The creation of NATO

Nuclear deterrence

The Korean War (1950-1953)

The textual material on page below is drawn directly from my work A Moral History of Western Society © 2024, Volume Two, pages 248-254.

It was gradually coming to Stalin the idea that his wartime Allies Britain, France and America were not viewing their presence in Germany, and especially in Berlin, as temporary … but were planning to stay there until all of Germany could be reunited and then – and only then – the occupying powers would depart.  And the situation was worsened in the eyes of Stalin when pressures he put on the West's occupation of Berlin (in his sector after all!) by stopping the deliverance of food items to Berlin were countered by the stopping of the surrender of German machinery from the Western zones of Germany to the Russians.  Worse, all indications were that the Berlin municipal elections coming up would not be beneficial to the Communists, who were rapidly losing support among the Berliners. Then in early 1948, the three Western powers were clearly making plans to unite their zones into a single German political unit, with its own German currency … in preparation to bringing it into the Marshall Plan.  Stalin reacted (April 1948) by shutting down the West's access by way of rail, highway and canal from what was beginning to be termed "West Germany" to the Western-held zones of Berlin.   He had, however, no way of stopping flights into Germany without crossing a very dangerous political line … and thus the Western powers began to fly needed food and material into Berlin.  Thus – for a while – the Soviets backed down somewhat on the effort to blockade Berlin.  But with the introduction of the new German Mark – in Berlin as well as in the West – Stalin was so angered that he once again (June) shut down all access – except, again, by air – into West Berlin.   He could not stop the flights.  But the operation was very expensive and could not possibly last long – or so Stalin believed.  But he miscalculated greatly Truman's resolve to defend West Berlin as a symbol of the West's strong determination not to be beaten into submission by an aggressive Stalin. Indeed, Stalin had given the West a grand opportunity to demonstrate its enormous muscle … even bringing into Berlin by way of non-stop flights the coal needed to get Berlin through one of its hard winters.  Indeed, so thrilled by this display of Western resolve were the Berliners that the December 1948 West Berlin elections led to a complete victory of the pro-Western candidates.1 Of course the Communists responded by setting up their own Berlin municipal government in the Soviet Eastern sector of the city.  Berlin would therefore be a deeply divided city for the next 40 years (although movement between the two sectors would continue – until the building of the Berlin Wall in 1961).  But it was a huge loss politically for Stalin.  It closed tightly the ranks of the Americans, British and French as Cold War allies.  And it helped the Germans to see these three powers not as their occupiers but as their liberators.  And it pushed ahead the creation of a very pro-Western German Federal Republic ("West Germany") in May of the next year (1949). This in turn signaled the willingness of the Soviets to end the blockade … deeply aware that politically their blockade had cost them badly.  So the blockade came to an end.  But just in case, the Allies continued to fly more supplies into West Berlin … a 3-month reserve just to make the status of West Berlin very clear to the Soviets. 1The Social Democratic Party (Socialists) - 64.5%; The Christian Democratic Union (Conservatives) - 19.4%; the Free Democratic Party (Liberals) - 16.1%.  The Communists, who called themselves the Socialist Unity Party, boycotted the elections. The city of Berlin is located entirely within the designated Soviet occupation zone A bus used as a roadblock across a major highway from the West into Berlin The Berlin Airlift – 1948 - 1949 United States Air Force The Berlin Airlift – 1948 - 1949 US planes airlifting supplies into Berlin during the blockade of the city by Stalin Unloading US planes at Templehof  in Berlin United States Air Force US C-54 cargo planes at snow-covered Wiesbaden Air Base during the Berlin airlift – March 1949 United States Army THE CREATION OF NATO At this point the division of the world into two political sectors, "East" and "West," made it clear that no amount of diplomacy was going to resolve this rising Cold War.  The United Nations itself was divided accordingly … and thus of no use in promoting the dream of world peace that Roosevelt had felt would come into being with this institution finding itself in place at the heart of the world's doings.  The divisive ideology – backed up with massive military muscle (including atomic weapons … which the Soviets themselves finally attained in August of 1949) – put this rivalry beyond the realm of reasoned diplomacy … much like the two world wars earlier that century. Since military muscle rather than persuasive diplomacy reigned at the heart of the Cold War, it was rather inevitable that the Western powers, mostly demilitarized since the end of World War Two because of a general animosity toward more military infighting, saw the need to do something about the fact that a huge military establishment faced them – and their rights as free people – in the hostile form of the huge Soviet military buildup in the East.  