The myth was a case of psychological projection. 8 The surprise was because Stalin’s acceptance contradicted the central myth of the Cold War, which started in 1945 before the hot one even ended-namely, that it was a matter of the United States and allies responding to Soviet, and later Chinese, expansionism. Stalin accepted the proposal without demur, to the surprise of the officials then and U.S. 7 This was less than the United States wanted but it gave them the majority of the population and the capital, Seoul. The actual operation of deciding on a dividing line and presenting it to the Soviet Union is usually portrayed as a rushed, even amateurish business, with the United States taken aback by the speed of the Soviet advance with colonels Charles Bonesteel and Dean Rusk (later secretary of state) using a map from National Geographic in the course of “frantic deliberations” to choose the thirty-eighth parallel. motivation for the division as well as its consequences.
This is a crucial point because it establishes the foundation for understanding the U.S. initiative to which Joseph Stalin acquiesced.
It is frequently stated that the division of the Korean Peninsula was a joint enterprise by the United States and the Soviet Union-“the United States and the Soviet Union had each granted themselves control over one half of Korean territory.” 6 This is quite misleading. In August 1945, with the Pacific War rapidly coming to an end and the Soviet Army mopping up Japan’s famed Kwantung Army, the United States decided it needed a buffer in Korea to protect conquered Japan from its main ally. 5 The peninsula has been a conduit of culture from the Asian mainland, mainly China, to Japan, but it has also been the route of invasion-once by the Mongols, but mostly by Japan. Many writers, especially Americans, leave the United States out of that list, thus vitiating their analysis. It is the place where four great powers meet and contest-Russia, Japan, China, and the United States. Location is the curse of the Korean Peninsula, although it has the potential to be a blessing. The Palmerstonian Calculation and the Division of Korea Washington implemented this sea change in many ways, and one of them was the division of the Korean Peninsula.
#Wargame red dragon 2nd korean war full
imperialism, subdued somewhat by post-First World War isolationism, came into full flower. The main enemy was the Soviet Union, which had done so much to bring about victory but was now seen as an impediment to what Henry Luce had termed “the American Century.” 4 Thus, the war against fascism was transformed into what was to be called the Cold War. 3 Those allies not considered friendly were transmogrified into enemies. No such purge was undertaken in Japan, where the emperor was not hanged but “democratized,” and a new constitution, usually known as the Peace Constitution, was written for the Japanese. 2 In the case of Germany, this process involved denazification. Once their friendliness was firmly established, they were elevated to allies. 1 Countries that had been enemies, such as the United States and Germany, or the United States and Japan, were, once conquered, considered on the way to becoming friends. In August 1945, Washington’s view of the world was utterly transformed in line with the “gunboat diplomacy” dictum of Lord Palmerston-countries have no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests. He is very grateful for the unstinting assistance of Ankie Hoogvelt and Gregory Elich in providing comments and corrections. He has also written some chapters for a forthcoming collection: Immanuel Ness and Stuart Davis, eds., Sanctions as War: Anti-Imperialist Perspectives on American Geo-Economic Strategy (Leiden: Brill, 2021). Recent publications include the entry on Korea for The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism (New York: Springer, 2019). Tim Beal is a retired New Zealand academic who has written extensively on Asia with a special focus on the Korean Peninsula.
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