This is how the Korean War started, unfolded and ultimately never ended. The Korean peninsula had been divided along the 38th Parallel after WW2, with the North having Soviet Union-backed communist sponsorship and the South being backed by the US and other allies.
The Korean War never technically ended. Here's why. A South Korean infantry officer directs troops on the front lines of the Korean War on August 10, 1950.
The guns fell silent along the Demilitarized Zone, a 155-mile-long strip of land that divides the Korean Peninsula. But a formal peace treaty was never signed, leaving the Korean Peninsula still technically at war. Millions of troops on both sides stand ready to plunge back into battle at a moment's notice.
Seventy years ago today, a cease-fire took effect on the battle lines between North and South Korea. It froze the Korean War in which the United States supported the south. It did not technically end that war, which continues without a final peace agreement to this day.
Was the Korean War technically a war? The armed conflict in Korea, which began in 1950, lasted three years and claimed the lives of millions of Korean soldiers and civilians on both sides, hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers, and more than 36,000 U.S. soldiers.
Vietnam War, (1954–75), a protracted conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam and its allies in South Vietnam, known as the Viet Cong, against the government of South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.
The longest war in history is believed to be the Reconquista (Spanish for Reconquest), with a duration of 781 years.
On July 27, 1953, seven months after President Eisenhower's inauguration as the 34th President of the United States, an armistice was signed, ending organized combat operations and leaving the Korean Peninsula divided much as it had been since the close of World War II at the 38th parallel.
Tensions erupted into the Korean War, which lasted from 1950 to 1953. When the war ended, both countries were devastated, but the division remained. North and South Korea continued a military standoff, with periodic clashes. The conflict survived the end of the Cold War and continues to this day.
The Korean War is often called the “Forgotten War” because it was largely overshadowed by WWII and Vietnam. The importance of this war in the history of the United States and the world is vastly understated; this conflict marked the first clear battle of the Cold War.
It's sometimes called the 'forgotten war' because it has been overshadowed by the Vietnam War and the previous World Wars. But despite lasting just three years, the Korean War is also called the longest war, because no peace deal was ever signed, just an armistice agreement 70 years ago, on July 27, 1953.
Estimates of the number of Chinese military casualties during the 1950-53 Korean War range from 180,000 to 400,000. South Korea has repatriated the remains of 88 Chinese soldiers killed during the Korean War, the first such ceremony since South Korea's President Yoon Suk-yeol took office in May.
The Korean War: 'The Forgotten War'
American troops were sent to support the South and by the time a ceasefire was proclaimed in 1953, over five million soldiers and civilians had died. To this day, a formal peace treaty has not been signed.
Today, South Koreans use Hanguk (한국, 韓國) to refer to just South Korea or Korea as a whole, Namhan (남한, 南韓; "South Han") for South Korea, and Bukhan (북한, 北韓; "North Han") for North Korea.
The Anglo-Zanzibar War was fought between the United Kingdom and the Zanzibar Sultanate on Aug. 27, 1896. The conflict lasted around 40 minutes, and is the shortest war in history.
An Integral Allied Force in the Vietnam War
South Korean units were as tough and professional as any in the United States Army or Marines, and came to be justly feared by the communists. More than 300,000 Korean troops passed through Vietnam at some point, and more than 5,000 were killed.
Japanese colonial rule (1910-1945) was a contradictory experience for Koreans. On the one hand, Japanese colonialism was often quite harsh. For the first ten years Japan ruled directly through the military, and any Korean dissent was ruthlessly crushed.
What were the factors that led the Chinese to decide that they had to enter the war on behalf of North Korea? It has been generally accepted in the west that the Chinese were motivated by a combination of Chinese xenophobic attitudes, security concerns, expansionist tendencies and the communist ideology.
However, the United States never formally declared war on North Korea, China, or the Soviet Union. And, although the U.S. military led the United Nations' expeditionary force, its involvement was tied only to a UN Security Council resolution, because the UN itself cannot declare war.
Japanese rule (1910–1945)
When the Russo-Japanese War ended in 1905 Korea became a nominal protectorate of Japan, and was annexed by Japan in 1910. The Korean Emperor Gojong was removed. In the following decades, nationalist and radical groups emerged to struggle for independence.
From 1910 to 1945, Japan had ruled the Korean peninsula. Once Japan lost control of Korea at the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States divided the administration of the country between themselves.
Khālid refused to step down, and the Anglo-Zanzibar War began. The brief battle between Khālid's supporters and the British Royal Navy took less than an hour and is considered the shortest war in recorded history. After Khālid's defeat, the British-supported Ḥamud ibn Moḥammed was installed as sultan.
World War II was a global war that spanned from 1939 to 1945. The war pitted the Allies and the Axis power in the deadliest war in history, and was responsible for the deaths of over 70 million people.