South vs North
In January 1950, North Korea thought it could cross the 38th parallel without resistance from the opposing side. Although Stalin feared American nuclear weapons, the North Koreans invaded the South of the country on June 25. The same day, Truman plans to send reinforcements to South Korea so that the enemies turn back. The next day, the North Korean army enters Seoul, and the United States retaliates.
Yet on September 15, the situation is alarming for the South Koreans, who have little land left since the invasion from the North. It was then that American General MacArthur attempted an offensive and landed near Seoul. The city is soon in the hands of the South Koreans, and the latter do not stop there:they invade North Korea on October 2. China then comes to intervene, fearing that its communist regime will be called into question; she sends volunteers to defend her allies. Moreover, Russia is added to the conflict. The war continues along the 38th parallel.
The UN at the heart of the war
For its part, the UN is trying somehow to establish peace. At the request of countries like France and England, it intervenes in the conflict. But seeing that North Korea has been invaded, China cannot resign itself to leaving it to the Americans, and so it is the confrontation between China and the UN.
January 4, 1951:Seoul is again invaded by the North Koreans. Truman envisages the end of the war, since he no longer believes in the reunification of Korea. It is the UN that will finally allow Seoul to return to South Korean hands.
The armistice
It will take another two years of negotiations to sign the armistice on July 27, 1953. The Korean War will have caused many deaths and injuries, many of whom are counted among civilians. This is the first conflict of the nuclear age. It also represents American anti-communism, the rampart that has been erected, an iron curtain like in Europe.
After numerous invasions from the north by the south and from the south by the north, the armistice was finally signed on July 27, 1953. After three years of conflict, Truman no longer believed in a possible reunification of Korea, and he resigns himself to no longer fighting the north of the country, which remains communist. Korea separated into two zones, unlike Vietnam which finally became one, on April 30, 1975, entirely under communist ideology.
Even today, the effects are persistent. If the fall of the USSR took the work of Lenin with it, there remains, however, in North Korea, a hint of the Cold War. Separated into two states, one capitalist and the other communist supported by China, the country bears the mark of the Iron Curtain.