining a current situation even though better options exist for organizing or implementing a course of action.…

On page 138 Halberstam explains that the initial American units "…thrown into battle were poorly armed, in terrible shape physically, and, more often than not, poorly led" (Halberstam, 2007, 138). The U.S. was trying to get by "…on the cheap," Halberstam explains, and it Korea "it showed immediately"; Truman wanted to keep taxes low, he wanted to try and pay off the debt from the enormous expenditures in II, and as was referenced earlier, Truman really wanted to keep military expenditures down.

But what that austerity program meant was that the first troops that were being trained at Fort Lewis (prior to their orders to fight in Korea) were asked to "…use only two sheets of toilet paper each time they visited the latrine" (Halberstam, 138). Moreover, the lackluster performance by the initial troops sent into harm's way in Korea was reported back in the states and caused serious concerns.…

My father's parents first operated a Laundromat, then a small general store. My father is now a civil engineer.

School was always a priority in my household. I did not have to work in a family business like my parents, but it was always expected that I would get high marks and devote my attention to keeping at the top of my class and pursuing extracurricular activities that were valuable and enriching, including soccer and music. However, this did not mean there I had no fun as a child. I have many happy memories of my family watching my sports games and concerts and preparing traditional foods with my grandmothers.

Sometimes the pressure I felt was quite intense. My parents had succeeded against all the odds and were determined that I would succeed as well. However, I felt that I needed to pursue a different path. ather than going to…

Korean History: The Climate and Culture of Foreign Business

The challenge of any cultural history undertaken to determine the foreign business fitness of a location is to make sure that there is due respect afforded the society with regard to issues that might not be seen as directly affecting the bottom line. So much of the time in the business world we are collectively focused on the ideas that surround the continued development of the global world economy, without regard for the existence of prior national issues. An easily made mistake for a researcher addressing issues of Korea from the United States would be to distill Korean history into a form that only include the interests of this country after the Korean-American ar.

This account will attempt to address those issues by addressing the culture through its earliest history to its present state through modern demographics, religion, education, housing, leisure…

Wars of the Century

Major Wars of the 20th Century: the Causes

The twentieth century has certainly seen its shares of horrors of killings. Internationally, an astonishing number of major and minor wars have broken down during this specific time period. All of these major and minor conflicts have certainly changed the face of our society and affected millions of people worldwide; to understand the changes undergone by our international culture and society as well as the major causes of war, it is of the utmost importance to gain a better understanding of those conflicts. The similarities in many of those worldly conflicts traceable to the twentieth century are astonishing and deeper analysis of the causes and outcomes of those conflicts certainly is necessary from a historic point-of-view. By establishing a list of the major conflicts of the twentieth century and learning more about the deep-rooted causes of those wars,…

Families are often conflicted about the degree to which they should socialize the child in the culture of their homeland, particularly if they are not of that child's origin. This conflict is often seen in adoptions of Korean children. Eleana Kim has argued that such attempts by parents are often futile, and simply confuse the child with static, folkloric representations of the home nation that bear little resemblance to Korea when the child actually pays a visit. However, Kim does not dismiss the value of trying to return to Korea, so long as it is not an act of false nostalgia. Instead, "adoptees who may have returned to Korea with fantasies of national or familial reintegration discover an adoptee expatriate community that supplements or even replaces other, essentialized or biologically-defined forms of relatedness" (Kim 497). The new connections with adoptees that have similar experiences become the most authentic forms of…

Korea

What is the situation of Korea at the end of 19th century, in terms of international relations and domestic responses?

Before 1910, Korea was a part of an Asian empire known as the Joseon. In the 1800s, religious persecution laid the way for a rebellion by the people which would alter the course of the history of the country. The idea of a unified religious sect was to further strengthen the nation. Instead people were resentful that the government was trying to influence such a personal aspect of an individual's life. A "peasant" religion known as onghak was making its way into what would become Korea. The teachings of this religion discontented the lower classes from their stations and there was a rebellion in 1864. This all coincided with the attempts of the western world to gain access to Korea, something the government strictly refused.