They would need something big to counter this Soviet challenge facing them (Czechoslovakia and Berlin had greatly awakened them to this danger).  Their own national armies were hardly up to the task. Thus on April 4th, 1949, diplomats of twelve "Western" nations2 met in Washington to sign the North Atlantic Treaty … uniting them in such a way that an attack on any one of them was an attack on them all.  And because America was part (actually the key part) of this arrangement, these nations felt that they had provided themselves a quite sufficient response to the Soviet challenge. Actually, the British, French, Dutch, Belgians and Luxembourgers had already put together a military pact (The Treaty of Brussels) in March of 1948 … although it was motived by a fear of a revived Germany as much as it was of the Soviet threat further East.  They even went so far as to set up a joint military command structure, the Western Union Defense Organization. The new North Atlantic Treaty was an amazing "peacetime" step for Americans out of their former isolationism.  But a combination of the Czech Communist coup, the Berlin Blockade, and the distinct change in early 1948 of the Republican Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Arthur Vandenburg, from isolationist to internationalist, all served to push that American transition ahead.  Indeed, it was the Vandenberg Resolution of June 1948, approved in the Senate 82-13, that opened the way for just that American resolve to see to the defense of a "Free West." Then when in 1950 the Korean War broke out, the new Alliance saw the need to push ahead (like the Western Union Defense Organization) and form a joint military command structure – now termed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) … bringing together 35 military divisions under the new NATO Supreme Commander, Gen. Eisenhower – working out of the France-based Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Powers of Europe (SHAPE) … itself headed up by Churchill's primary wartime military assistant, Lord Hastings Ismay, who would serve as NATO's Secretary General (1952-1957). 2America, Canada, Iceland, Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Portugal, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The Foreign Minister of 12 Western nations assembled to sign the North Atlantic Treaty with Dean Acheson at the podium at the State Department - April 4, 1949 Truman signing the North Atlantic Treaty Proclamation - August 24, 1949 following the Senate's ratification of the Treaty and the President's own signing earlier (July) ... with diplomats from Britain, Denmark, Canada Norway, France, Portugal, Netherlands and Italy looking on NUCLEAR DETERRENCE Backing up the threat of American retaliation – something that undercut deeply Stalin's ability simply to use his huge military shadow thrown over Eastern Europe to intimidate Western Europe – was always the implicit threat of the use of nuclear weapons such as America used against Japan in 1945.  The possession of these awesome weapons – and the willingness of American President Truman to actually use them, as he clearly demonstrated in the conflict with the Japanese – gave America and its Western allies a strong sense of security when contemplating trouble with any new rising power wanting to take over the world.   But when in 1949 the Soviets exploded their own atomic bomb, the nuclear threat now worked both against as well as for American power.  American attitudes about the bomb went directly from happy confidence to terrible fear as Americans realized that atomic weapons could now be used on them. American A-Bomb Test - 1946 Air raid drill at school Building a backyard bomb shelter in Hermosa Beach, California - 1951 THE KOREAN WAR The post-war North-South division Initially, as the Cold War first developed, Korea was not a country that factored greatly in American strategic thinking.  In fact, a speech by American Secretary of State Dean Acheson (January 1950), in detailing America's zone of interest in Asia, did not even mention Korea.  But that was about to change. At the end of World War Two, Japanese-occupied Korea (annexed to the Empire of Japan in 1910) was demilitarized under the supervision of both America and Russia … Stalin getting jurisdiction in the northern half of the country (part of the sweetener offered Stalin by Roosevelt at Yalta to get Russia to join America in its war against Japan), with America seeing to the demilitarization of the southern half … Korea thus "temporarily" divided equally North and South at the 38th parallel.   But the Koreans themselves were very divided on this matter of this Soviet-American arrangement and in 1946 took to the streets in protest … some supportive, some opposed (yes, there were pro-Communists in the South as well as many pro-democracy Koreans in the North).  Thus America, distracted by events developing in Europe, simply decided in 1947 to turn the matter over to the U.N. … and call for elections to unite the country the following year.  But when election time came, the Soviets claimed that the northern half of the country was not ready for elections … and thus the 1948 elections were held only in the South.   