Why Did America Fight the Korean War? | 5 Minute Video
Video Overview & Insights
What was the Korean War? And why was America involved in such a faraway conflict? Was the United States' sacrifice--35,000 killed, over 100,000 wounded--worth it? Historian Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, shares the fascinating story of a transformative war that many have forgotten.
Currently, the administration in South Korea is controlled by agents of China and North Korea who are attempting to transform the nation into a communist state. Pro-China factions make up 20% of the population, while pro-U.S. factions account for 80%. If the United States were to assist South Korea once again, the country would certainly return to normalcy and remain forever grateful to the U.S.
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An excellent video. War is terrible however the South Korean people are now a great, mighty and most of all free people. They have everything that we have in our greatest country on earth, freedom.
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My dad, Deforest Warren Truman, served in the Korean War '52 to '53. I am so proud of my dadโค๏ธ๐บ๐ฒ
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Thank you to all Korean War Veterans! You are not Forgotten, and we will remember your service & sacrifice. Freedom is Not Free!!!
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To block a stepping stone to Japan and to give us a firm beachhead to land upon if necessary.... Simple as that. Victor, you are starting to bore me.
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I like to watch these videos so I can get the perspective of the average American. You know, someone who doesnโt know what theyโre talking about. Thanks PragerU! :)
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ํ๊ตญ์ธ์ผ๋ก์จ 6.25 ์ ์์ ๋์์ค ๋ง์ ๋๋ผ๋ค์๊ฒ ๊ฐ์ฌํฉ๋๋ค
๊ทธ๋ค์ด ์์๋ค๋ฉด ์์ ํ๋ฑํ ํ๊ตญ์ด ์์์ต๋๋ค.
๋ค์ ํ๋ฒ ๊ฐ์ฌ๋๋ฆฝ๋๋ค
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Script:
One million Soviet soldiers to Korea?
To stop jews that fled from germany to make atom bomb with japanese.
Seconly, China wasnยดt prepared to fight with strong Japan so Korea was divided to northern and southers with leaders that obey Soviets and Americans.
Later on America went to war with Vietnam, that wouldnยดt had weapons to destroy themselves without Soviet weapons - and vehicles that were made in american car-factories in Soviet Union. This also gave China time to build their own gulags Soviet style and copy western technology.
Mention the Korean War today and most people will look at you with a blank stare. At the time it was fought, just five years after World War II ended, everyone recognized it as a world-shaping conflict, a stark confrontation between the forces of democracy and communism.
It began on June 25, 1950 when Soviet-backed communist North Korea crossed the 38th parallel and invaded its US-backed anti-communist South Korean neighbor. Within weeks the communists had nearly absorbed the entire country. The United States at first was confused over whether it shouldโor even couldโrespond. America had slashed its military budget after the end of World War II and was short both men and equipment. It still had not awakened fully to the expansionist threat of Soviet Russia.
2o seconds in and I'm done here. We are a REPUBLIC not a democracy
The Sovietsโbuoyed by their own recent development of an atomic bomb and Mao Zedongโs communist victory in Chinaโsensed Americaโs lack of resolve and encouraged the Northโs aggression. Yet within weeks President Harry Truman rushed troops to save the shrinking Allied perimeter at Pusan on the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula. And by late September, 1950, General Douglas MacArthur had successfully completed the Inchon landings and launched counter-attacks.
He quickly reclaimed the entire south and sent American-led United Nations forces far into North Korea to reunite the entire peninsulaโonly to be surprised when hundreds of thousands of Chinese Red Army troops crossed the Yalu River at the Chinese border and sent the outnumbered Americans reeling back into South Korea.
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๐พ๊ณ ๋ง์ด ์ผ๋ณธ์ ์ฐ์
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1950๋
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60๋
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1965๋
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Thanks to the genius of General Matthew Ridgeway, who arrived to assume supreme command in South Korea in December 1950, over the next 100 days US led UN forces pushed the communists back across the 38th Parallel. The fighting was fierce. Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, exchanged hands between communist and US led forces five times before it was finally secured.
During the years 1952 and 1953, the war grew static, neither side able to deliver a knockout blow. Eventually the conflict ended with a tense armistice in July 1953. For over the next 60 years, a cold war persisted between the Stalinist North and what, by the 1980s, had evolved into the democratic, economic powerhouse of South Korea.
