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Japan declares a protectorate over Korea.
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Japan formally annexes Korea as a colony. Japanese investments begin to flow inot the new colony, turning it into a source of industrial and agricutural wealth for Japan.
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By mutual agreemeent as the Postdam Conference, the United States and the Soviet Union make plans to jointly occupy Korea following the defeat of Japan. Soiet troops will occupy the northern portion fo the country while the United States will takes the southern half, with the 38th parallel serving as the dividing line between the two zones of occupation.
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Japan sweeps away French rule in Indochina. In Vietnam, it places Emperor Bao Dai in power, creating the illusion of an independent Vietnamese state.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies of a cerebral hemorrhage in Warm Springs, Georgia. With the death of President Roosevelt, Vice President Harry S. Truman becomes the 33rd President of the United States.
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A second atomic bomb is dropped in Nagasaki.
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In the last s=days of WWII, Russians begin moving into northern Korea. There are not yet American troops on the peninsula.
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Japan surrenders to the Allies, this is officially the end of WWII.
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Japan surrenders to the Allied Powers, officially ending World War II.
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Under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh, the Viet Minh revolts against Emperor Bao Dai, Japan's hand-selected ruler.
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Soviet forces complete their occupation of northern Korea, halting teir southward advance through the counrty exactly at the 38th parallel, as agreed at the Postdam Conference, The Soviets will wait patiently for several weeks as the Americans hastily organize their own occupation of South Korea.
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Emperor Bao Dai surrenders leadership to Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh.
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Viet Minh leaders proclaim the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, with Hanoi its capital and Ho Chi Minh its president. No other countries recognize this regime.
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American forces finally reach Seoul, where they accept the Japanese surrender of southern Korea.
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The British land in Saigon to disarm the Japanese and to restore French control south of the seventeenth parallel, in what will become known as South Vietnam. After some fighting, the Viet Minh withdraws.
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Ho Chi Minh pens a letter to President Harry S. Truman, asking him for the support of the United States in gaining independence for Vietnam.
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British prime minister Winston Churchill gives his famous "Iron Curtain Speech" at a college graduation in Fulton, Missouri: "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere."
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In a speech later remembered as the "Truman Doctrine," President Harry S. Truman pledges American assistance to any nation in the world threatened by Communism, officially establishing the worldwide containment of Communism as a vital American national security interest.
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American forces begin to prepare to withdraw from Korea, hoping to leave the South as an independent state under the leadership of the pro-American conservative Dr. Syngman Rhee.
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Under President Harry S. Truman, the United States begins to contribute money and supplies to the French war effort in Vietnam.
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South Korea holds its first elections. With the Communists and other anti-Rhee factions boycotting the vote and challenging its legitimacy, Dr. Syngman Rhee wins easily, positioning himself to become South Korea's first president
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President Truman desegrates the US Armed Forces by signing Executive Order 9981. The order states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." In order to implement this policy, the order also establishes the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services.
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Dr. Syngman Rhee's South Korean regime proclaims itself the independent Republic of Korea, denying the legitimacy of North Korea and claiming sovereignty over the entire Korean Peninsula.
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Communist North Korea, led by Kim Il Sung, proclaims itself the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, denying the legitimacy of South Korea and claiming sovereignty over the entire Korean Peninsula.
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President Harry S. Truman is elected to a second term.
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Bao Dai signs the Elysée Agreement, which gives Vietnam "independence" within the French Union. Still, the French retain control over all key governmental functions.
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Negotiations between French leaders and Ho Chi Minh break down. France refuses to grant Vietnamese independence and declares the southern region of Vietnam a French colony. Ho Chi Minh returns to Hanoi disenchanted
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In a speech, Secretary of States Dean Acheson pledges that the United States will fight to defend all territory within its "defensive perimeter," which he defines to include Japan, and the Philippines—but not Korea. Soviet leader Josef Stalin misinterprets this speech to mean that he can green-light North Korean leader Kim Il Sung's "liberation" of South Korea with little risk of intervention by the United States.
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The People's Republic of China, now a Communist state, recognizes Ho Chi Minh's government, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
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The Soviet Union recognizes Ho Chi Minh's government, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
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The United States recognizes Bao Dai's government, the Republic of Vietnam, and gives France $15 million in military aid.
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North Korean leader Kim Il Sung goes to Moscow to ask Soviet leader Josef Stalin's permission to invade South Korea and begin the Korean War. Stalin gives the green light because he believes the United States has little interest in Korea.
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President Syngman Rhee's unpopular conservative faction loses its control over the South Korean assembly when voters elect anti-Rhee moderates to office in the 1950 elections. Rhee remains president.
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American ground troops go itno battle against Northern Korean forces at Osan (just south of Seoul on the western side of the peninsula). The Americans, expecting an easy victory over an overmatched foe, are stunned to discover that the North Korean army will be a formidable adversary. The Americans suffer 150 casualties in the battle and fail to halt the North Koreans' southward advance.
