The War Americans Forgot About (The Korean War)

by Panzer
What’s forgotten? I’m Mr. Beat
Just five years after losing nearly 420,000 people in the deadliest war in human history,
the United States of America decided to go to war again.
Yay war, amirite? No, I’m wrong. War sucks.
But anyway, yeah, this is a war that my grandpa fought in. A war in which as many as three million
people lost their lives…most of them civilians. A war that ripped a country into two countries,
two countries that would DRAMATICALLY become different in the 75 years since splitting up.
A war in which almost every major city was completely destroyed. A war that
technically NEVER ENDED. And yet, today most Americans know very little about it. There
are few films about it or video games. Ok so I guess there was a famous TV show. Regardless,
if you Google, “Forgotten War,” The Korean War is what shows up.
Well forgotten no more, ‘cause by the end of this video you BEST BE REMEMBERING THIS
WAR OK? Ok. Here’s the story of the…the…wait what was it called? I forgot. That’s a bad
joke on a serious topic. I’m sorry. LET’S GO. Here’s the story of the Korean War.
accurately dubbed the forgotten war it's been called the forgotten war the Korean
War is often called the forgotten war um and I want to make sure that the the people who
gave their lives are not forgotten many call this the forgotten war but to one East Texan
it's something he will never forget what cold war conflict is sometimes referred to as the forgotten
war the Korean War yes forgotten i'm sorry the forgotten we should call it the forgotten victory.
-World War Two Ends, Tension in Korea Begins- Once upon a time, a country was split in two.
The Korean peninsula, aka Korea…a place of natural beauty…look at those hills and mountains and green
things. Humans have lived here for at least 10,000 years. Those humans came to be known as Koreans.
Jump ahead to 1910 though, and the Empire of Japan controlled Korea. Japan generally treated Koreans
like crap. Due to that, a Korean independence movement grew throughout Japanese rule,
culminating during World War Two. That was the deadliest war in human history I was telling you
about at the beginning of the video. Well, in that war, the Allied Powers defeated the Empire
of Japan, resulting in a free Korea. Well hold up now. Maybe not so free since the Allied Powers now
occupied the peninsula with their militaries, dividing it at the 38th parallel. However,
as you could imagine, the Soviet Union and the United States had different visions for
what a future Korea should look like. After not being able to agree on a government,
the United Nations stepped in to oversee the creation of two countries, divided at
that aforementioned 38th parallel: North Korea and South Korea. Wow, what original names. This dude,
Kim Il-sung, became the leader of North Korea, and THIS dude, Syngman Rhee, became the leader
of South Korea. Both were not nice guys. Both did horrible things. Dictators. Almost immediately,
tensions built up as those in the South mostly didn’t like communism, and those in the North
mostly did. After North Korea aided the Communists in the Chinese Civil War, Chinese communists
promised to help North Korea if they ever needed help fighting…ya know…South Korea. Not only that,
the Soviet Union built up North Korea’s military so that it had a big advantage over the South.
In March 1950, Kim Il-sung visited Moscow to speak with Joseph Stalin, the dictator