Best video on the channel by far. (Honestly one of the few I like)
Over 35,000 Americans died in the Korean War. The war marked the first major armed conflict of the Nuclear Age, and one in which the United States had not clearly defeated the enemy and thus not dictated terms of surrender. Was fighting the Korean War and restoring the Southโwithout uniting the entire peninsulaโworth the huge cost in blood and treasure?
The natural dividend of saving the South was the evolution of todayโs democratic and prosperous South Korea that has given its 50 million citizens undreamed of freedom and affluenceโand has blessed the world with topflight products from the likes of Hyundai, Kia, LG and Samsung.
As a Japanese, I am very glad that the United States has taken on the fight against communism. Thanks to the U.S. for driving Japan out of mainland China, Japan no longer has to deal with the threat of the Soviet Union and China. The US will continue to fight for the free world as the world's policeman. I thank the U.S. for its contribution to the world.
South Korea is a model global citizen and a strong ally of the U.S.โand stands in sharp contrast to the communist regime in the North that has starved and murdered millions of its own people and caused untold mischief in the world community. Had it not been for U.S. intervention and support to the South, the current monstrous regime in Pyongyang would now rule all of Korea, ensuring its nuclear-armed dictatorship even greater power and resources.
For the complete script, visit https://www.prageru.com/videos/why-did-america-fight-korean-war
The U.S. involvement in Korea was less about altruism for the Korean people and more about geopolitical containment, ideological rivalry, and global strategic balance. Helping South Korea was part of a broader effort to assert American power, uphold its anti-communist stance, and prevent perceived domino effects in Asia. The real driver was self-interest: stopping the spread of communism and to maintain global dominance. the success of South Korea is a beautiful by product.
More User Perspectives
God bless amarican
@ืฆืืืง-ืืืืงืืืDo one about Trinidad and Tobago
@kingdomofgarvin3432Do one about Grenada
@kingdomofgarvin3432Great ๐
@kingdomofgarvin3432Gen MacArthur wanted to Persue the North Koreans across the river into china and President Truman FIRED HIM. Because if he did it would involve America in a war with china. Thatโs why we have a divided Korea
@The-Silent-AbusedThe Woke Right wants to make the U.S. a completely Isolationist nation once again. Aside from the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the Woke Left wants the same thing.
@DB-by9evTo colonize the south, obviously.
@janetcox4873My grandpa was from Puerto Rico and got drafted to fight with the US in the Korean War. Returned to PR with two Purple Hearts and lived there until he passed
@brianbeers7303As one north Korea,I really thanks our Chinese friend.
@LuciaF-y9eMy grandpa served as a voluntary soldier in the Chinese Army during the Korean War. I often wonder how he would feel about my marriage to an American if he were still alive today. ๐
@ๅ่ๆธ้What a fricking beautiful video. Ironclad alliance connected in blood
@KoPianoBeautiful์์ ๋ํ๋ฏผ๊ตญ์ ์ํธํ๊ธฐ ์ํด ๋ชฉ์จ์ ๋ฐ์น์ ๋ฏธ๊ตญ๊ณผ ์ฐํฉ๊ตฐ ์ฐธ์ ์ฉ์ฌ๋ถ๋ค ๋๋ถ์ ์ ์ด๊ณ ์์ต๋๋ค.
๊ฐ์ฌ๋๋ฆฝ๋๋ค.
Thank you for your service
They stopped zerg rush from communists.
@rakutenrocketThose of us who served there, its not Forgotten.
@stevenwiederholt7000In front of the Chinese side, the United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength.
@tonylee1120YES IT WAS FREAKING WORTH IT!!! My mom is Korean she was just 7 years old when the war began. If it weren't for AMERICA fighting for us, she would be cuaght in comunist Korea probably dead before she would have me. But my grandmother fell in love with an american soldier, he brought her and my mom back to the US and she's still living today, and so am I! Grateful, thankful for every single one of those 35,000+ soldiers who gave their lives for us! You are truly heroes!
@RomEightTwentyEightThanks
@paolopetrozzi2213I know US divided my country for buffer zone and supported brutal dictators..but still, their soldiers were died on this peninsula. US and UN force was the only reason i donโt live in northern part. Huge respect to them.
I always hope korean unification and we can protect ourselves.
Already, nothing but brainless propaganda. Just like Ukraine. No mention of how Korea got to that war in the first place.