In this period the…

academic and popular discourse on East Asia, Korea has a long, strong, and unique history. The culture of Korea has evolved over the last several millennia to become one of the world's most distinctive, homogenous, and intact. Being surrounded by large and ambitious neighbors has caused Korea to have a troubled history, evident in the most recent generations with the division between North and South. The division between North and South Korea is the first time the peninsula has been divided since its initial unification in the mid-7th century CE. Until the Korean War, the people of Korea have been bound together by common language, customs, and political culture. No significant minority culture or linguistic group has made Korea its home, and although Korea has been invaded and encroached upon by others, it has also never been an expansionist or imperialistic culture either.

The Korean peninsula has been inhabited since…

ar and Occupation: The Effects of the U.S. Occupation on Japan's Government and Politics

The recent change in the American foreign policy direction which has seen the replacement of its traditional anti-colonialist tilt by the neo-conservative belief of guided nation building evokes a lot of interest in the history of United State's occupation of post world war II Japan. Although each such occupation is different -- the political, social and cultural environment as well as the historical context of every war and country being different-- it is interesting to study how the Americans handled the re-building of Japan in the post-orld ar II period.

There is no doubt that the United State government's influence in shaping the future of Japan was overwhelming. In fact it would not be wrong to state that Japan's current political and economic status as a first world power is a direct result of the guiding…

ut in the 30s, most waves of Korean migrants came in because of the policy of forced conscription. Japan's economy rapidly improved at the time and there was a huge demand for labor. This and industrialization led to the creation of a Japanese national mobilization plan. This plan, in turn, led to the conscription of roughly 600,000 Koreans. Japan's military forces continued to expand and the government had to regular the increase in the Korean population. They were required to carry an identification card. In 1942, the government promised them equal citizenship if they extended their work contracts. They became eligible to vote, run for public office and serve in election committees. Conscription was implemented in the same year. Despite official political equality, Korean inferiority remained prevalent. Yet they were expected to observe and practice Japanese culture as a condition to political equality (Minorities at Risk).

With the defeat of…

Korean Literature

Lee Mun-Yeol, Voice of Korea in the Literary Age of Transition.

A thematic approach to a study of two of his stories: "The Old Hatter" and "An Appointment with his rother." student of literature who finds interest in fiction's historical settings gets inveigled into the stark realities of war and conquest, its horrifying and insidious effects on the lives of innocent people caught helplessly in its clutches - the pain, the hunger, the loss of lives of loved ones.

The reader gets the autobiographical drift of Lee's two stories - he was there when all those things he writes about happened. In "An appointment with his rother," as the oldest son by his father's first family, he knew what it was to be abandoned by his father and to be cared for and brought up by a youthful mother.

Yet there is no bitterness in the tone of…

Manufacturers are the most affected as they have to absorb the transportation costs borne by the transporters. This often results in a price hike which lowers profits. Companies who have to cut their profits lay off staff which affects consumer spending power. These actions hurt the economy in the longer run as it causes inflation and puts pressure on the government to raise wages so that consumers can afford to pay higher prices. Wages are never increased with rising prices so this result in people becoming poorer and it weakens the economy. Unemployment deters people from buying goods and results in lower sales. This causes more layoffs and pushes the economy to go down.

The automobile industry has been the most affected as car sales have slumped due to the increase in oil prices. Consumers are wary of buying SUVs because they consume a lot of fuel. SUVs form a…

"April 29, 1992 in South Central Los Angeles, California… African-American customers revolted violently against Korean-American merchants….Of the $850 million in estimated property damage, Korean-Americans sustained 47% or $400 million of that damage, and of the 3,100 businesses destroyed, approximately 2,500 of them were owned by Korean-Americans" (Korean-American History,2010, Curriculum Guide: Unit 1).

Affirmative action: A form of reverse discrimination against Asians?

A final point of contention between Korean-Americans and other minority groups is how 'more' successful minorities should be counted in terms of privileging historically discriminated-against groups in jobs and college admissions. A problem with discussing affirmative action for Asians is that it tends to characterize all Asian-Americans in the same manner. However, a refugee from Cambodia may experience economic, cultural and linguistic challenges in assimilating that another Asian-American might not, if he or she lived in the United States since birth and/or comes from a more affluent background.