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Communist North Korean troopes launch a full-scale invasion of the South, beginning the open military phase of the Korean War. North Korean tanks and infantry surge across the 38th parallel into South Korean territory, quickly overrunning the defensive positions of overmatched South Korean forces. The Communists continue their southward advance, meeting little resistance in the countryside.
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In response to North Korea's invasion of his country, South Korean president Syngman Rhee orders his military and special police forces to eliminate the threat posed to his regime by political prisoners and leftist dissidents, whom he fears will join forces with the Communist invaders. In the so-calles "Summer of terror" that follows, Rhee's force will execute more than 100,000 people.
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While the situation in Korea rapidly deteriorates, President Truman convenes two days' worth of hugh-level meetings at Wahsington, D.C's Blair House (his temporary residence while the White House undergoes renovations). In consultation with top officials of the State and Defense Departments, Truman makes the critical decision to offer military aid to South Korea without seeking an official declaration of war from Congress.
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In the morning, President Truman issues a statment announcing to the American public the decision made at Blair House on 25 and 26 June: "I have ordered United States air and sea forces to give the Korean Government troops cover and support." In the afternoon, the United Nations Security Council (temporarily boycotted by the Soviet Union) passes an America-drafted resolution condemning North Korea as the aggressor in the conflict.
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North Korean forces capture the South Korean capital city of Seoul.
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ommunist forces continue their southward advance through the Korean peninsula, driving American forces back to Daejeon, 100 miles south of Seoul.
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American and South Korean forces end more than a month of retreat by establishing, finally, a stable defensive line outside the city of Pusan, at the far southeastern tip of the peninsula. The shattered remnants of the South Koreean army and the entire American force in Korea crowd into the tiny area behind the so-called Pusan Perimeter; the entire rest of the country, more than 90% of Korea's land area, is now under Communist control.
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General MacArthur orchestrates one of the great tactical victories in American military history, a massive amphibious landing of thousands of soldiers and Marines at Inchon, a city located along Korea's west coast not far from Seoul, hundreds of miles behind enemy lines. MacArthur's audacious Inchon Landing catches the North Koreans completely by surprise, allowing the Americans to cut vital lines of supply to the Communist troops farther south at Pusan, forcing them into a desperate retreat.
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The first group of U.S. military advisors—the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG)—arrives in Saigon.
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President Truman authorizes General MacArthur to order his forces to pursue the retreating North Koreans across the 38th parallel, into North Korean territory. This decision marks a fundamental enlargement in American war arms, now expanded from merely rescuing South Korea to rolling back the Communist regime in North Korea. Truman's orders direct MacArthur to keep pushing northward as long as he does not encounter Soviet or Chinese opposition and he remains confident of victory.
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The US First Calvary Division enters Pyongyang, the North Korean capital. The jubilant American soldiers are convinced that victory in the broader war is near, taking bets on exactly when they will be able to ship out for home.
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Communist Chinese forces, who have been secretly infiltrating Korean territory by slipping across the Yalu River under cover of darkness, ambush a South Korean regiment high in the mountains of North Korea. This is the first of many Chinese victories over unprepared and overstretched South Korean and American units over the winter of 1950-51.
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Chinese leader Mao Zedong, fearful of the consequences of hostile American forces taking up positions along his country's border at the Yalu River, orders hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers into battle in Korea. The massive Chinese intervention into the Korean conflict catches American military leaders completely off guard, leading to a series of crushing defeats. American prospects in the Korean War deteriorate rapidly, as hopes of imminent victory give way to a desperate struggle to avo
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In the first half of 1950, the war in Korea begins to settle into stalemate, the year begins with surging Communist forces driving American and South Korean troops into a desperate southward retreat. By springtime, however, American forces organize a successful defensive line not far from the 38th parallel, halting the Chinese advance. Both sides launch a series of offensives aimed at breaking through the increasingly entrenched lines of battle, but neither can make much headway.
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With the Korean War seemingly settling into a bloody stalemate, the United Nations passes a resolution calling for a negotiated end to the conflict. The first peace talks between American, Chinese, North Korean, and South Korean negotiators will begin in August 1951, but will drag on for nearly two years. More than half of the 36,000 American soldiers killed in the Korean War will lose their lives after the beginning of the peace talks.
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General MacArthur—frustrated by the Truman administration's strategy of limited war in Korea, which precludes him from attacking China directly or making use of nuclear weapons—makes an unauthorized public statement threatening the Chinese with imminent destruction if they do not withdraw from Korea. In Washington, President Truman and his Joint Chiefs of Staff conclude that MacArthur has become dangerously insubordinate, liable to do or say something so provocative it will drag the United State
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House Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin, a Republican from Massachusetts, reads a letter from General MacArthur. It is a private letter but MacArthur has given no instructions with regard to confidentiality, so Martin reads it into the Congressional Record for the benefit of the American people. In the letter, MacArthur recommends "meeting force with maximum counterforce" in Korea—comments construed to mean that the general favors the use of Chinese Nationalist troops from Taiwan in the fighting
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Following the public announcement of General MacArthur's belligerent comments, President Truman calls a meeting with cabinet members to discuss the situation.