@pain-drainPragerU: If you were never thought of or created at all, North America would have definitely become a pile of ashes and rubble. God Bless you for your tireless effort to put new loads of wisdom in trillions of people!โฃ๏ธ๐๐๐
@Nora-wl8erLove how this guy just omits why Macarthur was removed.
@deanpruit4216im sorry but those people at the beginning
@BridylGDPretty good. I thought Mr Hanson overstated a bit the "expansionist threat" of the USSR, at 0:48. It dominated the Eastern European countries, yes, but those were the fruits of a very costly victory and had more or less been conceded at Yalta. Otherwise, was it not more a "cautious bear"?
Sure enough when the setback came its origin was not from Russia but from China. Mao may have felt as nervous about having US troops on his border as Truman might have felt about having Chinese ones in British Columbia.
As a Chinese,I am proud that we had beaten the American invaders.
@pengkun2237Soโฆ It was fought to preserve capitalismโฆ
@DarkStar_481:04 Isn't it Busan??
@LooooveyouIn fact, China was also the best ally of the United States and South Korea from 1919 to 1949 before communism ruled China. China's founding father, Sun Yat-sen, helped the Koreans establish a government-in-exile in Shanghai (Korea was being colonized by Japan at the time). Even the United Nations Army can be regarded as China and the United States jointly supporting South Korea, because at that time Chinaโs legal seat in the United Nations belonged to the Chiang Kai-shek regime of the Republic of China. As one of the founding countries of the United Nations, the Kuomintang government still firmly supported the Korean people to resist North Korean invasion, even though they had lost all of their territory on the mailand. What a trustworthy country๏ผ So I don't hope Koreans to hate me who was born in China because of communism, I love Korea.โคโคโค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฐ๐ท๐ฐ๐ท
@KaoruiscuteThe US involving in the Korean War had nothing to do with Americans wanting to help South Korea. It was for their bigger agenda which is to fight communism better in case a war broke out between the US and Soviet Union/China. After the defeat of Japan in WW2, the US originally only decided to occupy Japan and not control any beyond that. But the US feared, thinking that if entire Korea becomes communist, then Japan could also fall to communism. This makes sense. Japan would have to fight military forces of the Soviet Union, China and Unified Korea under communism. That is some major power to deal with. So the US decided to go to war and take over Korea under their control as well. Korea was already divided even before the Korean War. Guess who divided the country into two? The US and the Soviet Union. The US drew and made the 38th Line, DMZ. It wasn't Koreans. Why did the US took over Phillipines and have base there? Again, it's for China in case they try to invade Taiwan. Having bases in Korea, and Japan also give advantages to the US if a war between China and Taiwan breaks out.
@James-sn5mgActually America wasnโt the only country that fought in korea. And a lot of men from all over the globe fought for freedom agains maoism, communism and marxism in the southern part of Korean Peninsula.
@Ward3n_MainIโm separating from the US Air Force this month. Iโve been serving at Osan AB in Korea for over four years. This past week my Korean wife and I applied for her visa at the US embassy. Next door to the embassy is an amazing museum dedicated to the Korean War and South Koreans appreciation for America, their greatest and most thankful ally.
My wife isnโt very into history but even as we were going through the museum she pointed out the American Generals who Korea holds as heroes. Specifically the Incheon invasion and how crucial it was.
My grandfather served in the Navy on the USS New Jersey during the war. He passed in 2021 but heโs the only one in my family that served before me.
I donโt know if itโs the emotion of me leaving this country or the impact that museum had on me butโฆ man when the video asked โwas it worth it?โ I got tears in my eyes. I seriously love this country probably more than my own. The people are so humble and welcoming. Itโs safe, prosperous and beautiful wherever you go.
Iโd gladly give my life for this country. Iโm so thankful to those who fought against the evils of communism because without their sacrifices over 53 million people wouldnโt be free. Thank you to any of my brothers or sisters who served. And thank you to all of you or your families who fought the war for freedom in the 50s ๐ขโค
35000 dead
@erich84502bIronically the same us then invaded another free country Iraq and did a military takeover
@TejasKhandekarStandard proxy war of US fascisam that did not went the way they wanted. But they were happy about a brutal genocide they committed before and during the war, I guess, being the demonish genocide nation they are with many million innocent slaughtered worldwide since 2.WW.
@miriamweller812I thought the United States started the Korean War? (Thatโs what Great Leader said) ๐คจ
@mrparkerdan