There the conservative politician Syngman Rhee was the winner – someone that the Americans were not wild about – but willing to offer support to nonetheless. But surprisingly, the Korean north found itself "now ready" for such an election … only months after blocking the U.N. elections in the North!  And there the Communists were majorly victorious.  The Communist politician Kim Il-sung won handily, on the promise that he would confiscate all the lands owned by Korea's small aristocracy … and turn them over to the peasants as their own property.3   In short, Korea was now divided into two distinct societies, with very different governments ruling in the North and in the South. America protested.  But there was little it could do.  The leverage that America once held in its nuclear monopoly was now gone due to the Soviets being able to match that achievement themselves now. Worse, and quite unknown to the Americans, the Soviets had been training a very well-equipped and quite massive North Korean Army in preparation for a move to "unify" all of Korea under Kim Il-sung.  And rightly so, Kim expected the task to be accomplished fairly easily … for the South Korean Army was poorly trained and even more poorly equipped.  And Kim planned the move to be a total surprise … probably allowing his troops to complete the task in a matter of only a few weeks, perhaps even days. 3Of course, once securely in power, Kim would follow the Soviet model and "collective" all that property … turning ownership over to his Socialist state and transforming Korean peasants into true Communist "laborers." This of course was also the course that Mao took in China. John Foster Dulles being shown the 38th parallel in Korea - June 17. 1950 (just prior to the North Korean invasion of the South) John Foster Dulles Papers, Princeton University Library General Douglas MacArthur – leading the UN forces in Korea Library of Congress The war breaks out (1950) He almost achieved his goal, when on June 25, 1950 – without any warning - a huge number of North Korean troops invaded the South … quickly capturing the capital city of Seoul (just immediately below the North-South border) and then flooding South.  They equally quickly scattered the ill-prepared South Korean forces – reducing their numbers from 95,000 down to about 22,000 (most simply fled … or even joined the North Korean forces). But, seeing the danger that a Communist victory in Korea would pose to the region around the North China Sea, Truman was just as quick to respond.  He immediately took the matter to the U.N. Security Council … which the Russians had been boycotting, since the West had blocked the effort to turn the vital China seat on the Security Council over to Mao's government.  Thus the Russians were not there to issue yet another veto against U.N. action.  Quickly the Security Council moved to bring military support to the UN-sponsored South Korean government … and Truman was already answering that authorization with the rapid movement of troops from neighboring Japan to South Korea.  But it took some effort of those American troops, joined by a small number of British and other troops, to slow up and then stop the North Korean momentum.  But finally, in early August, they brought the invasion to a halt … with only the region around the port city of Busan still in what was now termed "U.N." military hands. The situation at this point was tricky for everyone.  Since it was not just America defending the South but the U.N. itself, Stalin found himself unwilling to authorize direct Soviet Russian action against those U.N. forces.  For Mao's China and Kim's North Korea this posed something of the same diplomatic problem … which China resolved by also staying out of the matter (for the time being).  But North Korea was caught in a bind … not able or willing to retreat, because to do so would count as a huge political shaming of Kim's regime.  So, the North Koreans fought on. Wikipedia Koreans fleeing the fighting United Nations (US Army) Men of the 1st Cav Div go ashore somewhere in Korea, 18 July 50. United States Army GI's advancing to the action; Koreans civilians fleeing the action – August 1950 1st LT William Millward of Baltimore, Md, Civil Assistance Officer, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, distributes candy to Korean children at a refugee Collecting Point in Western Korea. United States Army Conferring at Chipyong-ni, Korea, during General Ridgway's tour of the fighting front, are L-R: LT GEN Matthew Ridgway, CG US Eighth Army; MAJ GEN Charles Palmer, CG, 1st Cav Div; COL John Daskalopoules, CO, 7th Cav Regt, 1st Cav. Division United States Army Vehicles of the 1st Cavalry Division move up to the front lines, somewhere in Korea, 3 Aug 1950 United States Army The landing at Inchon and the North Korean retreat But the situation was just as tricky for the U.N. troops … which were finding that coming up against a North Korean enemy well entrenched in the mountains of the Korean interior posed the same serious problem that the advance against Nazi troops in mountainous Italy had recently posed. Thus once again it was decided to launch a sea landing of U.N. troops on the Korean shores well to the North of the present line of battle (September 15) … and then swing them behind the North Korean troops.  