A…

Post War Iraq: A Paradox in the Making: Legitimacy vs. legality

The regulations pertaining to the application of force in International Law has transformed greatly from the culmination of the Second World War, and again in the new circumstances confronting the world in the aftermath of the end of the Cold War. Novel establishments have been formed, old ones have withered away and an equally enormous quantity of intellectual writing has studied this, which is debatably the most significant sphere of international law. Any discussion on the lawful use of armed force ought to start with the United Nations Charter. The Charter redefined understanding of the legitimacy of the application of force by outlining situations under which it is allowed.1

The guiding theory of the Charter is affirmed in its Preamble that armed forces should not be used except in the general interest. Article 2(4) of the Charter preserves this…

Magnesium was in great demand during World War II. It was described as the wonder metal and used for incendiary munitions casings and airplane engines, frames, and other parts. The processing of magnesium is multi-step task using significant amounts of energy. In the June 1944 issue of the Desert, Lelande Quick provides the following pictorial of how magnesium is processed:

everal employees of Basic Magnesium spent much time in England learning the skills required for the above process. Ironically, the Germans assisted England in building the plant prior to war. Locating the processing plant near Hoover Dam resulted in low cost energy. When the facility was at full capacity it produced over five million pounds of magnesium nuggets per day and employed over 13,500 people. This made BMI bigger than the employee base of the Hoover Dam and BMI's weekly payroll was greater than a month's payroll at the dam.…

China and the Cold War

The term "cold war" is used for explaining the shifting efforts of the Western powers and the Communist bloc from the ending of World War II until 1989 in order to attain supremacy influence and esteem on a global level. If seen from a worldwide magnitude, the conflict can be understood as an ideological clash between communism and capitalist democracy ("cold war," 2012). China occupied an exceptional place in the Cold War for the reason that it was the point of both the affection and aggression of the two main world powers i.e. The United States of America and Soviet Union (Bernstein, 2003, p. 91).

Cold War -- China's ole

The West and the Soviet Union had a long history of joint mistrust and this resistance was every now and then apparent in the Grand Alliance during World War II. After the end of the…

America's War on Terrorism since the attacks of eptember 11th, 2001.

America's war on Terrorism since 9/11 has largely been conducted in intensifying domestic security in all areas. The highlight has been capturing Osama bin Laden, followed by a phased extraction of the American Army out of Iraq. Nonetheless, security alert is on an all-time high and Defense receives a high proportion of fiscal allocation and focus.

government has also stepped up its surveillance system constructing a highly intricate and controversial eavesdropping data-system base that is run by the National ecurity Agency and contains trillions of e-mails, web searches and commercial transactions." (McGregor 2011)). A similar system, on as massive a scale, will almost be complete in an Antonio, Texas. Both of these systems support the NA's headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland and house everything "from records of phone calls to and from Iran to credit card purchases by potential…

limited and total war, and the factors leading to either type of wars.

States will escalate a limited war to total warfare only in cases where they do not have certain limitations.

Key discussion areas:

A definition and a discussion of limited and total wars

A discussion of the Koreas war and how major world powers (the Soviet Union and the United States ) were fighting their own proxy wars in the conflict

A discussion of military imperatives such as nuclear weapons and their scale of destructions and why their possession and use is restricted. And how nuclear asymmetry affects modern warfare.

A discussion of the four main factors limiting war and why such factors are important to making defense policy decisions for nations in the modern day world

Summary of main points:

Limited and total war

Military imperatives; nuclear weapons and military factors

Factors limiting war

What are the…

United States War Analysis 1877-To Date

Many wars have been fought in the world since 1877 to date and the U.S. has not been spared from these wars. The main wars have been the World War One and World War Two. However, America has also been involved in the Cold War, the War in Vietnam and the Korean War. These wars have had a major impact on the economies of many nations. Whether the impact has been good or bad has remained a question yet to be answered. Ashby and Babson (2011) state that a large number of people in the United States believed that the economy improved during times of war when there was heightened military spending.

