Chosin Reservoir : The Battle That Stalled a War
At the end of the Second World War , there was an ideological divide between the two major superpowers , the United States and the Soviet Union , and their respective political ideologies , capitalism and communism . Former Nazi Germany-held territories were divided into spheres of influence dominated by occupying countries . A split into East and West was created by both superpowers in a bid for dominance . This gave rise to a military alliance in the form of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) between all nations allied with the United States . Some nations became battlegrounds for the spread of communism , such as Turkey and Greece . 1 In response to this , President Truman developed the Truman Doctrine , which stated that the United States would provide necessary support to prevent , or contain , the spread of communism . In Turkey and Greece , this was in the form of economic and military aid . Korea was a different matter .
The Soviet Union had committed itself to supporting growing communist governments all over the world . In Europe , this meant that it supported puppet regimes in the Eastern European territories taken from Nazi Germany . 2 In other locations around the world , the Soviet Union provided economic and military aid and advisors to facilitate the overthrow of democratic governments . The most significant case was that of China . China had been embroiled in a civil war beginning in 1927 , which was essentially paused during the Japanese invasion of Mainland China . Once Japan was defeated , the forces of the Communist Party of China , led by Mao Zedong , and the Kuomintang resumed fighting , with the Communist Party taking the country by 1950 . Once firmly in power , China was able to begin to support communist parties in countries along its own borders , such as Burma , Laos , North Vietnam , and North Korea .
Europe was split into the two ideological spheres of influence based on whichever country had effective control of that area . Korea was arbitrarily divided during the Yalta Conference into two halves along the 38th Parallel , with the former Korean capital of Seoul lying within the southern , US-controlled territory . 3 Once World War II ended , both superpowers provided support to their controlled territory . Additionally , North Korean fighters supported the Communist Party of China during the Chinese Civil War . The North Koreans returned to North Korea with their arms and equipment and the valuable experience they gained fighting the Kuomintang . The bonds between Josef Stalin , Mao Zedong , and Kim-Il Sung bolstered North Korean interests for a forcible reunification . As evidence of this , Kim-Il Sung sought approval for all war plans against South Korea before acting on them . 4
With that approval , the North Korean forces moved south of the 38th Parallel on June 25 , 1950 , meeting minimal resistance from South Korean emplacements . 5 Two months into the conflict , the South Korean forces and those US Army units that had arrived from Japan had been pushed back into
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