But this time, unlike the stupid delay that took place at the Italian beach at Anzio, American Gen. MacArthur moved his 75,000 American troops immediately off the beaches they had secured and had them quickly headed to the lightly defended interior well above the North Korean Army … which at this point, fearing entrapment, panicked and fell into rapid retreat.   Seoul was soon liberated after a vicious battle … and then (October 1st) the U.N. and South Korean (ROK or Republic of Korea) troops crossed the 38th parallel and headed into North Korea ... despite a Chinese warning not to do so.  Two weeks later the North Korean capital at Pyongyang was taken … along with 135,000 North Korean troops. Soldiers Climbing Sea Wall in Inchon - September 15, 1950. The Battle of Inchon (code name: Operation Chromite) was a decisive invasion and battle during the Korean War. Paratroopers of the 187th A/B BCT float earthward near Munsan, Korea. United States Army U.S. Marines fighting in Seoul, Korea, Sept. 1950 Troops manning 90mm guns, supporting the 5th Regimental Combat Team, 1st Cav Division,\ on the Taegu front lines, \ready to lay down a barrage on the Communist led North Korean as \ UN Forces attack. United States Army U.N. artillery in Korea. U.S. Department of Defense Equipment captured from the North Koreans is examined by men of the 5th Cavalry Regiment, Waegwan, Korea. United States Army Gun crew of a 105mm howitzer in action along the 1st Cavalry Division sector of the Korean battle front. United States Army Tanks and infantrymen of the 1st Cav Division pursue Communist led North Korean Forces approximately 14 miles north of Kaesong, Korea. United States Army CPL George D. Smedley of Mt. Vemon, Ind (L) and SGT Thomas P. Montana of Yuma, Ariz, light machine gun crew members of Co C, 8th Cav Regt, 1st Cav Div, watch for Communist-led North Koreans troops on the 38th parallel line, northwest of Kaesong. United States Army Personnel of the 378th Engineer Combat Battalion, Eighth US Army, attached to the IX Corps, install treadways during the construction of a bridge. United States Army Yanks examine a Soviet-built tank captured from the North Korean forces, Waegwan, Korea. United States Army Troops of Co. B, 519th Military Police Battalion in position above a railway tunnel with a .30 caliber air-cooled machine gun. United States Army Men of the 5th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, pass burning buildings and knocked-out tanks of the North Koreans as they advance to the front in Pyongyang. United States Army Cpl. Elmer Soprano, First Platoon, Company A, 4th Signal Battalion. leans over a cliff to fasten a jumper, as they rehabilitate lines from Tanyang to Chechon, Korea. United States Army Men of the 1st Cav Division fighting in a train yard in Pyongyang, Korea. United States Army The company street of Co. K, 31st Inf. Regt., 7th US Inf Div. United States Army U.S. forces target rail cars south of Wonsan, North Korea, an east coast port city. U.S. Army Military History Institute But this is war – like any other – filled with tragedy "A grief stricken American infantryman whose buddy has been killed in action is comforted by another soldier. In the background a corpsman methodically fills out casualty tags, Haktong-ni area Korea."  By Sfc. Al Chang, August 28, 1950 National Archives Men replace plain headboards with crosses on graves in the 1st Cavalry Division Temporary Cemetery, Taegu, Korea, 25 Aug 1950. United States Army Medical Co, 8th Cav Regt, 1st Cav Div-SGT E. O'Brien fills out tag to attached to a litter, while Charles Sutton comforts a wounded man who will be sent from this medical aid station near Yangzi, Korea, to a collection station further to the rear. United States Army Problems with the Chinese … and with MacArthur Now the hero MacArthur spoke to an adoring press about the need to move even across the North Korean border into China … in order to capture the bases in China that had been supporting the North Korean effort.  Truman was upset because, in the larger context of the Cold War which was going on back in Europe, he did not want to invite a military conflict with the Chinese.  But MacArthur answered back that he was certain that, lacking proper air cover, the Chinese would never dare to take on the U.N. forces.  In this MacArthur proved to be totally blind and dead wrong. As the U.N. forces headed north towards the North Korean border with China, Chinese "volunteer" troops began to be encountered … at first in small numbers and then further north in larger numbers until finally at the frozen Chosin Reservoir 30,000 American troops encountered some 120,000 Chinese troops – and a deadly winter – that stopped the American advance … in fact forced it into retreat – with half of those American troops being killed or wounded in the process.  By mid-December the American forces had fallen all the way back to the 38th parallel … and China had set Kim aside in order to take command of the Communist forces in the North.  