This paper will thus aim to highlight the effects of war on the economy, the social environment, the political environment and the intellectual environment, as these are inevitably always affected by war…

U.S. Role in Development of South Korean Economy

The end of the Second orld ar saw the division of the Korean Peninsula into two separate countries: North Korea, under the control of the Communists, and South Korea, under the control of the United States and it's allies. (Carter 2010) In June of 1950, the North Koreans, with Soviet support, invaded the South in an effort to re-unite the two countries in a "People's Republic of Korea." (Hickey 2000) ith the intervention of the United States and it's U.N allies, the North Koreans were pushed back and, when on the verge of collapse, the Communist Chinese enter the war on the side of the North Koreans. The Americans were then pushed back to the area around the original dividing line between the two countries; and the war then see-sawed back and forth for two more years. In the end, the two…

Coldest ar: A Memoir of Korea, a novel written by James Brady. This paper clearly outlines the summary of the book and highlights some of the events written by the author in his book. This paper explains Brady's purpose behind writing his masterpiece and clearly defines its theme. Critical analysis of the novel and information about the author are also included.

The Coldest ar: A Memoir Of Korea

The Coldest ar: A Memoir of Korea written by James Brady gives a first person's account of the second Korean war. In the book the author compares the tactical approach of the army vs. marine rifle companies. Serving as a young marine lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps for a year, Brady tells the story by illustrating to his audience the deplorable conditions of the soldiers and the critical experience they underwent, through his analysis and encountering. The author talks about…

great wars of the twentieth century can be classified as "total wars" not because of their far-reaching effects, although many of them have been global wars. Rather, the term "total war" refers more to the all-encompassing effect of war on the cultures involved. Total wars alter civilian mentality and ideology in a way traditional wars do not. Patriotism and nationalism are by no means new concepts; nor is taking civilian casualties a new practice. But since World War One, total wars have taken on new meanings and transformed political ideologies.

The term "total war" seems to have originated during World War One, when the idea of a "People's War" gained popularity. As burgeoning nationalism changed the face of European geographical boundaries, national identities fostered a fresh sense of patriotism. The 19th century saw the unification of Germany following a series of battles that incidentally led up to the First World…

deteriorating effects of wars. The line of reasoning follows the commonly used Taulmin's Model. The orks Cited four sources in MLA format.

All wars are not wrong?

The world that we live in is estimated to have the age of 5000 years plus. All wars throughout the history of the world have ended in terrible devastation and extensive destruction in terms of economic, social and political repercussions for the countries and their people (Sullivan- iley & Eisentein) [Sullivan-iley K. & Eisentein J. How are the effects of orld ar I similar to the effects of orld ar II. Retrieved February 08, 2003 at http://www.pomperaug.com/bass/a_block/kirajess/kirajess.html]

Different wars led to different end results. In some cases, the economies crashed such as the Great Depression in the United States of America after the orld ar 1 which reduced the value of the currency to mere its paper, cost of living escalated beyond human…

Just War

THE TWO FACES OF WAR

The Theory

The basic and universal sentiment is that war assaults people's rights to life, security, subsistence, peace and liberty (Lacewing, 2012). Some contend, however, that war is just under certain conditions, which morally justify it. This Theory consists of three parts, namely the justice of resorting to war or jus ad bellum; just conduct in war or jus in bello; and justice at the end of war or jus post bellum. The justice basis of resorting to war is grounded on six criteria, which justify it. It has a just cause. It has the right intention. It is made through the proper authority. It is made as a last resort. It has a probability of success. And it has a proportionate response. Justice in war refers to the treatment of the enemy. There is justice if weapons prohibited by international law are…

At first, this meant economic and political supremacy, but, as time evolved, other aspects were being taken into consideration, such as supremacy in sports. It is notorious, for example, that the ice hockey finals between the two national teams were considered the most important event of the Winter Olympics.

he last paragraph gives us a clue as to why the war was cold: there was no direct military confrontation. Indeed, if any, military confrontation between the two countries took the form of support towards different factions in a third country. his is the case in the Korean War, for example. While the Americans actually had troops and fought in the Peninsula, the Russians were satisfied to military supply the North Korean Army.

As I have previously stated, the cold war took the form of a constant competition for supremacy, without the risk of a full action war between the two…

The same access to formerly secret information from the Cold War era also revealed the extent to which Soviet infiltration of the highest level of American military projects had served to further exhaust the American economy by necessitating continual development of strategic and tactical weapon systems to counter escalating technological improvements in Soviet military systems. The first successful test of a Soviet nuclear weapon in 1949 was directly attributable to Soviet infiltration of the top secret Manhattan Project; American pilots flew combat missions against Soviet Mig fighters developed with information stolen from American weapon designs through espionage; and that dynamic persisted virtually throughout the Cold War (Langewiesche 2007).