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President Truman and his advisers agree the time has come to relieve General MacArthur from his command. General Matthew Ridgway will replace MacAthur as Supreme Commander in Korea.
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The White House makes a special late-night announcement that General Douglas MacArthur has been relieved of his duties. MacArthur learns of his firing when one of his aides hears the radio broadcast at headquarters and telephones the general's residence in Tokyo to tell him.
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In a statement broadcast nationally on radio and television, President Truman explains why he has relieved General MacArthur of his position as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. He does not discuss the General's comments or the constitutional issues pertaining to MacArthur's insubordination, but instead stresses the American goal in Korea to avoid a third world war, and states that "a number of events have made it evident that General MacArthur did not agree with that policy.
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General MacArthur returns to the United States, arriving in San Francisco to a hero's welcome. In these early days of the Truman-MacArthur dispute, the American people seem to be siding with MacArthur. Truman's public-approval ratings plummet below 25 percent.
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General MacArthur, addressing a joint meeting of Congress, receives a standing ovation from a bipartisan majority of the legislators packed into the House chamber. Only a few Democrats loyal to President Truman do not stand to applaud the general. MacArthur, speaking from a prepared text, reiterates his belief in the need to take any measures necessary to achieve total victory in Korea. Over his course of his 34-minute speech he is interrupted 30 times because of applause.
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In New York City, an estimated 7.5 million people turn out to cheer for General MacArthur as he parades through the city in the back of an open Chrysler. The streets are so thronged with supporters that it takes MacArthur's motorcade more than seven hours to cover the 19.5-mile parade route, from the Battery to St. Patrick's Cathedral and back again.
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The Senate Foreign Realtions and Armed Services committees begin joint hearings to investigate the dismissal of General MacArthur. Republican congressmen demand the hearings in hopes of vindicating their fallen hero, but the subsequent testimony ends up discrediting him more than restoring his reputation. Through more than a month of hearings, MacArthur's arrogance, recklessness, and insubordination are clearly revealed; most Americans come to believe that Truman was correct to remove MacArthur.
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In the American presidential election, Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower receives more votes—almost 34 million—than any previous candidate in American history. Eisenhower, a retired generral and WWII hero, has built his campaign largely around a promise to pursue an honorable truce in the Korean War to allow the withdrawal of American combat forces as soon as possible.
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After nearly two years of negotiations, diplomats from the United States, North Korea, and China reach agreement on an armistice to end the "UN peace action" in Korea without a formal peace treaty. Both sides claim victory; Korea remains divided at the 38th parallel.
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Diplomats from China, North Korea and the United States convene in Panmujam- the so-called "Peace Village" located on the border between North and South Korea at the 38th parallel—to plan a political conference to reach agreement on a final, permanent peace treaty to end the war. Even this preliminary planning breaks down amidst angry accusations and counter-accusations from both sides.
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President Eisenhower refuses to commit American troops to the Franco-Vietnamese War. In a press conference he states, "I cannot conceive of a greater tragedy for America than to get heavily involved now in an all-out war in any of those regions."
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President Eisenhower refuses to commit American troops to the Franco-Vietnamese War. In a press conference he states, "I cannot conceive of a greater tragedy for America than to get heavily involved now in an all-out war in any of those regions.
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The Viet Minh launches its first assault on French forces at Dien Bien Phu. The battle will rage for over two months.
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The Viet Minh launches its first assault on French forces at Dien Bien Phu. The battle will rage for over two months.
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President Eisenhower's administration revisits the question of direct intervention in the Franco-Vietnamese War.
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In a speech before the press, Vice President Richard Nixon explains that "if to avoid further Communist expansion in Asia and Indochina we must take the risk now of putting our boys in, I think the Executive has to take the politically unpopular decision and do it."
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The French surrender to the Viet Minh. The Geneva Conference on the status of Indochina begins.
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Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected President of the United States. Richard M. Nixon is elected as his Vice President.
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General MacArthur—frustrated by the Truman administration's strategy of limited war in Korea, which precludes him from attacking China directly or making use of nuclear weapons—makes an unauthorized public statement threatening the Chinese with imminent destruction if they do not withdraw from Korea. In Washington, President Truman and his Joint Chiefs of Staff conclude that MacArthur has become dangerously insubordinate, liable to do or say something so provocative it will drag the United State
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The costs and casualties of the growing war proved too much for the United States to bear, and U.S. combat units were withdrawn by 1973. In 1975, South Vietnam fell to a full-scale invasion by the North. The human costs of the long conflict were harsh for all involved.
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The Senate passes legislation reaffirming to scope and purpose of a unified NATO and authorizes President Truman to send four American divisions to be stationed in Europe. Truman now feels free to fire MacArthur.
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Bao Dai names Ngo Dinh Diem the new leader of what will become South Vietnam.
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The Viet Minh attacks French forces occupying Hanoi in northern Vietnam. The First Indochina War, also called the Franco-Vietnamese War, begins
