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Korean War begins
North Korea crosses the 38th Parrallel and attacks South Korea. -
Period: to
Korean War
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UN involvement
The UN sends general MacArthur to take command of the UN and US forces in South Korea. President Truman said North Korea was repeating actions of Hitler, Mussolini and the Japanesse. Unlike the Vietnamese war which got no support from the UN. -
North Korea in control
The North Koreans conquer a great amount of land. They conquer everything except for a tiny area around Pusan in the far southeast. -
MacArthur Suceedes
With a plan develped by General MacArthur, the UN pursues and retreats the North Koreans across the 38th parallel into North Korea. -
China intervenes
The Chinese sent 300,000 troops to help North Korea in the War. This is when general MacArthur asks for Nuclear Weapons and due to this fact he is later on removed from his duty as general. -
The Fight Continues
For 2 years the War continued and the UN managed to regain control of South Korean territory. -
War Ends
The UN and North Korea agree to a cease-fire treaty, which meant that no country gained or lost territories and the US was finally out of the war. This was different from the VIetnamese War where the US withdrew their troops. -
Vietnam Divided
After Vietnam defeats France they are divided into two. North Vietnam and South Vietnam, and they are divided by the 17th north latitude. -
Domino Theory
The US thought of a theory which stated that if one country fell to Communism the neighboring countries would also fall. Due to this fear the US got involved in helping the South (Capitalist) side of Vietnam fiight the North Communist side of Vietnam. -
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Vietnam War
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Vietnam attacks US
President Lyndon Johnson told Congress that Vietnam destroyed two US destroyers. Therefore they got involved in Vietnam and sent troops to help defeat them. Constrasting from the Korean War , where US help was requested explicitly. -
US completely at War
By 1965 there were a total of 185,000 US troops in in Vietnamese soil. But the US faced different challanges, for example the unfamiliar jungle like terrain. -
Unpopular decision
Unlike the Korean War the Vietnam War was recorded and shown on TV. For this reason and many other the Vietnam War became extremely unpopular. Dissatisfied young people began to protest. President Richard Nixon made a plan called Vietnamization, which slowly got US troops out of Vietnam. -
War Ends
Two years after the US completly withdraws all its troops South Vietnam falls to North Vietnam. The war ended and a total of 1.5 million Vietnamese and 58,000 americans lost their life.