The US and the USSR agree to stop at the 38th parallel in Korea. They both spread their influence in the part of the country they are in. The US in the south helps South Korea set up a democratic government and sets up some rigged elections to ensure their “man” wins. The USSR sets up a communist dictator in the North as well as helped them build a strong military. This is significant because this line will later become a symbol of division between communist and democratic much as the Iron Curtain was. 
    2. North Korean Invasion

With the help of the USSR building its troops, on June 25, 1950, North Korea invades South Korea. North Korea has much stronger troops than Soth Korea and they are able to push all the way to the city of Pusan where there is a bit of a stalemate.
   3. US gets largely involved

Now at this point, without any intervention, it looks like North Korea is going to take over the entire country so the US rushes in a sends in a lot of ground troops. They are able to “Outflank” the North Koreans and push all the way back the Pyongyang and capture that city that was currently acting as the Capital of North Korea. The South and the US get all the way to the Yalu RIver which is the border between China and Korea. This is significant because without the help of the US the south would have likely been beaten, but it also became a very deadly and larger-scale war once they joined. 

Shortly before this conflict, China had a civil war and became a communist country. The communists of Korea had previously helped the communists of China in winning the civil war so china felt they owed the North Koreans the same plus they now wanted to spread communism. They launched forces into Korea which took the Americans By surprise. They were able to push the South Korean forces all the way back to the 38th parallel where a stalemate occurred.
   5. An Armistices Agreement

Now that there was a stalemate in the same spot the war had begun, the sides started talking about a cease-fire. Unfortunately, these deals took 2 years to make. Finally, on July, 7th, 1953 a deal was struck and a cease-fire was announced. This is significant because it was an armistice signed and not a peace treaty. Technically the war isn’t officially over, just has taken a pause. The relationship between North Korea and South Korea is still hostile. As well as North Korea’s relationship with the US. 

Works Cited

Khan, Sal. “Korean War overview (video) | 1950s America.” Khan Academy, 2011, https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/postwarera/1950s-america/v/korean-war-overview. Accessed 19 April 2022.

Pearce, Jessica. “What Caused the Korean War and Why Did the US Get Involved?” History.com, 7 May 2021, https://www.history.com/news/korean-war-causes-us-involvement. Accessed 19 April 2022.