The war which claimed
the lives of two million Korean civilians began 52 years ago tomorrow.
Q: How did it begin?
A: At 4am, 70,000 North Korean troops marched across the 38th parallel, the line separating the north and south of the country.
Q: Out of the blue?
A: A calamity waiting to happen. Korea had been a Japanese colony since 1910. Following the defeat of Japan in the Second World War, the allies agreed that, pending Korean independence, the Soviets would occupy land north of the 38th parallel, and a US military administration under General Douglas MacArthur would take care of the south.
Q: How did it go wrong?
A: The Soviets installed Kim-Il Sung as head of a Stalinist state, created the North Korean Peoples' Army and armed it to the teeth. Meanwhile, political chaos reigned in the south.
Q: The result?
A: The North Koreans stormed the border with ease. The UN called
for members to help
repel the invasion.
President Harry S Truman, initially caught on the hop, ordered US troops to go in, and the British sent the Far East fleet.
Q: Result?
A: In September, MacArthur landed troops at the port of Inch'on, 100 miles below the 38th parallel. Some 125,000 North Koreans
were taken prisoner. In November, buoyed by the success, MacArthur launched his ''Home by Christmas'' offensive.
Q: What happened next?
A: 180,000 Chinese troops entered the war on the side of North Korea. Far from being over by Christmas, the war dragged on for three years.
Q: What brought it to
an end?
A: Exhaustion, massive casualties, and the negotiating skills of Dwight D Eisenhower, elected president in 1952.
Q: Negotiating skills?
A: He told the Chinese and North Koreans he would use nuclear weapons if an armistice was not concluded quickly. It was signed on July 27, 1953.
Q: Death toll?
A: Estimated deaths included: two million Korean civilians; 1.5 million Chinese and North Korean soliders; 415,000 South Korean troops; 33,629 Americans; 1078 Britons.
Q: Other costs?
A: North Korea was bombed into the ground, South Korea was similarly devastated. People on both sides were left starving and homeless.
Q: Aftermath?
A: North Korea became a hermit nation and economic basket-case; the south, helped initially by a (pounds) 148m reconstruction loan from the UN, rose from the ashes to become the modern state which has so impressed visitors to the World Cup today; Robert Altman made a film called M*A*S*H, and the rest is TV history.
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