The financial strain of continuous nuclear deterrence and the perpetual modernization and updating of sophisticated strategic weapon systems was among the principle causes of the eventual collapse of the former Soviet Union. By 1989, the protracted war in Afghanistan had all but…

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It was also a pivotal tool in discovering the ussian nuclear missile sites that sparked the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The U.S. also gained spy satellites in 1960, and combined with the U-2 and other tools, American technological superiority began to assert itself. The spy satellites were a direct result of rocketry experimentation during and after World War II, and many German rocket scientists transplanted to America helped create the rockets that would launch the satellites. The scope of the intelligence operations was growing, and so were the technological advances that helped the agencies grow and learn more every day.

There are many who believe that factors such as the Cold War may help develop new agencies, but they have little to do with how the agencies evolve. Author Zegat continues, "The truth is that international factors such as the onset of the Cold War may catalyze the…

Iraq War on the U.S. Economy

The current U.S. War in Iraq has become the most expensive military undertaking by the United States in the last sixty years. According to a recent study, the U.S. Treasury is paying out more money each month to sustain the war in Iraq than it did during the Vietnam War. While there is little disagreement about the actual expenses involved in the Iraq War, the opponents and the supporters of the War disagree on its actual impact on the U.S. economy. While the political left and the traditional conservatives in the country are staunchly against the Iraq war and decry its detrimental effect on the U.S. economy, the right-wing neo-conservatives consider the expense of the war worthwhile and beneficial for the U.S. In the long run. This essay takes a look at the impact of the U.S. War in Iraq on the U.S. economy…

Gulf War of 1991. The writer explores the history, the cause, and the war itself. The writer uses several sources to illustrate what the U.S. government bas dints decision to go to war on and how well received that decision was by the American public.

As the U.S. gears up for a probable attack on Iraq American minds turn back the hands of time to 1991 and the Gulf War. The war became nicknamed "Desert Storm" and that is exactly what it turned out to be. A storm that raged across the desert with such force it quelled any hope of defense from the Iraqi Army. Desert Storm was one of the shortest wars in history but it showed the world that the U.S. has not become a complacent party to wrongs committed by others. It demonstrated the strength and veracity by which America is capable of flexing its power…

Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq experienced years of turmoil, resulting in a war with Iran, economic mismanagement, and U.N.-imposed sanctions. Now, after 4 years of occupation by the U.S., Iraq experiences extreme poverty, unemployment and has millions of homeless. The country's infrastructure is in ruins and U.S. plans for reconstruction of its schools, infrastructure and civic buildings have been mired in fraud, mismanagement and incompetence. Commentators expect the country to suffer from the effects the war for years to come.

On November 15, 2007, the House of Representatives passed a bill that provides $50 billion to fund the war in Iraq and attached a timetable for the withdrawal of troops by the end of 2008. The bill prevented the White House from using funds to construct permanent bases in Iraq or assert U.S. control over Iraq's oil. President ush vetoed the bill, while Republicans supported this move. Congressional Democrats countered that…

Economic and political differences among the North and the South eventually turned into cultural differences as well. Due to faster modernization in the North, many northerners began to view their southern counterparts as backward in their outlook. These differences were further exacerbated with the rise of penny press. Local press in each region, trying to generate greater readership, depicted cultural and social institutions of the other region in highly negative terms, with little regard to accuracy and objectivity. "There is no doubt," Niven writes, "that after a quarter of a century of such constant editorial bashing, the southern and northern publics could believe the worst of each other" (p. 12). Nowhere was such inflammatory rhetoric condemning each other as divisive as it was in the discussion of slavery. And finally the "virus of slavery that had infected the colonies in 1619 was finally incapacitating the Union," while "the triumph of…

During the period of transition, defense spending needed to be maintained in order to avoid returning to depression. The Cold War provided a means for this. The intense rhetoric provided justification to the American people, but the combination of high defense spending and the rhetoric only further inflamed the U.S.S.R.

