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S Rhee knowing this wanted to extend the war after
the signing the Cease Fire agreement.
BTW... what was the main hang up(s) getting
everyone to sign.
D
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, December 28, 2002 3:19
PM
Subject: Re: Korean War & Vietnam
War
I
wanaki@infi.net writes:
The 1950-1953 war in Korea was not a Civil War, regardless of
what you may have read. It was a war of un-mitigated aggression, provoked by
Stalin in an effort to bring the entire peninsula into the Communist
sphere
Most of the Soviet archives and revelations from
the Russians would indicate this is not the case. Stalin did NOT want to get
sucked into playing mind games with Mao but Kim Il Sung played the two of them
against each other. He only reluctantly gave weapons to Kim (but not of the
caliber or number he provided to Mao) and was hoping that he would not provoke
the US into a measurable response.
When Kim kicked off the war Stalin
was not a happy camper, but restricted Soviet involvement to as little as
possible until after Inchon. When it appeared that MacArthur was going to roar
up the peninsula and was rumbling about going into Manchuria, both he and Mao
reacted.
The air war illustrates Stalin's lack of enthusiam and fear
of provoking a general US response in that he only permitted the use of
defensive weapons (e.g. fighters) and limited where they could go to avoid a
"smoking gun" which the US could use as a reason to trigger a wider theater
war. Likewise, once Stalin died and internal Kremlin politics for succession
took over, the Soviet support for the war vanished and the DPRK had to
essentially agree to terms of a ceasefire.
Even if the Chinese had
another million troops ready to go, it appears Mao did not want to waste them
here either.
The lack of support by the two biggest "bullies" on the
block really cut the legs out from under Kim, and was the reason that the
ceasefire came into being.
Cookie Sewell
AMPS
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