In late 1950 Chinese "volunteer" troops (some 3000,000 of them) come charging cross the border into Korea. Suddenly it is an entirely different game   The battle of the Changjin or 'Chosin' Reservoir - late November 1950 Wikipedia - "Korean War" GIs retreating before an on-slaught of Chinese "volunteers" in North Korea Marines retreating from the Chosin Reservoir in sub-zero weather Marine dead brought back from the fighting in the Chosin Reservoir area National Archives NA-127-GK-197-A5348 American aircraft aboard a snow-covered aircraft carrier - stymied by the Soviet MiG-15 fighter jet PFC William Stinnett Jr., Stevensport, Ky, maintains a vigil against the Chinese Communists at his post with the 5th Cavalry Regiment in Korea. United States Army Koreans fleeing the fighting in 1951 "Men of the 1st Marine Division capture Chinese Communists during fighting on the central Korean front. Hoengsong." By Pfc. C.T. Wehner, March 2, 1951 National Archives Pinned down by Chinese Communist fire, men of the 15th RCT, 3rd Inf Div, take over during the drive against the Communist forces near the 38th parallel. 23 March 1951 United States Army A wearied Marine   GIs pinned down by enemy fire near Anyang Then as the battle swung back and forth along the 38th parallel (Seoul taken and retaken by both sides) MacArthur ignored Truman by seemingly taking command of the entire military operation … talking openly to the press about taking the war to China itself ... even using atomic weapons if necessary.  Tragically MacArthur was again blinded by the fact that Asia – not Europe – was the only world that he really knew … and that brought his full devotion. But Truman was U.S. President – not MacArthur.  And with MacArthur ignoring Truman's efforts to get him to back down (it was even Truman who had to fly to meet MacArthur rather than MacArthur coming to Truman to confer over this matter) finally Truman simply relieved MacArthur from command … knowing what this would do to himself politically in firing the new American military hero MacArthur.4  But it had to be done.  America could not afford to divide its forces in conducting its side of the Cold War.  And defending Europe – not starting a war with China – was what America needed to stay focused on. 4Because of this action, many Americans came to view Truman as a coward, if not almost a traitor.  But a Congressional investigation ultimately concluded that Truman had indeed acted constitutionally, and correctly, and that MacArthur (who actually spent all his time in Tokyo) was out of touch with the military realities in Korea, as well as the critical challenges facing America in the rest of the world. MacArthur looking over North Korea along the Yalu River border with China as the US offensive reaches that border - November 24, 1950.  But somehow he failed to detect the 300,000 Chinese below gathering to counterattack the Americans National Archives NA-111-SC-352944 After being relieved of command (April 10, 1951) MacArthur returns to the states ... receiving a hero's welcome in New York City (7 million turned out to cheer him). But Congress understood the matter better than the average American ... and backed Truman on his decision A stalemated war drags on Thankfully, the effort of some 700,000 Chinese troops to take on the U.N. forces at the 38th parallel the next April (1951) moved very little of the line of battle separating the two halves of the country.  Huge numbers of Chinese troops were lost (death in battle, disease and desertion).  Thus a stalemate set in … one not likely to be moved by further military action – action by either side.  U.S. Troops advance on Communist forces in Korea – June 1951 Library of Congress Men of the US 1st Cavalry Division bring in Chinese Communist captives, north of the Imjin River, Korea, June 1951. United States Army American troops secure a mountain top with mortar fire somewhere in Korea. United States Army Members of the 68th Battalion, Division Artillery attached to the 1st ROK Div., fire their 90mm antiaircraft guns. United States Army Artillerymen of the 24th Infantry Div fire 155mm howitzers at dusk, Korea. United States Army Koreans unload empty shell casings from a truck at the 2nd Infantry Division Ordnance Salvage Dump, where they will be salvaged for reuse, 6 September 1951. United States Army M4A3E8 "Sherman" Tank of Company B, 72nd Tank Battalion, 2nd Infantry Division, fires its 76mm gun at enemy bunkers on "Napalm Ridge", in support of the 8th ROK Division. Photograph is dated 11 May 1952. U.S. National Archives Men and Pershing Tanks of the 73rd Heavy Tank Battalion await orders to board the LST's at the Pusan Docks, Korea. Armistice Now faced with this obvious military stalemate, in July of 1951, U.N. representatives met with Chinese and North Korean representatives at the city of Panmunjom located near the line of battle … to begin discussions about a possible armistice. But the discussions dragged on for two more years … as each side could not completely give up the idea of gaining some advantage with a bit more fighting along the battle front.  But again, as clearly nothing much was developing, finally in July of 1953 both parties came to an armistice agreement establishing a demilitarized zone (DMZ) along roughly the same 38th parallel … a DMZ still separating the two Koreas to this very day.   Early discussions (October 1951) concerning an Armistice ... but nothing was ultimately decided Meeting at Panmunjom 28 July 1953 between US Army General Blackshear M. Bryan and North Korean General Lee Sang Cho the day after the Armistice finally went into effect U.N. troops at the Korean De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) Go on to the next section:  Cold-War Identities   Miles H. Hodges