Inflammation also stemmed from several short-term incidents that occurred in the post-war years. The Soviet Union, for example, attempted a blockade of West Berlin, which ultimately failed. The establishment of the People's Republic of China and the start of the Korean War exacerbated Communist-Capitalist tensions further.

The Cold War was inevitable. The length and depth of the conflict, however, could have been ameliorated. Stalin's paranoia at the time made distrust of the West inevitable - he did not trust anybody in Russia, either. For the U.S.' part, a return to isolationism was not a viable option, and the extension of…

Korean War, just like most other wars in history did not occur in a vacuum. It started because of the North Korean attack on the South Koreans with the belief that they would be able to win the war and communize the whole Korean peninsula (Chang, 2010). The confidence of North Koreans in their ability to win the fight against the South was not based on hope, but on the intense confidence that it will be an easy victory for the North Korean forces in the war (Chang, 2010). As a matter of fact, the North Korean forces were far more superior to the forces of the South in every category of the fighting abilities and capabilities (Chang, 2010). They were well armed with very heavy weapons and equipment the Soviet Union supplied, adequately trained by the cautious guidance of Soviet military education and training personnel, vastly reinforced with the…

North Korea has done some damage to its reputation with its singular ally, China and even more damage with its ‘sometimes’ enemy, the United States. What is motivating North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un to act this way? Perhaps it is history. North Korea has a history of attempting to show its might time and time again. From the three-year long Korean War that began in 1950 to the current missile testing in the sea off Japan, there is something going awry in the country to cause such an increase in worrisome behavior. This essay will highlight the background of North Korean conflicts and the current problems with North Korea’s decision to continue missile tests against the wishes of China and the United States.

To begin understanding North Korea’s erratic behavior regarding recent missile tests, one must look at the Korean War. Every schoolchild in North Korea is taught, mistakenly,…

political structure and philosophy of South Korea is a unique interplay of four major forces: first, and most obvious, the individual native customs and beliefs of the Korean people; second, Confusion notions and ideals; third, estern European and U.S. political models; and fourth, Marxist philosophy. The internal notions of governance have been greatly influenced by these three outside ideologies and come together to form the current South Korean form of government. To understand the modern South Korean government is to recognize it as a conglomeration of philosophies that appear on the surface to be contradictory, but arose out of several periods of economic and political strife.

The fifteenth century saw the rise of Neo-Confucianism in South Korea; this came out of a response to the established system of noble overlords. The new political movement sought to establish a government that addressed the issues of the citizenry rather than simply act…

Cold War dominated American culture, consciousness, politics and policy for most of the 20th century. Even after the fall of the Berlin Wall, which symbolized the fall of the Iron Curtain and therefore finale of the Cold War, Cold War rhetoric and politics continued especially in the War on Terror. Depictions of the Cold War in American literature and film parallel the changes that took place in American ways of thinking about its own domestic policies as well as American perceptions of the alien enemy or "Other." Tracing the evolution of American film and literature from the end of World War Two until the 1980s reveals trends in thought. Early depictions of the Cold War were modernist in their approach, with clear distinctions between good and evil and no moral ambiguity whatsoever. Clear delineations between right/wrong and good/evil prevailed, a form of political propaganda and even brainwashing that prepped the…

As was the nature of the Cold ar, the United States responded by quashing new governments that were likely to lead to communism, even where this constituted an undemocratic or even brutal instituted government (Kort 80).

Democratically elected officials from Brazil, Guyana, and Uruguay were overthrown by internal revolutionaries who were funded and trained by American forces (Parenti 44). These and other leaders and governments in Latin America were targeted by American forced as having communist leanings. Foreign policy followed, with more than two decades of the Cold ar focusing not only on the major publicized events of Korea and the Soviet Union, but on many small, third world countries. These small nations were poised to become players in the larger Cold ar struggle depending on where their allegiance and governments ended up after declaring their independence. ith the Soviet Union attempting to exert force and pressure on the United…

America at War 1865-Present

A Survey of America at War from 1865 to Present

Since the Civil War, America has seldom seen a generation of peace. In fact, a nonstop succession of wars has kept what Eisenhower termed "the military industrial complex" in lucrative business. From the Indian Wars to the World Wars to the Cold War to the war on Terror, Americana has expanded its foothold as an imperial power every step of the way -- even when isolationism appeared to be momentarily in vogue following World War I. This paper will look at the history of the progression of war in America from 1865 to present, showing how that history -- through social, economic, literary, political, and religious changes -- has both shaped and been shaped by American foreign and domestic policy.

