On June 25th, 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea with the assistance of the Soviet
Union and China. The war lasted until July 27th, 1953 when both Koreas had the
armistice agreement go into effect and stopped the fighting. Even though they were
tolerant of stopping the war, they both never officially signed a peace treaty. Some
still consider them war enemies, in fact.
The common narrative typically tells the story that North Korea started the war when
they invaded South Korea after five years of gradual simmering tension. North Korea
received aid from the Soviet Union (Modern-day Russia) and South Korea was supported
by the U.S. The Soviet Union supported North Korea with strategic and grand tactical
planning (including the invasion which happened in South Korea), and essential
logistic support because of the shared liking of the communist system between them.
The U.S. provided South Korea with plenty of ground, air, naval forces, a police act
to support South Korea’s fight to freedom, and a supply of financial support which was
wealth that accounted for 80 percent of their overall government wealth because of
their shared dislikement of communism and liking of democracy. After three years of
continuous battle, neither side securely took the title of victory after the war.
The two countries came out satisfied after they settled their tolerance of each-other
as coexisting communist and non-communist countries. However, both sides thought this
war as the smallest war in history, going as far to refer to it as “Just a police act.”
The story that is typically told leads people to believe that the Korean war was a
small war with very little impact on Korea. Most people blame America or the Soviet
Union for a lot of the actions which happened in the Korean peninsula. Additionally,
some even refer to it as just a police action or the smallest war ever. Most people
believe that the war ended with a peace treaty between the two countries. The dominant
perspective impacts society today because it can give us a view on another country and
their people because of their past actions in history. Additionally, getting one
perspective can lead us to disrespect or diminish the value of a perspective of someone
different. Additionally, we can get historical facts wrong because of a perspective we’re
shown. We also get a bias or opinion on the wars or importance of an event based off of an
event such as this. As a student without proper knowledge, I could develop an opinion that
could absolutely offend Koreans, their relatives, and their culture.
The dominant perspective impacts society today because it can give us a view on another country and their people because of their past actions in history. Additionally, getting one perspective can lead us to disrespect or diminish the value of a perspective of someone different. Additionally, we can get historical facts wrong because of a perspective we’re shown. We also get a bias or opinion on the wars or importance of an event based off of an event such as this.
The story of the counter-narrative or counter perspective is that the Korean war was detrimental to the two nations with over 2 million deaths. The Soviet Union, China and the US were not as involved as people may have thought. The nations believed their conflict as an inner war to be resolved by themselves, even while supporting them. Additionally, the Korean war was an influence on the U.S. 's, Britain’s, and the United Nation;s political and ideological questions around the world. Additionally, the Koreas never signed a peace treaty which means that people can consider them to have an ongoing war.
Even with the different views of the US and Russia (formerly the Soviet Union), most people saw the Korean War as
the smallest war in history, some even considered it just a major police act. A lot of what went into that was
how the biggest war in history, World War 2, had happened just a few years prior.