1945: Northern Korea (38th Parallel) run by Kim Il-Sung as Soviet sphere. South run by Syngman Rhee as US sphere.
1948: Dean Acherson Speech prompts USSR to leave NK
1949: NATO forms, USSR gets the bomb, People’s Republic of China ((Mainland) China) & Republic of China (Taiwan) form, Germany -> BRD & DDR, US leaves SK
1950: NSC-68 (more aggression than mere containment) written, $4e7 spent on conventional warfare, PRC & Taiwan compete for Security Council seat leading USSR to boycott UN over Taiwan getting the seat. (1950-07-07)
1950 (cont.): Sino-Soviet pact made, North Korea invades almost all of South Korea in surprise attack with minor aid, Security Council (sans USSR) votes to have police force stop NK, US has MacArthur act as police force. UN troops are supposed to only go to 38th Parallel, Truman goes to Yalu River, China attacks, pushing past Seoul (and into 1951)
1951: China continues invading, MacArthur pushes to nuke China, Truman says no, MacArthur ignores and avoids him, Truman says MacArthur really isn’t working with the US now.
War ends with armistice and is technically still going.
Takeaways
US and USSR both feigned neutrality. Nobody actually used nuclear weapons.
US signed ANSUS pact, committing themselves to (among other things) Vietnam war.
NSC-68
USA saw containment as expanding to not just Europe but also as preventing Communist influence everywhere. They worried Russian nukes would embolden Russia.
NSC-68 (by new Policy Planning Staff eader Paul Nitze) said US objective was to foster a world environment in which the American system can survive and flourish. This would mean blocking Soviet expansion, exposing Soviet lies, retracting Soviet control, nurturing seeds of destruction within Soviet system. Strong military necessary for this.