Unit Once: 1865-1876

The Civil War had just ended on the home front, but that did…

On the other hand there was growing opposition in intelligentsia circles to pro-soviet regimes in all East European countries and Eastern Germany. If in earlier years Soviet Union was able to aid economies of these countries in order to support communist regimes, then starting from the years fro stagnation in late 1970's the situation changed. Findings were shortening and the U.S.S.. was not able to support unprofitable industries of its partners as its own economy was experiencing troubles:

The growth of the Soviet economy has been systematically decelerating since the 1950s as a consequence of dwindling supplies of new labor, the increasing cost of raw material inputs, and the constraints on factor productivity improvement imposed by the rigidities of the planning and management system. The average annual growth of Soviet GNP dropped from 5.3% in the late 1960s to 3.7% in the early 1970s, to 2.6% in the late 1970s.…

Cold War and Film

Generally speaking, the Cold War has been depicted as an era of spy games and paranoia in popular films from the 1960s to the present day, but the reality of the era was much more complex. The Cold War was a period of military and political tension from 1947 to 1991, or from the end of WW2 to the collapse of the Soviet Union, in which the "politics of war" masked the business and social agendas of multinationals and ideologues. The era was marked by myriad issues: East-West mistrust, proxy wars, espionage, the threat of nuclear war, domestic and foreign propaganda, the rise of the military-industrial complex and multinational corporations, assassinations, detente, de-colonization, new nationalism, neo-colonialism, the vying for control of resources, alliances (NATO, Warsaw Pact), and an inculcation of the "deep state." [footnoteRef:1] It can be divided into five basic periods: 1947-53, 1953-62, 1962-79, 1979-85,…

McCarthy and the Cold War

One aspect of history is that a country's so-called "friend" one day, can be an enemy the next and visa versa. The United States and Soviet Union during World War II joined ranks against the real threat of Nazi Germany. However, it did not take long after the end of the war for ussia and the United States to once again bully each other. Even before the final surrender of Germany in 1945, the two super powers rapidly found themselves in a new military and diplomatic rivalry. Meanwhile, in the United States, the economy was taking time to build and unemployment was growing. Thoughts of the Depression loomed in people's minds. The friction with the ussians, which would receive the name of Cold War, did not help. Yet it did create a scapegoat for fears and feelings of paranoia. As the tensions between the U.S.…

Foreign Policy

Korean War

It can be argued that the Americans won and lost the Korean War. When the war broke out in 1950, the U.S. entered the war to curb the spread of communism in Asia. North Korean Army had attacked the South to an extent of taking over Seoul from the South. The U.S.-led army was able to protect South Korea and drive North Korean army to the North. This meant that the U.S. was able to prevent the spread of communism to the South. General Douglas MacArthur had succeeded in pushing the Korean army out of Seoul and to the other side of the 38th Parallel[footnoteRef:1]. [1: James Callanan, Covert Action in the Cold War U.S. Policy, Intelligence, and CIA Operations (London: I.. Tauris, 2010)]

However, when the American troops crossed the border and reached the border between North Korea and China, China was provoked that their…

ar in Iraq focuses on the prospects of war in Iraq. This paper highlights the pros and cons of a war. The paper argues about the unethical waging of war by the United States on Iraq while highlighting some quotes to support its claim.

ar In Iraq

The United States of America and the rest of the world turned over a new leaf after the September 11 incident. Many viewpoints were put forward when President Bush decided to wage a war against Iraq. Some thought that the war was a result of America's greed for oil or to set up the corrupt status quo, as it did in Vietnam and elsewhere in the Arab world during the cold war. The reason that the United States gave for the war was to install democracy in the heart of the Muslim world. No matter what the purpose of the war may be,…

