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Sixer Fixer (talk | contribs) Removal of vandalism from the 1st paragraph: "North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice on 27 May 2009, thus returning to a ''de jure'' state of war." |
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The '''Korean War''' (1950-53) was a [[War|military conflict]] between the [[South Korea|Republic of Korea]], supported by the [[United Nations]], and the [[North Korea|Democratic People's Republic of Korea]] and [[People's Republic of China]] (PRC), with air support from the [[Soviet Union]]. The war began on 25 June 1950 and an [[armistice]] was signed on 27 July 1953. The war was a result of the political division of Korea by agreement of the victorious [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] at the conclusion of the [[Pacific War]]. The Korean peninsula had been [[Korea under Japanese rule|ruled by Japan]] prior to the end of the war. In 1945, following the [[surrender of Japan]], American administrators divided the peninsula along the [[38th parallel north|38th parallel]], with United States troops occupying the southern part and Soviet troops occupying the northern part.<ref name="Boose 1995 112-129">{{cite book |last= Boose |first= Donald W |title= Portentous Sideshow: The Korean Occupation Decision |publisher= Parameters. US Army War College Quarterly |volume= Volume 5, Number 4. Winter 1995–96|oclc= 227845188 |pages= 112–129}}</ref> The failure to hold free elections throughout the Korean Peninsula in 1948 deepened the division between the two sides, and the North established a Communist government. The 38th Parallel increasingly became a political border between the two Koreas. Although reunification negotiations continued in the months preceding the war, tension intensified. Cross-border skirmishes and raids at the 38th Parallel persisted. The situation escalated into open warfare when North Korean forces invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950.<ref name="Devine 2007 819-821">{{cite book |last= Devine |first= Robert A. |coauthors= Breen, T. H.; Frederickson, George M.; Williams, R. Hal; Gross, Adriela J.; Brands, H.W. |title= America Past and Present 8th Ed. Volume II: Since 1865 |publisher= [[Pearson Education|Pearson Longman]] |year= 2007 |pages= 819–821 |isbn= 0-321-44661-5}}</ref> It was the first significant armed conflict of the [[Cold War]].<ref name ="TruceTent">{{cite book |last =Hermes, Jr. |first =Walter |title =Truce Tent and Fighting Front |publisher =Center of Military History |year=1966 |pages =2, 6–9 |url = http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/korea/truce/fm.htm}}</ref>
The United Nations, particularly the [[United States]], came to the aid of the South Koreans in repelling the invasion. After early defeats by the North Korean military, when a rapid UN counter-offensive repelled the North Koreans past the [[Division of Korea|38th Parallel]] and almost to the [[Yalu River]], the People's Republic of China (PRC) came to the aid of Communist North.<ref name="Devine 2007 819-821"/> With Communist China's entry into the conflict, the fighting took on a more dangerous tone. The rapid Chinese counter-offensive repelled the United Nations forces past the 38th Parallel. The Soviet Union materially aided North Korea and China. The threat of a nuclear world war eventually ceased with an armistice that restored the border between the Koreas at the 38th Parallel and created the [[Korean Demilitarized Zone]] (DMZ), a {{convert|2.5|mi|km|adj=on}} wide buffer zone between the two Koreas
During the war, both North and South Korea were sponsored by external powers, thus facilitating the war's metamorphosis from a [[civil war]] to a [[proxy war]] between powers involved in the larger Cold War. From a [[military science]] perspective, the Korean War combined strategies and tactics of [[World War I]] and [[World War II]] — swift [[infantry]] attacks followed by air [[tactical bombing|bombing]] raids. The initial mobile campaign transitioned to [[trench warfare]], lasting from January 1951 until the 1953 border [[stalemate]] and armistice.
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