Korea and Cuba during the Cold War
By: Andy Prevalsky
Cuba
Fidel Castro, one of the most influential leaders of his time, led a revolution leading to the establishment of his dictatorship in 1959. The way that Castro was able to become such a powerful leader was through his connection with the Soviet Union, which he made in order to gain economic support (which also in turn led to the Soviet Union establishing a closer front to American territory). During one of the most stressful times in American history, the Cuban missile crisis, the soviets armed Cuba with missiles, preparing them to be launched to American soil at anytime, ready to spark a potentially devastating war. However, the U.S. was prepared and ready to defend at all costs, and the Cubans and Soviets knew that. This led to a drawn out stalemate since neither side was prepared to launch the first attack, ultimately lasting two weeks and then finally ending with Kennedy's promise to not work towards destructing Castro's regime. However, in return the Soviets promised to remove all missiles from Cuba. This was similar to the Korean War in how both "wars" ended in a stalemate due to neither side willing to plunge the world in an all out war (presumably because of the devastation of past wars such as World War I and World War II).
Korea
Communist North Korea led by the Soviets and Democratic South Korea led by the United States were first divided along the 38th parallel, after a disagreement on the designation of Korea. North Korea sought after South Korea, trying to unite them as one on June 25th, 1950, and eventually conquered Seoul, the capital of South Korea, in little to no time. However, the United States counteracted this invasion, with the thought that Soviets were behind it, and gained cooperation with the UN in order to propel a counter attack onto North Korea. The United States did not only want to reestablish the land that South Korea lost, but it also attempted to unite Korea as a whole, much like North Korea, but instead with United States ideals leading the nation. Soon after, China intervened, feeling threatened by the United States' sudden imposing force on Asian territory, providing yet another counter attack, pushing the UN forces further south. For two years there was fighting along this line of war, the 38th parallel, with neither side gaining a significant advantage. Eventually, both sides realized that neither side would win without prolonging the war to extreme lengths and expending unreasonable amounts of resources, so eventually an agreement was made to establish a border between North and South Korea, which is now called the demilitarized zone. This ending of war was similar to the situation in Cuba where a reasonable conclusion was made which left both sides of the war with an equal footing and economic status.
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