Korea became the first identifiable danger. Of course, the Korean conflict was only the first of hot-spot conflicts in the Cold ar. "To police the world, to risk nuclear war, to eradicate the creed of communism, all in the name of national defense, the new national security priesthood would wage bloody war in Korea and Vietnam, overthrow the democratically elected governments of Iran, Guatemala, and Chile, and assassinate the elected president of Congo, nearly come to nuclear war over Cuba, foster civil wars throughout Africa, topple the regime in Indonesia and enable reigns of terror by right-wing death squads throughout Central America" (Atwood, p.177). Atwood cites numerous examples, beginning with the treatment of combatants (tattooing them with anti-Communist slogans that would prevent them from reassimilating into their societies after the war) and non-combatants (bombing civilian targets) of ways that the United States violated the human rights principles it said it…

Renaissance of Korean National Cinema' as a Terrain of Negotiation and Contention between the Global and the Local: Analyzing two Korean Blockbusters, Shiri (1999) and JSA (2000)" by Sung Kyung Kim

This article analyzes the state of nationalistic cinema in Korea as it borrows film trends from Hollywood in order to carve out a better foothold among Korean audiences, who have a taste for Hollywood fare but still want to see local sentiment expressed on screen. Thus the two blockbusters Shiri and JSA look Hollywood but feel Korean. This means that the films are working on several levels to affect Korean audiences and are being labeled as part of a Renaissance in Korean filmmaking.

Kim looks at the way nationalistic sentiment plays a part in Korean cinema by serving as an underlying guide in the overall movement and sense of the story and its moral. Animosity towards the West after…

Strangely, America's role as policeman in Europe actually led to its becoming involved in military conflicts in Southeast Asia. Although the U.S. did not fight the Soviet Union directly in Korea or Vietnam, both conflicts were due to the U.S.'s policy of defeating the spread of Communism no matter where it might occur. Fears of escalation during both the Korean and Vietnam conflicts caused the U.S. To adopt a military strategy that favored limited warfare (Brodie).

The Cold ar had a tremendous impact on the growth of the United States as an industrial and world military power. America's presence throughout the world militarily and the dependence of estern Europe and Japan on the American economy for the sustenance of their own economies caused America's political and economic influence to expanded substantially. Beginning with the Berlin airlift (Reeves) where the United States provided food and other vital items to est Berliners…

U.S. Involvement in orld ar I & II:

There are several historical details of America's involvement in the First and Second world wars and the critical role that this country played in the two wars. Studies on these historical events have mainly focused on examining the involvement of the United States in the wars, the results of the engagement, and its impact on the country's position nationally and globally. America's involvement in the two wars had a crucial impact on the development of the nation to its current state both from the home front and internationally.

America's Involvement in orld ar I:

America's entrance and involvement in the First orld ar occurred on 6th April 1917, breaking the nation's long isolation tradition. The nation had embraced a policy of isolation and neutrality when war was declared in Europe in 1914. This policy seemed to be the most appropriate approach since…

Typically, Japanese marry before a Shinto altar and are buried, after cremation, in a Buddhist funeral. Many people, young and old, pay a New Years visit to a Shinto shrine and visit family graves once or twice a year. Young couples take their children to a Shinto shrine at the shichi-go-san festival to celebrate the ages 3, 5, and 7. For funeral and periodic memorial services, a family invites a priest from a Buddhist temple that belongs to the same Buddhist sect with which the family ancestors were affiliated.

Kamachi 29)

The Japanese, both officially and unofficially resisted the influence of the western religions, while at the same time conglomerating the traditional faiths of the region into an amalgamated faith of sorts.

In the past, every family in Japan had to be registered at a Buddhist temple to comply with the antiChristian policy of the Tokugawa government (1600-1868). After the…

Telecommunications made it easier to transfer ideas and information instantly and without the delays that hindered previous efforts at military and strategic intervention. Similarly, the barriers to international trade had largely been lifted. The seeds of the World Trade Organization had already been laid by the end of the Second World War. Finally, the United Nations and other trans-national governing bodies would become legitimized sources of power. Nations who could climb on board stood a chance and those who could not join in faced a perilous century of poverty and political disenfranchisement. America directly contributed to the imbalance of power that would ensue throughout the 20th century.

Being a bully seemed to come easy to the Americans. Armed with what had become the largest and most well-endowed military in the world, the United States forged a path toward hegemony almost effortlessly. As if it were trying to be the world's…